openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix [Feature]: `session-memory` hook does not comply with AGENTS.md workspace directory convention [1 comments, 2 participants]

Summary

The built-in session-memory hook hardcodes output to memory/<YYYY-MM-DD-slug>.md, and does not comply with the directory structure defined in AGENTS.md. It is recommended to add outputPath + filename configuration options to the hook to make the output path fully customizable.

Problem to solve

The memory/ root directory is getting increasingly cluttered, with files like memory/2026-04-02-1514.md that are impossible to distinguish. Users defined a canonical directory structure through AGENTS.md (e.g., memory/sessions/<YYYY>/<MM>/<DD>/<HHmm>_<Slug>.md), but the hook completely ignores the convention and stubbornly writes flat files.

The root cause is in the hook source code — the path is hardcoded:

const memoryDir = path.join(workspaceDir, "memory");
const filename = `${dateStr}-${slug}.md`;  // YYYY-MM-DD-slug.md — not configurable

There are no configuration options to customize the directory path or filename format.

Proposed solution

Introduce two independent configuration options in the session-memory hook:

"hooks": {
  "internal": {
    "entries": {
      "session-memory": {
        "enabled": true,
        "sessions": {
          "outputPath": "memory/sessions/<yyyy>/<MM>/<dd>/",
          "filename": "<HHmm>_<Slug>.md"
        },
        "daily": {
          "outputPath": "memory/daily/",
          "filename": "<yyyyMMdd>_<Slug>.md"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Supported placeholders:

Naming styles (2×2 = 4 combinations):

sessions filenames:

daily filenames:

Backward compatibility: Both outputPath and filename default to empty string "", preserving current behavior (writes to memory/ root).

Alternatives considered

No response

Impact

• Affected users: All OpenClaw users who rely on the session-memory hook and have defined workspace conventions in AGENTS.md
• Severity: Annoying / workspace integrity — not blocking, but undermines the value of documented conventions
• Frequency: Every time /new or /reset is used
• Consequence: memory/ root accumulates unstructured files; users lose the ability to organize memory files predictably

Additional issue — empty folders: When outputPath contains multi-level date structures (e.g., memory/sessions/<yyyy>/<MM>/<dd>/), if a day has no sessions, or files are migrated/deleted, the directory structure remains but is empty (e.g., memory/sessions/2026/04/05/). It is recommended that the hook supports auto-cleaning empty parent directories under the write path when writing.

Evidence/examples

Hook source (dist/bundled/session-memory/handler.js):

const memoryDir = path.join(workspaceDir, "memory");
const filename = `${dateStr}-${slug}.md`;  // Hardcoded — not configurable
const memoryFilePath = path.join(memoryDir, filename);

Current (incorrect) output:

memory/
└── 2026-04-02-1514.md

Expected (AGENTS.md convention):

memory/
├── daily/
│   └── 20260402_AgentBrowser.md
└── sessions/
    └── 2026/
        └── 04/
            └── 02/
                └── 1514_AgentBrowser.md

Hook documentation (dist/bundled/session-memory/HOOK.md) states that the hook creates files at <workspace>/memory/YYYY-MM-DD-slug.md, with no mention of configuration options or AGENTS.md convention compliance.

Additional information

• Hook implementation: dist/bundled/session-memory/handler.js
• Hook documentation: dist/bundled/session-memory/HOOK.md
• Workspace convention: AGENTS.md Session Startup section
• Current config: openclaw.json → hooks.internal.entries.session-memory
• OpenClaw version: 2026.3.24
• Platform: Linux 6.12.41-trim (arm64), Channel: Feishu

⚠️ Disclaimer: This Issue was submitted without updating to the latest OpenClaw version. It is not certain whether this issue has been fixed in the latest version. Please verify before taking action.