Memory Boost

Two things in one skill:

1. Task Memory — every task automatically gets persistent notes so work survives restarts
2. Keep-Alive Loop — arm it for long tasks, disarm when done

No external dependencies. Everything lives inside ~/.openclaw/memory/.

Task Memory

When you receive any task, automatically create a task folder:

~/.openclaw/memory/tasks/\x3Ctask-name>/
  RESUME.md      — status, heartbeat, next action, key files, restart note
  CHECKLIST.md   — step-by-step progress
  DOCS.md        — goal, decisions, gotchas, notes for next session

RESUME.md must contain:

• Task name and one-line description
• Current status (active / stalled / complete)
• Last heartbeat (date and time, updated whenever you touch the task)
• Next action (one concrete step)
• Key files (relevant paths)
• Restart note (what a fresh session needs to pick this up)

CHECKLIST.md must contain:

• Numbered or checkbox steps
• Current status of each step
• A final verification step

DOCS.md must contain:

• Goal
• Important decisions and why
• File paths that matter
• Gotchas and failure modes
• Notes for the next session

Update rules:

• Create notes before starting a multi-step task.
• Update RESUME.md before and after major milestones.
• Mark checklist items complete as soon as they are done.
• Add discoveries and gotchas to DOCS.md immediately.
• Always update the heartbeat when touching an active task.
• A heartbeat older than 24 hours or a missing next action means the task is stale.

Storage path:

Task notes live in ~/.openclaw/memory/tasks/. The canonical template is at {baseDir}/templates/TEMPLATE.md.

Keep-Alive Loop

For long-running tasks, the keep-alive loop prevents silent failures.

Controls

• /loop-start — arms the loop. Monitoring jobs begin running.
• /loop-stop — disarms the loop. Jobs no-op. No wasted tokens.

The loop state lives in ~/.openclaw/memory/LOOP-STATE.md.

Monitoring layers

When armed, three jobs watch your agent's work:

Integrity layers

These run always, regardless of loop state:

Watchdog rules:

• Write WATCHDOG.md only when you can prove a stall. Do not manufacture problems.
• Include: folder path, blocker, why-stalled tag, one next action.
• Why-stalled tags: blocked-on-external, ambiguous-next-step, repeated-promise, missing-context

Replayer rules:

• Take only one mechanical step per pass. No speculative fixes.
• If the step is ambiguous, update WATCHDOG.md with a clearer next action and stop.

Escalator rules:

• Escalate only after the same stall repeats or a replayer pass fails to advance.
• Add an ESCALATE section to WATCHDOG.md with what was tried and the strongest next action.

Validator rules:

• Inspect task folders for missing RESUME.md, CHECKLIST.md, or DOCS.md.
• Backfill missing notes from the canonical template at {baseDir}/templates/TEMPLATE.md. Do not invent formats.
• Refresh the task index so it lists all tasks with status and next action.
• Treat a task as stale if heartbeat > 24h or next action is missing.

Smoke test checks:

• Core files exist (TEMPLATE.md, TASK-INDEX.md, LOOP-STATE.md)
• All 5 scheduled jobs exist and are enabled
• At least one active task has a heartbeat and next action
• Loop state is valid (armed or disarmed)

File layout

~/.openclaw/memory/
  TEMPLATE.md          # canonical template for new task folders
  TASK-INDEX.md        # quick-scan index of all tasks
  LOOP-STATE.md        # armed/disarmed state marker
  tasks/
    \x3Ctask-name>/
      RESUME.md
      CHECKLIST.md
      DOCS.md
      WATCHDOG.md      # created by watchdog when stall detected

When to use

• Task memory: Always. Every task should get notes automatically.
• Keep-alive loop: For long tasks. /loop-start before the task, /loop-stop when done.
• Quick tasks: Just let the task memory handle it. No need to arm the loop.