openclaw-workspace/docs/MEMORY_MIGRATION_LOG.md

Hierarchical Memory System Migration

Started: 2026-02-18 Source: https://github.com/ucsandman/OpenClaw-Hierarchical-Memory-System Goal: Replace flat MEMORY.md with index + drill-down structure

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Changes Made

Phase 1: Directory Structure

• Create memory/people/ — Per-person detail files
• Create memory/projects/ — Per-project detail files
• Create memory/decisions/ — Monthly decision logs
• Create memory/context/ — Temporary active context
• Create unused_files/ — Archive old/unused files

Phase 2: Content Extraction

• Extract person info from MEMORY.md → memory/people/corey.md
• Extract projects from MEMORY.md:
  • memory/projects/home-assistant.md
  • memory/projects/coding-workflow.md
  • memory/projects/discord-voice-bot.md
  • memory/projects/memory-system.md
• Extract decisions → memory/decisions/2026-02.md
• Extract preferences → Kept in MEMORY.md index

Phase 3: Rebuild MEMORY.md as Index

• Lightweight reference table (~2.4k tokens — under 3k cap)
• People index with trigger words
• Projects index with trigger words
• Decisions index with date links
• Active Context section (4 active projects listed)
• Drill-Down Rules section
• Integration Points table

Phase 4: Cleanup

• Move unused files to unused_files/:
  • hello.txt
  • ha_entities.csv (replaced by ha_devices.csv)
  • 4 transcript .vtt files
• Test: Fresh session load
• Verify drill-downs work
• Update AGENTS.md with new system docs

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Token Savings Target

• Before: ~5-10k tokens per session (full MEMORY.md load)
• After: ~1.5k tokens (index only), ~2-3k per drill-down
• Target: 70% savings on typical session

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Integration with Existing Systems

• ✅ Keep: Daily notes (memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md)
• ✅ Keep: SQLite database (parallel structured layer)
• ✅ Keep: Supermemory backup
• ✅ Keep: Worker agents for extraction
• ✅ Keep: .learnings/ folder
• ✅ Keep: FUTURE_WORKER_IDEAS.md

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Improvements Achieved

Token Savings

• Before: MEMORY.md was ~5-10k tokens (full detail load)
• After: MEMORY.md is ~2.4k tokens (index only)
• Savings: ~60-70% reduction on session start
• Drill-down cost: ~1k per detail file (only when needed)

Structure Improvements

1. Separation of concerns: Person, projects, decisions in separate files
2. Trigger words: Each entry has keywords for auto-drill
3. Always-load section: 4 active projects listed in index
4. Hard cap: Max 5 drill-downs rule documented
5. Integration table: Shows where to look for what

Files Created

• memory/people/corey.md — User profile
• memory/projects/home-assistant.md — HA project details
• memory/projects/coding-workflow.md — Git/coding setup
• memory/projects/discord-voice-bot.md — Voice bot details
• memory/projects/memory-system.md — Meta documentation
• memory/projects/mission-control-dashboard.md — Next.js dashboard (added post-migration)
• memory/decisions/2026-02.md — February decision log
• memory/context/ — Ready for temp context files
• unused_files/ — Archive for old files

Files Moved to Archive

• hello.txt
• ha_entities.csv
• 4x YouTube transcript .vtt files

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Migration Notes

Completed successfully. System is now hierarchical and token-efficient.