OpenClaw Memory Search Returns Empty

Symptoms

• memory_search returns empty array
• Results are unrelated to query
• Newly written content not searchable

Quick Diagnosis (30 seconds)

Check 1: Memory Files Exist

# Check MEMORY.md
ls -la ~/.openclaw/workspace/MEMORY.md

# Check memory directory
ls -la ~/.openclaw/workspace/memory/

Check 2: File Content

# View MEMORY.md content
cat ~/.openclaw/workspace/MEMORY.md | head -20

# View today's log
cat ~/.openclaw/workspace/memory/$(date +%Y-%m-%d).md 2>/dev/null || echo "Today's log not found"

Check 3: Search Configuration

# Check search config
cat ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json | grep -A 5 'memorySearch'

Problem Confirmation

• If MEMORY.md doesn't exist, create it
• If file is empty, content not written
• If config is wrong, fix it

Solutions

Solution 1: Initialize Memory Files (Recommended, 1 minute)

# 1. Create memory directory
mkdir -p ~/.openclaw/workspace/memory

# 2. Create MEMORY.md
touch ~/.openclaw/workspace/MEMORY.md

# 3. Write initial content
echo "# Memory" > ~/.openclaw/workspace/MEMORY.md

Solution 2: Manually Write Memory (2 minutes)

In Agent conversation:

Please write what I just said to MEMORY.md

Or manually edit:

echo "## $(date +%Y-%m-%d)" >> ~/.openclaw/workspace/MEMORY.md
echo "Important info..." >> ~/.openclaw/workspace/MEMORY.md

Solution 3: Restart Gateway to Rebuild Index (3 minutes)

# Restart Gateway to reload Memory
openclaw gateway restart

Prevention

Configuration

• Ensure memorySearch.enabled: true
• Regularly check MEMORY.md file size
• Verify model file exists when using local model

Best Practices

• Write important info to Memory immediately
• Regularly organize MEMORY.md
• Use memory_get to read files directly as fallback

Related Errors

• OpenClaw Agent Loses Context After Restart
• OpenClaw Bootstrap Not Loaded
• OpenClaw Session Isolation Failure

References

• OpenClaw Docs - Memory System
• OpenClaw Docs - Vector Search
• OpenClaw GitHub - Memory Config