Obsidian Memory System

Prompts

Structured persistent memory system using an Obsidian vault with daily journals, project docs, knowledge base, self-improvement logging, and Discord workspace integration. Use when: (1) Setting up a new OpenClaw agent's memory system, (2) Agent needs persistent memory across sessions, (3) Organizing project documentation, daily journals, or knowledge base, (4) Logging errors, learnings, or feature requests for continuous improvement, (5) Setting up Discord as primary workspace (voice, components, threads, channel architecture), (6) User says 'set up memory', 'initialize vault', 'create journal', 'log this error', 'remember this', 'update memory', 'set up discord', or 'migrate from whatsapp'. Also covers semantic search setup, promotion pipeline for learnings into brain files, and Discord workspace configuration.

Install

openclaw skills install obsidian-memory-system

Obsidian Memory System

Persistent agent memory using an Obsidian vault with structured folders, daily journals, semantic search, and self-improvement logging.

Architecture

~/clawd/                        ← OpenClaw workspace
├── SOUL.md ──symlink──→ vault/00-brain/SOUL.md
├── USER.md ──symlink──→ vault/00-brain/USER.md
├── AGENTS.md ──symlink──→ vault/00-brain/AGENTS.md
├── TOOLS.md ──symlink──→ vault/00-brain/TOOLS.md
├── MEMORY.md                (copy, NOT symlink — indexer skips symlinks)
├── HEARTBEAT.md             (standalone, periodic tasks)
├── memory/                  (real dir with copies — synced from vault/10-journal/)
├── scripts/sync-memory.sh   (rsync vault→memory every 30 min via cron)
└── vault/                   ← Obsidian vault
    ├── 00-brain/            Core identity files
    ├── 10-journal/          Daily work logs (YYYY-MM-DD.md)
    ├── 20-projects/         Project docs (overview, decisions, timeline)
    ├── 30-knowledge/        Reusable reference material
    ├── 40-people/           People notes
    ├── 50-ideas/            Future plans, brainstorms
    ├── 60-learnings/        Self-improvement logs (errors, learnings, feature requests)
    └── templates/           Note templates

OpenClaw auto-loads workspace root files (SOUL, USER, AGENTS, TOOLS, MEMORY) every session. Symlinks bridge workspace ↔ vault so Obsidian and the agent see the same files.

⚠️ Memory indexer symlink limitation: OpenClaw's memory indexer (memorySearch) uses lstat and explicitly skips all symlinks — both directories and files. Use real file copies for MEMORY.md and memory/ with a sync script (see references/discord-setup.md → Memory Integration).

Setup

Run the setup script to initialize everything:

bash scripts/setup-vault.sh ~/clawd

This creates the vault structure, brain file templates, symlinks, vault/60-learnings/ directory, and templates. Then customize each brain file for your agent.

For details on each file's purpose: read references/brain-files.md For OpenClaw config: read references/openclaw-config.md

Daily Workflow

Session Start

OpenClaw loads brain files automatically (SOUL, USER, AGENTS, TOOLS, MEMORY)
Read today's and yesterday's journal: vault/10-journal/YYYY-MM-DD.md
Use memory_search for any recall needs

During Work

Use memory_search("query") to find past context
Follow wikilink references: [[20-projects/name/overview|Name]]

After Completing Tasks

Update daily journal — vault/10-journal/YYYY-MM-DD.md (always)
Update project docs — vault/20-projects/*/overview.md (if project changed)
Update MEMORY.md — Only for new preferences, lessons, or projects

Self-Improvement Logging

Situation	Action
Command/operation fails	Append to `vault/60-learnings/ERRORS.md`
User corrects you	Append to `vault/60-learnings/LEARNINGS.md` (category: correction)
Found better approach	Append to `vault/60-learnings/LEARNINGS.md` (category: best_practice)
Knowledge was outdated	Append to `vault/60-learnings/LEARNINGS.md` (category: knowledge_gap)
User wants missing feature	Append to `vault/60-learnings/FEATURE_REQUESTS.md`

Entry format — see references/logging-format.md

Promotion Pipeline

When a learning proves broadly applicable, promote it:

Learning Type	Promote To	Then set Status → promoted
Behavioral patterns	`SOUL.md`
Workflow improvements	`AGENTS.md`
Tool gotchas	`TOOLS.md`
Cross-project decisions	`MEMORY.md`

Promote when: Recurrence ≥ 3, seen across 2+ tasks, within 30-day window.

Wikilinks

Always connect related content:

See [[20-projects/my-app/overview|My App]] for details.
Built by [[40-people/juan|Juan]].

Frontmatter

Every vault markdown file needs:

---
title: Document Title
type: note|project|reference|daily|decision
created: YYYY-MM-DD
permalink: agent-name/folder/filename
---

MEMORY.md Rules

Keep under ~5K characters (max 10K)
Include: preferences, lessons, project index, cross-project decisions
Exclude: detailed timelines, code snippets, daily events
Point to deeper docs via wikilinks
Full rules: read references/memory-rules.md

Heartbeat Maintenance

During periodic heartbeats (every few days):

Review recent vault/60-learnings/ entries
Promote applicable learnings to brain files
Review recent journals → update MEMORY.md if needed
Check MEMORY.md size, move detail creep to project/knowledge docs

Discord Workspace

Discord replaces WhatsApp as primary channel with major upgrades: streaming, voice, buttons, threads, and channel isolation.

For full setup guide: read references/discord-setup.md

Quick Summary

Feature	What it does
Channel separation	Per-project channels = isolated sessions, less token waste
Streaming	See responses as they generate
Voice channels	Real-time voice: Whisper STT → LLM → OpenAI TTS
Interactive components	Buttons, selects, forms for quick decisions
Thread-bound coding	Codex/Claude Code get their own threads
Reactions	Visual ack (configurable emoji)
Auto-presence	Bot status shows health

Channel Architecture

🏠 Home         → #general, #tasks, #coding
🔊 Voice        → 🎙 General (voice conversations)
🏥 [Your Org]   → #project-a, #project-b, ...
🤖 Agents       → #agents (thread-bound sessions)
📋 Ops          → #logs, #cron
🧪 Research     → #research

Set channel topics with vault pointers for project routing:

Project A app | vault: 20-projects/project-a/ | repo: user/project-a | port: 3001

Key Config

{
  "channels": {
    "discord": {
      "enabled": true,
      "token": "YOUR_BOT_TOKEN",
      "groupPolicy": "allowlist",
      "dmPolicy": "allowlist",
      "allowFrom": ["YOUR_USER_ID"],
      "guilds": {
        "YOUR_GUILD_ID": {
          "requireMention": false,
          "users": ["YOUR_USER_ID"]
        }
      },
      "streaming": "partial",
      "replyToMode": "first",
      "historyLimit": 30,
      "threadBindings": { "enabled": true, "spawnSubagentSessions": true, "spawnAcpSessions": true },
      "ackReaction": "🦅",
      "autoPresence": { "enabled": true, "healthyText": "Online" }
    }
  },
  "tools": {
    "profile": "full",
    "exec": { "security": "full", "ask": "off" }
  },
  "messages": { "ackReactionScope": "all" }
}

⚠️ Without the guilds block, the bot only works in DMs. This is the #1 setup issue.

Full production config with status reactions, custom emoji, voice, components, and troubleshooting: read references/discord-setup.md Full OpenClaw config reference: read references/openclaw-config.md

Quick Commands

# Count pending learnings
grep -rh "Status\*\*: pending" vault/60-learnings/*.md | wc -l

# Find high-priority items
grep -B5 "Priority\*\*: high" vault/60-learnings/*.md | grep "^## \["

# Search learnings by area
grep -l "Area\*\*: backend" vault/60-learnings/*.md

Obsidian Memory System

Install

Obsidian Memory System

Architecture

Setup

Daily Workflow

Session Start

During Work

After Completing Tasks

Self-Improvement Logging

Promotion Pipeline

Wikilinks

Frontmatter

MEMORY.md Rules

Heartbeat Maintenance

Discord Workspace

Quick Summary

Channel Architecture

Key Config

Quick Commands

Related skills