Google Vertex AI Memory Bank

Install and configure the OpenClaw Vertex AI Memory Bank plugin for persistent, cross-agent memory. Use when the user wants long-term memory, cross-session recall, or shared memory across agents. Handles GCP setup, plugin installation, and openclaw.json configuration.

Vertex AI Memory Bank Plugin

Give your OpenClaw agent persistent, cross-agent memory powered by Google's Vertex AI Memory Bank.

What This Does

After setup, your agent will:

• Auto-recall: Before each turn, relevant memories are retrieved and injected into context
• Auto-capture: After each turn, facts are extracted and stored automatically
• File sync: Workspace files (MEMORY.md, USER.md, SOUL.md) sync to Memory Bank with hash tracking
• Cross-agent: Tell one agent something, all agents remember it

Prerequisites

Before running the setup script, ensure:

1. Google Cloud SDK installed and authenticated (gcloud auth application-default login)
2. A GCP project with billing enabled
3. Vertex AI API enabled on the project
4. Node.js 18+ and npm installed

If the user doesn't have these, help them set up each one.

Installation

Run the setup script:

bash

bash scripts/setup.sh

This script will:

1. Check for required tools (gcloud, npm, node)
2. Prompt for GCP project ID and region
3. Create a Vertex AI Agent Engine reasoning engine (Memory Bank instance)
4. Install the npm plugin package
5. Add the plugin configuration to openclaw.json
6. Restart the gateway to load the plugin

Manual Installation

If the script doesn't work for your environment, follow these steps:

Step 1: Create a Memory Bank Instance

bash

# Set your project
gcloud config set project YOUR_PROJECT_ID

# Create a reasoning engine for Memory Bank
curl -X POST \
  "https://REGION-aiplatform.googleapis.com/v1beta1/projects/YOUR_PROJECT_ID/locations/REGION/reasoningEngines" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $(gcloud auth print-access-token)" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"display_name": "openclaw-memory-bank"}'

Note the reasoning engine ID from the response.

Step 2: Install the Plugin

bash

cd /path/to/openclaw-vertex-memorybank
npm install
npm run build

Step 3: Configure openclaw.json

Add to your openclaw.json under plugins:

json

{
  "plugins": {
    "openclaw-vertex-memorybank": {
      "enabled": true,
      "path": "/path/to/openclaw-vertex-memorybank",
      "config": {
        "projectId": "YOUR_PROJECT_ID",
        "location": "us-central1",
        "reasoningEngineId": "YOUR_REASONING_ENGINE_ID"
      }
    }
  }
}

Step 4: Restart

bash

openclaw gateway restart

Configuration Options

Option	Default	Description
projectId	required	GCP project ID or number
location	required	GCP region (e.g. us-central1)
reasoningEngineId	required	Agent Engine reasoning engine ID
autoRecall	true	Retrieve memories before each turn
autoCapture	true	Store memories after each turn
autoSyncFiles	true	Sync workspace .md files to Memory Bank
autoSyncTopics	true	Auto-configure memory topics at startup
topK	10	Max memories to retrieve per query
perspective	"third"	Memory perspective (first or third person)
backgroundGenerate	true	Fire-and-forget memory generation
ttlSeconds	none	Auto-expire memories after N seconds

Verifying It Works

After installation, check the gateway log:

bash

tail -f ~/.openclaw/logs/gateway.log | grep memory

You should see:

• [memory-vertex] synced N topics on startup
• [memory-vertex] recall: N memories on each turn
• [memory-vertex] capture fired (bg) after each turn

CLI Commands

The plugin adds these commands:

• memorybank-search <query> - Search your memories
• memorybank-remember <fact> - Store a specific fact
• memorybank-forget <memory_id> - Delete a memory
• memorybank-sync - Force sync workspace files
• memorybank-status - Check plugin status
• memorybank-list - List all stored memories

Troubleshooting

• "401 Unauthorized": Run gcloud auth application-default login
• "Memory Bank not found": Check reasoningEngineId matches your instance
• No memories recalled: Check topK and maxDistance settings. Try memorybank-search to verify memories exist
• High token usage: Reduce topK or set introspection: "off" to remove similarity scores

Source

Full source code and documentation: https://github.com/Shubhamsaboo/openclaw-vertexai-memorybank