Tiered Memory
EvoClaw Tiered Memory Architecture v2.1.0 - LLM-powered three-tier memory system with structured metadata extraction, URL preservation, validation, and cloud...
Like a lobster shell, security has layers — review code before you run it.
License
SKILL.md
Tiered Memory System v2.2.0
A mind that remembers everything is as useless as one that remembers nothing. The art is knowing what to keep. 🧠
EvoClaw-compatible three-tier memory system inspired by human cognition and PageIndex tree retrieval.
What's New in v2.2.0
🔄 Automatic Daily Note Ingestion
- Consolidation (
daily/monthly/fullmodes) now auto-runsingest-daily - Bridges
memory/YYYY-MM-DD.mdfiles → tiered memory system - No more manual ingestion required — facts flow automatically
- Fixes the "two disconnected data paths" problem
What's New in v2.1.0
🎯 Structured Metadata Extraction
- Automatic extraction of URLs, shell commands, and file paths from facts
- Preserved during distillation and consolidation
- Searchable by URL fragment
✅ Memory Completeness Validation
- Check daily notes for missing URLs, commands, and next steps
- Proactive warnings for incomplete information
- Actionable suggestions for improvement
🔍 Enhanced Search
- Search facts by URL fragment
- Get all stored URLs from warm memory
- Metadata-aware fact storage
🛡️ URL Preservation
- URLs explicitly preserved during LLM distillation
- Fallback metadata extraction if LLM misses them
- Command-line support for adding metadata manually
Architecture
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ AGENT CONTEXT (~8-15KB) │
│ │
│ ┌──────────┐ ┌────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ Tree │ │ Retrieved Memory Nodes │ │
│ │ Index │ │ (on-demand, 1-3KB) │ │
│ │ (~2KB) │ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ Fetched per conversation │ │
│ │ Always │ │ based on tree reasoning │ │
│ │ loaded │ │ │ │
│ └────┬─────┘ └────────────────────────────────┘ │
│ │ │
└───────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────┘
│
│ LLM-powered tree search
│
┌───────▼─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ MEMORY TIERS │
│ │
│ 🔴 HOT (5KB) 🟡 WARM (50KB) 🟢 COLD (∞) │
│ │
│ Core memory Scored facts Full archive │
│ - Identity - 30-day - Turso DB │
│ - Owner profile - Decaying - Queryable │
│ - Active context - On-device - 10-year │
│ - Lessons (20 max) │
│ │
│ Always in Retrieved via Retrieved via │
│ context tree search tree search │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Design Principles
From Human Memory
- Consolidation — Short-term → long-term happens during consolidation cycles
- Relevance Decay — Unused memories fade; accessed memories strengthen
- Strategic Forgetting — Not remembering everything is a feature
- Hierarchical Organization — Navigate categories, not scan linearly
From PageIndex
- Vectorless Retrieval — LLM reasoning instead of embedding similarity
- Tree-Structured Index — O(log n) navigation, not O(n) scan
- Explainable Results — Every retrieval traces a path through categories
- Reasoning-Based Search — "Why relevant?" not "how similar?"
Cloud-First (EvoClaw)
- Device is replaceable — Soul lives in cloud (Turso)
- Critical sync — Hot + tree sync after every conversation
- Disaster recovery — Full restore in <2 minutes
- Multi-device — Same agent across phone/desktop/embedded
Memory Tiers
🔴 Hot Memory (5KB max)
Purpose: Core identity and active context, always in agent's context window.
Structure:
{
"identity": {
"agent_name": "Agent",
"owner_name": "User",
"owner_preferred_name": "User",
"relationship_start": "2026-01-15",
"trust_level": 0.95
},
"owner_profile": {
"personality": "technical, direct communication",
"family": ["Sarah (wife)", "Luna (daughter, 3yo)"],
"topics_loved": ["AI architecture", "blockchain", "system design"],
"topics_avoid": ["small talk about weather"],
"timezone": "Australia/Sydney",
"work_hours": "9am-6pm"
},
"active_context": {
"projects": [
{
"name": "EvoClaw",
"description": "Self-evolving agent framework",
"status": "Active - BSC integration for hackathon"
}
],
"events": [
{"text": "Hackathon deadline Feb 15", "timestamp": 1707350400}
],
"tasks": [
{"text": "Deploy to BSC testnet", "status": "pending", "timestamp": 1707350400}
]
},
"critical_lessons": [
{
"text": "Always test on testnet before mainnet",
"category": "blockchain",
"importance": 0.9,
"timestamp": 1707350400
}
]
}
Auto-pruning:
- Lessons: Max 20, removes lowest-importance when full
- Events: Keeps last 10 only
- Tasks: Max 10 pending
- Total size: Hard limit at 5KB, progressively prunes if exceeded
Generates: MEMORY.md — auto-rebuilt from structured hot state
🟡 Warm Memory (50KB max, 30-day retention)
Purpose: Recent distilled facts with decay scoring.
Entry format:
{
"id": "abc123def456",
"text": "Decided to use zero go-ethereum deps for EvoClaw to keep binary small",
"category": "projects/evoclaw/architecture",
"importance": 0.8,
"created_at": 1707350400,
"access_count": 3,
"score": 0.742,
"tier": "warm"
}
Scoring:
score = importance × recency_decay(age) × reinforcement(access_count)
recency_decay(age) = exp(-age_days / 30)
reinforcement(access) = 1 + 0.1 × access_count
Tier classification:
score >= 0.7→ Hot (promote to hot state)score >= 0.3→ Warm (keep)score >= 0.05→ Cold (archive)score < 0.05→ Frozen (delete after retention period)
Eviction triggers:
- Age > 30 days AND score < 0.3
- Total warm size > 50KB (evicts lowest-scored)
- Manual consolidation
🟢 Cold Memory (Unlimited, Turso)
Purpose: Long-term archive, queryable but never bulk-loaded.
Schema:
CREATE TABLE cold_memories (
id TEXT PRIMARY KEY,
agent_id TEXT NOT NULL,
text TEXT NOT NULL,
category TEXT NOT NULL,
importance REAL DEFAULT 0.5,
created_at INTEGER NOT NULL,
access_count INTEGER DEFAULT 0
);
CREATE TABLE critical_state (
agent_id TEXT PRIMARY KEY,
data TEXT NOT NULL, -- {hot_state, tree_nodes, timestamp}
updated_at INTEGER NOT NULL
);
Retention: 10 years (configurable) Cleanup: Monthly consolidation removes frozen entries older than retention period
Tree Index
Purpose: Hierarchical category map for O(log n) retrieval.
Constraints:
- Max 50 nodes
- Max depth 4 levels
- Max 2KB serialized
- Max 10 children per node
Example:
Memory Tree Index
==================================================
📂 Root (warm:15, cold:234)
📁 owner — Owner profile and preferences
Memories: warm=5, cold=89
📁 projects — Active projects
Memories: warm=8, cold=67
📁 projects/evoclaw — EvoClaw framework
Memories: warm=6, cold=45
📁 projects/evoclaw/bsc — BSC integration
Memories: warm=3, cold=12
📁 technical — Technical setup and config
Memories: warm=2, cold=34
📁 lessons — Learned lessons and rules
Memories: warm=0, cold=44
Nodes: 7/50
Size: 1842 / 2048 bytes
Operations:
--add PATH DESC— Add category node--remove PATH— Remove node (only if no data)--prune— Remove dead nodes (no activity in 60+ days)--show— Pretty-print tree
Distillation Engine
Purpose: Three-stage compression of conversations.
Pipeline:
Raw conversation (500B)
↓ Stage 1→2: Extract structured info
Distilled fact (80B)
↓ Stage 2→3: Generate one-line summary
Core summary (20B)
Stage 1→2: Raw → Distilled
Input: Raw conversation text Output: Structured JSON
{
"fact": "User decided to use raw JSON-RPC for BSC to avoid go-ethereum dependency",
"emotion": "determined",
"people": ["User"],
"topics": ["blockchain", "architecture", "dependencies"],
"actions": ["decided to use raw JSON-RPC", "avoid go-ethereum"],
"outcome": "positive"
}
Modes:
rule: Regex/heuristic extraction (fast, no LLM)llm: LLM-powered extraction (accurate, requires endpoint)
Usage:
# Rule-based (default)
distiller.py --text "Had a productive chat about the BSC integration..." --mode rule
# LLM-powered
distiller.py --text "..." --mode llm --llm-endpoint http://localhost:8080/complete
# With core summary
distiller.py --text "..." --mode rule --core-summary
Stage 2→3: Distilled → Core Summary
Purpose: One-line summary for tree index
Example:
Distilled: {
"fact": "User decided raw JSON-RPC for BSC, no go-ethereum",
"outcome": "positive"
}
Core summary: "BSC integration: raw JSON-RPC (no deps)"
Target: <30 bytes
LLM-Powered Tree Search
Purpose: Semantic search through tree structure using LLM reasoning.
How it works:
- Build prompt with tree structure + query
- LLM reasons about which categories are relevant
- Returns category paths with relevance scores
- Fetches memories from those categories
Example:
Query: "What did we decide about the hackathon deadline?"
Keyword search returns:
projects/evoclaw(0.8)technical/deployment(0.4)
LLM search reasons:
projects/evoclaw/bsc(0.95) — "BSC integration for hackathon"active_context/events(0.85) — "Deadline mentioned here"
LLM prompt template:
You are a memory retrieval system. Given a memory tree index and a query,
identify which categories are relevant.
Memory Tree Index:
projects/evoclaw — EvoClaw framework (warm:6, cold:45)
projects/evoclaw/bsc — BSC integration (warm:3, cold:12)
...
User Query: What did we decide about the hackathon deadline?
Output (JSON):
[
{"path": "projects/evoclaw/bsc", "relevance": 0.95, "reason": "BSC work for hackathon"},
{"path": "active_context/events", "relevance": 0.85, "reason": "deadline tracking"}
]
Usage:
# Keyword search (fast)
tree_search.py --query "BSC integration" --tree-file memory-tree.json --mode keyword
# LLM search (accurate)
tree_search.py --query "what did we decide about hackathon?" \
--tree-file memory-tree.json --mode llm --llm-endpoint http://localhost:8080/complete
# Generate prompt for external LLM
tree_search.py --query "..." --tree-file memory-tree.json \
--mode llm --llm-prompt-file prompt.txt
Multi-Agent Support
Agent ID scoping — All operations support --agent-id flag.
File layout:
memory/
default/
warm-memory.json
memory-tree.json
hot-memory-state.json
metrics.json
agent-2/
warm-memory.json
memory-tree.json
...
MEMORY.md # default agent
MEMORY-agent-2.md # agent-2
Cold storage: Agent-scoped queries via agent_id column
Usage:
# Store for agent-2
memory_cli.py store --text "..." --category "..." --agent-id agent-2
# Retrieve for agent-2
memory_cli.py retrieve --query "..." --agent-id agent-2
# Consolidate agent-2
memory_cli.py consolidate --mode daily --agent-id agent-2
Consolidation Modes
Purpose: Periodic memory maintenance and optimization.
Quick (hourly)
- Warm eviction (score-based)
- Archive expired to cold
- Recalculate all scores
- Rebuild MEMORY.md
Daily
- Everything in Quick
- Tree prune (remove dead nodes, 60+ days no activity)
Monthly
- Everything in Daily
- Tree rebuild (LLM-powered restructuring, future)
- Cold cleanup (delete frozen entries older than retention)
Full
- Everything in Monthly
- Full recalculation of all scores
- Deep tree analysis
- Generate consolidation report
Usage:
# Quick consolidation (default)
memory_cli.py consolidate
# Daily (run via cron)
memory_cli.py consolidate --mode daily
# Monthly (run via cron)
memory_cli.py consolidate --mode monthly --db-url "$TURSO_URL" --auth-token "$TURSO_TOKEN"
Recommended schedule:
- Quick: Every 2-4 hours (heartbeat)
- Daily: Midnight via cron
- Monthly: 1st of month via cron
Critical Sync (Cloud-First)
Purpose: Cloud backup of hot state + tree after every conversation.
What syncs:
- Hot memory state (identity, owner profile, active context, lessons)
- Tree index (structure + counts)
- Timestamp
Recovery: If device lost, restore from cloud in <2 minutes
Usage:
# Manual critical sync
memory_cli.py sync-critical --db-url "$TURSO_URL" --auth-token "$TURSO_TOKEN" --agent-id default
# Automatic: Call after every important conversation
# In agent code:
# 1. Process conversation
# 2. Store distilled facts
# 3. Call sync-critical
Retry strategy: Exponential backoff if cloud unreachable (5s, 10s, 20s, 40s)
Metrics & Observability
Tracked metrics:
{
"tree_index_size_bytes": 1842,
"tree_node_count": 37,
"hot_memory_size_bytes": 4200,
"warm_memory_count": 145,
"warm_memory_size_kb": 38.2,
"retrieval_count": 234,
"evictions_today": 12,
"reinforcements_today": 67,
"consolidation_count": 8,
"last_consolidation": 1707350400,
"context_tokens_saved": 47800,
"timestamp": "2026-02-10T14:30:00"
}
Usage:
memory_cli.py metrics --agent-id default
Key metrics:
- context_tokens_saved — Estimated tokens saved vs. flat MEMORY.md
- retrieval_count — How often memories are accessed
- evictions_today — Memory pressure indicator
- warm_memory_size_kb — Storage usage
Commands Reference
Store
memory_cli.py store --text "Fact text" --category "path/to/category" [--importance 0.8] [--agent-id default]
Importance guide:
0.9-1.0— Critical decisions, credentials, core identity0.7-0.8— Project decisions, architecture, preferences0.5-0.6— General facts, daily events0.3-0.4— Casual mentions, low priority
Example:
memory_cli.py store \
--text "Decided to deploy EvoClaw on BSC testnet before mainnet" \
--category "projects/evoclaw/deployment" \
--importance 0.85 \
--db-url "$TURSO_URL" --auth-token "$TURSO_TOKEN"
# Store with explicit metadata (v2.1.0+)
memory_cli.py store \
--text "Z-Image ComfyUI model for photorealistic images" \
--category "tools/image-generation" \
--importance 0.8 \
--url "https://docs.comfy.org/tutorials/image/z-image/z-image" \
--command "huggingface-cli download Tongyi-MAI/Z-Image" \
--path "/home/user/models/"
Validate (v2.1.0)
memory_cli.py validate [--file PATH] [--agent-id default]
Purpose: Check daily notes for incomplete information (missing URLs, commands, next steps).
Example:
# Validate today's daily notes
memory_cli.py validate
# Validate specific file
memory_cli.py validate --file memory/2026-02-13.md
Output:
{
"status": "warning",
"warnings_count": 2,
"warnings": [
"Tool 'Z-Image' mentioned without URL/documentation link",
"Action 'install' mentioned without command example"
],
"suggestions": [
"Add URLs for mentioned tools/services",
"Include command examples for setup/installation steps",
"Document next steps after decisions"
]
}
Extract Metadata (v2.1.0)
memory_cli.py extract-metadata --file PATH
Purpose: Extract structured metadata (URLs, commands, paths) from a file.
Example:
memory_cli.py extract-metadata --file memory/2026-02-13.md
Output:
{
"file": "memory/2026-02-13.md",
"metadata": {
"urls": [
"https://docs.comfy.org/tutorials/image/z-image/z-image",
"https://github.com/Lightricks/LTX-Video"
],
"commands": [
"huggingface-cli download Tongyi-MAI/Z-Image",
"git clone https://github.com/Lightricks/LTX-Video.git"
],
"paths": [
"/home/peter/ai-stack/comfyui/models",
"./configs/ltx-video-2-config.yaml"
]
},
"summary": {
"urls_count": 2,
"commands_count": 2,
"paths_count": 2
}
}
Search by URL (v2.1.0)
memory_cli.py search-url --url FRAGMENT [--limit 5] [--agent-id default]
Purpose: Search facts by URL fragment.
Example:
# Find all facts with comfy.org URLs
memory_cli.py search-url --url "comfy.org"
# Find GitHub repos
memory_cli.py search-url --url "github.com" --limit 10
Output:
{
"query": "comfy.org",
"results_count": 1,
"results": [
{
"id": "abc123",
"text": "Z-Image ComfyUI model for photorealistic images",
"category": "tools/image-generation",
"metadata": {
"urls": ["https://docs.comfy.org/tutorials/image/z-image/z-image"],
"commands": ["huggingface-cli download Tongyi-MAI/Z-Image"],
"paths": []
}
}
]
}
Retrieve
memory_cli.py retrieve --query "search query" [--limit 5] [--llm] [--llm-endpoint URL] [--agent-id default]
Modes:
- Default: Keyword-based tree + warm + cold search
--llm: LLM-powered semantic tree search
Example:
# Keyword search
memory_cli.py retrieve --query "BSC deployment decision" --limit 5
# LLM search (more accurate)
memory_cli.py retrieve \
--query "what did we decide about blockchain integration?" \
--llm --llm-endpoint http://localhost:8080/complete \
--db-url "$TURSO_URL" --auth-token "$TURSO_TOKEN"
Distill
memory_cli.py distill --text "raw conversation" [--llm] [--llm-endpoint URL]
Example:
# Rule-based distillation
memory_cli.py distill --text "User: Let's deploy to testnet first. Agent: Good idea, safer that way."
# LLM distillation
memory_cli.py distill \
--text "Long conversation with nuance..." \
--llm --llm-endpoint http://localhost:8080/complete
Output:
{
"distilled": {
"fact": "Decided to deploy to testnet before mainnet",
"emotion": "cautious",
"people": [],
"topics": ["deployment", "testnet", "safety"],
"actions": ["deploy to testnet"],
"outcome": "positive"
},
"mode": "rule",
"original_size": 87,
"distilled_size": 156
}
Hot Memory
# Update hot state
memory_cli.py hot --update KEY JSON [--agent-id default]
# Rebuild MEMORY.md
memory_cli.py hot --rebuild [--agent-id default]
# Show current hot state
memory_cli.py hot [--agent-id default]
Keys:
identity— Agent/owner identity infoowner_profile— Owner preferences, personalitylesson— Add critical lessonevent— Add event to active contexttask— Add task to active contextproject— Add/update project
Examples:
# Update owner profile
memory_cli.py hot --update owner_profile '{"timezone": "Australia/Sydney", "work_hours": "9am-6pm"}'
# Add lesson
memory_cli.py hot --update lesson '{"text": "Always test on testnet first", "category": "blockchain", "importance": 0.9}'
# Add project
memory_cli.py hot --update project '{"name": "EvoClaw", "status": "Active", "description": "Self-evolving agent framework"}'
# Rebuild MEMORY.md
memory_cli.py hot --rebuild
Tree
# Show tree
memory_cli.py tree --show [--agent-id default]
# Add node
memory_cli.py tree --add "path/to/category" "Description" [--agent-id default]
# Remove node
memory_cli.py tree --remove "path/to/category" [--agent-id default]
# Prune dead nodes
memory_cli.py tree --prune [--agent-id default]
Examples:
# Add category
memory_cli.py tree --add "projects/evoclaw/bsc" "BSC blockchain integration"
# Remove empty category
memory_cli.py tree --remove "old/unused/path"
# Prune dead nodes (60+ days no activity)
memory_cli.py tree --prune
Cold Storage
# Initialize Turso tables
memory_cli.py cold --init --db-url URL --auth-token TOKEN
# Query cold storage
memory_cli.py cold --query "search term" [--limit 10] [--agent-id default] --db-url URL --auth-token TOKEN
Examples:
# Init tables (once)
memory_cli.py cold --init --db-url "https://your-db.turso.io" --auth-token "your-token"
# Query cold archive
memory_cli.py cold --query "blockchain decision" --limit 10 --db-url "$TURSO_URL" --auth-token "$TURSO_TOKEN"
Configuration
File: config.json (optional, uses defaults if not present)
{
"agent_id": "default",
"hot": {
"max_bytes": 5120,
"max_lessons": 20,
"max_events": 10,
"max_tasks": 10
},
"warm": {
"max_kb": 50,
"retention_days": 30,
"eviction_threshold": 0.3
},
"cold": {
"backend": "turso",
"retention_years": 10
},
"scoring": {
"half_life_days": 30,
"reinforcement_boost": 0.1
},
"tree": {
"max_nodes": 50,
"max_depth": 4,
"max_size_bytes": 2048
},
"distillation": {
"aggression": 0.7,
"max_distilled_bytes": 100,
"mode": "rule"
},
"consolidation": {
"warm_eviction": "hourly",
"tree_prune": "daily",
"tree_rebuild": "monthly"
}
}
Integration with OpenClaw Agents
After Conversation
import subprocess
import json
def process_conversation(user_message, agent_response, category="conversations"):
# 1. Distill conversation
text = f"User: {user_message}\nAgent: {agent_response}"
result = subprocess.run(
["python3", "skills/tiered-memory/scripts/memory_cli.py", "distill", "--text", text],
capture_output=True, text=True
)
distilled = json.loads(result.stdout)
# 2. Determine importance
importance = 0.7 if "decision" in distilled["distilled"]["outcome"] else 0.5
# 3. Store
subprocess.run([
"python3", "skills/tiered-memory/scripts/memory_cli.py", "store",
"--text", distilled["distilled"]["fact"],
"--category", category,
"--importance", str(importance),
"--db-url", os.getenv("TURSO_URL"),
"--auth-token", os.getenv("TURSO_TOKEN")
])
# 4. Critical sync
subprocess.run([
"python3", "skills/tiered-memory/scripts/memory_cli.py", "sync-critical",
"--db-url", os.getenv("TURSO_URL"),
"--auth-token", os.getenv("TURSO_TOKEN")
])
Before Responding (Retrieval)
def get_relevant_context(query):
result = subprocess.run(
[
"python3", "skills/tiered-memory/scripts/memory_cli.py", "retrieve",
"--query", query,
"--limit", "5",
"--llm",
"--llm-endpoint", "http://localhost:8080/complete",
"--db-url", os.getenv("TURSO_URL"),
"--auth-token", os.getenv("TURSO_TOKEN")
],
capture_output=True, text=True
)
memories = json.loads(result.stdout)
return "\n".join([f"- {m['text']}" for m in memories])
Heartbeat Consolidation
import schedule
# Hourly quick consolidation
schedule.every(2).hours.do(lambda: subprocess.run([
"python3", "skills/tiered-memory/scripts/memory_cli.py", "consolidate",
"--mode", "quick",
"--db-url", os.getenv("TURSO_URL"),
"--auth-token", os.getenv("TURSO_TOKEN")
]))
# Daily tree prune
schedule.every().day.at("00:00").do(lambda: subprocess.run([
"python3", "skills/tiered-memory/scripts/memory_cli.py", "consolidate",
"--mode", "daily",
"--db-url", os.getenv("TURSO_URL"),
"--auth-token", os.getenv("TURSO_TOKEN")
]))
# Monthly full consolidation
schedule.every().month.do(lambda: subprocess.run([
"python3", "skills/tiered-memory/scripts/memory_cli.py", "consolidate",
"--mode", "monthly",
"--db-url", os.getenv("TURSO_URL"),
"--auth-token", os.getenv("TURSO_TOKEN")
]))
LLM Integration
Model Recommendations
For Distillation & Tree Search:
- Claude 3 Haiku (fast, cheap, excellent structure)
- GPT-4o-mini (good balance)
- Gemini 1.5 Flash (very fast)
For Tree Rebuilding:
- Claude 3.5 Sonnet (better reasoning)
- GPT-4o (strong planning)
Cost Optimization
- Use cheaper models for frequent operations (distill, search)
- Batch distillation — Queue conversations, distill in batch
- Cache tree prompts — Tree structure doesn't change often
- Skip LLM for simple — Use rule-based for short conversations
Example LLM Endpoint
from flask import Flask, request, jsonify
app = Flask(__name__)
@app.route("/complete", methods=["POST"])
def complete():
data = request.json
prompt = data["prompt"]
# Call your LLM (OpenAI, Anthropic, local model, etc.)
response = llm_client.complete(prompt)
return jsonify({"text": response})
if __name__ == "__main__":
app.run(port=8080)
Performance Characteristics
Context Size:
- Hot: ~5KB (always loaded)
- Tree: ~2KB (always loaded)
- Retrieved: ~1-3KB per query
- Total: ~8-15KB (constant, regardless of agent age)
Retrieval Speed:
- Keyword: 10-20ms
- LLM tree search: 300-600ms
- Cold query: 50-100ms
5-Year Scenario:
- Hot: Still 5KB (living document)
- Warm: Last 30 days (~50KB)
- Cold: ~50MB in Turso (compressed distilled facts)
- Tree: Still 2KB (different nodes, same size)
- Context per session: Same as day 1
Comparison with Alternatives
| System | Memory Model | Scaling | Accuracy | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flat MEMORY.md | Linear text | ❌ Months | ⚠️ Degrades | ❌ Linear |
| Vector RAG | Embeddings | ✅ Years | ⚠️ Similarity≠relevance | ⚠️ Moderate |
| EvoClaw Tiered | Tree + tiers | ✅ Decades | ✅ Reasoning-based | ✅ Fixed |
Why tree > vectors:
- Accuracy: 98%+ vs. 70-80% (PageIndex benchmark)
- Explainable: "Projects → EvoClaw → BSC" vs. "cosine 0.73"
- Multi-hop: Natural vs. poor
- False positives: Low vs. high
Troubleshooting
Tree size exceeding limit
# Prune dead nodes
memory_cli.py tree --prune
# Check which nodes are largest
memory_cli.py tree --show | grep "Memories:"
# Manually remove unused categories
memory_cli.py tree --remove "unused/category"
Warm memory filling up
# Run consolidation
memory_cli.py consolidate --mode daily --db-url "$TURSO_URL" --auth-token "$TURSO_TOKEN"
# Check stats
memory_cli.py metrics
# Lower eviction threshold (keeps less in warm)
# Edit config.json: "eviction_threshold": 0.4
Hot memory exceeding 5KB
# Hot auto-prunes, but check structure
memory_cli.py hot
# Remove old projects/tasks manually
memory_cli.py hot --update project '{"name": "OldProject", "status": "Completed"}'
# Rebuild to force pruning
memory_cli.py hot --rebuild
LLM search failing
# Fallback to keyword search (automatic)
memory_cli.py retrieve --query "..." --limit 5
# Test LLM endpoint
curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/complete -d '{"prompt": "test"}'
# Generate prompt for external testing
tree_search.py --query "..." --tree-file memory/memory-tree.json --mode llm --llm-prompt-file test.txt
Migration from v1.x
Backward compatible: Existing warm-memory.json and memory-tree.json files work as-is.
New files:
config.json(optional, uses defaults)hot-memory-state.json(auto-created)metrics.json(auto-created)
Steps:
- Update skill:
clawhub update tiered-memory - Run consolidation to rebuild hot state:
memory_cli.py consolidate - Initialize cold storage (optional):
memory_cli.py cold --init --db-url ... --auth-token ... - Configure agent to use new commands (see Integration section)
Migration from v2.0 to v2.1
Fully backward compatible: Existing memory files work without changes.
What's new:
- ✅ Metadata automatically extracted from existing facts when loaded
- ✅ New commands:
validate,extract-metadata,search-url - ✅
storecommand now accepts--url,--command,--pathflags - ✅ Distillation preserves URLs and technical details
- ✅ No action required - just update and use new features
Testing the upgrade:
# Update skill
clawhub update tiered-memory
# Test metadata extraction
memory_cli.py extract-metadata --file memory/2026-02-13.md
# Validate your recent notes
memory_cli.py validate
# Search by URL
memory_cli.py search-url --url "github.com"
References
- Design:
/docs/TIERED-MEMORY.md(EvoClaw) - Cloud Sync:
/docs/CLOUD-SYNC.md(EvoClaw) - Inspiration: PageIndex (tree-based retrieval)
v2.1.0 — A mind that remembers everything is as useless as one that remembers nothing. The art is knowing what to keep. Now with structured metadata to remember HOW, not just WHAT. 🧠🌲🔗
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