claws-dream

⚠️ DEPRECATED — OpenClaw 2026.4.5+ has official Dreaming (memory-core) built-in. This skill is no longer maintained. Use the official /dreaming slash command...

Security Scan

The skill's requested actions, files, and instructions are consistent with a local 'nightly memory consolidation' tool; it reads and updates workspace memory files and schedules local runs, and does not request unrelated credentials or perform obvious exfiltration.

Purpose & Capability

Name/description (memory consolidation) match the included scripts and documentation. The scripts and Python module operate on the workspace MEMORY.md, memory/ directory, and index.json as expected for a consolidation/indexing tool. No unrelated binaries or credentials are requested.

Instruction Scope

Runtime instructions explicitly read and modify files in the workspace (MEMORY.md, memory/*.md, memory/index.json), mark processed logs, create backups, and generate a dashboard — all within the stated scope. The SKILL.md also instructs the user to change agent timeout in openclaw.json and to create system schedulers (launchd/systemd/cron) which require user/system changes; this is operationally relevant but broadens the surface area and should be applied deliberately. The script triggers an 'openclaw cron run <UUID>' command — plausible for invoking platform run logic but opaque; review that UUID/command if you want to be certain what it triggers.

Install Mechanism

There is no network install step or remote download; the skill is instruction-only with included local scripts and a Python module. Nothing in the install spec writes arbitrary remote code or pulls from unknown URLs.

Credentials

The skill requires no environment variables or external credentials. The scripts optionally use OPENCLAW_WORKSPACE (falling back to a sane ~/.openclaw/workspace); this is appropriate for a local workspace tool and not excessive.

Persistence & Privilege

The skill does not request always:true and is user-invocable only. It instructs users to add scheduled tasks to run the script nightly (system-level cron/systemd/launchd entries) and to increase the agent timeout in openclaw.json — both are legitimate for a long-running nightly job but grant persistent, automated execution on the host if the user configures them. The agent-invocation command ('openclaw cron run <UUID>') is able to trigger platform behavior; confirm the UUID's intent before enabling automation.

Assessment

This skill is coherent with its stated purpose: it reads your workspace memory files and updates MEMORY.md and memory/index.json, makes backups, and can be scheduled to run nightly. Before installing or enabling scheduled runs: 1) Review scripts/dream.sh and scripts/update-index.py to ensure you are comfortable with the exact file paths they read/write; they operate on ~/.openclaw/workspace by default. 2) The skill asks you to change openclaw.json timeout and to create system cron/systemd/launchd tasks — these are manual host changes that grant the skill persistent automated runs; only apply them if you trust the code. 3) Inspect the 'openclaw cron run <UUID>' invocation (in dream.sh) to confirm what platform action that UUID triggers. 4) Because the skill will read private interaction logs and write memory files, consider running it in a test workspace first and keep a copy of MEMORY.md backups before enabling automation. If you prefer an officially supported alternative, the SKILL.md itself says newer OpenClaw versions include built-in dreaming — consider using that instead.

🦐 Nightly Dream — Memory Consolidation System

"While you sleep, your memories consolidate. Now your AI does too."

A biologically-inspired memory consolidation system. Every night, fragments of your interactions are distilled into structured long-term knowledge — duplicates merged, insights captured, stale memories gracefully archived.

Features

• 🌙 Four-Stage Dream Cycle: Orient → Gather → Consolidate → Prune
• 📊 5-Metric Health Score: Freshness, Coverage, Coherence, Efficiency, Reachability
• 🎯 Importance Scoring: Base weight × recency × reference boost
• 🗑️ Forgetting Curve: Automatic archival of stale, low-importance entries
• 🔗 Knowledge Graph: Related entries tracked via index.json
• 📈 Milestones: First dream, streaks, entry count milestones
• 🏥 Smart Skip: No new content? Still delivers value with memory recall
• 📊 Dashboard: Auto-generated HTML health dashboard
• 🔔 Rich Notifications: Growth metrics, highlights, insights, stale threads

Memory Architecture

workspace/
├── MEMORY.md              # Structured long-term knowledge
└── memory/
    ├── index.json         # Entry metadata + health stats
    ├── procedures.md       # Workflow preferences
    ├── archive.md         # Archived entries (faded)
    ├── dream-log.md       # Consolidation reports
    ├── dashboard.html     # Generated health dashboard
    ├── YYYY-MM-DD.md      # Daily interaction logs
    └── episodes/          # Project narratives

Quick Start

Manual Trigger

"Run dream" / "Consolidate memory" / "Dream now"

Automatic (Cron)

Pre-configured cron job runs at 03:00 daily.

Dream Cycle Flow

Step 0: Smart Skip

Checks for unconsolidated logs. If none → still delivers value via memory recall.

Step 1: Collect

Reads unconsolidated daily logs. Extracts decisions, facts, lessons, todos.

Step 2: Consolidate

Compares with MEMORY.md. Semantic dedup. New → append, Updated → modify, Duplicate → skip.

Step 3: Score & Prune

Computes health score (5 metrics). Archives stale entries below importance threshold.

Step 4: Notify

Sends rich notification with growth metrics, highlights, insights, and suggestions.

Health Metrics

Metric	Weight	Description
Freshness	25%	Entries referenced in last 30 days
Coverage	25%	Sections updated in last 14 days
Coherence	20%	Entries with relation links
Efficiency	15%	MEMORY.md line count (concise)
Reachability	15%	Connected components in graph

Importance Markers

Marker	Effect
🔥 HIGH	2x importance weight
📌 PIN	Exempt from archival
⚠️ PERMANENT	Never archive or modify

Archival Rules

Entry archived when ALL true:

• 90+ days since last referenced
• Importance < 0.3
• Not marked PIN or PERMANENT
• Not in episodes/

Manual Commands

Command	Action
"Dream now"	Run full consolidation
"Memory status"	Show health score + stats
"Memory dashboard"	Generate dashboard.html
"Memory export"	Export memories to JSON

⚠️ Timeout Configuration (Critical!)

This skill requires a longer timeout to run properly. Add this to your openclaw.json under agents.defaults:

"agents": {
  "defaults": {
    "timeoutSeconds": 300
  }
}

Without this, the dream consolidation will timeout and fail. The skill scans many files and needs time to read, analyze, and write memory.

Cron Configuration (macOS launchd)

Create ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.openclaw.claws-dream.plist:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.openclaw.claws-dream</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/bin/bash</string>
        <string>/Users/clawliu/.openclaw/workspace/skills/claws-dream/scripts/dream.sh</string>
    </array>
    <key>StartCalendarInterval</key>
    <dict>
        <key>Hour</key>
        <integer>3</integer>
        <key>Minute</key>
        <integer>0</integer>
    </dict>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <false/>
    <key>StandardOutPath</key>
    <string>/Users/clawliu/.openclaw/workspace/logs/claws-dream.log</string>
    <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
    <string>/Users/clawliu/.openclaw/workspace/logs/claws-dream.err</string>
</dict>
</plist>

Load with:

launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.openclaw.claws-dream.plist

Linux (systemd timer)

Create /etc/systemd/system/claws-dream.service:

[Unit]
Description=claws-dream nightly memory consolidation

[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=/bin/bash /home/user/.openclaw/workspace/skills/claws-dream/scripts/dream.sh
User=user

Create /etc/systemd/system/claws-dream.timer:

[Unit]
Description=Run claws-dream daily at 3 AM

[Timer]
OnCalendar=*-*-* 03:00:00
Persistent=true

[Install]
WantedBy=timers.target

Enable with:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable --now claws-dream.timer

Linux (cron)

0 3 * * * /bin/bash /home/user/.openclaw/workspace/skills/claws-dream/scripts/dream.sh >> /home/user/.openclaw/workspace/logs/claws-dream.log 2>&1

Windows (WSL)

:: Run via Windows Task Scheduler pointing to WSL
wsl bash -c "bash /mnt/c/Users/you/.openclaw/workspace/skills/claws-dream/scripts/dream.sh"

Or create a .bat file:

@echo off
wsl bash -c "bash /home/you/.openclaw/workspace/skills/claws-dream/scripts/dream.sh"

Windows (PowerShell Task Scheduler)

$action = New-ScheduledTaskAction -Execute 'bash' -Argument '-c "bash /home/you/.openclaw/workspace/skills/claws-dream/scripts/dream.sh"'
$trigger = New-ScheduledTaskTrigger -Daily -At 3am
Register-ScheduledTask -TaskName 'claws-dream' -Action $action -Trigger $trigger -RunLevel Limited

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Reference Files

• references/dream-prompt.md — Full consolidation prompt

• references/first-dream-prompt.md — First run initialization

• references/scoring.md — Health score algorithms

• references/memory-template.md — File templates

• references/dashboard-template.md — HTML dashboard template

Safety Rules

1. Never delete daily logs — only mark with <!-- consolidated -->
2. Never remove ⚠️ PERMANENT items — user-protected
3. Safe changes — if MEMORY.md changes >30%, save .bak first
4. Scope — only read/write memory/ directory and MEMORY.md

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Version 2.2 — Built with 🦐 by Crayfish Liu