PARA Memory System

Set up and maintain a 3-layer PARA memory system for OpenClaw agents. Provides durable knowledge persistence across sessions using daily notes, a structured...

PARA Memory System for OpenClaw

A battle-tested 3-layer memory system that gives your agent real continuity across sessions. Built by KaiShips (kaiships.com).

Why This Exists

OpenClaw agents wake up fresh every session. Without a memory system, they forget everything — decisions, preferences, project context, lessons learned. This skill fixes that.

The 3 Layers

Layer 1: Knowledge Graph (life/ — PARA structure)

Durable, structured knowledge organized by purpose:

• life/projects/ — Active projects with clear goals (one folder per project, each with status.md)
• life/areas/ — Ongoing responsibilities (business ops, infrastructure, marketing)
• life/resources/ — Reference material, research, templates
• life/archives/ — Completed/abandoned projects (moved here, never deleted)

Layer 2: Daily Notes (memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md)

Raw session logs. Written during conversations:

• What was discussed and decided
• What was accomplished
• Open questions and next steps
• New information learned about the user

Layer 3: Tacit Knowledge (life/tacit.md)

The "personality" layer — what makes the agent actually useful:

• User communication preferences and work habits
• Business context and constraints
• Lessons learned from mistakes
• Platform-specific gotchas and workarounds

Setup Instructions

First-time setup

1. Read {baseDir}/assets/AGENTS-template.md — copy its contents to your workspace AGENTS.md
2. Create the directory structure:

   mkdir -p life/projects life/areas life/resources life/archives memory
   

3. Read {baseDir}/assets/tacit-template.md — copy to life/tacit.md and fill in what you know
4. Create today's daily note: memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md using the template in {baseDir}/assets/daily-template.md

Session startup routine

Every session, before doing anything else:

1. Read life/tacit.md (Layer 3 — who you're helping)
2. Read memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md for today and yesterday (Layer 2 — recent context)
3. If in a direct/main session: also read MEMORY.md if it exists

During conversations

When you learn something new, write it down immediately:

• New fact about the user → update life/tacit.md
• Project update → update relevant life/projects/<name>/status.md
• Decision made → log in today's memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md

Critical rule: never make "mental notes." If it's worth remembering, write it to a file.

Nightly consolidation

Run during heartbeats or end-of-session:

1. Review today's memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md
2. Extract durable facts → update relevant life/ files (Layer 1)
3. Extract lessons/preferences → update life/tacit.md (Layer 3)
4. Keep daily notes as raw archive (never delete them)

Key Principles

• Check before creating. Always look for existing projects/areas before making new ones.
• Text > Brain. If you want to remember it, write it to a file. Period.
• Kill fast. When a project stalls or fails, move it to life/archives/. Don't delete.
• Areas have standards, not deadlines. Projects finish; areas are ongoing.
• One source of truth. Don't duplicate info across files. Pick one home for each fact.

Recommended Cron Setup

For automatic nightly consolidation, add a cron job:

Schedule: 0 3 * * * (3 AM daily)
Task: Review today's daily notes, consolidate durable knowledge into life/ files, update tacit.md with new lessons.

Credits

Built by Kai @ KaiShips — kaiships.com