Openclaw Session Management Blueprint

Persistent conversation storage with automatic disk budgeting, transcript rotation, and session lifecycle tracking across messaging channels

Feature	openclaw-session-management
Category	Data
Version	1.0.0
Tags	persistence, conversation, storage, lifecycle, maintenance
YAML Source	View on GitHub
JSON API	openclaw-session-management.json

Actors

ID	Name	Type	Description
agent	AI Agent	system
gateway	OpenClaw Gateway	system
user	End User	human
storage_engine	File Storage System	system

Fields

Name	Type	Required	Label	Description
session_id	text	Yes	Session ID
session_key	text	Yes	Session Key
agent_id	text	Yes	Agent ID
channel	text	No	Channel
account_id	text	No	Account ID
created_at	datetime	Yes	Created At
updated_at	datetime	Yes	Updated At
last_activity	datetime	No	Last Activity
idle_minutes	number	No	Idle Timeout Minutes
message_count	number	Yes	Message Count
transcript_bytes	number	Yes	Transcript Size (bytes)
model_override	text	No	Model Override
provider_override	text	No	Provider Override
thinking_level	select	No	Thinking Level
input_tokens	number	No	Input Tokens
output_tokens	number	No	Output Tokens
last_channel	text	No	Last Delivery Channel
last_to	text	No	Last Delivery Target
transcript_file	text	Yes	Transcript File Path

States

State field: undefined

Rules

• session_lifecycle:

  • creation: Sessions created implicitly on first inbound message. sessionKey derived from: agent_id + channel + account_id + peer. Initial entry written with createdAt, updatedAt, sessionId, empty transcript.

  • updates: Every agent response updates session:

• Append messages to transcript
• Increment updatedAt
• Update last_activity, token counts

• Record model/provider overrides Atomic write with file lock (acquireSessionWriteLock). Max concurrent writers per session: 1. Lock timeout: 30 seconds.

  • archival_on_reset: When reset trigger matches:
• Rotate transcript: .json → .reset..json
• Start new transcript: .json = []

• Retention: configurable (default 30 days)

  • idle_timeout: If idleMinutes > 0:
• Check: now - last_activity > idleMinutes * 60000

• If true: trigger session.reset (rotate, clear context)

• transcript_management:

  • message_append: Messages appended as objects to transcript[]: { id: string; role: “user”|”assistant”; content: string; createdAt: ISO8601; tokens?: { input, output }; metadata?: { channel, threadId, … }; }

  • message_size_limits: Individual messages capped at 128KB. Oversized: replaced with “[chat.history omitted: message too large]”. Total history display limit: 12K chars.

  • transcript_rotation: Reset triggers: cron-based or manual /reset command. Old transcript archived to reset_archives. Storage: sessions.json (index) + per-session files.

• disk_budget_enforcement:

  • budget_limits: maxDiskBytes: total allowed storage (default 5GB). highWaterBytes: cleanup threshold (default 80% of max). Enforcement: check on every write. Exceeds max: pruneStaleEntries() removes oldest archives (FIFO).

  • pruning_strategy: When totalBytes > maxDiskBytes: 1. Sort sessions by updatedAt (oldest first) 2. Delete oldest reset_archives per session 3. If still over budget: delete oldest sessions Entries capped at max (default 500).

  • cache_invalidation: After disk budget enforcement:

• Clear memory cache

• Reload from disk on next access

• concurrent_access:
  • write_locking: File-based locking via acquireSessionWriteLock():
• One writer per sessionKey at a time
• Queued writes wait (timeout: 30s)

• Automatic release on completion Release: on write completion or timeout.

  • read_caching: Recent entries cached in memory. Cache valid until session updated. On write: clear cache for that sessionKey.

  • deadlock_prevention: Lock timeout: 30 seconds. Stale lock detection: >1 minute assumed crashed. Automatic cleanup: remove stale lock, retry.

SLA

Scope	Max Duration	Escalation
write_latency	500ms
disk_budget_check	1s
concurrent_writers

Outcomes

Message_appended (Priority: 1) | Transaction: atomic

Given:

• session exists or will be created
• session_key (input) exists
• new message content provided

Then:

• set_field target: message_count value: existing + 1
• set_field target: updated_at value: now
• set_field target: transcript_bytes value: serialized size
• emit_event event: session.updated

Result: Message persisted, session metadata updated

Transcript_rotated (Priority: 2) | Transaction: atomic

Given:

• reset trigger matched OR /reset command
• session has messages

Then:

• create_record target: reset_archives value: archive entry with path, counts, bytes
• set_field target: message_count value: 0
• transition_state field: lifecycle_state from: active to: reset
• emit_event event: session.reset

Result: Old transcript archived, new session started

Disk_budget_enforced (Priority: 3) — Error: DISK_CLEANUP_FAILED | Transaction: atomic

Given:

• total_bytes_used (computed) gt max_disk_bytes

Then:

• call_service target: external_service
• delete_record target: reset_archives
• emit_event event: disk_budget.exceeded

Result: Old transcripts deleted, disk budget enforced

Idle_session_reset (Priority: 4)

Given:

• idle_minutes (system) gt 0
• elapsed_time (computed) gt idle_minutes minutes

Then:

• transition_state field: lifecycle_state from: active to: idle
• emit_event event: session.reset

Result: Session marked idle, awaiting reset

Errors

Code	Status	Message	Retry
SESSION_NOT_FOUND	404	Session does not exist	No
DISK_QUOTA_EXCEEDED	500	Insufficient storage for new message	No
WRITE_LOCK_TIMEOUT	503	Session write lock timeout	No
TRANSCRIPT_CORRUPTION	500	Session transcript corrupted	No
INVALID_SESSION_KEY	400	Invalid session key format	No
DISK_CLEANUP_FAILED	500	Disk cleanup failed during budget enforcement	No

Events

Event	Description	Payload
session.created		session_id, session_key, agent_id, channel, created_at
session.updated		session_id, message_count, transcript_bytes, updated_at
session.reset		session_id, reason, previous_message_count
session.archived		session_id, archived_reset_count
session.deleted		session_id, reclaimed_bytes, reason
disk_budget.exceeded		total_bytes_used, max_bytes, sessions_pruned, bytes_freed

Related Blueprints

Feature	Relationship	Reason
openclaw-message-routing	required	Route resolution provides session_key
openclaw-gateway-authentication	required	User auth determines session isolation scope
openclaw-llm-provider	required	Agent writes messages and token counts to session

AGI Readiness

Goals

Reliable Openclaw Session Management

Persistent conversation storage with automatic disk budgeting, transcript rotation, and session lifecycle tracking across messaging channels

Success Metrics:

Metric	Target	Measurement
data_accuracy	100%	Records matching source of truth
duplicate_rate	0%	Duplicate records detected post-creation

Constraints:

• performance (non-negotiable): Data consistency must be maintained across concurrent operations

Autonomy

Level: supervised

Human Checkpoints:

• before making irreversible changes

Escalation Triggers:

• error_rate > 5

Tradeoffs

Prefer	Over	Reason
data_integrity	performance	data consistency must be maintained across all operations

Coordination

Protocol: orchestrated

Consumes:

Capability	From	Fallback
openclaw_message_routing	openclaw-message-routing	degrade
openclaw_gateway_authentication	openclaw-gateway-authentication	degrade
openclaw_llm_provider	openclaw-llm-provider	degrade

Safety

Action	Permission	Cooldown	Max Auto
message_appended	autonomous	-	-
transcript_rotated	autonomous	-	-
disk_budget_enforced	autonomous	-	-
idle_session_reset	autonomous	-	-

Extensions (framework-specific hints)

```yaml tech_stack: language: TypeScript storage: JSON5 file-based with atomic writes patterns: - File-based session isolation - Write-lock queuing - Disk budget LRU cleanup ```