Memory & Identity

OpenClaw v2026.5.22-beta.1 is a comprehensive release focused on documentation improvements, performance optimizations, and QA enhancements. Key updates include reducing package size by excluding documentation assets, improving model listing performance by ~4,100x through auth-state pre-warming, adding session pagination to the chat UI, and expanding QA-Lab test coverage with new runtime parity scenarios. The release also refines plugin SDK capabilities, updates dependencies including protobufjs to 8.4.0, and clarifies configuration guidance across multiple integrations (WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord, xAI/Grok, etc.).

OpenClaw v2026.5.20 is a maintenance and feature release that enhances Discord voice session handling with context awareness, adds device-code OAuth for xAI, introduces a bundled Policy plugin for workspace conformance checks, and includes numerous bug fixes across CLI tasks, provider integrations, and agent configurations. Key improvements focus on security (symlink validation, plaintext secret warnings), reliability (task maintenance tracking, image timeouts, hook timeouts), and user experience (model pinning clarity, typing indicators, Discord button preservation).

OpenClaw v2026.5.20-beta.2 introduces significant improvements to Discord voice sessions with context-aware profile integration, adds device-code OAuth for xAI provider authentication, implements a bundled Policy plugin for workspace conformance checks, and includes numerous bug fixes across CLI tasks, Codex app-server, provider integrations, and agent message handling. The release enhances security by removing legacy skill-file compatibility paths and warning about plaintext secrets in configuration, while improving stability through better error handling, timeout management, and diagnostic reporting.

OpenClaw v2026.5.20-beta.1 introduces Discord voice session improvements with user following and profile context, adds a bundled Policy plugin for channel conformance checks, enables per-agent local model configuration, and implements device-code OAuth for xAI. The release includes 40+ bug fixes spanning WhatsApp, browser image handling, cron scheduling, agent messaging, plugin performance, and platform-specific improvements across Discord, Mattermost, Matrix, and Windows.

This guide demonstrates how to build Claude Managed Agents with persistent memory capabilities that learn and retain user preferences across multiple sessions. Users create a memory store, configure a shopping agent with file access tools, and show how the agent automatically reads and updates customer preferences on repeat visits. The memory system uses a simple file-based approach mounted at /mnt/memory/ that both the agent and application can access via API.

OpenClaw v2026.4.15-beta.1 introduces significant enhancements across control UI, memory management, and security. Key additions include OAuth token health monitoring, cloud storage support for LanceDB memory indexes, GitHub Copilot embedding provider integration, and experimental lean mode for local models. The release focuses on security hardening with credential redaction, symlink protection, and improved authentication handling, alongside numerous bug fixes for CLI configuration, memory access control, and provider failover logic.

OpenClaw v2026.4.12 is a comprehensive quality release emphasizing plugin loading reliability, memory system improvements, and expanded local model support. Key additions include an Active Memory sub-agent plugin, local MLX speech provider for Talk Mode, LM Studio provider for self-hosted models, and enhanced Feishu setup workflows. The release also addresses critical security fixes, dreaming/narrative stability, and improves gateway lifecycle management and Matrix client streaming support.

OpenClaw v2026.4.12-beta.1 introduces significant improvements to plugin loading, memory recall, and dreaming functionality. Key changes include narrowing plugin activation to manifest-declared needs, improving QMD recall search telemetry, and fixing critical issues with memory retrieval, dreaming narrative cleanup, and gateway authentication. The release also expands documentation for providers and memory-wiki setups while addressing numerous edge cases in CLI updates, Unicode handling, and WebSocket keepalive mechanisms.

This cookbook demonstrates how to build AI agents with persistent memory using Claude's memory tool and context editing capabilities. It addresses challenges of long-running agents losing learned patterns between sessions and context window overflow by implementing cross-conversation learning and automatic context management. The guide covers practical implementations for use cases like code review assistants, research assistants, and customer support bots, with setup instructions and best practices for memory security and organization.

This cookbook article introduces the Claude Agent SDK for building multi-agent systems, using a Chief of Staff agent for a startup as the primary example. It demonstrates key features including persistent memory via CLAUDE.md files, bash tool execution for Python scripts, and coordination of specialized subagents. The article progressively builds a comprehensive agent system that aggregates insights from multiple domains to provide executive summaries and actionable recommendations for a CEO managing a $10M Series A startup.

Claude Code v2.1.59 introduces auto-memory context saving with /memory management, a new /copy command for interactive code block selection, and improved bash command prefix suggestions for compound commands. The release also includes memory optimization for multi-agent sessions, fixes for MCP OAuth token refresh race conditions, and better error messaging for deleted working directories.