OpenClaw Session Compact Plugin 🔄

Intelligent session compression plugin for OpenClaw that automatically manages token consumption and supports unlimited-length conversations. By automatically compressing historical messages into structured summaries, it significantly reduces token usage (typically 85-95% savings).

✨ Key Features

Automatic Compression: Triggers when session tokens approach threshold
Smart Summaries: Preserves key information (timeline, todos, files)
Seamless Continuation: Conversations continue without user intervention
Fallback Protection: Code-based extraction when LLM unavailable
Recursive Compression: Supports multiple compression cycles
CLI Commands: openclaw compact, openclaw compact-status, openclaw compact-config, openclaw sessions, openclaw session-info

🚀 Quick Start

1. Installation

From ClawHub (recommended):

# Install the code plugin
clawhub install openclaw-session-compact

Manual installation (if ClawHub is not available):

⚠️ Important: This plugin requires compilation. Do not skip the build step!

# Step 1: Clone the plugin
git clone https://github.com/SDC-creator/openclaw-session-compact.git \
  ~/.openclaw/extensions/openclaw-session-compact

# Step 2: Install dependencies
cd ~/.openclaw/extensions/openclaw-session-compact
npm install --production

# Step 3: Build the plugin (TypeScript → JavaScript)
npm run build

# Step 4: Verify the build
ls dist/index.js  # Should exist

Troubleshooting:

If you see plugin not found error, ensure dist/ directory exists
If build fails, check Node.js version (requires v18+ or v22+)

2. Plugin Configuration

After installation, configure the plugin in ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json:

{
  "plugins": {
    "allow": ["openclaw-session-compact"],
    "entries": {
      "openclaw-session-compact": {
        "enabled": true
      }
    }
  }
}

3. Restart Gateway

openclaw gateway restart

4. Verify Installation

openclaw status | grep session-compact
# Expected output: "openclaw-session-compact: loaded"

3. Compression Configuration (Optional)

Configure compression behavior in ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json:

{
  "plugins": {
    "entries": {
      "openclaw-session-compact": {
        "enabled": true,
        "config": {
          "max_tokens": 10000,
          "preserve_recent": 4,
          "auto_compact": true,
          "model": ""
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Using CLI to set configuration (recommended):

# Set max_tokens threshold
openclaw config set plugins.entries.openclaw-session-compact.config.max_tokens 10000 --strict-json

# Set preserve_recent
openclaw config set plugins.entries.openclaw-session-compact.config.preserve_recent 4 --strict-json

# Set auto_compact
openclaw config set plugins.entries.openclaw-session-compact.config.auto_compact true --strict-json

# Restart gateway to apply changes
openclaw gateway restart

View current configuration:

openclaw config get plugins.entries.openclaw-session-compact.config

4. Usage

CLI Commands:

# Check current session status
openclaw compact-status

# Manually compress current session
openclaw compact

# Force compression (ignores threshold)
openclaw compact --force

# View configuration
openclaw compact-config

# View specific config value
openclaw compact-config max_tokens

# Set config value (not persisted)
openclaw compact-config max_tokens 5000

# List all saved sessions
openclaw sessions

# Show detailed session information
openclaw session-info --session-id my-session

Automatic Mode (Recommended):

# Start OpenClaw - compression works automatically
openclaw start
# Auto-compresses when conversation exceeds threshold

📊 How It Works

Compression Flow

1. Monitor token usage
   ↓
2. Exceeds threshold (90%)?
   ├─ No → Continue conversation
   └─ Yes → Trigger compression
        ↓
3. Keep last N messages (default: 4)
   ↓
4. Compress old messages into structured summary
   ├─ Scope: Statistics
   ├─ Recent requests: Last 3 user requests
   ├─ Pending work: To-dos
   ├─ Key files: Important files
   ├─ Tools used: Tools mentioned
   └─ Key timeline: Conversation timeline
   ↓
5. Replace old messages with System summary
   ↓
6. Seamlessly continue conversation

Compression Example

Before: 50 messages (1,250 tokens)

user: Message 1...
assistant: Message 2...
...
user: Message 49...
assistant: Message 50...

After: 5 messages (360 tokens) - 92% token savings

system: Summary:
- Scope: 46 earlier messages compacted
- Recent requests:
  - Message 37: Discussing complex problem
  - Message 41: File operations
  - Message 45: Tool usage details
- Pending work: Continue debugging
- Key timeline:
  - user: Message 37...
  - assistant: Message 38...
  - user: Message 39...

user: Message 49...
assistant: Message 50...

🔧 Configuration Reference

Parameter	Type	Default	Description	Recommended
`max_tokens`	number	10000	Token threshold for compression	5000-20000
`preserve_recent`	number	4	Number of recent messages to keep	4-6
`auto_compact`	boolean	true	Enable automatic compression	true
`model`	string	''	Model for summary generation	Global default

Configuration Examples

Conservative Mode (frequent compression, max token savings):

{
  "max_tokens": 5000,
  "preserve_recent": 6
}

Aggressive Mode (fewer compressions, more context):

{
  "max_tokens": 20000,
  "preserve_recent": 3
}

📚 API Documentation

Core Functions

`compactSession(messages, config)`

Compresses a session and returns the result.

async function compactSession(
  messages: Array<{ role: string; content?: string }>,
  config: CompactConfig
): Promise<CompactionResult>

Parameters:

messages: Array of conversation messages
config: Configuration object

Returns:

interface CompactionResult {
  summary: string;           // Raw summary
  formattedSummary: string;  // Formatted summary
  removedCount: number;      // Messages removed
  savedTokens: number;       // Tokens saved
}

Example:

const result = await compactSession(messages, {
  max_tokens: 10000,
  preserve_recent: 4
});

console.log(`Removed ${result.removedCount} messages, saved ${result.savedTokens} tokens`);

`shouldCompact(messages, config)`

Checks if compression is needed.

function shouldCompact(
  messages: Array<{ content?: string }>,
  config: CompactConfig
): boolean

Example:

if (shouldCompact(messages, config)) {
  console.log('Compression needed');
}

`estimateTokenCount(messages)`

Estimates token count for messages.

function estimateTokenCount(
  messages: Array<{ content?: string }>
): number

Note: Uses simplified algorithm (4 chars ≈ 1 token).

🛠️ Development Guide

Local Development

# Navigate to project
cd <project-root>

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build
npm run build

# Development mode (watch for changes)
npm run dev

# Run tests
npm test

# Check coverage
npm run test:coverage

Project Structure

openclaw-session-compact/
├── src/
│   ├── index.ts              # Plugin entry point (register function)
│   ├── compact/
│   │   ├── config.ts         # Configuration management
│   │   ├── engine.ts         # Core compression logic
│   │   └── __tests__/        # Unit tests (94 tests, 94.65% coverage)
│   │       ├── config.test.ts
│   │       ├── engine.test.ts
│   │       ├── engine-integration.test.ts
│   │       └── engine-mock.test.ts
│   └── cli/
│       └── register.ts       # CLI command registration (legacy)
├── bin/
│   └── openclaw-compact.js   # Standalone CLI entry point
├── package.json
├── openclaw.plugin.json      # OpenClaw plugin manifest
├── tsconfig.json
└── README.md

Plugin Architecture

This project is an OpenClaw plugin (not just a workspace skill). Key differences:

Aspect	Workspace Skill	Plugin
Location	`workspace/skills/`	`~/.openclaw/extensions/`
Purpose	Documentation for LLM	Executable code
Entry	`SKILL.md` with frontmatter	`dist/index.js` with `register()`
CLI	Not supported	Supported via `api.registerCli()`

Adding New Features

Add new function in src/compact/engine.ts
Add corresponding test in src/compact/__tests__/ or src/__tests__/
Run npm run test:coverage to ensure coverage doesn't decrease
Update README.md documentation
Rebuild: npm run build
Sync to extensions: copy dist/, package.json, openclaw.plugin.json to ~/.openclaw/extensions/openclaw-session-compact/

📦 Publishing to ClawHub

Prerequisites

Login to ClawHub: clawhub login (GitHub OAuth)
Verify identity: clawhub whoami

Publish as Code Plugin

# Build first
npm run build

# Publish to ClawHub
clawhub package publish . \
  --family code-plugin \
  --source-repo SDC-creator/openclaw-session-compact \
  --source-commit $(git rev-parse HEAD) \
  --version 1.0.0 \
  --changelog "Your changelog here" \
  --tags latest

Required `package.json` Fields

{
  "name": "openclaw-session-compact",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "openclaw": {
    "extensions": ["./dist/index.js"],
    "compat": {
      "pluginApi": ">=2026.4.2"
    },
    "build": {
      "openclawVersion": "2026.4.5"
    }
  }
}

Verify Publication

clawhub package inspect openclaw-session-compact

📈 Performance Metrics

Test Coverage: 94.65% (94 tests passing)
Core Function Coverage: 89.76%
Average Compression Time: < 1 second (without LLM)
Token Savings: Typically 85-95%
Memory Usage: Low (no leaks)

🐛 Troubleshooting

Issue: Plugin Not Recognized

Cause: Missing plugin configuration Solution:

# Check plugin status
openclaw plugins list | grep compact

# Ensure plugin is in plugins.allow
# Add to openclaw.json:
# "plugins": { "allow": ["openclaw-session-compact"] }

Issue: Compression Not Triggered

Cause: Token count below threshold Solution:

# Check current token usage
openclaw compact-status

# Lower threshold for testing
openclaw compact-config max_tokens 1000

Issue: Poor Summary Quality

Cause: LLM misconfigured or unavailable Solution:

Verify model configuration
Ensure OpenClaw Gateway is running: openclaw gateway start
System auto-falls back to code extraction

Issue: Context Loss After Compression

Cause: preserve_recent set too low Solution:

{
  "preserve_recent": 6  // Increase to 6 or more
}

📝 Changelog

v1.2.0 (2026-04-11)

🐛 Fixed: Configuration persistence — loadFromOpenClawConfig() correctly reads from plugins.entries.<id>.config
✨ Added: 16 comprehensive test cases for OpenClaw config loading (163 total tests)
📝 Improved: README with step-by-step installation guide and troubleshooting
🔧 Updated: Dependencies — openclaw → 2026.4.9, basic-ftp → 5.2.2
🔧 Updated: openclaw.build.openclawVersion → 2026.4.9

v1.1.0 (2026-04-11)

🐛 Fixed: Configuration persistence issue - parameters now correctly persist to openclaw.json
✨ Added: loadFromOpenClawConfig() function for proper configuration handling
✨ Added: Debug logging for configuration troubleshooting
📝 Updated: README with correct configuration path (plugins.entries.<id>.config)
📝 Updated: Configuration examples using openclaw config set CLI commands
🔧 Improved: Default max_tokens increased from 5000 to 10000
✅ Verified: Configuration loading and persistence working correctly

v1.0.0 (2026-04-06)

✨ Initial release
✅ 94 unit tests passing (94.65% coverage)
✅ CLI commands: compact, compact-status, compact-config
✅ Plugin architecture with api.registerCli()
✅ Published to ClawHub as code plugin
✅ Compression functionality verified
✅ Fallback mechanism validated
📚 Complete documentation

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please submit Issues and Pull Requests.

Fork the project
Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
Commit changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
Push to branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
Open a Pull Request

📄 License

MIT License

Project Status: ✅ Stable Release Tests: ✅ 94/94 Passing Coverage: 📈 94.65% ClawHub: ✅ Published (openclaw-session-compact@1.2.0) Maintainer: SDC-creator

Chinese Documentation: SKILL_CN.md

Session Compact