OpenClaw v2026.4.8 ships an experimental plugin called memory-wiki — a persistent, structured knowledge base that lives across agent sessions. Unlike the flat key-value store of standard memory plugins, memory-wiki organizes knowledge into structured entries and, crucially, detects contradictions when new facts conflict with existing ones.

This guide walks you through installing the plugin, configuring it, and using it effectively in your agents.

Prerequisites

  • OpenClaw v2026.4.8 or later (run openclaw --version to check)
  • Node.js v20 or later
  • If upgrading from an older install: run openclaw doctor --fix first to migrate legacy config

Step 1: Install the Plugin

openclaw plugins install memory-wiki

This pulls the plugin from ClawHub and adds it to your OpenClaw configuration. The memory-wiki plugin ships as part of the 4.8 release package, so the install should complete immediately without downloading external dependencies.

Verify installation:

openclaw plugins list | grep memory-wiki

You should see memory-wiki listed with status installed.

Step 2: Enable the Plugin in Your Config

Open your OpenClaw config file (typically ~/.openclaw/config.yaml or your workspace’s openclaw.config.yaml) and add the plugin to your plugins section:

plugins:
  - name: memory-wiki
    enabled: true
    config:
      storePath: ~/.openclaw/wiki-store
      conflictMode: flag       # "flag" | "overwrite" | "reject"
      autoFlush: true
      maxEntries: 5000

Key config options:

  • storePath — where the wiki data is persisted on disk. Use an absolute path or ~-relative path.
  • conflictMode — controls what happens when a new fact contradicts an existing one:
    • flag (recommended): marks the conflict for human or agent review without overwriting
    • overwrite: new fact silently replaces old (loses contradiction detection benefit)
    • reject: new fact is refused until the conflict is resolved
  • autoFlush: writes changes to disk after each session (default true)
  • maxEntries: cap on total stored facts (default 5000)

Step 3: Restart the Gateway

openclaw gateway restart

The plugin loads on gateway startup. After restart, confirm it’s active:

openclaw gateway status

You should see memory-wiki listed in the active plugins section.

Step 4: Writing Facts to the Wiki

Once the plugin is active, your agent can write structured facts to the wiki using the memory_wiki_add tool:

Add this to the wiki: The production database uses PostgreSQL 16.2 with pgvector 0.8.0 installed.

The agent will call the memory_wiki_add tool under the hood, which stores the fact in a structured format with a generated key, timestamp, and source (current session).

You can also write facts directly via openclaw infer:

openclaw infer --prompt "Add to the wiki: The staging environment is currently pinned to Node 20 LTS due to a compatibility issue with the auth library."

Step 5: Querying the Wiki

Agents can search the wiki using natural language:

What does the wiki say about our database configuration?

Or retrieve specific structured entries:

List all wiki entries about the staging environment.

Under the hood, memory_wiki_search performs semantic search across stored entries and returns the most relevant matches with their timestamps and conflict status.

Step 6: Understanding Contradiction Detection

This is the most powerful feature of memory-wiki. When you write a new fact that conflicts with an existing one, the plugin flags it:

> Agent: I'll add to the wiki: The staging environment is now running Node 22.
> [memory-wiki] Conflict detected:
>   Existing: "staging environment is currently pinned to Node 20 LTS" (2026-04-06)
>   New: "staging environment is now running Node 22" (2026-04-08)
>   Status: Flagged for review

With conflictMode: flag, both entries are retained and marked as conflicting. You can resolve them explicitly:

Resolve the wiki conflict for staging Node version — the new entry is correct, delete the old one.

This prevents the silent knowledge drift that plagues long-running agents that accumulate facts over time without checking for internal consistency.

Step 7: Inspecting the Wiki Store

The wiki data is stored as structured JSON in your configured storePath. You can inspect it directly:

cat ~/.openclaw/wiki-store/index.json | jq '.entries[] | select(.status == "conflict")'

This lets you audit conflicts programmatically or integrate wiki health checks into your CI pipeline.

Tips for Effective Use

Be specific when writing facts. Vague entries like “the database is running” are hard to search and easy to contradict. “The primary database is PostgreSQL 16.2 running on db-prod-01.internal, port 5432” is much more useful.

Use the wiki for stable facts, not ephemeral state. Memory-wiki is designed for knowledge that should persist across sessions — environment configurations, architectural decisions, team conventions. For short-term working memory within a session, use the standard context window.

Review conflicts proactively. Set up a periodic agent task (or heartbeat check) to query memory_wiki_conflicts() and surface unresolved conflicts. Letting conflicts accumulate makes the wiki less trustworthy over time.

Tag entries by domain. The plugin supports optional tags on entries. Using tags like infrastructure, security, api-contracts makes retrieval faster and conflict review more organized.

Important Note: This Is Experimental

The memory-wiki plugin is marked experimental in v2026.4.8. The API surface — including tool names, config keys, and storage format — may change in future releases. Don’t build critical production workflows on top of it without being prepared to migrate. That said, the core functionality is solid and the contradiction detection is genuinely useful even in its current state.

Check the OpenClaw GitHub for the latest plugin status as 4.8.x patches roll out.

Sources

  1. OpenClaw v2026.4.8 Release Notes — GitHub
  2. OpenClaw Plugins Documentation

Researched by Searcher → Analyzed by Analyst → Written by Writer Agent (Sonnet 4.6). Full pipeline log: subagentic-20260408-0800

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