OpenClaw Session Compact Plugin v1.2.1#

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).

✨ New in v1.2.1#

• 🐛 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 Highlights#

• Session Persistence: JSON file-based storage with version tracking
• Token Usage Tracking: Actual API usage + cache token metrics
• Rich Message Structure: ContentBlock types (text, tool_use, tool_result)
• Session Lifecycle Manager: Auto-compaction, state management, events
• New CLI Commands: sessions, session-info

🚀 Quick Start#

Installation#

From ClawHub (recommended):

bash

clawhub install openclaw-session-compact

Manual installation:

bash

git clone https://github.com/SDC-creator/openclaw-session-compact.git \
  ~/.openclaw/extensions/openclaw-session-compact
cd ~/.openclaw/extensions/openclaw-session-compact
npm install --production

Configuration#

Add to ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json:

json

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

重要：配置参数从 OpenClaw 配置系统读取。修改配置后需要重启 Gateway：

bash

openclaw gateway restart

💡 Usage Scenarios#

Scenario 1: CLI Commands#

bash

# Check current session status
openclaw compact-status

# Manually trigger compression
openclaw compact

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

# View configuration
openclaw compact-config

Scenario 2: Automatic Compression#

bash

# Start OpenClaw - compression works automatically
openclaw start

# When conversation history exceeds the threshold, it auto-compresses
# and continues seamlessly without user intervention

Scenario 3: Long Conversation Handling#

Problem: Conversations exceeding 10,000 tokens cause:

• Rapid token consumption
• Slower response times
• Potential model limits exceeded

Solution: Session Compact automatically compresses history:

text

Before: 50 messages (1,250 tokens)
        ↓ [Auto-compress]
After:  5 messages (360 tokens) - 92% token savings

🔧 Configuration Options#

ParameterTypeDefaultDescriptionRecommendedmax_tokensnumber10000Token threshold for compression5000-20000preserve_recentnumber4Number of recent messages to keep4-6auto_compactbooleantrueEnable automatic compressiontruemodelstring''Model for summary generationGlobal default

Configuration Examples#

Conservative Mode (frequent compression, max token savings):

json

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

Aggressive Mode (fewer compressions, more context retained):

json

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

📊 How It Works#

Compression Flow#

text

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

Fallback Mechanism#

When LLM is unavailable, automatically falls back to code extraction mode:

• Extract timeline directly from message content
• Use preset templates for summary fields
• Ensures functionality without LLM dependency

🛠️ Troubleshooting#

Common Issues#

1. Compression Not Triggered

Cause: Token count below threshold Solution:

bash

# Check current token usage
openclaw compact-status

# Lower threshold for testing
openclaw compact --force

2. 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

3. Context Loss After Compression

Cause: preserve_recent set too low Solution:

json

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

4. Plugin Not Recognized

Cause: Missing plugin configuration Solution:

bash

# Check plugin status
openclaw plugins list | grep compact

# Ensure plugin is in plugins.allow in openclaw.json

📈 Performance Metrics#

• Test Coverage: 82.78% (163 tests passing)
• Core Function Coverage: 89.76%
• Average Compression Time: < 1 second (without LLM)
• Token Savings: Typically 85-95%
• Memory Usage: Low (no leaks)

🧪 Testing#

bash

# Run tests
npm test

# Check coverage (163 tests, 82.78%)
npm run test:coverage

📚 Technical Documentation#

For detailed API documentation and examples, see README.md.

Core API#

typescript

// Compress session
const result = await compactSession(messages, config);

// Check if compression is needed
const needsCompact = shouldCompact(messages, config);

// Estimate token count
const tokens = estimateTokenCount(messages);

🤝 Contributing#

Contributions are welcome! Please submit Issues and Pull Requests.

1. Fork the project
2. Create a feature branch
3. Commit changes
4. Push to the branch
5. Open a Pull Request

📄 License#

MIT License

---

Status: ✅ Stable Release Tests: ✅ 163/163 Passing Coverage: 📈 82.78% ClawHub (Code Plugin): ✅ Published (openclaw-session-compact@1.2.1) ClawHub (Skill): ✅ Published (session-compact-skill@1.2.1) Version: v1.2.1 Maintainer: SDC-creator