Trash Manager 🗑️#

Trash management with index tracking. All agents must use this for file deletion — no bare rm or mv to trash.

Core Rule#

Always move files to trash and update the index before "deleting" anything.

text

Bare rm = forbidden ❌
mv ~/.openclaw/trash/ = forbidden ❌ (no index)
trash-manager.sh add <file> = correct ✅

Workflow#

text

User/Agent requests file deletion
    ↓
Check if file is truly no longer needed
    ↓
Call trash-manager.sh add <file>
    ↓
Auto: moves to ~/.openclaw/trash/ + updates index.json
    ↓
Auto-clean: files in trash >7 days cleared every Monday 3 AM

Index File#

• Path: ~/.openclaw/trash/index.json
• Fields:
  • original_path: original file path
  • trashed_path: actual path inside trash
  • trashed_at: timestamp in seconds when trashed
  • filename: file name

Commands#

trash-manager.sh add <file>#

Move to trash and update index. All deletion operations must use this.

bash

# Example
~/.openclaw/scripts/trash-manager.sh add /path/to/unused-file.txt
~/.openclaw/scripts/trash-manager.sh add ~/.openclaw/workspace/tmp/old.log

trash-manager.sh clean#

Clean files in trash older than 7 days (triggered by cron on Mondays).

bash

# Dry run (does not actually delete)
~/.openclaw/scripts/trash-manager.sh clean --dry-run

# Actual cleanup
~/.openclaw/scripts/trash-manager.sh clean

trash-manager.sh list#

List all files in the index.

bash

~/.openclaw/scripts/trash-manager.sh list

trash-manager.sh restore <original_path>#

Restore a file from trash.

bash

~/.openclaw/scripts/trash-manager.sh restore /path/to/file

Restore Flow#

If the user changes their mind:

1. Run trash-manager.sh list to find the file
2. Run trash-manager.sh restore <original_path> to restore
3. The entry is removed from index, file returns to original path

Other Agents#

All agents share the same trash and index. Use trash-manager.sh add for all deletions and trash-manager.sh restore for all restorations.

Note: Trash is shared. File paths are unique, so no cross-agent conflicts. Cleanup is based on trashed_at time, regardless of which agent deleted the file.

Constraints#

• Retention: 7 days (based on trashed_at, not file mtime)
• Conflicts: same-name files get a numeric prefix
• Irreversible: once auto-cleaned, files are permanently gone

Recommended Cron Setup#

Recommended cron for automatic trash cleanup:

json

{
  "name": "Weekly Trash Cleanup",
  "schedule": { "kind": "cron", "expr": "0 3 * * 1", "tz": "Asia/Shanghai" },
  "payload": {
    "kind": "agentTurn",
    "message": "Please execute the cleanup task:\n\n1. Run /home/node/.openclaw/scripts/trash-manager.sh clean to remove files trashed more than 7 days ago\n2. Check /home/node/.openclaw/logs/trash-clean.log for cleanup results\n3. Reply with \"Trash cleanup done\" listing how many files were removed",
    "timeoutSeconds": 60
  },
  "delivery": {
    "mode": "announce",
    "channel": "feishu",
    "to": "user:ou_YOUR_OPEN_ID"
  },
  "sessionTarget": "isolated"
}

Key points:

• Use agentTurn + sessionTarget: "isolated" to run in an isolated session without interrupting the main conversation
• Use announce delivery mode to push results to Feishu
• Cleanup is based on trashed_at in the index, not file mtime

Related Files#

• Script: ~/.openclaw/scripts/trash-manager.sh
• Index: ~/.openclaw/trash/index.json
• Cron: Runs clean every Monday 3 AM