SynapCores Memory for Openclaw

1. Run the SynapCores gateway

Start a persistent local gateway with a Docker volume:

docker run -d --name synapcores -p 8080:8080 \
  -v synapcores-data:/var/lib/synapcores \
  -e SYNAPCORES_TELEMETRY=off \
  ghcr.io/synapcores/community:latest

Retrieve the initial administrator login and API key:

docker logs synapcores 2>&1 | grep -A2 'ADMIN LOGIN'

2. Configure environment variables

export SYNAPCORES_API_KEY="aidb_..."
export SYNAPCORES_URL="http://localhost:8080"

The skill requires curl, jq, and SYNAPCORES_API_KEY. On macOS with Homebrew, install jq with:

brew install jq

3. Verify the gateway

curl -s "$SYNAPCORES_URL/health"

A healthy instance returns a JSON status such as {"status":"ok"}.

4. Define the query helper

sc() {
  curl -s -m 120 -X POST "$SYNAPCORES_URL/v1/query/execute" \
    -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer $SYNAPCORES_API_KEY" \
    -d "$(jq -nc --arg sql "$1" '{sql:$sql}')"
}

Using jq -nc safely serializes memory text that contains quotes or apostrophes.

5. Optional: install automatic memory support

openclaw plugins install clawhub:@synapcores/openclaw-memory

The companion plugin uses the same API key and gateway. Verify which memory backend is active before assuming manually stored memories and plugin-managed memories share the same tables.

Memory operations

Namespaces and tables

• A namespace is passed as the first argument to every memory function.
• The manual skill stores data in _memory_<namespace>.
• Namespace names must match ^[A-Za-z_][A-Za-z0-9_]*$; hyphens are not allowed.
• Use separate namespaces for different people, projects, or other isolation boundaries.
• MEMORY_RECALL defaults to 10 results and caps top_k at 100.
• Unknown namespaces return zero rows rather than an error.

Metadata taxonomy

Optional metadata is supplied as a JSON object, for example {"category":"decision"}. Metadata can support later filtering and organization by categories such as preferences, decisions, schedules, or project context. Store the fact rather than a full transcript so embeddings remain focused and retrieval quality stays high.

Plugin backend distinction

With plugin v0.7.0 on SynapCores v1.14.3-ce or newer, the plugin uses the CREATE MEMORY object and _mem_<name>_* tables, which are separate from the manual skill’s _memory_<namespace> tables. Older gateways, or configurations using memory.backend: "legacy", use the shared legacy store. Check the backend with:

curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $SYNAPCORES_API_KEY" "$SYNAPCORES_URL/v1/memory"

A JSON array indicates CREATE MEMORY support; HTTP 404 indicates the legacy MEMORY_* functions remain active.