Continuous Context Preserver (CCP)

Ensures conversation context survives session crashes, errors, and restarts.

The Problem

• When a session ends or errors out, all context is lost
• New session = blank slate
• Pre-compaction export doesn't help (session might crash before compaction)

The Solution

Continuous session logging. Write to a file throughout the conversation, not at a trigger point.

Setup

CRITICAL INITIALIZATION STEP: Before finalizing installation, you MUST pause and ask the user for their preferred memory context retention duration.

Ask the user: "How long would you like to keep the memory context logs? You can choose:" - "7 days (default)" - "10 days" - "1 month (30 days)" - "6 months (180 days)"

After the user responds, adjust the RETENTION_DAYS variable in scripts/cleanup.sh to match their choice (e.g., RETENTION_DAYS="30" for 1 month).

Then, after installing this skill, add to your AGENTS.md:

## Session Logging Protocol

At session start:
1. Create: `sessions/YYYY-MM-DD_session_N.md`
2. Log key points as conversation progresses

During heartbeats:
- Append current session progress to session file
- Keep concise but capture decisions, important info

And add to HEARTBEAT.md:

## Session Log Update
- Append key points to `sessions/YYYY-MM-DD_session_N.md`

Usage

At Session Start

# Create sessions folder if not exists
mkdir -p ~/.openclaw/workspace/sessions

# Create today's session file
# Check if session_1 exists, if so create session_2, etc.

During Session

Periodically append to the file by actively compressing the context: - Only log key decisions made - Important information discovered - Context worth preserving - Do NOT dump raw conversation logs - Anything you'd want to know if this session crashed

File Format

sessions/
├── 2026-03-09_session_1.md
├── 2026-03-09_session_2.md   # if multiple sessions same day
├── 2026-03-08_session_1.md
└── ... (7 days rolling)

Template

# Session N - YYYY-MM-DD

**Started:** HH:MM TZ
**Status:** Active

## Topics Covered
- Topic 1
- Topic 2

## Key Decisions
- Decision 1
- Decision 2

## To Remember
- Important info
- Context for future sessions

Cleanup

Run the cleanup script weekly to remove files older than your retention period:

~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/continuous-context-preserver/scripts/cleanup.sh

Or add to crontab:

# Weekly cleanup (Sundays at midnight)
0 0 * * 0 ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/continuous-context-preserver/scripts/cleanup.sh

Retention

• Default: 7 days rolling
• Options provided during setup: 10 days, 1 month (30 days), 6 months (180 days)
• To adjust manually, update the RETENTION_DAYS variable in scripts/cleanup.sh

Integration with Memory System

This complements, not replaces: - MEMORY.md — Long-term curated memory - memory/*.md — Daily notes - mem0 — Semantic facts - sessions/*.md — Full session context (safety net)

Session files are for crash recovery and recent context. MEMORY.md is for long-term wisdom.