OpenClawBrain v12.2.1

Learned retrieval graph for AI agents. Nodes are document chunks, edges are mutable weighted pointers. The graph learns from outcomes using policy-gradient updates (REINFORCE) and self-regulates via homeostatic decay, synaptic scaling, and tier hysteresis.

Install

pip install openclawbrain              # core (pure Python, zero deps)
pip install "openclawbrain[openai]"    # with OpenAI embeddings

Quick Start

# Build a brain from workspace files
openclawbrain init --workspace ./my-workspace --output ./brain --embedder openai

# Query
openclawbrain query "how do I deploy" --state ./brain/state.json --json

# Learn from outcome (+1 good, -1 bad)
openclawbrain learn --state ./brain/state.json --outcome 1.0 --fired-ids "node1,node2"

# Self-learn (agent-initiated, no human needed)
openclawbrain self-learn --state ./brain/state.json 
  --content "Always download artifacts before terminating instances" 
  --fired-ids "node1,node2" --outcome -1.0 --type CORRECTION

# Health check
openclawbrain doctor --state ./brain/state.json

Core Concepts

Learning Rule: Policy Gradient (default)

Default is apply_outcome_pg (REINFORCE). At each node, updates redistribute probability mass across ALL outgoing edges (sum ≈ 0). The chosen edge goes up, all alternatives go down. No inflation.

apply_outcome (heuristic) is available as fallback — only updates traversed edges, inflationary.

Self-Learning

Agents learn from their own observed outcomes without human feedback (self-correct available as CLI/API alias):

from openclawbrain.socket_client import OCBClient

with OCBClient('~/.openclawbrain/main/daemon.sock') as client:
    # Agent detected failure
    client.self_learn(
        content='Always download artifacts before terminating',
        fired_ids=['node1', 'node2'],
        outcome=-1.0,
        node_type='CORRECTION',   # penalize + inhibitory edges
    )

    # Agent observed success
    client.self_learn(
        content='Download-then-terminate works reliably',
        fired_ids=['node1', 'node2'],
        outcome=1.0,
        node_type='TEACHING',     # reinforce + positive knowledge
    )

Situation	outcome	type	Effect
Mistake	-1.0	CORRECTION	Penalize path + inhibitory edges
Fact learned	0.0	TEACHING	Inject knowledge only
Success	+1.0	TEACHING	Reinforce path + inject knowledge

Self-Regulation (automatic, no tuning needed)

• Homeostatic decay: half-life auto-adjusts to maintain 5-15% reflex edge ratio. Bounded 60-300 cycles.
• Synaptic scaling: soft per-node weight budget (5.0) prevents hub domination.
• Tier hysteresis: habitual band 0.15-0.6 prevents threshold thrashing.
• Synaptic scaling (maintenance detail): soft per-node weight budget (5.0) with fourth-root scaling.

Edge Tiers

Tier	Weight	Behavior
Reflex	≥ 0.6	Auto-follow
Habitual	0.15 – 0.6	Follow by weight
Dormant	< 0.15	Skipped
Inhibitory	< -0.01	Actively suppresses target

Maintenance Pipeline

Runs every 30 min via daemon: health → decay → scale → split → merge → prune → connect

• Decay: exponential edge weight decay (adaptive half-life)
• Scale: synaptic scaling on hub nodes
• Split: runtime node splitting (inverse of merge) for bloated multi-topic nodes
• Merge: consolidate co-firing nodes (bidirectional weight ≥ 0.8)
• Prune: remove dead edges (|w| < 0.01) and orphan nodes

Maintenance

• split_node: splits bloated nodes into focused children with embedding-based edge rewiring
• suggest_splits: detects candidates by content length, hub degree, merge origin, edge variance

Text Chunking

split_workspace chunks files by type (.py → functions, .md → headers, .json → keys) then _rechunk_oversized ensures no chunk exceeds 12K chars. Large texts are split on blank lines → newlines → hard cut. No content is ever skipped or truncated.

Daemon (production use)

The daemon keeps state hot in memory behind a Unix socket (~500ms queries vs 5-8s from disk).

# Start daemon (usually via launchd)
openclawbrain daemon --state ./brain/state.json --embed-model text-embedding-3-small

Daemon Methods (NDJSON over Unix socket)

Method	Purpose
query	Traverse graph, return fired nodes + context
learn	Apply outcome to fired nodes
self_learn	Agent-initiated learning (CORRECTION or TEACHING)
self_correct	Alias for self_learn (self-correct available as CLI/API alias)
correction	Human-initiated correction (uses chat_id lookback)
inject	Add TEACHING/CORRECTION/DIRECTIVE node
maintain	Run maintenance tasks
health	Graph health metrics
info	Daemon info
save	Force state write
reload	Reload state from disk
shutdown	Clean shutdown

Socket Client

from openclawbrain.socket_client import OCBClient

with OCBClient('/path/to/daemon.sock') as c:
    result = c.query('how do I deploy', chat_id='session-123')
    c.learn(fired_nodes=['node1', 'node2'], outcome=1.0)
    c.self_learn(content='lesson', outcome=-1.0, node_type='CORRECTION')
    c.health()
    c.maintain(tasks=['decay', 'prune'])

CLI Reference

openclawbrain init --workspace W --output O [--embedder openai] [--llm openai]
openclawbrain query TEXT --state S [--top N] [--json] [--chat-id CID]
openclawbrain learn --state S --outcome N --fired-ids a,b,c [--json]
openclawbrain self-learn --state S --content TEXT [--fired-ids a,b] [--outcome -1] [--type CORRECTION|TEACHING]
openclawbrain inject --state S --id ID --content TEXT [--type CORRECTION|TEACHING|DIRECTIVE]
openclawbrain health --state S
openclawbrain doctor --state S
openclawbrain info --state S
openclawbrain maintain --state S [--tasks decay,scale,split,merge,prune,connect]
openclawbrain status --state S [--json]
openclawbrain replay --state S --sessions S
openclawbrain merge --state S [--llm openai]
openclawbrain connect --state S
openclawbrain compact --state S
openclawbrain sync --workspace W --state S [--embedder openai]
openclawbrain daemon --state S [--embed-model text-embedding-3-small]

Traversal Defaults

Parameter	Default
beam_width	8
max_hops	30
fire_threshold	0.01
reflex_threshold	0.6
habitual_range	(0.15, 0.6)
inhibitory_threshold	-0.01
max_context_chars	20000 (in query_brain.py)

State Persistence

• Atomic writes: temp → fsync → rename. Keeps .bak backup. Crash-safe.
• State format: state.json (graph + index + metadata)
• Embedder identity stored in metadata; dimension mismatches are errors.

Integration with OpenClaw Agents

Add to your agent's AGENTS.md:

## OpenClawBrain Memory Graph

**Query:**
python3 ~/openclawbrain/examples/openclaw_adapter/query_brain.py 
  ~/.openclawbrain/<brain>/state.json '<query>' --chat-id '<chat_id>' --json

**Learn:** openclawbrain learn --state ~/.openclawbrain/<brain>/state.json --outcome 1.0 --fired-ids <ids>

**Self-learn:** openclawbrain self-learn --state ~/.openclawbrain/<brain>/state.json 
  --content "lesson" --fired-ids <ids> --outcome -1.0 --type CORRECTION
  # (self-correct available as CLI/API alias)

**Health:** openclawbrain health --state ~/.openclawbrain/<brain>/state.json

Links

• Paper: https://jonathangu.com/openclawbrain/
• Blog: https://jonathangu.com/openclawbrain/blog/v12.2.1/
• Derivation: https://jonathangu.com/openclawbrain/gu2016/
• GitHub: https://github.com/jonathangu/openclawbrain
• PyPI: pip install openclawbrain==12.2.1