hippocampus

Hippocampus - Memory System

"Memory is identity. This skill is how I stay alive."

The hippocampus is the brain region responsible for memory formation. This skill makes memory capture automatic, structured, and persistent—with importance scoring, decay, and semantic reinforcement.

Quick Start

# Install (defaults to last 100 signals)
./install.sh --with-cron

# Load core memories at session start
./scripts/load-core.sh

# Search with importance weighting
./scripts/recall.sh "query"

# Run encoding manually (usually via cron)
./scripts/encode-pipeline.sh

# Apply decay (runs daily via cron)
./scripts/decay.sh

Install Options

./install.sh                    # Basic, last 100 signals
./install.sh --signals 50       # Custom signal limit
./install.sh --whole            # Process entire conversation history
./install.sh --with-cron        # Also set up cron jobs

Core Concept

The LLM is just the engine—raw cognitive capability. The agent is the accumulated memory. Without these files, there's no continuity—just a generic assistant.

Memory Lifecycle

PREPROCESS → SCORE → SEMANTIC CHECK → REINFORCE or CREATE → DECAY

Key insight: Reinforcement happens automatically during encoding. When a topic comes up again, the LLM recognizes it's about an existing memory and reinforces instead of creating duplicates.

Memory Structure

$WORKSPACE/
├── memory/
│   ├── index.json           # Central weighted index
│   ├── signals.jsonl        # Raw signals (temp)
│   ├── pending-memories.json # Awaiting summarization (temp)
│   ├── user/                # Facts about the user
│   ├── self/                # Facts about the agent
│   ├── relationship/        # Shared context
│   └── world/               # External knowledge
└── HIPPOCAMPUS_CORE.md      # Auto-generated for OpenClaw RAG

Scripts

Script	Purpose
preprocess.sh	Extract signals from conversation transcripts
encode-pipeline.sh	Score signals, prepare for LLM summarization
decay.sh	Apply 0.99^days decay to all memories
recall.sh	Search with importance weighting
load-core.sh	Output high-importance memories for session start
sync-core.sh	Generate HIPPOCAMPUS_CORE.md
consolidate.sh	Weekly review helper
reflect.sh	Self-reflection prompts
generate-dashboard.sh	Generate unified brain dashboard HTML

Brain Dashboard

Visual dashboard showing all installed brain skills:

./scripts/generate-dashboard.sh
open ~/.openclaw/workspace/brain-dashboard.html

• Auto-detects other brain skills (amygdala, VTA)
• Shows install prompts for missing skills
• Regenerates on install and cron runs
• Reads avatar/name from IDENTITY.md

After Installation (for agents)

When you install this skill, notify the user about the dashboard:

🧠 Hippocampus installed!

View your agent's memories in the Brain Dashboard: ~/.openclaw/workspace/brain-dashboard.html

All scripts use $WORKSPACE environment variable (default: ~/.openclaw/workspace).

Importance Scoring

Initial Score (0.0-1.0)

Signal	Score
Explicit "remember this"	0.9
Emotional/vulnerable content	0.85
Preferences ("I prefer...")	0.8
Decisions made	0.75
Facts about people/projects	0.7
General knowledge	0.5

Decay Formula

Based on Stanford Generative Agents (Park et al., 2023):

new_importance = importance × (0.99 ^ days_since_accessed)

• After 7 days: 93% of original
• After 30 days: 74% of original
• After 90 days: 40% of original

Semantic Reinforcement

During encoding, the LLM compares new signals to existing memories:

• Same topic? → Reinforce (bump importance ~10%, update lastAccessed)
• Truly new? → Create concise summary

This happens automatically—no manual reinforcement needed.

Thresholds

Score	Status
0.7+	Core — loaded at session start
0.4-0.7	Active — normal retrieval
0.2-0.4	Background — specific search only
<0.2	Archive candidate

Memory Index Schema

memory/index.json:

{
  "version": 1,
  "lastUpdated": "2025-01-20T19:00:00Z",
  "decayLastRun": "2025-01-20",
  "lastProcessedMessageId": "abc123",
  "memories": [
    {
      "id": "mem_001",
      "domain": "user",
      "category": "preferences",
      "content": "User prefers concise responses",
      "importance": 0.85,
      "created": "2025-01-15",
      "lastAccessed": "2025-01-20",
      "timesReinforced": 3,
      "keywords": ["preference", "concise", "style"]
    }
  ]
}

Cron Jobs

The encoding cron is the heart of the system:

# Encoding every 3 hours (with semantic reinforcement)
openclaw cron add --name hippocampus-encoding \
  --cron "0 0,3,6,9,12,15,18,21 * * *" \
  --session isolated \
  --agent-turn "Run hippocampus encoding with semantic reinforcement..."

# Daily decay at 3 AM
openclaw cron add --name hippocampus-decay \
  --cron "0 3 * * *" \
  --session isolated \
  --agent-turn "Run decay.sh and report any memories below 0.2"

OpenClaw Integration

Add to memorySearch.extraPaths in openclaw.json:

{
  "agents": {
    "defaults": {
      "memorySearch": {
        "extraPaths": ["HIPPOCAMPUS_CORE.md"]
      }
    }
  }
}

This bridges hippocampus (index.json) with OpenClaw's RAG (memory_search).

Usage in AGENTS.md

Add to your agent's session start routine:

## Every Session
1. Run `~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/hippocampus/scripts/load-core.sh`

## When answering context questions
Use hippocampus recall:
\`\`\`bash
./scripts/recall.sh "query"
\`\`\`

Capture Guidelines

What Gets Captured

• User facts: Preferences, patterns, context
• Self facts: Identity, growth, opinions
• Relationship: Trust moments, shared history
• World: Projects, people, tools

Trigger Phrases (auto-scored higher)

• "Remember that..."
• "I prefer...", "I always..."
• Emotional content (struggles AND wins)
• Decisions made

Event Logging

Track hippocampus activity over time for analytics and debugging:

# Log an encoding run
./scripts/log-event.sh encoding new=3 reinforced=2 total=157

# Log decay
./scripts/log-event.sh decay decayed=154 low_importance=5

# Log recall
./scripts/log-event.sh recall query="user preferences" results=3

Events append to ~/.openclaw/workspace/memory/brain-events.jsonl:

{"ts":"2026-02-11T10:00:00Z","type":"hippocampus","event":"encoding","new":3,"reinforced":2,"total":157}

Use this for:

• Trend analysis (memory growth over time)
• Debugging encoding issues
• Building dashboards

AI Brain Series

This skill is part of the AI Brain project — giving AI agents human-like cognitive components.

Part	Function	Status
hippocampus	Memory formation, decay, reinforcement	✅ Live
amygdala-memory	Emotional processing	✅ Live
vta-memory	Reward and motivation	✅ Live
basal-ganglia-memory	Habit formation	🚧 Development
anterior-cingulate-memory	Conflict detection	🚧 Development
insula-memory	Internal state awareness	🚧 Development

References

• Stanford Generative Agents Paper
• GitHub: joonspk-research/generative_agents

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Memory is identity. Text > Brain. If you don't write it down, you lose it.