Session Management

Understand how OpenClaw handles conversations and context.

What is a Session?

A session represents a conversation context between the AI and a user. Sessions maintain:

• Conversation history
• User preferences
• Active tools and permissions
• Context window state

Session Lifecycle

┌─────────────┐     ┌─────────────┐     ┌─────────────┐
│   Created   │ ──▶ │    Active   │ ──▶ │   Archived  │
└─────────────┘     └─────────────┘     └─────────────┘
                           │
                           ▼
                    ┌─────────────┐
                    │   Expired   │
                    └─────────────┘

Session Commands

# List all sessions
openclaw sessions list

# Show session details
openclaw sessions show <session-id>

# Clear session history
openclaw sessions clear <session-id>

# Delete a session
openclaw sessions delete <session-id>

# Export session
openclaw sessions export <session-id> > backup.json

Session Configuration

Configure session behavior in your config.json:

{
  "sessions": {
    "maxHistoryLength": 100,
    "expirationMs": 86400000,
    "contextWindow": "auto"
  }
}

Multi-Session Support

OpenClaw can handle multiple concurrent sessions:

• DM Sessions: One per user per channel
• Group Sessions: Shared context for group chats
• Isolated Sessions: Separate contexts for specialized tasks

Context Management

History Pruning

When context grows too large:

1. Old messages are summarized
2. Important context is preserved
3. System prompts remain intact

Memory Optimization

# Check memory usage
openclaw status --verbose

# Compact session storage
openclaw sessions compact

Best Practices

1. Regular cleanup - Archive old sessions periodically
2. Export important conversations - Backup valuable context
3. Monitor context size - Large contexts affect performance

Session Storage

Sessions are stored locally in ~/.openclaw/sessions/. Each session is a separate JSON file.