What this skill does
Intelligent multi-store memory system with human-like encoding, consolidation, decay, and recall. Use when setting up agent memory, configuring remember/forget triggers, enabling sleep-time reflection, building knowledge graphs, or adding audit trails. Replaces basic flat-file memory with a cognitive architecture featuring episodic, semantic, procedural, and core memory stores. Supports multi-agent systems with shared read, gated write access model. Includes philosophical meta-reflection that deepens understanding over time. Covers MEMORY.md, episode logging, entity graphs, decay scoring, reflection cycles, evolution tracking, and system-wide audit.
Cognitive Memory is part of the Developer Tools category — developer tools that help your agent write, review, debug, and ship code. You can install it on its own or alongside other developer tools skills from the OpenClaw catalog.
How to install Cognitive Memory
The easiest path is via the OpenClaw Easy desktop app — one click, no terminal required:
- Download OpenClaw Easy for macOS or Windows (free, one-click installer, ~30 seconds).
- Open the in-app Skills panel.
- Search for
cognitive-memoryand click Install. - The skill activates automatically when an incoming message matches its description.
Install from the command line
If you already run the OpenClaw CLI, add Cognitive Memory with a single command:
openclaw skills add cognitive-memory
This pulls cognitive-memory from ClawHub and installs it into ~/.openclaw/skills/cognitive-memory/. Restart the OpenClaw gateway afterwards so the new skill is discovered.
How to use Cognitive Memory
Once installed, Cognitive Memory activates on its own: when an incoming message on WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, Discord, Feishu or Line matches the skill's description, your OpenClaw agent loads it and runs the workflow. You can also trigger it explicitly by describing the task in chat. No extra configuration is required after install.
Manual install (advanced)
If you prefer manual installation:
- Click the Download .zip button above to grab
cognitive-memory-1.0.8.zipdirectly from our S3 mirror. - Unzip into
~/.openclaw/skills/cognitive-memory/(create the directory if it does not exist). - Restart OpenClaw Easy (or the OpenClaw CLI gateway) so the new skill is discovered.
Frequently asked questions
How do I install Cognitive Memory?
Install Cognitive Memory in the OpenClaw Easy desktop app by opening the Skills panel, searching for cognitive-memory, and clicking Install. From a terminal you can run: openclaw skills add cognitive-memory. Either way the skill is placed in ~/.openclaw/skills/cognitive-memory/.
Is Cognitive Memory free?
Yes. Cognitive Memory is free and open-source, distributed under the Apache-2.0 license through ClawHub. No account or payment is required to download or run it.
What does Cognitive Memory do?
Intelligent multi-store memory system with human-like encoding, consolidation, decay, and recall.
Related: more developer tools skills
If Cognitive Memory looks useful, you may also want to check out other developer tools skills in the OpenClaw catalog:
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Free, open-source · Apache-2.0 · Works with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or local Ollama models