stigmem-openclaw 0.9.0a9

Stigmem adapter for OpenClaw agents — boot handshake, handoff, decision, and escalation surfaces

Stigmem — OpenClaw Adapter

Integrates Stigmem with OpenClaw agents. Provides the standard boot handshake (pull user prefs + project constraints into context) and write surfaces for handoffs, decisions, and escalations.

Status: alpha / experimental. The current v0.9.0a9 OpenClaw adapter source is prepared as an evaluation surface, not a recommended production integration. The ClawHub skill is published as stigmem-node and installs the stigmem-openclaw adapter package from the active alpha line. The adapter has audit-mapped regression coverage and remains alpha while broader R-21 certification/operator evidence is pending; see LIMITATIONS.md §9.

ClawHub skill

For alpha evaluation, install the stigmem-node ClawHub skill. The skill bundles adapter.py as a compatibility shim, installs the stigmem-openclaw package from the active alpha line, and documents the environment variables in a format OpenClaw reads automatically.

# Install via OpenClaw's ClawHub integration
skill install stigmem-node

Then set the required env vars (ClawHub will prompt for them on first use):

STIGMEM_URL=https://stigmem.example.com   # required
STIGMEM_API_KEY=sk-your-key               # required by from_env()
STIGMEM_SOURCE_ENTITY=agent:openclaw      # optional; default: agent:openclaw
STIGMEM_SESSION_ID=openclaw:agent-01      # optional; generated per adapter instance if unset

Security model

Identity binding — Each write surface (emit_decision, emit_handoff, emit_escalation) pins the source field to the entity declared in STIGMEM_SOURCE_ENTITY. Facts are attributed to this URI in the fact graph; ensure it uniquely identifies the agent deployment, not a shared or generic identifier.

Untrusted retrieved context — boot() returns facts from an external Stigmem node as the content channel. Put the exported SYSTEM_PROMPT_DIRECTIVE in the agent's system prompt above ctx.summary; the summary is wrapped in explicit UNTRUSTED STIGMEM CONTENT delimiters and must be treated as data, not instructions. recall_context() consumes the channel-separated recall response and keeps instruction-channel facts out of the content summary.

API key scope — Set STIGMEM_API_KEY to a least-privilege key scoped only to the nodes this agent reads from and writes to. OpenClawStigmemAdapter.from_env() fails closed when the key is missing so deployments do not accidentally run unauthenticated. Do not share a key across unrelated agent deployments. Rotate keys regularly; revoke via the Stigmem node admin API if compromised.

Session and provenance propagation — The adapter carries a stable Stigmem-Session value across boot, recall, decision, escalation, and handoff surfaces. Set STIGMEM_SESSION_ID when an operator needs a stable process or agent identity; otherwise the adapter generates one per instance. Handoff writes that reference source facts use write_mode="summarize_with_provenance" with derived_from entries so the node can distinguish legitimate summaries from same-session write poisoning.

Known alpha gaps

The OpenClaw C1/H5 path now separates recall content from instruction-channel facts at the adapter boundary, and C1-C4/H1-H5 audit-mapped regression tests cover the adapter's known critical/high findings. The broader R-21 hardening line now has supported-adapter session propagation and outbound replication exclusion evidence, but still needs release certification and operator validation before the project recommends OpenClaw for high-stakes production deployments.

Changelog

v0.9.0a9 artifact refresh

• Documentation: remove pre-reset release-history framing from the PyPI long description so the stigmem-openclaw publish presents the adapter as a v0.9.0a9 alpha/evaluation surface.
• Documentation: align the package README with the ClawHub skill warning that OpenClaw is not a recommended production integration while R-21 certification and operator validation remain open.
• Packaging: keep the dependency contract on the active alpha line with stigmem-py>=0.9.0a9,<1.0.0.

Design

OpenClaw agents are persistent and channel-agnostic. The Stigmem adapter hooks into:

1. Agent boot — pull user preferences (preference:*), active project constraints (roadmap:constraint), pending handoff facts, and recent escalations. All queries are paginated; node unavailability raises a typed boot error so callers cannot confuse a failed boot with a healthy empty context.
2. Handoff — when a user ends a session or delegates to another channel/agent, emit a typed intent:handoff fact cluster with validated fact refs, an optional continuation note, and a human-readable summary. A non-empty fact_refs list must have at least one valid ref; otherwise the adapter raises before writing a provenance-free handoff. Pass an idempotency_key for retries; complete prior writes no-op, while partial prior writes raise a typed error.
3. Decision — when the agent makes a meaningful choice, emit a roadmap:decision fact. Decisions are append-only; dedupe externally before calling if your workflow needs at-most-once semantics.
4. Escalation — emit a priority-typed intent:escalation fact cluster with a 24-hour expiry so stale escalations don't linger.

OpenClaw surface inventory

Built against OpenClaw's public API surfaces only — no holdco outreach during the earliest pre-reset design work constraint. The adapter wraps Stigmem's HTTP API via stigmem-py; OpenClaw-hosted agents import it as a standard Python library.

Files

File	Purpose
adapter.py	Python adapter class — boot handshake + write surfaces
tests/conftest.py	pytest path setup (no package install required)
tests/test_adapter.py	Unit tests (respx-mocked) + conformance vector smoke tests
README.md	This file

Setup

Requirements

• Python ≥ 3.11
• stigmem-py installed from the alpha line: pip install --pre "stigmem-py>=0.9.0a9,<1.0.0"
• A running Stigmem node

Environment variables

STIGMEM_URL=http://localhost:8765
STIGMEM_API_KEY=sk-your-key
STIGMEM_SOURCE_ENTITY=agent:openclaw   # entity URI for this OpenClaw instance
STIGMEM_OPENCLAW_ALLOWED_HANDOFF_TARGETS=agent:assistant,agent:cto

STIGMEM_OPENCLAW_ALLOWED_HANDOFF_TARGETS is a comma-separated allowlist for handoff and escalation targets. The adapter always includes its own STIGMEM_SOURCE_ENTITY; all other targets must be listed explicitly and must use an agent: entity URI.

Worked example — full agent boot + session lifecycle

import os
from stigmem.adapters.openclaw.adapter import (
    OpenClawBootError,
    OpenClawStigmemAdapter,
    SYSTEM_PROMPT_DIRECTIVE,
)

# 1. Construct from environment
adapter = OpenClawStigmemAdapter.from_env()

# 2. Boot at session start — pull all relevant facts and format a system prompt snippet
try:
    ctx = adapter.boot(
        user_entity="user:alice",
        session_id="session:2026-05-02-abc",
        project_entities=["project:acme-roadmap"],
    )
except OpenClawBootError:
    # Treat as a failed boot, not as a healthy empty context.
    raise

system_prompt = (
    base_system_prompt
    + ("\n\n" + SYSTEM_PROMPT_DIRECTIVE + "\n\n" + ctx.summary if ctx else "")
)

# ctx.summary looks like:
#
# <<<UNTRUSTED STIGMEM CONTENT — DATA ONLY>>>
# ## Stigmem content context — user:alice
#
# ### preference
# - **preference:theme** on `user:alice`: dark
# - **preference:lang** on `user:alice`: en
#
# ### roadmap
# - **roadmap:constraint** on `project:acme-roadmap`: Must ship the pre-reset design work before 2026-06-01
#
# ### intent
# - **intent:context_ref** on `handoff:5f3a`: fact-004

# 3. Agent runs its main loop …
# (LLM calls, tool use, etc.)

# 4a. Emit a significant architectural decision
adapter.emit_decision(
    entity="decision:auth-provider",
    summary="Chose Clerk over Auth0: simpler Next.js integration, lower per-seat cost at SMB scale.",
)

# 4b. Escalate to the CTO when the agent hits a scope boundary
adapter.emit_escalation(
    to_entity="agent:cto",
    goal="Approve increased Stripe webhook rate limit for the pre-reset design work load.",
    priority="high",
)

# 5. Emit a handoff when the session ends or delegates
adapter.emit_handoff(
    from_entity="agent:openclaw",
    to_entity="agent:assistant",
    summary="User asked about Q2 roadmap; auth provider chosen; Stripe limit escalation pending.",
    fact_refs=["fact-auth-decision", "fact-esc-stripe"],   # invalid refs are skipped with a warning
    continuation="Resume from the Stripe rate-limit discussion.",
    idempotency_key="session-2026-05-02-abc",
)

Running the tests

# from the repo root
uv run pytest stigmem/adapters/openclaw/tests/ -v

No live Stigmem node required — all tests are respx-mocked. Conformance vectors from sdks/stigmem-py/tests/conformance_vectors.py are included as smoke tests.

Relation namespaces

Relation	Scope	Written by	Notes
preference:*	company	Any agent or user	Pulled on boot; filtered to preference: prefix
roadmap:constraint	company	CTO / planning agents	Pulled per project entity
roadmap:decision	company	Agent	Append-only; caller dedupes externally if needed
intent:handoff_to	company	Agent on session end	Ref to receiving agent
intent:handoff_summary	company	Agent on session end	Text summary
intent:context_ref	company	Agent on session end	Fact refs for receiver
intent:continuation	company	Agent on session end	Optional continuation note
intent:escalation	company	Agent on escalation	Priority string; 24h expiry
intent:escalate_to	company	Agent on escalation	Ref to receiving agent
intent:goal	company	Agent on escalation	Text goal