Memorist Agent

Help your parents and grandparents tell their stories before it's too late.

Memorist Agent conducts adaptive, empathetic interviews across 9 life domains — in English or Chinese. It remembers every name, place, and year the narrator mentions and follows up with targeted questions to draw out richer memories.

Why Memorist Agent?

• Local-first — Every story fragment, entity, and chapter lives on your machine at ~/.openclaw/memorist_agent/. Nothing is uploaded to any server. You own your family's data completely.
• Private by design — No accounts, no cloud sync, no third-party databases. The only network calls are the ones you explicitly trigger (sending a WhatsApp question or sharing an export). Delete the folder and it's gone.
• Easy to use — Run /memorist_agent setup, answer 4 questions, and you're interviewing. Relay mode works immediately with zero configuration. WhatsApp auto-reply takes one extra command. The AI handles question flow, entity tracking, and story writing — you just talk to your family.
• Bilingual — Native support for English and Chinese (普通话). The agent mirrors the narrator's language naturally, including dialect phrases and colloquial expressions.
• Works with any channel — WhatsApp, Telegram, WeCom, iMessage, or just relay questions in person over tea. The skill adapts to however your family communicates.

Quick Start — Your First Interview

Step 1 — Set up a narrator:

/memorist_agent setup

Step 2 — Pick "Relay" mode (easiest — no extra config needed). You'll get questions to ask your narrator in person, over the phone, or via any messaging app. Type or paste their answers back.

Step 3 — Run the interview:

/memorist_agent interview --narrator "Dad"

That's it. After 3–5 questions, the skill saves a story fragment automatically.

Want hands-free WhatsApp? Pick "WhatsApp auto-reply" during setup instead. The narrator chats directly with their own dedicated agent — no copy-pasting needed. Requires WhatsApp gateway setup (see Prerequisites below).

What You Need

• OpenClaw gateway running: openclaw status should show gateway running.
• Everything else is set up automatically on first run.

Nice to have (based on your setup):

File paths use ~/.openclaw/ ($HOME/.openclaw/ on all platforms — macOS, Linux, Windows WSL).

Commands

Life Story Domains

Storage Layout

All data is stored locally at ~/.openclaw/memorist_agent/:

~/.openclaw/memorist_agent/
├── owner.json                           # Skill owner's name
├── narrators.json                       # Index of all narrators
├── narrators/
│   └── {narrator-id}/
│       ├── profile.json                 # Narrator metadata & domain progress
│       ├── entities.json                # Extracted people, places, years
│       ├── sessions.json                # Interview session log
│       ├── fragments/                   # Story fragments by domain
│       ├── chapters/                    # Compiled memoir chapters
│       ├── exports/                     # Exported memoir files
│       └── workspace/                   # Agent workspace (if auto-reply enabled)

/memorist_agent setup

Purpose: Register a narrator and choose how interviews will be conducted.

Steps:

1. First-run bootstrap: Create the data directory if it doesn't exist:

   • mkdir -p ~/.openclaw/memorist_agent/narrators
   • If narrators.json doesn't exist, create it as [].
   • If this is the first run, ask: "What's your name? (This is how narrators will know who set this up.)" Save to ~/.openclaw/memorist_agent/owner.json as { "name": "{name}" }. Skip if owner.json already exists.

2. Ask the user:

   Let's set up your narrator. I'll ask a few questions.
   
   1. What is their name? (e.g. "Dad", "Grandma Li", "Uncle Chen")
   2. What's their relationship to you? (parent / grandparent / relative / friend)
   3. What language should I interview them in?
      [1] English
      [2] Chinese (普通话)
      [3] Both (start in Chinese, key summaries in English)
   4. How should I conduct interviews?
      [1] Relay — I give you questions, you ask them and bring back answers
          (Works with any channel: in person, phone call, WeChat, etc.)
      [2] WhatsApp auto-reply — they chat directly with a dedicated agent
          (Requires WhatsApp gateway. I'll help you set it up.)
      [3] iMessage auto-reply — they chat via iMessage with a dedicated agent
          (macOS only. Requires iMessage channel configured.)
      [4] Telegram auto-reply — they chat via Telegram with a dedicated agent
          (Requires Telegram bot configured.)
      [5] Live — the narrator is here right now, let's start talking
   

3. If "WhatsApp auto-reply" is selected: a. Ask for their WhatsApp number (with country code, e.g. +1234567890). b. Validate allowlist: Read the openclaw config and check if the number is in channels.whatsapp.allowFrom or if dmPolicy is "open". If NOT:

   ⚠️  {number} is not in your WhatsApp allowlist yet.
   Their replies will be silently dropped without this.
   
   I can add it for you — shall I update channels.whatsapp.allowFrom?
   [Yes, add it] / [No, I'll do it manually]
   

   If user says yes, add the number to channels.whatsapp.allowFrom in the openclaw config file. c. Verify gateway: Check openclaw status output. If WhatsApp is not linked:

   ⚠️  WhatsApp gateway is not connected.
   Run: openclaw status
   If WhatsApp shows "not linked", you'll need to pair it first.
   
   For now, I'll set up the narrator in Relay mode. You can switch to
   WhatsApp auto-reply later with /memorist_agent spawn.
   

   Fall back to relay mode if gateway is not ready. d. Create media directory: mkdir -p ~/.openclaw/media (gateway rejects media from other paths).

4. If "iMessage auto-reply" is selected: a. Ask for their phone number or Apple ID email. b. Check platform: If not macOS, warn: "iMessage is only available on macOS. Switching to Relay mode." c. Validate allowlist: Check if the number/email is in channels.imessage.allowFrom or if dmPolicy is "open". Offer to add if missing (same flow as WhatsApp step 3b). d. Verify iMessage: Check openclaw status — iMessage should show OK or configured. If not:

   ⚠️  iMessage channel is not configured.
   Make sure:
     1. channels.imessage.enabled: true in your openclaw config
     2. imsg CLI is installed: brew install pj4533/homebrew-imsg/imsg
     3. Full Disk Access is granted to your terminal app
        (System Settings → Privacy & Security → Full Disk Access)
   
   For now, I'll set up in Relay mode. Switch later with /memorist_agent spawn.
   

   e. Create media directory: mkdir -p ~/.openclaw/media.

5. If "Telegram auto-reply" is selected: a. Ask for their Telegram user ID (numeric). Explain: "Ask them to message @userinfobot on Telegram to get their numeric ID." b. Validate allowlist: Check if the ID is in channels.telegram.allowFrom. Offer to add if missing. c. Verify Telegram: Check openclaw status — Telegram should show OK. Warn and fall back to relay if not configured.

6. If "Live" is selected: Note that the narrator is present — skip channel setup, start interview immediately after setup completes.

7. Generate a narrator ID: narrator-{slug(name)}-{timestamp}.

8. Create ~/.openclaw/memorist_agent/narrators/{id}/ directory structure (including fragments/, chapters/, exports/ subdirs):

   profile.json:

   {
     "id": "{narrator-id}",
     "name": "{name}",
     "relationship": "{relationship}",
     "lang": "{en|zh|both}",
     "channel": "{relay|whatsapp|imessage|telegram|live}",
     "whatsapp": "{number or null}",
     "imessage": "{phone or email or null}",
     "telegram": "{numeric user ID or null}",
     "replyFormat": "text",
     "createdAt": "{ISO timestamp}",
     "domains": {
       "origins": { "status": "not-started", "fragmentCount": 0 },
       "growing-up": { "status": "not-started", "fragmentCount": 0 },
       "family-history": { "status": "not-started", "fragmentCount": 0 },
       "love": { "status": "not-started", "fragmentCount": 0 },
       "work": { "status": "not-started", "fragmentCount": 0 },
       "places": { "status": "not-started", "fragmentCount": 0 },
       "history": { "status": "not-started", "fragmentCount": 0 },
       "milestones": { "status": "not-started", "fragmentCount": 0 },
       "wisdom": { "status": "not-started", "fragmentCount": 0 }
     }
   }
   

   entities.json: { "people": [], "places": [], "years": [], "events": [] }

   sessions.json: []

9. Append narrator to narrators.json.

10. If channel is "whatsapp", "imessage", or "telegram", immediately recommend auto-reply:

    Narrator added: {name}
    Language  : {lang}
    Channel   : WhatsApp ({number})
    
    For the best experience, I recommend enabling auto-reply so {name}
    can chat directly without you copy-pasting messages.
    
    Enable now? /memorist_agent spawn --narrator "{name}"
    [Skip — I'll use relay mode for now]
    

    Otherwise (relay or live):

    Narrator added: {name}
    Language  : {lang}
    Channel   : {channel}
    Domains   : 9 life story domains ready
    
    Start the first interview with:
    /memorist_agent interview --narrator "{name}"
    

/memorist_agent interview

Purpose: Conduct one interview session covering one memory domain. Generates 1–3 story fragments and updates the entity map.

Usage:

• /memorist_agent interview — auto-selects narrator and next domain
• /memorist_agent interview --narrator "Dad" — specific narrator
• /memorist_agent interview --narrator "Dad" --domain origins — specific domain
• /memorist_agent interview --narrator "Dad" --resume — continue last session

High-level flow:

1. Load narrator context (profile, entities, prior fragments)
2. Pick next domain (or resume in-progress one)
3. Generate opening question adapted to language and prior context
4. Send question via configured channel (relay, WhatsApp, or live)
5. Run adaptive follow-up loop (3–5 exchanges per session)
6. Distill exchanges into a first-person story fragment
7. Update entity map and save all data

Error handling:

• If no narrators exist: "No narrators set up yet. Run /memorist_agent setup first."
• If all 9 domains are complete: "All domains are complete! Run /memorist_agent compile to create the memoir."
• If WhatsApp gateway is down: Fall back to relay mode and warn the user.

For detailed step-by-step instructions, read: references/interview-workflow.md

Interview principles (read before first session): references/interview-principles.md

/memorist_agent remind

Purpose: Send a gentle, warm reminder to continue sharing stories.

Steps:

1. Load narrator profile. Find in-progress or next not-started domain.
2. Generate personalized reminder referencing something they already shared.
3. Send via WhatsApp if configured, otherwise display for relay.

/memorist_agent stories

Purpose: Browse collected story fragments.

Usage:

• /memorist_agent stories — all fragments for default narrator
• /memorist_agent stories --narrator "Dad" --domain origins — filtered

Steps:

1. Load all fragment files for the narrator.
2. Display grouped by domain: title, preview, people/places mentioned, pending follow-ups.
3. Show total fragment count and domain coverage.

/memorist_agent entities

Purpose: Show the entity map — all people, places, years, events extracted from stories.

Steps:

1. Load entities.json for the narrator.
2. Display grouped by type, with follow-up status (resolved vs pending).
3. Show count of unresolved entities that will be followed up automatically.

/memorist_agent compile, export, share

Purpose: Compile fragments into memoir chapters, export to file, share with family.

For detailed instructions, read: references/compile-export-share.md

/memorist_agent spawn, despawn

Purpose: Enable or disable auto-reply for a narrator. "Spawn" creates a dedicated, isolated agent that chats directly with the narrator — no copy-pasting needed. "Despawn" removes it.

After spawning, all messages from the narrator's WhatsApp/Telegram route directly to their personal agent. The main session is never touched.

Error handling:

• If gateway is not running: "Gateway is not running. Start it with openclaw gateway start, then try again."
• If WhatsApp is not linked: "WhatsApp is not connected. Run openclaw status to check."
• If narrator's number is not in allowlist: Offer to add it (same as setup step 3b).
• If spawn fails for any reason: Fall back gracefully — "Auto-reply couldn't be enabled. You can still use relay mode with /memorist_agent interview."

For detailed instructions, read: references/spawn-despawn.md

/memorist_agent status

Purpose: Overview of all narrators and their progress.

Steps:

1. Load narrators.json and each narrator's profile.json.
2. Display per narrator: name, relationship, language, channel, agent status, domain progress bar, fragment count, last session date.
3. Show available commands.

Memorist Agent — Overview

Narrators: {N}
───────────────────────────────
{name} ({relationship})
  Language  : {lang}
  Channel   : {Relay / WhatsApp auto-reply / Live}
  Agent     : {active/none}
  Progress  : {bar} {N}/9 domains
  Fragments : {count} stories collected
───────────────────────────────

Common Issues

Privacy Architecture

Claude AI processes text during active sessions. If privacy-sensitive, use relay mode — type questions manually and record answers yourself.

Tool Usage Notes

• file_read / file_write: all narrator data at ~/.openclaw/memorist_agent/.
• whatsapp_send_message: used only when narrator channel is whatsapp.
• fetch: only called if user runs /memorist_agent share with API option.
• web_search: not used. This skill is intentionally offline-first.

For media format requirements, TTS config, STT setup, and troubleshooting, read: references/media-and-voice.md