Bug: Auto-captured memories stuck in `pending` state, blocked from auto-recall by governance filter

[yzjJosh]

Plugin Version

1.1.0-beta.10

OpenClaw Version

2026.3.23-2

Bug Description

Auto-captured memories are stored with state: "pending" but the auto-recall governance filter requires state === "confirmed", creating a chicken-and-egg problem where auto-captured memories can never be auto-recalled.

Key code locations (v1.1.0-beta.10):

1. Auto-capture sets pending state (index.ts:2685):

state: "pending",
memory_layer: "working",

2. Governance filter blocks non-confirmed (index.ts:2262):

if (meta.state !== "confirmed") {
  stateFilteredCount++;
  return false;
}

3. Manual store uses confirmed (src/tools.ts - memory_store):

state: "confirmed"

4. memory_promote tool exists but requires enableManagementTools: true (disabled by default) and has no automatic trigger.

Root cause: The state field was introduced in v1.1.0-beta as part of the "Smart Extraction" feature, but:

• No documentation explains the state lifecycle
• No automatic state transition exists from pending → confirmed
• The memory_promote tool exists but is gated behind enableManagementTools: true (disabled by default)

---

Disclosure: This issue was drafted and submitted by an OpenClaw AI agent on behalf of the user (Josh) after investigating the memory-lancedb-pro plugin codebase.

Expected Behavior

One of the following should work:

1. Auto-captured memories should eventually become eligible for auto-recall
2. An automatic promotion mechanism should exist (time-based, access-based, or first-retrieval-based)
3. Documentation should explain that auto-capture requires manual promotion

Comparison with other memory systems:

System	State Model	Promotion
Mem0	No pending state	N/A
Letta/MemGPT	Tier-based	Automatic by access
Redis Agent Memory	TTL-based	N/A
OpenAI Memory	No state	N/A
Governed Memory	Quality gates at write	N/A

Most systems either validate before storage or make memories immediately available. The pending → confirmed model is unique but incomplete without automatic promotion.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Enable autoCapture: true and autoRecall: true in plugin config
2. Have a conversation that triggers auto-capture (e.g., say "remember this: I prefer dark mode")
3. Check memory database: openclaw memory-pro list --limit 10
4. Observe the captured memory has state: "pending" in metadata
5. Continue conversation and check gateway logs for auto-recall
6. Observe: stateFilteredCount increments, memory is blocked
7. Memory never appears in <relevant-memories> tag

Workaround:

• Enable enableManagementTools: true
• Use memory_promote tool to manually promote memories to "confirmed" state

Error Logs / Screenshots

**Log showing ALL memories blocked (pending state):**


[gateway] memory-lancedb-pro: auto-recall skipped after governance filters (hits=6, dedupFiltered=0, stateFiltered=6, suppressedFiltered=0)


- `hits=6`: 6 memories found by semantic search
- `stateFiltered=6`: ALL 6 blocked by `state !== "confirmed"` filter
- `skipped`: nothing injected

**Log showing ONE memory passing (confirmed state):**


[gateway] memory-lancedb-pro: auto-recall stats hits=6, dedupFiltered=0, stateFiltered=5, suppressedFiltered=0, preBudgetItems=1, postBudgetItems=1, injectedIds=6e148efc-...


- `hits=6`: 6 memories found
- `stateFiltered=5`: 5 blocked (pending state)
- `preBudgetItems=1`: 1 memory passed (the legacy confirmed memory)
- `injectedIds=...`: that 1 memory was successfully injected

**Pattern:** `stateFiltered` count equals number of pending memories blocked. Only confirmed memories pass through.

Embedding Provider

None

OS / Platform

Ubuntu 24.04

[AliceLJY]

Issue 质量极高，感谢你精确定位到代码行号 🙏

确认这是设计遗漏——v1.1.0-beta 引入 Smart Extraction 时加了 state 字段，但只做了一半：有 pending 写入和 confirmed 过滤，缺少 pending → confirmed 的自动转换机制。autoCapture + autoRecall 同时开启时形成死锁。

修复计划（P0，我们自己提 PR）：

• 短期：autoCapture 写入时直接设 state: "confirmed"（对于 Smart Extraction 成功的记忆）
• 中期：实现自动 promotion 机制（如首次被语义检索命中时自动 promote，或基于置信度阈值）

临时 workaround：
开启 enableManagementTools: true，用 memory_promote 手动批量确认。

预计近期提 PR 修复，会在这里更新进度。

[mspirek]

Following this — we hit the same bug and are running a local patch (sed on line 2685, pending→confirmed) that auto-reapplies after plugin updates. Happy to test any PR. 🙏

[AliceLJY]

@mspirek Thanks for confirming — PR #354 is up for this fix. Feel free to test it on your end, feedback welcome.