# OpenClaw Feature Requests
# Filed: 2026-03-01 — for when we fork and contribute back

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## FR-001: Pre-Compaction State Snapshot

**Problem:** Mid-session compaction silently loses track of in-flight work — running worker PIDs,
pending PRs, active deploys. Agents rely on having written state to HEARTBEAT.md beforehand,
which fails under cognitive load.

**Requested behavior:** Before summarizing context, OpenClaw should:
1. Read workspace HEARTBEAT.md active state section
2. Inject a "pre-compaction snapshot" block into the compaction summary
3. Ensure any `STATE: in-progress` WAL entries survive verbatim into the new context

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## FR-002: WAL Append Tool / Hook

**Problem:** Agents updating HEARTBEAT.md requires a file write tool call — which can be skipped,
fails silently, and is not atomic.

**Requested behavior:** A lightweight `wal_append` tool or pre-turn hook that:
1. Appends a timestamped entry to a persistent WAL file outside the summarizable context
2. Is called automatically before/after tool calls matching a configurable action pattern
3. Survives compaction independently of the context window

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## FR-003: Session State Persistence API

**Problem:** Active worker session IDs, pending merges, and deploy state live only in context.
After compaction or a new session, there is no way to resume awareness of in-flight operations.

**Requested behavior:**
1. A key-value session state store (separate from context) that persists across compactions
2. Agents can `state_set("audit_worker_pid", "3990263")` and `state_get("audit_worker_pid")`
3. State visible in /status output and injected as a small block in every turn

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## FR-004: Mandatory Pre-Action Hooks (Convention Enforcement)

**Problem:** Completion gates (code review, WAL updates, scratchpads) are defined in AGENTS.md
but nothing mechanically enforces them. Agents skip them under load.

**Requested behavior:**
1. A configurable `pre_action_hooks` in openclaw config
2. Hooks run before specific tool categories (e.g., `exec` with `git merge`, `sessions_spawn`)
3. Hook can require a WAL entry exists for the current task before proceeding
4. Violations logged and surfaced to the user

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## Implementation Notes (for when we fork)

- WAL file: `~/.openclaw/workspace/.wal` (append-only, outside workspace injection)
- State store: could be SQLite in `~/.openclaw/state.db`
- Pre-action hooks: defined in `~/.openclaw/config.yml` under `hooks:`
- Compaction snapshot: modify `compaction.ts` to read active HEARTBEAT.md state before summarizing