From 92418fc9da1a5837c9770a2a7366e83d87de2fd3 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Vincent Koc <vincentkoc@ieee.org>
Date: Wed, 10 Jun 2026 14:35:44 +0900
Subject: [PATCH] fix(memory-core): filter stale recall entries in REM harness
 preview

---
 CHANGELOG.md                                  |  1 +
 .../memory-core/src/dreaming-phases.test.ts   | 69 +++++++++++++++++++
 extensions/memory-core/src/rem-harness.ts     | 12 ++--
 3 files changed, 78 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index d9b72ff6e465..c1ec0d9eae8c 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 - Release/CI/E2E: Docker E2E and live Docker harness runs now apply default memory, CPU, and process ceilings while preserving explicit per-lane overrides.
 - Release/CI/E2E: plugin lifecycle matrix resource sampling now fails phases that exceed RSS, wall-clock, or CPU ceilings instead of only logging the measurements.
 - Release/CI/E2E: Codex npm plugin live assertions now cap transcript discovery and diagnostic log reads so failure proof stays bounded.
+- Memory: keep doctor REM harness previews aligned with live REM by dropping short-term recall snippets whose source files disappeared before rendering preview output. Thanks @samzong and @frankekn.
 - Tests/state isolation: QA Lab valid-tool-call metrics now require runtime tool-call evidence when runtime parity data is available instead of counting tool-backed scenario pass status alone.
 - Tests/state isolation: QA Lab runtime parity now fails planned-only tool-call rows without matching tool results instead of treating matching mock plans as real tool evidence.
 - Tests/state isolation: provider, media, auth, cron, task, session, sandbox, Gateway, and Codex timeout fixtures now scope more home/state/env data per test, reducing cross-test leakage and making release validation failures less noisy. (#90027, #89974)
diff --git a/extensions/memory-core/src/dreaming-phases.test.ts b/extensions/memory-core/src/dreaming-phases.test.ts
index 795a8764d86b..be6118674033 100644
--- a/extensions/memory-core/src/dreaming-phases.test.ts
+++ b/extensions/memory-core/src/dreaming-phases.test.ts
@@ -2916,6 +2916,75 @@ describe("previewRemHarness", () => {
     expect(preview.grounded).toBeNull();
   });
 
+  it("skips REM short-term candidates whose source file disappeared", async () => {
+    const workspaceDir = await createDreamingWorkspace();
+    const nowMs = new Date("2026-04-15T12:00:00.000Z").getTime();
+    await fs.writeFile(
+      path.join(workspaceDir, "memory", "2026-04-14.md"),
+      "Move backups to S3 Glacier.\n",
+      "utf-8",
+    );
+    await recordShortTermRecalls({
+      workspaceDir,
+      query: "live backup",
+      nowMs,
+      results: [
+        {
+          path: "memory/2026-04-14.md",
+          startLine: 1,
+          endLine: 1,
+          score: 0.91,
+          snippet: "Move backups to S3 Glacier.",
+          source: "memory",
+        },
+      ],
+    });
+    await recordShortTermRecalls({
+      workspaceDir,
+      query: "stale provider setup",
+      nowMs,
+      results: [
+        {
+          path: "memory/.dreams/session-corpus/2026-04-16.txt",
+          startLine: 2,
+          endLine: 2,
+          score: 0.88,
+          snippet: "Assistant: Documented Ollama provider setup.",
+          source: "memory",
+        },
+      ],
+    });
+
+    const preview = await previewRemHarness({
+      workspaceDir,
+      nowMs,
+      pluginConfig: {
+        dreaming: {
+          enabled: true,
+          phases: {
+            rem: {
+              enabled: true,
+              lookbackDays: 7,
+              limit: 10,
+              minPatternStrength: 0,
+            },
+          },
+        },
+      },
+    });
+
+    const candidateTruthSnippets = preview.rem.candidateTruths
+      .map((entry) => entry.snippet)
+      .join("\n");
+    const bodyText = preview.rem.bodyLines.join("\n");
+    expect(preview.recallEntryCount).toBe(1);
+    expect(preview.rem.sourceEntryCount).toBe(1);
+    expect(candidateTruthSnippets).toContain("Move backups to S3 Glacier.");
+    expect(candidateTruthSnippets).not.toContain("Documented Ollama provider setup");
+    expect(bodyText).toContain("Move backups to S3 Glacier.");
+    expect(bodyText).not.toContain("Documented Ollama provider setup");
+  });
+
   it("skips REM preview when rem.limit=0 while still ranking deep candidates", async () => {
     const workspaceDir = await createDreamingWorkspace();
     const nowMs = new Date("2026-04-15T12:00:00.000Z").getTime();
diff --git a/extensions/memory-core/src/rem-harness.ts b/extensions/memory-core/src/rem-harness.ts
index 02d6e4a4f813..3eb824208e14 100644
--- a/extensions/memory-core/src/rem-harness.ts
+++ b/extensions/memory-core/src/rem-harness.ts
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ import {
 } from "./dreaming-phases.js";
 import { previewGroundedRemMarkdown, type GroundedRemPreviewResult } from "./rem-evidence.js";
 import {
+  filterLiveShortTermRecallEntries,
   rankShortTermPromotionCandidates,
   readShortTermRecallEntries,
   type PromotionCandidate,
@@ -131,10 +132,13 @@ export async function previewRemHarness(
     workspaceDir: params.workspaceDir,
     nowMs,
   });
-  const recallEntries = filterRecallEntriesWithinLookback({
-    entries: allRecallEntries,
-    nowMs,
-    lookbackDays: remConfig.lookbackDays,
+  const recallEntries = await filterLiveShortTermRecallEntries({
+    workspaceDir: params.workspaceDir,
+    entries: filterRecallEntriesWithinLookback({
+      entries: allRecallEntries,
+      nowMs,
+      lookbackDays: remConfig.lookbackDays,
+    }),
   });
   const remPreviewLimit = resolveRemPreviewLimit(remConfig.limit, params.remPreviewLimit);
   const remSkipped = remConfig.limit <= 0 || remPreviewLimit <= 0;