openclaw/docs/cli/sessions.md

summary, read_when, title

summary	read_when	title
CLI reference for listing, archiving, deleting, and maintaining stored sessions	You want to list stored sessions and see recent activity You want to archive or delete sessions from a headless Gateway	Sessions

openclaw sessions

List stored conversation sessions.

Session lists are not channel/provider liveness checks. They show persisted conversation rows from session stores. A quiet Discord, Slack, Telegram, or other channel can reconnect successfully without creating a new session row until a message is processed. Use openclaw channels status --probe, openclaw status --deep, or openclaw health --verbose when you need live channel connectivity.

openclaw sessions
openclaw sessions --agent work
openclaw sessions --all-agents
openclaw sessions --active 120
openclaw sessions --limit 25
openclaw sessions --store ./tmp/sessions.json
openclaw sessions --json

Flags:

Flag	Description
--agent <id>	One configured agent store (default: configured default agent).
--all-agents	Aggregate all configured agent stores.
--store <path>	Explicit store path (cannot combine with --agent or --all-agents).
--active <minutes>	Only show sessions updated within the past N minutes.
--limit <n|all>	Max rows to output (default 100; all restores full output).
--json	Machine-readable output.
--verbose	Verbose logging.

openclaw sessions and the Gateway sessions.list RPC are bounded by default so large long-lived stores cannot monopolize the CLI process or Gateway event loop. The CLI returns the newest 100 sessions by default; pass --limit <n> for a smaller/larger window or --limit all when you intentionally need the full store. JSON responses include totalCount, limitApplied, and hasMore when callers need to show that more rows exist.

RPC clients can pass configuredAgentsOnly: true to keep the broad combined discovery source but return only rows for agents currently present in config. Control UI uses that mode by default so deleted or disk-only agent stores do not reappear in the Sessions view.

--all-agents reads configured agent stores. Gateway and ACP session discovery are broader: they also include SQLite stores resolved from configured agent roots or a templated session.store root. Legacy selector paths must resolve inside the agent root; symlinks and out-of-root paths are skipped.

openclaw sessions --all-agents --json:

{
  "path": null,
  "stores": [
    { "agentId": "main", "path": "/home/user/.openclaw/agents/main/sessions/sessions.json" },
    { "agentId": "work", "path": "/home/user/.openclaw/agents/work/sessions/sessions.json" }
  ],
  "allAgents": true,
  "count": 2,
  "totalCount": 2,
  "limitApplied": 100,
  "hasMore": false,
  "activeMinutes": null,
  "sessions": [
    { "agentId": "main", "key": "agent:main:main", "model": "openai/gpt-5.6-sol" },
    { "agentId": "work", "key": "agent:work:main", "model": "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6" }
  ]
}

Archive sessions

Archive one or more sessions through the running Gateway:

openclaw sessions archive "agent:main:scratch-1"
openclaw sessions archive "agent:main:scratch-1" "agent:main:scratch-2"
openclaw sessions archive "agent:work:scratch-1" --agent work
openclaw sessions archive "agent:main:scratch-1" --dry-run
openclaw sessions archive "agent:main:scratch-1" --json

Archive uses the same sessions.patch lifecycle operation as the Control UI. It keeps the transcript, marks the session archived, and removes the session from the default active list. Already archived sessions are successful no-ops. Use --dry-run to validate every key and preview the result without changing session state.

Delete sessions

Delete one or more sessions through the running Gateway:

openclaw sessions delete "agent:main:scratch-1"
openclaw sessions delete "agent:main:scratch-1" "agent:main:scratch-2" --yes
openclaw sessions delete "agent:work:scratch-1" --agent work --yes
openclaw sessions delete "agent:main:scratch-1" --dry-run
openclaw sessions delete "agent:main:scratch-1" --yes --json

Delete is destructive. In an interactive terminal it asks once before deleting the valid keys. Non-interactive and `--json` deletion requires `--yes`. Use `--dry-run` first when scripting a bulk cleanup.

Delete uses the same sessions.delete lifecycle operation as the Control UI, with transcript cleanup enabled. The Gateway removes the live session row, transcript generations, session-owned runtime state, bindings, boards, and other lifecycle artifacts. For ordinary sessions it retains the transcript as a verified .jsonl.deleted.<timestamp> archive; incognito transcripts are removed without an archive. If a managed worktree cannot be removed safely, the command reports the preserved branch and path for manual cleanup.

Both lifecycle commands:

• accept multiple keys and report one ordered result per key;
• use --agent <id> to select the owning agent, which is required for a global key outside the default agent;
• support --url, --token, --password, and --timeout <ms> Gateway connection overrides;
• return a non-zero exit when any key is unknown or any operation fails, while still processing the other valid keys;
• emit one stable JSON envelope with ok, operation, dryRun, and results when --json is set.

Example mixed-result JSON:

{
  "ok": false,
  "operation": "archive",
  "dryRun": false,
  "results": [
    { "key": "agent:main:scratch-1", "ok": true, "status": "archived" },
    {
      "key": "agent:main:missing",
      "ok": false,
      "status": "not_found",
      "error": "Session not found. Run openclaw sessions list --json to choose a valid key."
    }
  ]
}

Tail trajectory progress

openclaw sessions tail
openclaw sessions tail --follow
openclaw sessions tail --session-key "agent:main:telegram:direct:123" --tail 25
openclaw sessions --agent work tail --follow
openclaw sessions --all-agents tail --follow

openclaw sessions tail renders recent runtime trajectory events as compact progress lines. Without --session-key, it tails running sessions first, then the latest stored session. --tail <count> controls how many existing events print before follow mode; default 80, and 0 starts at the current end. --follow keeps watching the selected SQLite-backed session or an explicit legacy trajectory file.

The progress view is intentionally conservative: prompt text, tool arguments, and tool result bodies are not printed. Tool calls show the tool name with {...redacted...}; tool results show status such as ok, error, or done; model completion lines show provider/model and terminal status.

Export a trajectory bundle

openclaw sessions export-trajectory --session-key "agent:main:telegram:direct:123" --workspace .
openclaw sessions export-trajectory --session-key "agent:main:telegram:direct:123" --output bug-123 --json

This is the command path used by the /export-trajectory slash command after the owner approves the exec request. The output directory is always resolved inside .openclaw/trajectory-exports/ under the selected workspace.

Cleanup maintenance

Run maintenance now instead of waiting for the next write cycle:

openclaw sessions cleanup --dry-run
openclaw sessions cleanup --agent work --dry-run
openclaw sessions cleanup --all-agents --dry-run
openclaw sessions cleanup --enforce
openclaw sessions cleanup --enforce --active-key "agent:main:telegram:direct:123"
openclaw sessions cleanup --dry-run --fix-dm-scope
openclaw sessions cleanup --json

openclaw sessions cleanup uses session.maintenance settings from config (Configuration reference):

• Scope note: openclaw sessions cleanup maintains session stores, transcripts, trajectory rows, and legacy trajectory sidecars. It does not prune cron run history, which automatically keeps the newest 2000 rows per job (Cron configuration).
• Cleanup also prunes unreferenced legacy/archive transcript artifacts, compaction checkpoints, and trajectory sidecars older than session.maintenance.pruneAfter; artifacts still referenced by SQLite session rows are preserved.
• Cleanup reports short-lived Gateway model-run probe cleanup separately as modelRunPruned. This only matches strict explicit keys shaped like agent:*:explicit:model-run-<uuid>. Retention is a fixed 24h and is pressure-gated: it only removes stale probe rows when session-entry maintenance/cap pressure is reached. When it runs, model-run cleanup happens before global stale cleanup and capping.

Flags:

Flag	Description
--dry-run	Preview how many entries would be pruned/capped without writing. In text mode, prints a per-session action table (Action, Key, Age, Model, Flags) plus a summary grouped by session label.
--enforce	Apply maintenance even when session.maintenance.mode is warn.
--fix-missing	Remove legacy entries whose archived transcript artifacts are missing or header-only/empty, even if they would not normally age/count out yet.
--fix-dm-scope	When session.dmScope is main, retire stale peer-keyed direct-DM rows left behind by earlier per-peer, per-channel-peer, or per-account-channel-peer routing. Use --dry-run first; applying removes those rows from SQLite and preserves their legacy transcript artifacts as deleted archives.
--active-key <key>	Protect a specific active key from disk-budget eviction. Durable external conversation pointers, such as group sessions and thread-scoped chat sessions, are also kept by age/count/disk-budget maintenance.
--agent <id>	Run cleanup for one configured agent store.
--all-agents	Run cleanup for all configured agent stores.
--store <path>	Run against a specific legacy store selector path.
--json	Print a JSON summary. With --all-agents, output includes one summary per store.

When a Gateway is reachable, non-dry-run cleanup for configured agent stores is sent through the Gateway so it shares the same session-store writer as runtime traffic. Use --store <path> for explicit offline repair of a legacy store selector.

openclaw sessions cleanup --all-agents --dry-run --json:

{
  "allAgents": true,
  "mode": "warn",
  "dryRun": true,
  "stores": [
    {
      "agentId": "main",
      "storePath": "/home/user/.openclaw/agents/main/sessions/sessions.json",
      "beforeCount": 120,
      "afterCount": 80,
      "missing": 0,
      "dmScopeRetired": 0,
      "pruned": 40,
      "capped": 0
    },
    {
      "agentId": "work",
      "storePath": "/home/user/.openclaw/agents/work/sessions/sessions.json",
      "beforeCount": 18,
      "afterCount": 18,
      "missing": 0,
      "dmScopeRetired": 0,
      "pruned": 0,
      "capped": 0
    }
  ]
}

Compact a session

Reclaim context budget for a wedged or oversized session. openclaw sessions compact <key> is the first-class wrapper around the sessions.compact Gateway RPC and requires a running Gateway.

openclaw sessions compact "agent:main:main"
openclaw sessions compact "agent:main:main" --max-lines 200
openclaw sessions compact "agent:work:main" --agent work --json

• Without --max-lines, the Gateway LLM-summarizes the transcript. The CLI does not impose a client deadline by default; the Gateway owns the configured compaction lifecycle.
• With --max-lines <n>, it truncates to the last n transcript lines and archives the prior transcript as a .bak sidecar.
• --agent <id>: agent that owns the session; required for global keys.
• --url / --token / --password: Gateway connection overrides.
• --timeout <ms>: optional client-side RPC timeout in milliseconds.
• --json: print the raw RPC payload.

The command exits non-zero when the Gateway reports a failed compaction or is unreachable, so crons and scripts never mistake a silent no-op for success.

`openclaw agent --message '/compact ...'` is **not** a compaction path. Slash commands from the CLI are rejected by the authorized-sender check; that invocation exits non-zero with guidance pointing here instead of silently no-opping.

sessions.compact RPC

openclaw gateway call sessions.compact --params '<json>' accepts:

Field	Type	Required	Description
key	string	yes	Session key to compact (for example agent:main:main).
agentId	string	no	Agent id that owns the session (for global keys).
maxLines	integer ≥ 1	no	Truncate to the last N lines instead of LLM summarization.

Example LLM-summarize response:

{
  "ok": true,
  "key": "agent:main:main",
  "compacted": true,
  "result": { "tokensBefore": 243868, "tokensAfter": 34941 }
}

Example truncate response (--max-lines 200):

{
  "ok": true,
  "key": "agent:main:main",
  "compacted": true,
  "archived": "/home/user/.openclaw/agents/main/sessions/transcripts/<id>.jsonl.bak",
  "kept": 200
}

Related

• Session config
• Session management
• Compaction
• CLI reference