WI-002: Archival Process¶

ID: WI-002 | Version: 1.0 | Date: 2026-02-09
Applies To: All agents

Purpose¶

Move outdated or superseded content to the external archive, ensuring it is excluded from all knowledge base indices.

Archive Location¶

~/archive/                    # OUTSIDE .openclaw
├── README.md                 # Index and policy
├── openclaw/                 # OpenClaw config and soul backups
├── projects/                 # Completed project artifacts
└── [topic]/YYYY-MM-DD/       # Dated subfolders

Procedure¶

1. Prepare¶

Identify the file(s) to archive and their canonical location
Confirm new/replacement content is ready (if applicable)

2. Archive¶

# Create dated subfolder
mkdir -p ~/archive/[category]/YYYY-MM-DD/

# Move original to archive
mv /path/to/original ~/archive/[category]/YYYY-MM-DD/

# Place new version at canonical location (if replacing)
cp /path/to/new/version /path/to/canonical/location

3. Clean Indices¶

Semantic search: Archived content outside ~/.openclaw/ is automatically excluded
Vector DB / RAG: If content was indexed in ~/.openclaw/knowledge-base/, re-run indexing to exclude it
SQLite: No action needed (session memory, not document storage)
Git: Commit the deletion from the active repo; git history preserves the content

4. Update Archive Index¶

Add an entry to ~/archive/README.md:

| YYYY-MM-DD | Item description | Source path | Reason |

5. Verify¶

Confirm file is gone from active location
Confirm memory_search does not return archived content
Confirm no broken references in active documentation

What to Archive¶

Trigger	Example
Content superseded by new version	Old SOUL.md after rewrite
Project completed	Project charter and artifacts
Config backup no longer needed in active dir	Old openclaw.json versions
Documentation restructured	Moved/renamed sections

What NOT to Archive¶

Active documentation (even if outdated — update it instead)
Git history (git handles its own versioning)
Session logs (managed by OpenClaw retention policy)