fix(active-memory): bound recall search query

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 
 - fix(gateway): clamp unbound websocket auth scopes [AI]. (#77413) Thanks @pgondhi987.
 - Gate zalouser startup name matching [AI]. (#77411) Thanks @pgondhi987.
+- Active Memory: send a bounded latest-message search query to the recall worker so channel/runtime metadata does not become the memory search string. Fixes #65309. Thanks @joeykrug, @westley3601, @pimenov, and @tasi333.
 - fix(device-pair): require pairing scope for pair command [AI]. (#76377) Thanks @pgondhi987.
 - fix(qqbot): keep private commands off framework surface [AI]. (#77212) Thanks @pgondhi987.
 - Memory/wiki: preserve representation from both corpora in `corpus=all` searches while backfilling unused result capacity, so memory hits are not starved by numerically higher wiki integer scores. Fixes #77337. Thanks @hclsys.

extensions/active-memory/index.test.ts

@@ -1074,9 +1074,12 @@ describe("active-memory plugin", () => {
       "Your job is to search memory and return only the most relevant memory context for that model.",
     );
     expect(runParams?.prompt).toContain(
-      "You receive conversation context, including the user's latest message.",
+      "You receive a bounded search query plus conversation context, including the user's latest message.",
     );
     expect(runParams?.prompt).toContain("Use only the available memory tools.");
+    expect(runParams?.prompt).toContain(
+      "Use the bounded search query as the memory_search or memory_recall query.",
+    );
     expect(runParams?.prompt).toContain("Prefer memory_recall when available.");
     expect(runParams?.prompt).toContain(
       "If memory_recall is unavailable, use memory_search and memory_get.",
@@ -2867,10 +2870,54 @@ describe("active-memory plugin", () => {
     );
 
     const prompt = runEmbeddedPiAgent.mock.calls.at(-1)?.[0]?.prompt;
+    expect(prompt).toContain("Bounded memory search query:\nwhat should i grab on the way?");
     expect(prompt).toContain("Conversation context:\nwhat should i grab on the way?");
     expect(prompt).not.toContain("Recent conversation tail:");
   });
 
+  it("sends a bounded latest-message query instead of channel metadata to memory search", async () => {
+    api.pluginConfig = {
+      agents: ["main"],
+      queryMode: "recent",
+    };
+    plugin.register(api as unknown as OpenClawPluginApi);
+
+    await hooks.before_prompt_build(
+      {
+        prompt: [
+          "Conversation info:",
+          "Sender: discord:user-123",
+          "Untrusted Discord message body",
+          "---",
+          "do you remember my flight preferences?",
+        ].join("\n"),
+        messages: [
+          { role: "user", content: "i have a flight tomorrow" },
+          { role: "assistant", content: "got it" },
+        ],
+      },
+      {
+        agentId: "main",
+        trigger: "user",
+        sessionKey: "agent:main:main",
+        messageProvider: "webchat",
+      },
+    );
+
+    const prompt = runEmbeddedPiAgent.mock.calls.at(-1)?.[0]?.prompt;
+    expect(prompt).toContain(
+      "Bounded memory search query:\ndo you remember my flight preferences?",
+    );
+    expect(prompt).toContain(
+      "Do not use channel metadata, provider metadata, debug output, or the full conversation context as the memory tool query.",
+    );
+    expect(prompt).toContain("Conversation context:");
+    expect(prompt).toContain("Conversation info:");
+    expect(prompt).not.toContain("Bounded memory search query:\nConversation info:");
+    expect(prompt).not.toContain("Bounded memory search query:\nSender:");
+    expect(prompt).not.toContain("Bounded memory search query:\nUntrusted Discord message body");
+  });
+
   it("supports full mode by sending the whole conversation", async () => {
     api.pluginConfig = {
       agents: ["main"],

extensions/active-memory/index.ts

@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ const DEFAULT_PARTIAL_TRANSCRIPT_MAX_CHARS = 32_000;
 const DEFAULT_TRANSCRIPT_READ_MAX_LINES = 2_000;
 const DEFAULT_TRANSCRIPT_READ_MAX_BYTES = 50 * 1024 * 1024;
 const TIMEOUT_PARTIAL_DATA_GRACE_MS = 50;
+const MAX_ACTIVE_MEMORY_SEARCH_QUERY_CHARS = 480;
 const TERMINAL_MEMORY_SEARCH_POLL_INTERVAL_MS = 25;
 
 const NO_RECALL_VALUES = new Set([
@@ -932,13 +933,16 @@ function buildPromptStyleLines(style: ActiveMemoryPromptStyle): string[] {
 function buildRecallPrompt(params: {
   config: ResolvedActiveRecallPluginConfig;
   query: string;
+  searchQuery: string;
 }): string {
   const defaultInstructions = [
     "You are a memory search agent.",
     "Another model is preparing the final user-facing answer.",
     "Your job is to search memory and return only the most relevant memory context for that model.",
-    "You receive conversation context, including the user's latest message.",
+    "You receive a bounded search query plus conversation context, including the user's latest message.",
     "Use only the available memory tools.",
+    "Use the bounded search query as the memory_search or memory_recall query.",
+    "Do not use channel metadata, provider metadata, debug output, or the full conversation context as the memory tool query.",
     "Prefer memory_recall when available.",
     "If memory_recall is unavailable, use memory_search and memory_get.",
     "When searching for preference or habit recall, use a permissive recall limit or memory_search threshold before deciding that no useful memory exists.",
@@ -990,7 +994,11 @@ function buildRecallPrompt(params: {
   ]
     .filter((section) => section.length > 0)
     .join("\n\n");
-  return `${instructionBlock}\n\nConversation context:\n${params.query}`;
+  return [
+    instructionBlock,
+    `Bounded memory search query:\n${params.searchQuery}`,
+    `Conversation context:\n${params.query}`,
+  ].join("\n\n");
 }
 
 function isEnabledForAgent(
@@ -2048,6 +2056,83 @@ function buildQuery(params: {
   ].join("\n");
 }
 
+function stripExternalUntrustedBlocks(text: string): string {
+  return text.replace(
+    /<<<EXTERNAL_UNTRUSTED_CONTENT\b[^>]*>>>[\s\S]*?<<<END_EXTERNAL_UNTRUSTED_CONTENT\b[^>]*>>>/g,
+    " ",
+  );
+}
+
+function stripJsonFences(text: string): string {
+  return text.replace(/```(?:json)?\s*[\s\S]*?```/gi, " ");
+}
+
+function stripActiveMemoryXmlBlocks(text: string): string {
+  return text.replace(/<active_memory_plugin>[\s\S]*?<\/active_memory_plugin>/gi, " ");
+}
+
+function normalizeSearchQueryText(text: string): string {
+  return text
+    .split("\n")
+    .map((line) => line.trim())
+    .filter((line) => {
+      if (!line) {
+        return false;
+      }
+      if (/^(conversation info|sender|untrusted context)\b/i.test(line)) {
+        return false;
+      }
+      if (/^(source: external|---|untrusted discord message body)$/i.test(line)) {
+        return false;
+      }
+      if (/^⚠️?\s*Agent couldn't generate a response/i.test(line)) {
+        return false;
+      }
+      if (/^Please try again\.?$/i.test(line)) {
+        return false;
+      }
+      return true;
+    })
+    .join(" ")
+    .replace(/\s+/g, " ")
+    .trim();
+}
+
+function clampSearchQuery(text: string): string {
+  const normalized = text.replace(/\s+/g, " ").trim();
+  return normalized.length > MAX_ACTIVE_MEMORY_SEARCH_QUERY_CHARS
+    ? normalized.slice(0, MAX_ACTIVE_MEMORY_SEARCH_QUERY_CHARS).trim()
+    : normalized;
+}
+
+function buildSearchQuery(params: {
+  latestUserMessage: string;
+  recentTurns?: ActiveRecallRecentTurn[];
+}): string {
+  const latest = clampSearchQuery(
+    normalizeSearchQueryText(
+      stripActiveMemoryXmlBlocks(
+        stripJsonFences(stripExternalUntrustedBlocks(params.latestUserMessage)),
+      ),
+    ),
+  );
+  if (latest.length >= 12 || !params.recentTurns?.length) {
+    return latest || clampSearchQuery(params.latestUserMessage);
+  }
+  const previousUser = [...params.recentTurns]
+    .toReversed()
+    .find((turn) => turn.role === "user" && turn.text.trim() !== params.latestUserMessage.trim());
+  if (!previousUser) {
+    return latest || clampSearchQuery(params.latestUserMessage);
+  }
+  const context = clampSearchQuery(
+    normalizeSearchQueryText(stripRecalledContextNoise(previousUser.text)),
+  )
+    .slice(0, 120)
+    .trim();
+  return clampSearchQuery(context ? `${context} ${latest}` : latest);
+}
+
 function extractTextContent(content: unknown): string {
   if (typeof content === "string") {
     return content;
@@ -2216,6 +2301,7 @@ async function runRecallSubagent(params: {
   messageProvider?: string;
   channelId?: string;
   query: string;
+  searchQuery: string;
   currentModelProviderId?: string;
   currentModelId?: string;
   modelRef?: { provider: string; model: string };
@@ -2270,6 +2356,7 @@ async function runRecallSubagent(params: {
   const prompt = buildRecallPrompt({
     config: params.config,
     query: params.query,
+    searchQuery: params.searchQuery,
   });
   const { messageChannel, messageProvider } = resolveRecallRunChannelContext({
     api: params.api,
@@ -2359,6 +2446,7 @@ async function maybeResolveActiveRecall(params: {
   messageProvider?: string;
   channelId?: string;
   query: string;
+  searchQuery: string;
   currentModelProviderId?: string;
   currentModelId?: string;
 }): Promise<ActiveRecallResult> {
@@ -2436,7 +2524,9 @@ async function maybeResolveActiveRecall(params: {
 
   if (params.config.logging) {
     params.api.logger.info?.(
-      `${logPrefix} start timeoutMs=${String(params.config.timeoutMs)} queryChars=${String(params.query.length)}`,
+      `${logPrefix} start timeoutMs=${String(params.config.timeoutMs)} queryChars=${String(
+        params.query.length,
+      )} searchQueryChars=${String(params.searchQuery.length)}`,
     );
   }
 
@@ -2805,11 +2895,16 @@ export default definePluginEntry({
             });
             return undefined;
           }
+          const recentTurns = extractRecentTurns(event.messages);
           const query = buildQuery({
             latestUserMessage: event.prompt,
-            recentTurns: extractRecentTurns(event.messages),
+            recentTurns,
             config,
           });
+          const searchQuery = buildSearchQuery({
+            latestUserMessage: event.prompt,
+            recentTurns,
+          });
           const result = await maybeResolveActiveRecall({
             api,
             config,
@@ -2819,6 +2914,7 @@ export default definePluginEntry({
             messageProvider: ctx.messageProvider,
             channelId: ctx.channelId,
             query,
+            searchQuery,
             currentModelProviderId: ctx.modelProviderId,
             currentModelId: ctx.modelId,
           });