fix(compaction): honor manual keepRecentTokens

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 
 ### Fixes
 
+- Compaction: honor explicit `agents.defaults.compaction.keepRecentTokens` for manual `/compact`, re-distill safeguard summaries instead of snowballing previous summaries, and enable safeguard summary quality checks by default. Fixes #71357. Thanks @WhiteGiverMa.
 - Sessions: honor configured `session.maintenance` settings during load-time maintenance instead of falling back to default entry caps. Fixes #71356. Thanks @comolago.
 - Browser/sandbox: pass the resolved `browser.ssrfPolicy` into sandbox browser bridges and refresh cached bridges when the effective policy changes, so sandboxed browser navigation honors private-network opt-ins. Fixes #45153 and #57055. Thanks @jzakirov, @zuoanCo, and @kybrcore.
 - Browser/proxy: keep Gateway/provider proxy environment variables from proxying the OpenClaw-managed browser, so `HTTP_PROXY` and `HTTPS_PROXY` no longer block ordinary browser navigation. Fixes #71358. Thanks @Sanjays2402.

docs/.generated/config-baseline.sha256

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-8f23e853ccde6cd021b84b32fe205f456f8516667683d16c9b56d6598f608989  config-baseline.json
+71ef32b7723f64d4a84ac43bb6d41ff21e0d77a099b42e026d8b0d3d5301f917  config-baseline.json
-037bf4a873587adb8349f531c0ad79cd4f90e01712f5aa5d8b4387be73538a7f  config-baseline.core.json
+cfab1910132ed23777005e0c650a13f44626b0450963f733e9de56a13323ae2b  config-baseline.core.json
 22d7cd6d8279146b2d79c9531a55b80b52a2c99c81338c508104729154fdd02d  config-baseline.channel.json
 86f615b7d267b03888af0af7ccb3f8232a6b636f8a741d522ff425e46729ba81  config-baseline.plugin.json

docs/concepts/compaction.md

@@ -113,6 +113,11 @@ the summary:
 /compact Focus on the API design decisions
 ```
 
+When `agents.defaults.compaction.keepRecentTokens` is set, manual compaction
+honors that Pi cut-point and keeps the recent tail in rebuilt context. Without
+an explicit keep budget, manual compaction behaves as a hard checkpoint and
+continues from the new summary alone.
+
 ## Using a different model
 
 By default, compaction uses your agent's primary model. You can use a more

docs/gateway/config-agents.md

@@ -542,8 +542,10 @@ Periodic heartbeat runs.
         provider: "my-provider", // id of a registered compaction provider plugin (optional)
         timeoutSeconds: 900,
         reserveTokensFloor: 24000,
+        keepRecentTokens: 50000,
         identifierPolicy: "strict", // strict | off | custom
         identifierInstructions: "Preserve deployment IDs, ticket IDs, and host:port pairs exactly.", // used when identifierPolicy=custom
+        qualityGuard: { enabled: true, maxRetries: 1 },
         postCompactionSections: ["Session Startup", "Red Lines"], // [] disables reinjection
         model: "openrouter/anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6", // optional compaction-only model override
         notifyUser: true, // send brief notices when compaction starts and completes (default: false)
@@ -562,8 +564,10 @@ Periodic heartbeat runs.
 - `mode`: `default` or `safeguard` (chunked summarization for long histories). See [Compaction](/concepts/compaction).
 - `provider`: id of a registered compaction provider plugin. When set, the provider's `summarize()` is called instead of built-in LLM summarization. Falls back to built-in on failure. Setting a provider forces `mode: "safeguard"`. See [Compaction](/concepts/compaction).
 - `timeoutSeconds`: maximum seconds allowed for a single compaction operation before OpenClaw aborts it. Default: `900`.
+- `keepRecentTokens`: Pi cut-point budget for keeping the most recent transcript tail verbatim. Manual `/compact` honors this when explicitly set; otherwise manual compaction is a hard checkpoint.
 - `identifierPolicy`: `strict` (default), `off`, or `custom`. `strict` prepends built-in opaque identifier retention guidance during compaction summarization.
 - `identifierInstructions`: optional custom identifier-preservation text used when `identifierPolicy=custom`.
+- `qualityGuard`: retry-on-malformed-output checks for safeguard summaries. Enabled by default in safeguard mode; set `enabled: false` to skip the audit.
 - `postCompactionSections`: optional AGENTS.md H2/H3 section names to re-inject after compaction. Defaults to `["Session Startup", "Red Lines"]`; set `[]` to disable reinjection. When unset or explicitly set to that default pair, older `Every Session`/`Safety` headings are also accepted as a legacy fallback.
 - `model`: optional `provider/model-id` override for compaction summarization only. Use this when the main session should keep one model but compaction summaries should run on another; when unset, compaction uses the session's primary model.
 - `notifyUser`: when `true`, sends brief notices to the user when compaction starts and when it completes (for example, "Compacting context..." and "Compaction complete"). Disabled by default to keep compaction silent.

docs/reference/session-management-compaction.md

@@ -267,6 +267,10 @@ OpenClaw also enforces a safety floor for embedded runs:
 - Default floor is `20000` tokens.
 - Set `agents.defaults.compaction.reserveTokensFloor: 0` to disable the floor.
 - If it’s already higher, OpenClaw leaves it alone.
+- Manual `/compact` honors an explicit `agents.defaults.compaction.keepRecentTokens`
+  and keeps Pi's recent-tail cut point. Without an explicit keep budget,
+  manual compaction remains a hard checkpoint and rebuilt context starts from
+  the new summary.
 
 Why: leave enough headroom for multi-turn “housekeeping” (like memory writes) before compaction becomes unavoidable.
 
@@ -283,6 +287,10 @@ Plugins can register a compaction provider via `registerCompactionProvider()` on
 - Setting a `provider` forces `mode: "safeguard"`.
 - Providers receive the same compaction instructions and identifier-preservation policy as the built-in path.
 - The safeguard still preserves recent-turn and split-turn suffix context after provider output.
+- Built-in safeguard summarization re-distills prior summaries with new messages
+  instead of preserving the full previous summary verbatim.
+- Safeguard mode enables summary quality audits by default; set
+  `qualityGuard.enabled: false` to skip retry-on-malformed-output behavior.
 - If the provider fails or returns an empty result, OpenClaw falls back to built-in LLM summarization automatically.
 - Abort/timeout signals are re-thrown (not swallowed) to respect caller cancellation.
 

src/agents/pi-embedded-runner/compact.ts

@@ -1059,6 +1059,8 @@ export async function compactEmbeddedPiSessionDirect(
             try {
               const hardenedBoundary = await hardenManualCompactionBoundary({
                 sessionFile: params.sessionFile,
+                preserveRecentTail:
+                  typeof params.config?.agents?.defaults?.compaction?.keepRecentTokens === "number",
               });
               if (hardenedBoundary.applied) {
                 effectiveFirstKeptEntryId =

src/agents/pi-embedded-runner/extensions.test.ts

@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ function expectSafeguardRuntime(
 }
 
 describe("buildEmbeddedExtensionFactories", () => {
-  it("does not opt safeguard mode into quality-guard retries", () => {
+  it("enables quality-guard retries by default in safeguard mode", () => {
     const cfg = {
       agents: {
         defaults: {
@@ -55,6 +55,24 @@ describe("buildEmbeddedExtensionFactories", () => {
         },
       },
     } as OpenClawConfig;
+    expectSafeguardRuntime(cfg, {
+      qualityGuardEnabled: true,
+    });
+  });
+
+  it("honors explicit safeguard quality-guard disablement", () => {
+    const cfg = {
+      agents: {
+        defaults: {
+          compaction: {
+            mode: "safeguard",
+            qualityGuard: {
+              enabled: false,
+            },
+          },
+        },
+      },
+    } as OpenClawConfig;
     expectSafeguardRuntime(cfg, {
       qualityGuardEnabled: false,
     });

src/agents/pi-embedded-runner/extensions.ts

@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ export function buildEmbeddedExtensionFactories(params: {
       identifierPolicy: compactionCfg?.identifierPolicy,
       identifierInstructions: compactionCfg?.identifierInstructions,
       customInstructions: compactionCfg?.customInstructions,
-      qualityGuardEnabled: qualityGuardCfg?.enabled ?? false,
+      qualityGuardEnabled: qualityGuardCfg?.enabled ?? true,
       qualityGuardMaxRetries: qualityGuardCfg?.maxRetries,
       model: params.model,
       recentTurnsPreserve: compactionCfg?.recentTurnsPreserve,

src/agents/pi-embedded-runner/manual-compaction-boundary.test.ts

@@ -118,6 +118,39 @@ describe("hardenManualCompactionBoundary", () => {
     expect(afterTexts.join("\n")).not.toContain("detailed new answer");
   });
 
+  it("keeps the upstream recent tail when requested", async () => {
+    const dir = await makeTmpDir();
+    const session = SessionManager.create(dir, dir);
+
+    session.appendMessage({ role: "user", content: "old question", timestamp: 1 });
+    session.appendMessage(createAssistantTextMessage("old answer", 2));
+    const keepId = session.getBranch().at(-1)?.id;
+    expect(keepId).toBeTruthy();
+    const latestCompactionId = session.appendCompaction("fresh summary", keepId!, 200);
+    const sessionFile = session.getSessionFile();
+    expect(sessionFile).toBeTruthy();
+
+    const hardened = await hardenManualCompactionBoundary({
+      sessionFile: sessionFile!,
+      preserveRecentTail: true,
+    });
+    expect(hardened.applied).toBe(false);
+    expect(hardened.firstKeptEntryId).toBe(keepId);
+
+    const reopened = SessionManager.open(sessionFile!);
+    const latest = reopened.getLeafEntry();
+    expect(latest?.type).toBe("compaction");
+    if (!latest || latest.type !== "compaction") {
+      throw new Error("expected latest leaf to be a compaction entry");
+    }
+    expect(latest.id).toBe(latestCompactionId);
+    expect(latest.firstKeptEntryId).toBe(keepId);
+    expect(reopened.buildSessionContext().messages.map((message) => message.role)).toEqual([
+      "compactionSummary",
+      "assistant",
+    ]);
+  });
+
   it("is a no-op when the latest leaf is not a compaction entry", async () => {
     const dir = await makeTmpDir();
     const session = SessionManager.create(dir, dir);

src/agents/pi-embedded-runner/manual-compaction-boundary.ts

@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ function replaceLatestCompactionBoundary(params: {
 
 export async function hardenManualCompactionBoundary(params: {
   sessionFile: string;
+  preserveRecentTail?: boolean;
 }): Promise<HardenedManualCompactionBoundary> {
   const sessionManager = SessionManager.open(params.sessionFile) as Partial<SessionManagerLike>;
   if (
@@ -68,6 +69,19 @@ export async function hardenManualCompactionBoundary(params: {
     };
   }
 
+  if (params.preserveRecentTail) {
+    const sessionContext = sessionManager.buildSessionContext();
+    return {
+      applied: false,
+      firstKeptEntryId: leaf.firstKeptEntryId,
+      leafId:
+        typeof sessionManager.getLeafId === "function"
+          ? (sessionManager.getLeafId() ?? undefined)
+          : undefined,
+      messages: sessionContext.messages,
+    };
+  }
+
   if (leaf.firstKeptEntryId === leaf.id) {
     const sessionContext = sessionManager.buildSessionContext();
     return {

src/agents/pi-hooks/compaction-safeguard-quality.ts

@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@ export function buildCompactionStructureInstructions(
     ...REQUIRED_SUMMARY_SECTIONS,
     identifierSectionInstruction,
     "Do not omit unresolved asks from the user.",
+    "When prior compaction summaries are present, re-distill them with new messages and remove stale duplicate detail.",
   ].join("\n");
   const custom = customInstructions?.trim();
   if (!custom) {

src/agents/pi-hooks/compaction-safeguard.test.ts

@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ const {
   formatPreservedTurnsSection,
   buildCompactionStructureInstructions,
   buildStructuredFallbackSummary,
+  prependPreviousSummaryForRedistill,
   appendSummarySection,
   resolveRecentTurnsPreserve,
   resolveQualityGuardMaxRetries,
@@ -1198,6 +1199,20 @@ describe("compaction-safeguard recent-turn preservation", () => {
     expect(buildStructuredFallbackSummary(structured)).toBe(structured);
   });
 
+  it("converts previous summaries into redistill input instead of update-prompt state", () => {
+    const messages: AgentMessage[] = [{ role: "user", content: "new context", timestamp: 1 }];
+    const redistillMessages = prependPreviousSummaryForRedistill({
+      messages,
+      previousSummary: "## Goal\nold duplicate summary",
+    });
+
+    expect(redistillMessages).toHaveLength(2);
+    expect(redistillMessages[0]?.role).toBe("user");
+    expect(JSON.stringify(redistillMessages[0])).toContain("<previous-compaction-summary>");
+    expect(JSON.stringify(redistillMessages[0])).toContain("Prune stale, duplicate");
+    expect(redistillMessages[1]).toBe(messages[0]);
+  });
+
   it("restructures summaries with near-match headings instead of reusing them", () => {
     const nearMatch = [
       "## Decisions",
@@ -1685,7 +1700,72 @@ describe("compaction-safeguard recent-turn preservation", () => {
     expect(summary).toContain("legacy summary without headings");
   });
 
+  it("re-distills prior summaries on the LLM path instead of preserving them verbatim", async () => {
+    mockSummarizeInStages.mockReset();
+    mockSummarizeInStages.mockResolvedValue(
+      [
+        "## Decisions",
+        "Condensed prior context with latest status.",
+        "## Open TODOs",
+        "None.",
+        "## Constraints/Rules",
+        "Preserve identifiers.",
+        "## Pending user asks",
+        "latest ask status",
+        "## Exact identifiers",
+        "None.",
+      ].join("\n"),
+    );
+
+    const sessionManager = stubSessionManager();
+    const model = createAnthropicModelFixture();
+    setCompactionSafeguardRuntime(sessionManager, {
+      model,
+      recentTurnsPreserve: 0,
+      qualityGuardEnabled: true,
+      qualityGuardMaxRetries: 1,
+    });
+
+    const compactionHandler = createCompactionHandler();
+    const getApiKeyMock = vi.fn().mockResolvedValue("test-key");
+    const mockContext = createCompactionContext({
+      sessionManager,
+      getApiKeyMock,
+    });
+    const event = {
+      preparation: {
+        messagesToSummarize: [{ role: "user", content: "latest ask status", timestamp: 1 }],
+        turnPrefixMessages: [],
+        firstKeptEntryId: "entry-1",
+        tokensBefore: 1_500,
+        fileOps: {
+          read: [],
+          edited: [],
+          written: [],
+        },
+        settings: { reserveTokens: 4_000 },
+        previousSummary: "## Goal\nOld duplicated section that should be re-distilled.",
+        isSplitTurn: false,
+      },
+      customInstructions: "",
+      signal: new AbortController().signal,
+    };
+
+    const result = (await compactionHandler(event, mockContext)) as {
+      cancel?: boolean;
+      compaction?: { summary?: string };
+    };
+
+    expect(result.cancel).not.toBe(true);
+    expect(mockSummarizeInStages).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    const call = mockSummarizeInStages.mock.calls[0]?.[0];
+    expect(call?.previousSummary).toBeUndefined();
+    expect(JSON.stringify(call?.messages[0])).toContain("<previous-compaction-summary>");
+    expect(JSON.stringify(call?.messages[0])).toContain("Old duplicated section");
+  });
+
   it("passes compaction instructions to providers and preserves suffix context", async () => {
+    mockSummarizeInStages.mockReset();
     const providerSummarize = vi.fn().mockResolvedValue("provider summary body");
     registerCompactionProvider({
       id: "test-provider",

src/agents/pi-hooks/compaction-safeguard.ts

@@ -67,10 +67,37 @@ const DEFAULT_QUALITY_GUARD_MAX_RETRIES = 1;
 const MAX_RECENT_TURNS_PRESERVE = 12;
 const MAX_QUALITY_GUARD_MAX_RETRIES = 3;
 const MAX_RECENT_TURN_TEXT_CHARS = 600;
+const PREVIOUS_SUMMARY_REDISTILL_PREFIX =
+  "Previous compaction summary to re-distill with the current conversation. " +
+  "Prune stale, duplicate, or superseded details instead of preserving it verbatim.";
 const compactionSafeguardDeps = {
   summarizeInStages,
 };
 
+function buildPreviousSummaryMessage(previousSummary: string): AgentMessage {
+  return {
+    role: "user",
+    content: [
+      {
+        type: "text",
+        text: `<previous-compaction-summary>\n${PREVIOUS_SUMMARY_REDISTILL_PREFIX}\n\n${previousSummary.trim()}\n</previous-compaction-summary>`,
+      },
+    ],
+    timestamp: 0,
+  } as AgentMessage;
+}
+
+function prependPreviousSummaryForRedistill(params: {
+  messages: AgentMessage[];
+  previousSummary?: string;
+}): AgentMessage[] {
+  const previousSummary = params.previousSummary?.trim();
+  if (!previousSummary) {
+    return params.messages;
+  }
+  return [buildPreviousSummaryMessage(previousSummary), ...params.messages];
+}
+
 /**
  * Attempt provider-based summarization. Returns the summary string on success,
  * or `undefined` when the caller should fall back to built-in LLM summarization.
@@ -125,8 +152,12 @@ async function summarizeViaLLM(params: {
   summarizationInstructions?: Parameters<typeof summarizeInStages>[0]["summarizationInstructions"];
   previousSummary?: string;
 }): Promise<string> {
-  return compactionSafeguardDeps.summarizeInStages({
+  const messages = prependPreviousSummaryForRedistill({
     messages: params.messages,
+    previousSummary: params.previousSummary,
+  });
+  return compactionSafeguardDeps.summarizeInStages({
+    messages,
     model: params.model,
     apiKey: params.apiKey,
     headers: params.headers,
@@ -136,7 +167,7 @@ async function summarizeViaLLM(params: {
     contextWindow: params.contextWindow,
     customInstructions: params.customInstructions,
     summarizationInstructions: params.summarizationInstructions,
-    previousSummary: params.previousSummary,
+    previousSummary: undefined,
   });
 }
 
@@ -1166,6 +1197,7 @@ export const __testing = {
   formatSplitTurnContextSection,
   buildCompactionStructureInstructions,
   buildStructuredFallbackSummary,
+  prependPreviousSummaryForRedistill,
   appendSummarySection,
   resolveRecentTurnsPreserve,
   resolveQualityGuardMaxRetries,

src/config/schema.base.generated.ts

@@ -4722,7 +4722,7 @@ export const GENERATED_BASE_CONFIG_SCHEMA: BaseConfigSchemaResponse = {
                         type: "boolean",
                         title: "Compaction Quality Guard Enabled",
                         description:
-                          "Enables summary quality audits and regeneration retries for safeguard compaction. Default: false, so safeguard mode alone does not turn on retry behavior.",
+                          "Enables summary quality audits and regeneration retries for safeguard compaction. Default: true in safeguard mode.",
                       },
                       maxRetries: {
                         type: "integer",
@@ -4736,7 +4736,7 @@ export const GENERATED_BASE_CONFIG_SCHEMA: BaseConfigSchemaResponse = {
                     additionalProperties: false,
                     title: "Compaction Quality Guard",
                     description:
-                      "Optional quality-audit retry settings for safeguard compaction summaries. Leave this disabled unless you explicitly want summary audits and one-shot regeneration on failed checks.",
+                      "Quality-audit retry settings for safeguard compaction summaries. Safeguard mode enables this by default; set enabled: false to skip summary audits and regeneration.",
                   },
                   postIndexSync: {
                     type: "string",
@@ -26066,12 +26066,12 @@ export const GENERATED_BASE_CONFIG_SCHEMA: BaseConfigSchemaResponse = {
     },
     "agents.defaults.compaction.qualityGuard": {
       label: "Compaction Quality Guard",
-      help: "Optional quality-audit retry settings for safeguard compaction summaries. Leave this disabled unless you explicitly want summary audits and one-shot regeneration on failed checks.",
+      help: "Quality-audit retry settings for safeguard compaction summaries. Safeguard mode enables this by default; set enabled: false to skip summary audits and regeneration.",
       tags: ["advanced"],
     },
     "agents.defaults.compaction.qualityGuard.enabled": {
       label: "Compaction Quality Guard Enabled",
-      help: "Enables summary quality audits and regeneration retries for safeguard compaction. Default: false, so safeguard mode alone does not turn on retry behavior.",
+      help: "Enables summary quality audits and regeneration retries for safeguard compaction. Default: true in safeguard mode.",
       tags: ["advanced"],
     },
     "agents.defaults.compaction.qualityGuard.maxRetries": {

src/config/schema.help.ts

@@ -1236,9 +1236,9 @@ export const FIELD_HELP: Record<string, string> = {
   "agents.defaults.compaction.recentTurnsPreserve":
     "Number of most recent user/assistant turns kept verbatim outside safeguard summarization (default: 3). Raise this to preserve exact recent dialogue context, or lower it to maximize compaction savings.",
   "agents.defaults.compaction.qualityGuard":
-    "Optional quality-audit retry settings for safeguard compaction summaries. Leave this disabled unless you explicitly want summary audits and one-shot regeneration on failed checks.",
+    "Quality-audit retry settings for safeguard compaction summaries. Safeguard mode enables this by default; set enabled: false to skip summary audits and regeneration.",
   "agents.defaults.compaction.qualityGuard.enabled":
-    "Enables summary quality audits and regeneration retries for safeguard compaction. Default: false, so safeguard mode alone does not turn on retry behavior.",
+    "Enables summary quality audits and regeneration retries for safeguard compaction. Default: true in safeguard mode.",
   "agents.defaults.compaction.qualityGuard.maxRetries":
     "Maximum number of regeneration retries after a failed safeguard summary quality audit. Use small values to bound extra latency and token cost.",
   "agents.defaults.compaction.postIndexSync":