fix(memory-core): bound fallback vector chunk scoring

- stream fallback Memory Core vector scoring with SQLite iterate() and a bounded top-K result set
- add regression coverage and live-main lint/boundary helper repairs
- supersedes #73069

Thanks @parkertoddbrooks.

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 - CLI/skills: resolve workspace-backed skills commands from `--agent`, then the current agent workspace, before falling back to the default agent, so multi-agent ClawHub installs, updates, and status checks stay scoped to the active workspace. Fixes #56161; carries forward #72726. Thanks @langbowang and @luyao618.
 - Plugin SDK: fall back from partial bundled plugin directory overrides to package source public surfaces while preserving `OPENCLAW_DISABLE_BUNDLED_PLUGINS` as a hard disable. (#72817) Thanks @serkonyc.
 - Agents/ACPX: stop forwarding Codex ACP timeout config controls that Codex rejects while preserving OpenClaw's run-timeout watchdog for ACP subagents. Fixes #73052. Thanks @pfrederiksen and @richa65.
+- Memory Core: stream fallback vector search scoring with a bounded top-K result set so large indexes do not materialize every chunk embedding when sqlite-vec is unavailable. (#73069) Thanks @parkertoddbrooks.
 - Memory/Ollama: add `memorySearch.remote.nonBatchConcurrency` for inline embedding indexing, default Ollama non-batch indexing to one request at a time, and keep batch concurrency separate from non-batch concurrency so local embedding backfills avoid timeout storms on smaller hosts. Carries forward #57733. Thanks @itilys.
 - Docs/tools: clarify that `tools.profile: "messaging"` is intentionally narrow and that `tools.profile: "full"` is the unrestricted baseline for broader command/control access. Carries forward #39954. Thanks @posigit.
 - Control UI/Agents: redact tool-call args, partial/final results, derived exec output, and configured custom secret patterns before streaming tool events to the Control UI, so tool output cannot expose provider or channel credentials. Fixes #72283. (#72319) Thanks @volcano303 and @BunsDev.

extensions/memory-core/src/memory/manager-search.test.ts

@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ import {
   loadSqliteVecExtension,
   requireNodeSqlite,
 } from "openclaw/plugin-sdk/memory-core-host-engine-storage";
-import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import { describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
 import { bm25RankToScore, buildFtsQuery } from "./hybrid.js";
 import { searchKeyword, searchVector } from "./manager-search.js";
 
@@ -182,6 +182,98 @@ describe("searchKeyword trigram fallback", () => {
 describe("searchVector sqlite-vec KNN", () => {
   const { DatabaseSync } = requireNodeSqlite();
 
+  it("streams fallback chunk scoring without materializing candidates", async () => {
+    type ChunkRow = {
+      id: string;
+      path: string;
+      start_line: number;
+      end_line: number;
+      text: string;
+      embedding: string;
+      source: string;
+    };
+    type StatementWithAll = {
+      all: (...params: unknown[]) => ChunkRow[];
+    };
+
+    const db = new DatabaseSync(":memory:");
+    try {
+      ensureMemoryIndexSchema({
+        db,
+        embeddingCacheTable: "embedding_cache",
+        cacheEnabled: false,
+        ftsTable: "chunks_fts",
+        ftsEnabled: false,
+      });
+
+      const insertChunk = db.prepare(
+        "INSERT INTO chunks (id, path, source, start_line, end_line, hash, model, text, embedding, updated_at) VALUES (?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?)",
+      );
+      const addChunk = (params: { id: string; model: string; vector: [number, number] }) => {
+        insertChunk.run(
+          params.id,
+          `memory/${params.id}.md`,
+          "memory",
+          1,
+          1,
+          params.id,
+          params.model,
+          `chunk ${params.id}`,
+          JSON.stringify(params.vector),
+          1,
+        );
+      };
+      addChunk({ id: "target-1", model: "target-model", vector: [1, 0] });
+      addChunk({ id: "target-2", model: "target-model", vector: [0.8, 0.2] });
+      addChunk({ id: "target-3", model: "target-model", vector: [0, 1] });
+      addChunk({ id: "other-1", model: "other-model", vector: [1, 0] });
+
+      const prepareTarget = db as unknown as { prepare: (sql: string) => unknown };
+      const originalPrepare = prepareTarget.prepare.bind(db);
+      const chunkRows = (
+        originalPrepare(
+          "SELECT id, path, start_line, end_line, text, embedding, source\n" +
+            "  FROM chunks\n" +
+            " WHERE model = ?",
+        ) as StatementWithAll
+      ).all("target-model");
+      const prepareSpy = vi.spyOn(prepareTarget, "prepare").mockImplementation((sql: string) => {
+        if (
+          sql.includes("SELECT id, path, start_line, end_line, text, embedding, source") &&
+          sql.includes("FROM chunks")
+        ) {
+          return {
+            all: () => {
+              throw new Error("fallback vector search must stream rows via iterate()");
+            },
+            iterate: () => chunkRows[Symbol.iterator](),
+          };
+        }
+        return originalPrepare(sql);
+      });
+
+      try {
+        const results = await searchVector({
+          db,
+          vectorTable: "chunks_vec",
+          providerModel: "target-model",
+          queryVec: [1, 0],
+          limit: 2,
+          snippetMaxChars: 200,
+          ensureVectorReady: async () => false,
+          sourceFilterVec: { sql: "", params: [] },
+          sourceFilterChunks: { sql: "", params: [] },
+        });
+
+        expect(results.map((row) => row.id)).toEqual(["target-1", "target-2"]);
+      } finally {
+        prepareSpy.mockRestore();
+      }
+    } finally {
+      db.close();
+    }
+  });
+
   it("fills the requested limit after model filters prune nearest KNN candidates", async () => {
     const db = new DatabaseSync(":memory:", { allowExtension: true });
     try {

extensions/memory-core/src/memory/manager-search.ts

@@ -205,51 +205,34 @@ export async function searchVector(params: {
     }));
   }
 
-  const candidates = listChunks({
+  return searchChunksByEmbedding({
     db: params.db,
     providerModel: params.providerModel,
     sourceFilter: params.sourceFilterChunks,
+    queryVec: params.queryVec,
+    limit: params.limit,
+    snippetMaxChars: params.snippetMaxChars,
   });
-  const scored = candidates
-    .map((chunk) => ({
-      chunk,
-      score: cosineSimilarity(params.queryVec, chunk.embedding),
-    }))
-    .filter((entry) => Number.isFinite(entry.score));
-  return scored
-    .toSorted((a, b) => b.score - a.score)
-    .slice(0, params.limit)
-    .map((entry) => ({
-      id: entry.chunk.id,
-      path: entry.chunk.path,
-      startLine: entry.chunk.startLine,
-      endLine: entry.chunk.endLine,
-      score: entry.score,
-      snippet: truncateUtf16Safe(entry.chunk.text, params.snippetMaxChars),
-      source: entry.chunk.source,
-    }));
 }
 
-export function listChunks(params: {
+export function searchChunksByEmbedding(params: {
   db: DatabaseSync;
   providerModel: string;
   sourceFilter: { sql: string; params: SearchSource[] };
-}): Array<{
-  id: string;
-  path: string;
-  startLine: number;
-  endLine: number;
-  text: string;
-  embedding: number[];
-  source: SearchSource;
-}> {
+  queryVec: number[];
+  limit: number;
+  snippetMaxChars: number;
+}): SearchRowResult[] {
+  if (params.limit <= 0) {
+    return [];
+  }
   const rows = params.db
     .prepare(
       `SELECT id, path, start_line, end_line, text, embedding, source\n` +
         `  FROM chunks\n` +
         ` WHERE model = ?${params.sourceFilter.sql}`,
     )
-    .all(params.providerModel, ...params.sourceFilter.params) as Array<{
+    .iterate(params.providerModel, ...params.sourceFilter.params) as IterableIterator<{
     id: string;
     path: string;
     start_line: number;
@@ -259,15 +242,36 @@ export function listChunks(params: {
     source: SearchSource;
   }>;
 
-  return rows.map((row) => ({
-    id: row.id,
-    path: row.path,
-    startLine: row.start_line,
-    endLine: row.end_line,
-    text: row.text,
-    embedding: parseEmbedding(row.embedding),
-    source: row.source,
-  }));
+  const topResults: SearchRowResult[] = [];
+  for (const row of rows) {
+    const score = cosineSimilarity(params.queryVec, parseEmbedding(row.embedding));
+    if (!Number.isFinite(score)) {
+      continue;
+    }
+    const result: SearchRowResult = {
+      id: row.id,
+      path: row.path,
+      startLine: row.start_line,
+      endLine: row.end_line,
+      score,
+      snippet: truncateUtf16Safe(row.text, params.snippetMaxChars),
+      source: row.source,
+    };
+    if (topResults.length < params.limit) {
+      topResults.push(result);
+      if (topResults.length === params.limit) {
+        topResults.sort((a, b) => b.score - a.score);
+      }
+      continue;
+    }
+    const lowest = topResults.at(-1);
+    if (lowest && result.score > lowest.score) {
+      topResults[topResults.length - 1] = result;
+      topResults.sort((a, b) => b.score - a.score);
+    }
+  }
+  topResults.sort((a, b) => b.score - a.score);
+  return topResults;
 }
 
 export async function searchKeyword(params: {

test/extension-test-boundary.test.ts

@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 import fs from "node:fs";
 import path from "node:path";
+import { GUARDED_EXTENSION_PUBLIC_SURFACE_BASENAMES } from "openclaw/plugin-sdk/plugin-test-contracts";
 import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
 import { BUNDLED_PLUGIN_PATH_PREFIX } from "./helpers/bundled-plugin-paths.js";
-import { GUARDED_EXTENSION_PUBLIC_SURFACE_BASENAMES } from "./helpers/plugins/public-artifacts.js";
 
 const repoRoot = path.resolve(import.meta.dirname, "..");
 const ALLOWED_EXTENSION_PUBLIC_SURFACE_BASENAMES = new Set(

test/scripts/lint-suppressions.test.ts

@@ -114,6 +114,9 @@ describe("production lint suppressions", () => {
       "src/plugin-sdk/facade-loader.ts|typescript/no-unnecessary-type-parameters|1",
       "src/plugin-sdk/facade-runtime.ts|typescript/no-unnecessary-type-parameters|3",
       "src/plugin-sdk/qa-runner-runtime.ts|typescript/no-unnecessary-type-parameters|1",
+      "src/plugin-sdk/test-helpers/package-manifest-contract.ts|typescript/no-unnecessary-type-parameters|1",
+      "src/plugin-sdk/test-helpers/public-surface-loader.ts|typescript/no-unnecessary-type-parameters|1",
+      "src/plugin-sdk/test-helpers/subagent-hooks.ts|typescript/no-unnecessary-type-parameters|1",
       "src/plugins/hooks.ts|typescript/no-unnecessary-type-parameters|1",
       "src/plugins/host-hook-runtime.ts|typescript/no-unnecessary-type-parameters|2",
       "src/plugins/host-hooks.ts|typescript/no-unnecessary-type-parameters|1",