docs: document trajectory bundles

docs/tools/trajectory.md

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+---
+summary: "Export redacted trajectory bundles for debugging an OpenClaw agent session"
+read_when:
+  - Debugging why an agent answered, failed, or called tools a certain way
+  - Exporting a support bundle for an OpenClaw session
+  - Investigating prompt context, tool calls, runtime errors, or usage metadata
+  - Disabling or relocating trajectory capture
+title: "Trajectory Bundles"
+---
+
+# Trajectory bundles
+
+Trajectory capture is OpenClaw's per-session flight recorder. It records a
+structured timeline for each agent run, then `/export-trajectory` packages the
+current session into a redacted support bundle.
+
+Use it when you need to answer questions like:
+
+- What prompt, system prompt, and tools were sent to the model?
+- Which transcript messages and tool calls led to this answer?
+- Did the run time out, abort, compact, or hit a provider error?
+- Which model, plugins, skills, and runtime settings were active?
+- What usage and prompt-cache metadata did the provider return?
+
+## Quick start
+
+Send this in the active session:
+
+```text
+/export-trajectory
+```
+
+Alias:
+
+```text
+/trajectory
+```
+
+OpenClaw writes the bundle under the workspace:
+
+```text
+.openclaw/trajectory-exports/openclaw-trajectory-<session>-<timestamp>/
+```
+
+You can choose a relative output directory name:
+
+```text
+/export-trajectory bug-1234
+```
+
+The custom path is resolved inside `.openclaw/trajectory-exports/`. Absolute
+paths and `~` paths are rejected.
+
+## Access
+
+Trajectory export is an owner command. The sender must pass the normal command
+authorization checks and owner checks for the channel.
+
+## What gets recorded
+
+Trajectory capture is on by default for OpenClaw agent runs.
+
+Runtime events include:
+
+- `session.started`
+- `trace.metadata`
+- `context.compiled`
+- `prompt.submitted`
+- `model.completed`
+- `trace.artifacts`
+- `session.ended`
+
+Transcript events are also reconstructed from the active session branch:
+
+- user messages
+- assistant messages
+- tool calls
+- tool results
+- compactions
+- model changes
+- labels and custom session entries
+
+Events are written as JSON Lines with this schema marker:
+
+```json
+{
+  "traceSchema": "openclaw-trajectory",
+  "schemaVersion": 1
+}
+```
+
+## Bundle files
+
+An exported bundle can contain:
+
+| File                  | Contents                                                                                       |
+| --------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
+| `manifest.json`       | Bundle schema, source files, event counts, and generated file list                             |
+| `events.jsonl`        | Ordered runtime and transcript timeline                                                        |
+| `session-branch.json` | Redacted active transcript branch and session header                                           |
+| `metadata.json`       | OpenClaw version, OS/runtime, model, config snapshot, plugins, skills, and prompt metadata     |
+| `artifacts.json`      | Final status, errors, usage, prompt cache, compaction count, assistant text, and tool metadata |
+| `prompts.json`        | Submitted prompts and selected prompt-building details                                         |
+| `system-prompt.txt`   | Latest compiled system prompt, when captured                                                   |
+| `tools.json`          | Tool definitions sent to the model, when captured                                              |
+
+`manifest.json` lists the files present in that bundle. Some files are omitted
+when the session did not capture the corresponding runtime data.
+
+## Capture location
+
+By default, runtime trajectory events are written beside the session file:
+
+```text
+<session>.trajectory.jsonl
+```
+
+OpenClaw also writes a best-effort pointer file beside the session:
+
+```text
+<session>.trajectory-path.json
+```
+
+Set `OPENCLAW_TRAJECTORY_DIR` to store runtime trajectory sidecars in a
+dedicated directory:
+
+```bash
+export OPENCLAW_TRAJECTORY_DIR=/var/lib/openclaw/trajectories
+```
+
+When this variable is set, OpenClaw writes one JSONL file per session id in that
+directory.
+
+## Disable capture
+
+Set `OPENCLAW_TRAJECTORY=0` before starting OpenClaw:
+
+```bash
+export OPENCLAW_TRAJECTORY=0
+```
+
+This disables runtime trajectory capture. `/export-trajectory` can still export
+the transcript branch, but runtime-only files such as compiled context,
+provider artifacts, and prompt metadata may be missing.
+
+## Privacy and limits
+
+Trajectory bundles are designed for support and debugging, not public posting.
+OpenClaw redacts sensitive values before writing export files:
+
+- credentials and known secret-like payload fields
+- image data
+- local state paths
+- workspace paths, replaced with `$WORKSPACE_DIR`
+- home directory paths, where detected
+
+The exporter also bounds input size:
+
+- runtime sidecar files: 50 MiB
+- session files: 50 MiB
+- runtime events: 200,000
+- total exported events: 250,000
+- individual runtime event lines are truncated above 256 KiB
+
+Review bundles before sharing them outside your team. Redaction is best-effort
+and cannot know every application-specific secret.
+
+## Troubleshooting
+
+If the export has no runtime events:
+
+- confirm OpenClaw was started without `OPENCLAW_TRAJECTORY=0`
+- check whether `OPENCLAW_TRAJECTORY_DIR` points to a writable directory
+- run another message in the session, then export again
+- inspect `manifest.json` for `runtimeEventCount`
+
+If the command rejects the output path:
+
+- use a relative name like `bug-1234`
+- do not pass `/tmp/...` or `~/...`
+- keep the export inside `.openclaw/trajectory-exports/`
+
+If the export fails with a size error, the session or sidecar exceeded the
+export safety limits. Start a new session or export a smaller reproduction.