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Dream & Context Compaction

New in v0.5.0

Dream (Auto Memory Consolidation)​

The Dream system runs automatically in the background — you don't need to trigger it. It reviews your recent conversation sessions and extracts useful information into persistent memories, so you never have to manually /memory save.

How It's Triggered​

Fully automatic. After every AI response, the system checks three gates:

You chat normally
  → AI responds
    → Dream check runs silently:
      1. Has it been 24+ hours since last dream?  → if no, skip
      2. Have there been 3+ new sessions?          → if no, skip
      3. Is another dream already running?          → if yes, skip
      → All three pass? → Dream starts in background

The dream runs as a background task — it doesn't block your session. You keep chatting normally while it consolidates memories behind the scenes.

What Happens During a Dream​

  1. Gathers your recent session transcripts (up to 10)
  2. A background AI agent reads through them
  3. Extracts useful patterns into memory files:
    • User preferences and coding style
    • Project architecture decisions
    • Feedback (what worked, what was corrected)
    • References to external tools and resources
  4. Saves them to ~/.clawdeck/memory/ automatically

When Will My First Dream Happen?​

After you've:

  • Used Clawdeck for at least 24 hours (calendar time, not usage time)
  • Completed at least 3 separate sessions (start clawdeck, chat, exit = 1 session)

If you just installed Clawdeck today, you won't see a dream until tomorrow at the earliest.

Commands​

/dream          # Check dream status (when was last dream, how many sessions pending)

Example​

/dream

Dream (Memory Consolidation) Status:
  Enabled: True
  Total dreams: 3
  Sessions reviewed: 15
  Hours since last: 26.4
  Min hours between: 24
  Min sessions needed: 3

If you see "Hours since last: 26.4" and "Min sessions needed: 3" with 3+ sessions, the next dream will trigger automatically on your next message.

Context Compaction​

Context compaction also runs automatically — you don't trigger it. When your conversation gets too long, old messages are silently dropped to keep the context window fresh.

How It's Triggered​

Fully automatic. After every AI response:

AI responds
  → System checks: are there more than 50 messages in history?
    → Yes → silently drop oldest messages, keep 10 most recent
    → No  → do nothing

You'll never notice it happening. Your conversation just keeps working without hitting context limits.

What Gets Kept vs Dropped​

Kept (always)Dropped (when over 50 messages)
Your 10 most recent messagesOlder messages
All recent AI responsesEarly conversation turns
Recent tool calls and resultsOld tool outputs

Commands​

/compact        # Check compaction statistics

Example​

/compact

Context Compaction Status:
  Enabled: True
  Total compactions: 2
  Messages compacted: 35
  Tokens saved (est): 12,500
  Max messages: 50
  Preserve recent: 10

Do I Lose Information?​

Old messages are dropped from the active context, but:

  • The Dream system may have already extracted important info into persistent memories
  • Your session files still contain the full conversation if you saved them
  • The AI won't remember dropped messages in the current session, but memories persist across sessions

Next: Vim, Voice & Buddy | Commands Reference