LanceDB Hybrid Search (Memory Plugin)

This skill packages a drop-in OpenClaw memory plugin that adds hybrid search to LanceDB memory:

Vector search (semantic)
BM25 full-text search (exact terms)
Configurable reranking:
- ```
rrf
```
  (Reciprocal Rank Fusion, recommended)
- ```
linear
```
  (weighted combination)

It is based on (and credits) OpenClaw PR openclaw/openclaw#7636.

What you get

A local plugin (extension) located at:

```
plugin/
```
→ overrides the built-in plugin id
```
memory-lancedb
```
(adds hybrid search)

Once enabled, it provides the same tools as the bundled LanceDB memory plugin:

```
memory_store
```
```
memory_recall
```
```
memory_forget
```

…but

memory_recall

/auto-recall/forget now use hybrid search when enabled.

Install / Enable

Ensure the skill folder exists (ClawHub install puts it under your workspace):

~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/memory-lancedb-hybrid/plugin

Install the plugin dependencies (once):

cd ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/memory-lancedb-hybrid/plugin
npm install --omit=dev

Add the plugin to OpenClaw’s plugin load paths.

This plugin keeps the id

memory-lancedb

, so it will override the bundled

memory-lancedb

extension when discovered via

plugins.load.paths

(higher precedence than bundled).

Edit

~/.openclaw/openclaw.json

{
  plugins: {
    load: {
      // Point at the plugin directory inside this skill
      paths: ["~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/memory-lancedb-hybrid/plugin"]
    },
// Ensure the memory slot points at LanceDB memory
slots: {
  memory: &quot;memory-lancedb&quot;
},

// Configure LanceDB memory (this override adds the `hybrid` config block)
entries: {
  &quot;memory-lancedb&quot;: {
    enabled: true,
    config: {
      embedding: {
        apiKey: &quot;${OPENAI_API_KEY}&quot;,
        model: &quot;text-embedding-3-small&quot;
      },

      // Optional
      dbPath: &quot;~/.openclaw/memory/lancedb&quot;,

      // Optional
      autoCapture: true,
      autoRecall: true,

      // Hybrid search options
      hybrid: {
        enabled: true,
        reranker: &quot;rrf&quot;

        // If using reranker: &quot;linear&quot;, you can also set:
        // vectorWeight: 0.7,
        // textWeight: 0.3,
      }
    }
  }
}

}
}

Restart the Gateway.

Hybrid search needs an FTS index on the

text

column; the plugin will attempt to create it automatically. If FTS setup fails for any reason, the plugin logs a debug message and falls back to vector-only search.

Config reference

All config lives under

plugins.entries.memory-lancedb.config

```
hybrid.enabled
```
(boolean, default
```
true
```
)
```
hybrid.reranker
```
(
```
rrf
```
|
```
linear
```
, default
```
rrf
```
)
```
hybrid.vectorWeight
```
(number 0–1, default
```
0.7
```
, only used for
```
linear
```
)
```
hybrid.textWeight
```
(number 0–1, default
```
0.3
```
, only used for
```
linear
```
)

Notes / troubleshooting

This plugin does not modify OpenClaw’s install on disk; it overrides the bundled
```
memory-lancedb
```
at runtime (remove
```
plugins.load.paths
```
to revert).
If you already have LanceDB memory data on disk, you can keep using the same
```
dbPath
```
.
If you see no hybrid effect, make sure
```
hybrid.enabled
```
is true and that the FTS index was created (check Gateway logs).

Files

```
plugin/index.ts
```
– plugin implementation (hybrid search)
```
plugin/config.ts
```
– config parsing + UI hints
```
plugin/openclaw.plugin.json
```
– manifest + JSON Schema (used for strict config validation)

LanceDB Hybrid Search Memory Plugin

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