feat(openclaw): label Current time as UTC, allow disabling per-memory timestamps

Two timestamp-related fixes for the OpenClaw integration:

1. Append " UTC" to the "Current time -" header injected above recalled
   memories. Without the label the LLM read the timestamp as local time
   and made wrong recency judgments. This is the same fix that landed
   for Claude Code in #1568 — the OpenClaw integration was overlooked.

2. New `showTimestamps` boolean in PluginConfig (default true) lets users
   suppress the per-memory `(YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS+00:00)` suffix produced
   by formatMemories. OpenClaw already injects a session-level timestamp
   (e.g. `[Thu 2026-05-28 00:27 GMT+8]`) into the prompt; the per-memory
   UTC offsets are redundant, easy to misparse, and waste tokens. The
   default preserves existing behavior; opt-in suppression mirrors the
   issue's requested config shape.

Closes #1789

Author: nicoloboschi

hindsight-integrations/openclaw/openclaw.plugin.json

@@ -246,6 +246,11 @@
         "description": "Where to inject recalled memories. 'prepend' = start of system prompt (default), 'append' = end of system prompt (preserves prompt cache), 'user' = before user message.",
         "default": "prepend"
       },
+      "showTimestamps": {
+        "type": "boolean",
+        "description": "When true (default), each injected memory line ends with `(mentioned_at)` so the LLM can reason about recency. Set false when the host already injects a session-level timestamp and the per-memory UTC offsets are redundant.",
+        "default": true
+      },
       "debug": {
         "type": "boolean",
         "description": "Enable debug logging for Hindsight plugin operations. Equivalent to logLevel: 'debug'.",
@@ -467,6 +472,10 @@
       "label": "Recall Injection Position",
       "placeholder": "prepend, append, or user"
     },
+    "showTimestamps": {
+      "label": "Show Per-Memory Timestamps",
+      "placeholder": "true (default) — disable when host already shows a session timestamp"
+    },
     "debug": {
       "label": "Debug"
     },

hindsight-integrations/openclaw/src/index.test.ts

@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import { describe, it, expect } from "vitest";
 import {
   stripMemoryTags,
   extractRecallQuery,
+  formatCurrentTimeForRecall,
   formatMemories,
   prepareRetentionTranscript,
   countUserTurns,
@@ -247,6 +248,54 @@ describe("formatMemories", () => {
   it("returns empty string for empty memories", () => {
     expect(formatMemories([])).toBe("");
   });
+
+  it("omits per-memory timestamps when showTimestamps is false (#1789)", () => {
+    const memories: MemoryResult[] = [
+      makeMemoryResult({
+        id: "1",
+        text: "User prefers dark mode",
+        type: "world",
+        mentioned_at: "2023-01-01T12:00:00Z",
+      }),
+      makeMemoryResult({
+        id: "2",
+        text: "User is learning Rust",
+        type: "experience",
+        mentioned_at: "2023-02-01T12:00:00Z",
+      }),
+    ];
+    const output = formatMemories(memories, { showTimestamps: false });
+    expect(output).toBe("- User prefers dark mode [world]\n\n- User is learning Rust [experience]");
+  });
+
+  it("keeps per-memory timestamps when showTimestamps is true (explicit default)", () => {
+    const memories: MemoryResult[] = [
+      makeMemoryResult({
+        id: "1",
+        text: "User prefers dark mode",
+        type: "world",
+        mentioned_at: "2023-01-01T12:00:00Z",
+      }),
+    ];
+    const output = formatMemories(memories, { showTimestamps: true });
+    expect(output).toBe("- User prefers dark mode [world] (2023-01-01T12:00:00Z)");
+  });
+});
+
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// formatCurrentTimeForRecall — UTC label (#1789, mirrors #1568)
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+describe("formatCurrentTimeForRecall", () => {
+  it("renders the UTC suffix so the LLM doesn't misread it as local time", () => {
+    const fixed = new Date(Date.UTC(2026, 4, 27, 16, 25, 0)); // 2026-05-27 16:25 UTC
+    expect(formatCurrentTimeForRecall(fixed)).toBe("2026-05-27 16:25 UTC");
+  });
+
+  it("zero-pads month / day / hours / minutes", () => {
+    const fixed = new Date(Date.UTC(2026, 0, 3, 4, 5, 0));
+    expect(formatCurrentTimeForRecall(fixed)).toBe("2026-01-03 04:05 UTC");
+  });
 });
 
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

hindsight-integrations/openclaw/src/index.ts

@@ -316,13 +316,16 @@ async function flushRetainQueue(): Promise<void> {
 const DEFAULT_RECALL_PROMPT_PREAMBLE =
   "Relevant memories from past conversations (prioritize recent when conflicting). Only use memories that are directly useful to continue this conversation; ignore the rest:";
 
-function formatCurrentTimeForRecall(date = new Date()): string {
+export function formatCurrentTimeForRecall(date = new Date()): string {
   const year = date.getUTCFullYear();
   const month = String(date.getUTCMonth() + 1).padStart(2, "0");
   const day = String(date.getUTCDate()).padStart(2, "0");
   const hours = String(date.getUTCHours()).padStart(2, "0");
   const minutes = String(date.getUTCMinutes()).padStart(2, "0");
-  return `${year}-${month}-${day} ${hours}:${minutes}`;
+  // Suffix with " UTC" so the LLM doesn't misread the timestamp as local
+  // time and make wrong recency judgments. Mirrors the fix landed for the
+  // Claude Code integration in #1568. (#1789)
+  return `${year}-${month}-${day} ${hours}:${minutes} UTC`;
 }
 
 /**
@@ -1143,12 +1146,21 @@ export function deriveBankId(
   return pluginConfig.bankIdPrefix ? `${pluginConfig.bankIdPrefix}-${baseBankId}` : baseBankId;
 }
 
-export function formatMemories(results: MemoryResult[]): string {
+export function formatMemories(
+  results: MemoryResult[],
+  options: { showTimestamps?: boolean } = {}
+): string {
   if (!results || results.length === 0) return "";
+  // Default true preserves the existing per-memory timestamp suffix. Hosts
+  // that already inject a session-level timestamp (e.g. OpenClaw's
+  // `[Thu 2026-05-28 00:27 GMT+8]` header) can set `showTimestamps: false`
+  // to drop the redundant `(YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS+00:00)` suffix on each
+  // memory line. (#1789)
+  const showTimestamps = options.showTimestamps !== false;
   return results
     .map((r) => {
       const type = r.type ? ` [${r.type}]` : "";
-      const date = r.mentioned_at ? ` (${r.mentioned_at})` : "";
+      const date = showTimestamps && r.mentioned_at ? ` (${r.mentioned_at})` : "";
       return `- ${r.text}${type}${date}`;
     })
     .join("\n\n");
@@ -1478,6 +1490,7 @@ export function getPluginConfig(api: MoltbotPluginAPI): PluginConfig {
       ["prepend", "append", "user"].includes(config.recallInjectionPosition)
         ? (config.recallInjectionPosition as PluginConfig["recallInjectionPosition"])
         : undefined,
+    showTimestamps: config.showTimestamps !== false,
     recallTimeoutMs:
       typeof config.recallTimeoutMs === "number" && config.recallTimeoutMs >= 1000
         ? config.recallTimeoutMs
@@ -2176,7 +2189,9 @@ export default function (api: MoltbotPluginAPI) {
         );
 
         // Format memories as JSON with all fields from recall
-        const memoriesFormatted = formatMemories(results);
+        const memoriesFormatted = formatMemories(results, {
+          showTimestamps: pluginConfig.showTimestamps,
+        });
 
         const contextMessage = `<hindsight_memories>
 ${pluginConfig.recallPromptPreamble || DEFAULT_RECALL_PROMPT_PREAMBLE}

hindsight-integrations/openclaw/src/types.ts

@@ -117,6 +117,7 @@ export interface PluginConfig {
   recallMaxQueryChars?: number; // Max chars for composed recall query. Default: 800
   recallPromptPreamble?: string; // Prompt preamble placed above recalled memories. Default: built-in guidance text.
   recallInjectionPosition?: "prepend" | "append" | "user"; // Where to inject recalled memories. 'prepend' = start of system prompt (default), 'append' = end of system prompt (preserves prompt cache), 'user' = before user message.
+  showTimestamps?: boolean; // When true (default), each injected memory line ends with `(mentioned_at)` so the LLM can reason about recency. Set false when the host (e.g. OpenClaw) already injects a session-level timestamp and the per-memory UTC offsets are redundant/noisy. Default: true.
   ignoreSessionPatterns?: string[]; // Session key glob patterns to skip entirely (no recall, no retain). E.g. ["agent:main:**", "agent:*:cron:**"]
   statelessSessionPatterns?: string[]; // Session key glob patterns for read-only sessions (recall allowed, retain skipped). E.g. ["agent:*:subagent:**"]
   skipStatelessSessions?: boolean; // When true (default), stateless sessions also skip recall. When false, they recall but never retain.