honcho-setup

What This Skill Does

The honcho-setup skill is a critical utility for OpenClaw users transitioning from local, file-based memory management to the robust Honcho memory system. It serves as a bridge that integrates your existing workspace context into a structured, API-driven memory framework. The primary function of this skill is to inventory your legacy files—including USER.md, MEMORY.md, IDENTITY.md, SOUL.md, AGENTS.md, BOOTSTRAP.md, TOOLS.md, HEARTBEAT.md, and the memory/ and canvas/ directories—and facilitate their migration to the Honcho platform. By centralizing this data, you enable advanced agent-to-agent communication and persistent, intelligent memory recall across different sessions and environments. It operates by ensuring you have a secure connection to either the managed api.honcho.dev service or a self-hosted instance, handles file archiving for safety, and performs the necessary cleanup to ensure your workspace is configured to utilize Honcho tools natively.

Installation

Installation follows the standard OpenClaw plugin workflow. First, install the plugin via the CLI: openclaw plugins install @honcho-ai/openclaw-honcho. Once installed, enable it with openclaw plugins enable openclaw-honcho. Should you encounter issues with missing dependencies, navigate to ~/.openclaw/extensions/openclaw-honcho and execute npm install. Finally, install the skill itself using the command: clawhub install openclaw/skills/skills/ajspig/honcho-setup.

Use Cases

• Cloud Migration: Transitioning your local agent brain to a managed cloud environment for better availability.
• Local Data Sovereignty: Migrating your agent workspace to a self-hosted Honcho instance for enhanced privacy and security control.
• Workspace Standardization: Cleaning up redundant legacy markdown files and centralizing knowledge into an indexed memory backend.

Example Prompts

1. "Run the honcho-setup skill to migrate my current workspace files into the Honcho system."
2. "Can you guide me through setting up my self-hosted Honcho instance and moving my existing memory files there?"
3. "Start the migration process for my agent, but please show me exactly which files you intend to upload to the server first."

Tips & Limitations

• Safety First: The tool automatically creates backups in your {workspace_root}/archive/ directory. Always verify these files exist before authorizing the final deletion of originals.
• API Keys: Ensure your HONCHO_API_KEY is securely stored in your .env. The skill will not proceed without valid authentication for the managed service.
• Network Dependency: Because this involves uploading data to an external API, ensure your internet connection is stable throughout the migration process to prevent partial transfers.
• Self-Hosting: If using a local instance, verify your HONCHO_BASE_URL is correct; incorrect URLs will cause the upload process to hang or fail silently.