Memory: surface explicit memory_search unavailable status

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 - TUI/Heartbeat: suppress heartbeat ACK/prompt noise in chat streaming when `showOk` is disabled, while still preserving non-ACK heartbeat alerts in final output. (#20228) Thanks @bhalliburton.
 - TUI/History: cap chat-log component growth and prune stale render nodes/references so large default history loads no longer overflow render recursion with `RangeError: Maximum call stack size exceeded`. (#18068) Thanks @JaniJegoroff.
 - Memory/QMD: diversify mixed-source search ranking when both session and memory collections are present so session transcript hits no longer crowd out durable memory-file matches in top results. (#19913) Thanks @alextempr.
+- Memory/Tools: return explicit `unavailable` warnings/actions from `memory_search` when embedding/provider failures occur (including quota exhaustion), so disabled memory does not look like an empty recall result. (#21894) Thanks @XBS9.
 - Auth/Onboarding: align OAuth profile-id config mapping with stored credential IDs for OpenAI Codex and Chutes flows, preventing `provider:default` mismatches when OAuth returns email-scoped credentials. (#12692) thanks @mudrii.
 - Docker: pin base images to SHA256 digests in Docker builds to prevent mutable tag drift. (#7734) Thanks @coygeek.
 - Docker/Security: run E2E and install-sh test images as non-root by adding appuser directives. Thanks @thewilloftheshadow.

src/agents/tools/memory-tool.e2e.test.ts

@@ -170,7 +170,10 @@ describe("memory tools", () => {
     expect(result.details).toEqual({
       results: [],
       disabled: true,
+      unavailable: true,
       error: "openai embeddings failed: 429 insufficient_quota",
+      warning: "Memory search is unavailable because the embedding provider quota is exhausted.",
+      action: "Top up or switch embedding provider, then retry memory_search.",
     });
   });
 

src/agents/tools/memory-tool.test.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,84 @@
+import { beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
+
+type SearchImpl = () => Promise<unknown[]>;
+let searchImpl: SearchImpl = async () => [];
+
+const stubManager = {
+  search: vi.fn(async () => await searchImpl()),
+  readFile: vi.fn(),
+  status: () => ({
+    backend: "builtin" as const,
+    files: 1,
+    chunks: 1,
+    dirty: false,
+    workspaceDir: "/workspace",
+    dbPath: "/workspace/.memory/index.sqlite",
+    provider: "builtin",
+    model: "builtin",
+    requestedProvider: "builtin",
+    sources: ["memory" as const],
+    sourceCounts: [{ source: "memory" as const, files: 1, chunks: 1 }],
+  }),
+  sync: vi.fn(),
+  probeVectorAvailability: vi.fn(async () => true),
+  close: vi.fn(),
+};
+
+vi.mock("../../memory/index.js", () => ({
+  getMemorySearchManager: async () => ({ manager: stubManager }),
+}));
+
+import { createMemorySearchTool } from "./memory-tool.js";
+
+describe("memory_search unavailable payloads", () => {
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    searchImpl = async () => [];
+    vi.clearAllMocks();
+  });
+
+  it("returns explicit unavailable metadata for quota failures", async () => {
+    searchImpl = async () => {
+      throw new Error("openai embeddings failed: 429 insufficient_quota");
+    };
+
+    const tool = createMemorySearchTool({
+      config: { agents: { list: [{ id: "main", default: true }] } },
+    });
+    if (!tool) {
+      throw new Error("tool missing");
+    }
+
+    const result = await tool.execute("quota", { query: "hello" });
+    expect(result.details).toEqual({
+      results: [],
+      disabled: true,
+      unavailable: true,
+      error: "openai embeddings failed: 429 insufficient_quota",
+      warning: "Memory search is unavailable because the embedding provider quota is exhausted.",
+      action: "Top up or switch embedding provider, then retry memory_search.",
+    });
+  });
+
+  it("returns explicit unavailable metadata for non-quota failures", async () => {
+    searchImpl = async () => {
+      throw new Error("embedding provider timeout");
+    };
+
+    const tool = createMemorySearchTool({
+      config: { agents: { list: [{ id: "main", default: true }] } },
+    });
+    if (!tool) {
+      throw new Error("tool missing");
+    }
+
+    const result = await tool.execute("generic", { query: "hello" });
+    expect(result.details).toEqual({
+      results: [],
+      disabled: true,
+      unavailable: true,
+      error: "embedding provider timeout",
+      warning: "Memory search is unavailable due to an embedding/provider error.",
+      action: "Check embedding provider configuration and retry memory_search.",
+    });
+  });
+});

src/agents/tools/memory-tool.ts

@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ export function createMemorySearchTool(options: {
     label: "Memory Search",
     name: "memory_search",
     description:
-      "Mandatory recall step: semantically search MEMORY.md + memory/*.md (and optional session transcripts) before answering questions about prior work, decisions, dates, people, preferences, or todos; returns top snippets with path + lines.",
+      "Mandatory recall step: semantically search MEMORY.md + memory/*.md (and optional session transcripts) before answering questions about prior work, decisions, dates, people, preferences, or todos; returns top snippets with path + lines. If response has disabled=true, memory retrieval is unavailable and should be surfaced to the user.",
     parameters: MemorySearchSchema,
     execute: async (_toolCallId, params) => {
       const query = readStringParam(params, "query", { required: true });
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ export function createMemorySearchTool(options: {
         agentId,
       });
       if (!manager) {
-        return jsonResult({ results: [], disabled: true, error });
+        return jsonResult(buildMemorySearchUnavailableResult(error));
       }
       try {
         const citationsMode = resolveMemoryCitationsMode(cfg);
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ export function createMemorySearchTool(options: {
         });
       } catch (err) {
         const message = err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err);
-        return jsonResult({ results: [], disabled: true, error: message });
+        return jsonResult(buildMemorySearchUnavailableResult(message));
       }
     },
   };
@@ -192,6 +192,25 @@ function clampResultsByInjectedChars(
   return clamped;
 }
 
+function buildMemorySearchUnavailableResult(error: string | undefined) {
+  const reason = (error ?? "memory search unavailable").trim() || "memory search unavailable";
+  const isQuotaError = /insufficient_quota|quota|429/.test(reason.toLowerCase());
+  const warning = isQuotaError
+    ? "Memory search is unavailable because the embedding provider quota is exhausted."
+    : "Memory search is unavailable due to an embedding/provider error.";
+  const action = isQuotaError
+    ? "Top up or switch embedding provider, then retry memory_search."
+    : "Check embedding provider configuration and retry memory_search.";
+  return {
+    results: [],
+    disabled: true,
+    unavailable: true,
+    error: reason,
+    warning,
+    action,
+  };
+}
+
 function shouldIncludeCitations(params: {
   mode: MemoryCitationsMode;
   sessionKey?: string;