AI agent storage incident

OpenClaw Codex logs_2.sqlite Taking Disk Space

If an OpenClaw-managed Codex home grows through logs_2.sqlite, logs_2.sqlite-wal, or trace rows, treat it as trace retention first. Measure the database, preserve enough evidence, and avoid deleting session state or auth data while a gateway or app-server process is still using the files.

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What Is Usually Happening

OpenClaw can run Codex with a managed CODEX_HOME. In long-lived agent or gateway setups, trace storage may grow separately from user-visible sessions. A large logs_2.sqlite can be diagnostic evidence, but it can also become routine storage pressure if there is no retention policy.

Read-only first pass

Measure trace storage without reading private log contents.

These commands report sizes and counts. They do not print prompts, file contents, or log rows.

base="$HOME/.openclaw/agents/main/agent/codex-home"

du -sh "$base" "$base"/logs_2.sqlite* 2>/dev/null
find "$HOME/.openclaw" -name 'logs_2.sqlite*' -print0 2>/dev/null \
  | xargs -0 du -h 2>/dev/null | sort -h

sqlite3 "$base/logs_2.sqlite" 'select count(*) from logs;' 2>/dev/null
sqlite3 "$base/logs_2.sqlite" \
  'select level, count(*) from logs group by level order by count(*) desc;' 2>/dev/null
sqlite3 "$base/logs_2.sqlite" \
  'select target, count(*) from logs group by target order by count(*) desc limit 20;' 2>/dev/null

lsof -nP "$base"/logs_2.sqlite* 2>/dev/null

Safe Recovery Order

Stop starting new OpenClaw or Codex work while the filesystem is close to full.
Capture the read-only size, row count, target distribution, and current writer process.
Stop the OpenClaw gateway or managed Codex app-server cleanly before moving SQLite files.
Move logs_2.sqlite* into a timestamped backup folder instead of deleting immediately.
Restart OpenClaw, verify turns still work, then compress or remove the backup after you no longer need evidence.
Add a retention job or alert so the same trace DB does not silently regrow.

Move, do not blind-delete

Use this only after the gateway/app-server is stopped.

This preserves a rollback path and keeps session JSONL/state files outside the cleanup target.

base="$HOME/.openclaw/agents/main/agent/codex-home"
backup="$HOME/.Trash/SafeDisk-OpenClaw-Codex-logs-$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S)"

mkdir -p "$backup"
for file in "$base"/logs_2.sqlite "$base"/logs_2.sqlite-wal "$base"/logs_2.sqlite-shm; do
  [ -e "$file" ] || continue
  mv "$file" "$backup"/
done

du -sh "$backup" 2>/dev/null
echo "Restart OpenClaw, verify one turn, then decide whether to compress or delete this backup."

Do Not Delete First

Do not remove the whole codex-home folder unless you intend to reset local state.
Do not delete session JSONL files before exporting conversations or evidence you need.
Do not publish raw trace rows; prompts, local paths, tool output, or private metadata may be present.
Do not vacuum or mutate the SQLite database while an active app-server process is writing it.

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