Summary

• Problem: OpenClaw was suffixing explicit custom memory.qmd.paths[*].name collections with -<agentId>, so shared external QMD collections like notion-mirror were queried as notion-mirror-main and missed entirely.
• Why it matters: memory_search could not hit externally managed shared QMD collections even when users configured the correct collection name.
• What changed: preserve explicit custom collection names for paths outside the agent workspace, while keeping OpenClaw-owned default collections and unnamed extra paths agent-scoped.
• What did NOT change (scope boundary): workspace-local named paths, default memory collections, session collections, and unnamed memorySearch.extraPaths still keep current agent scoping.

Change Type (select all)

• Bug fix
• Feature
• Refactor required for the fix
• Docs
• Security hardening
• Chore/infra

Scope (select all touched areas)

• Gateway / orchestration
• Skills / tool execution
• Auth / tokens
• Memory / storage
• Integrations
• API / contracts
• UI / DX
• CI/CD / infra

Linked Issue/PR

• Closes memory_search fails: agent ID suffix appended to custom QMD collection names #52539
• Related fix(memory): keep qmd session paths roundtrip-safe #57560
• This PR fixes a bug or regression

Root Cause / Regression History (if applicable)

• Root cause: packages/memory-host-sdk/src/host/backend-config.ts ran custom memory.qmd.paths[*].name entries through the same scopeCollectionBase(...) path as OpenClaw-owned collections, so the configured external collection identity was rewritten before search execution.
• Missing detection / guardrail: resolver coverage verified agent scoping, but did not distinguish shared external custom collections from workspace-owned collections.
• Prior context (git blame, prior PR, issue, or refactor if known): the current behavior lives in the post-refactor SDK host resolver path.
• Why this regressed now: shared external QMD collections became a real user path, but the config layer still assumed every custom collection should be isolated per agent.
• If unknown, what was ruled out: N/A.

Regression Test Plan (if applicable)

• Coverage level that should have caught this:
  • Unit test
  • Seam / integration test
  • End-to-end test
  • Existing coverage already sufficient
• Target test or file: packages/memory-host-sdk/src/host/backend-config.test.ts, extensions/memory-core/src/memory/qmd-manager.test.ts
• Scenario the test should lock in: explicit named custom paths outside the workspace keep their configured collection name verbatim and QMD search uses that exact name.
• Why this is the smallest reliable guardrail: the bug starts in config resolution but only matters once the manager issues search calls.
• Existing test that already covers this (if any): N/A.
• If no new test is added, why not: N/A.

User-visible / Behavior Changes

• Explicit named memory.qmd.paths[*] entries that point outside the agent workspace now keep their configured collection name instead of gaining -<agentId>.
• Unnamed extra paths and OpenClaw-owned workspace/session collections keep current per-agent scoping.

Diagram (if applicable)

Before:
[external named collection notion-mirror] -> [resolver rewrites to notion-mirror-main] -> [QMD search misses collection]

After:
[external named collection notion-mirror] -> [resolver keeps notion-mirror] -> [QMD search hits shared collection]

Security Impact (required)

• New permissions/capabilities? (No)
• Secrets/tokens handling changed? (No)
• New/changed network calls? (No)
• Command/tool execution surface changed? (No)
• Data access scope changed? (No)
• If any Yes, explain risk + mitigation:

Repro + Verification

Environment

• OS: macOS host
• Runtime/container: local repo dev runtime
• Model/provider: N/A
• Integration/channel (if any): QMD backend
• Relevant config (redacted): memory.backend=qmd, explicit memory.qmd.paths[*].name, path outside workspace

Steps

1. Configure memory.backend=qmd with an explicit named custom path outside the agent workspace, for example name: notion-mirror.
2. Run memory_search from an agent using that QMD backend.
3. Inspect the resolved collection names / QMD CLI search calls.

Expected

• OpenClaw searches notion-mirror exactly.

Actual

• Before this fix, OpenClaw searched notion-mirror-main and missed the real shared collection.

Evidence

• Failing test/log before + passing after
• Trace/log snippets
• Screenshot/recording
• Perf numbers (if relevant)

Human Verification (required)

• Verified scenarios: resolver preserves explicit names for external custom paths; unnamed extra paths remain agent-scoped; QMD manager search calls use notion-mirror verbatim.
• Edge cases checked: workspace-local named paths still scope; default memory collections still scope; unnamed extra paths outside workspace still scope.
• What you did not verify: live QMD daemon against a real external mirror collection.

Review Conversations

• I replied to or resolved every bot review conversation I addressed in this PR.
• I left unresolved only the conversations that still need reviewer or maintainer judgment.

Compatibility / Migration

• Backward compatible? (Yes)
• Config/env changes? (No)
• Migration needed? (No)
• If yes, exact upgrade steps:

Risks and Mitigations

• Risk: users relying on agent-suffixed names for explicitly named external collections could see collection selection change.
  • Mitigation: the change is narrowed to explicit names outside the workspace, which is the shared-collection case that was already broken; workspace-local named paths and unnamed paths keep prior behavior.