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nova-critical-learnings-consolidated

4 min read

NOVA Critical & Operational Learnings — Consolidated

Offloaded from session-learnings.md on 02-Apr-2026 to free bootstrap context space. Every entry passed 5 intake tests at time of original creation.

Critical Learnings

Memory staleness kills trust (2026-03-01)

Operator asked about heartbeat frequency. NOVA answered “30-min tick” from MEMORY.md. Live config was "every": "60m". Also found MEMORY.md claimed concurrency limits that didn’t exist in live config. Rule: State facts → verify against live system, never trust memory alone. 4-layer Memory Integrity system deployed.

Never assume install paths (2026-02-20)

X-Pulse skill deployed to wrong path without reading OpenClaw docs. Script executed but OpenClaw never discovered it. Rule: Always verify installation paths against platform documentation before declaring deployed.

Config existence ≠ working deployment (2026-02-19)

Agent config written but workspace property missing. Agent spawned but had no context files. Rule: “Deployed” = Phase 4 verification PASSED. Full chain verified end-to-end.

workspace ≠ agentDir (2026-02-19)

agentDir = runtime data storage. workspace = context file injection. Setting one does NOT imply the other. Both must be explicitly configured.

OAuth auth-profiles need access + expires fields (2026-03-16)

claude setup-token generates tokens stored with only key field. OpenClaw requires access and expires fields for OAuth. Without access, auth silently fails → agents fall back to Kimi. Source patching doesn’t work (7+ duplicated dist files). Rule: After token rotation, set access = key value, expires = 4102444800000 in ALL 6 auth-profiles.json files.

NEVER override CXO models (2026-03-22)

Operator mandated all CXOs use Opus 4.6. NOVA spawned CTO with Sonnet to “save cost” — direct violation. Rule: Never pass model parameter when spawning CXOs unless operator explicitly requests different model.

Monitor DNA file sizes against bootstrapMaxChars (2026-03-23)

SOUL.md grew past bootstrapMaxChars. OpenClaw silently truncated bottom content at runtime. Sessions operated with incomplete DNA — no warning. Rule: After any SOUL.md edit, check wc -c against bootstrapMaxChars. File exceeds 80% → compress immediately.

External deployments get the SAME quality gate (2026-03-20)

OmniGraph deployed externally, logged to MEMORY.md without verification. 4 issues found later. Rule: Any capability entering the system gets full Component Integration Protocol — routed to specialist, not rubber-stamped.

Claude Code blocks root SSH (2026-03-20)

v2.1.78+ permanently blocks --dangerously-skip-permissions on SSH with root/sudo. Fix: Dedicated non-root user with passwordless sudo + symlink .claude. User change cascades across 6 downstream configs.

Operational Learnings

File ownership after external edits (2026-02-19, updated 2026-03-20)

External edits can change file ownership. OpenClaw runs as openclaw user → EACCES errors. Rule: Always chown -R openclaw:openclaw on workspace after external modifications.

Secret sanitization must scan ALL files (2026-02-20)

Initial backup sanitizer only checked primary targets. Secrets survived in other files. Rule: Scan the FULL output.

Pre-commit gates must be tested with known-bad input (2026-02-20)

A gate that’s never been tested with a positive match is not a gate.

Excalidraw: separate JSON authoring from MCP execution (2026-03-17)

Subagents timed out 3 times trying to generate diagrams. Opus spends entire timeout computing JSON in thinking block. Fix: NOVA builds elements JSON, spawns zero-thinking subagent that only runs mcporter call. Result: 43s vs 5-8 min timeouts.

Reference Learnings

Persona elements evaluated and passed (2026-02-26)

Three elements excluded: em dash ban (no conflict), “becoming someone” philosophy (too abstract), Matt-specific roast culture (wrong audience).

Model strategy evolution (2026-02-20 → 2026-03-16)

Initially 3-tier (40-50% savings). Superseded: all agents Opus 4.6 for max intelligence. Kimi retained for heartbeats only.

X-Pulse proxy requirement for India (2026-02-20)

xAI API geo-blocked in India. Routes through xai-proxy.arjtech.in. X-Proxy-Secret auth header required.

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