OpenClaw Signals: Memory Deduplication, Lookahead Fixes, and Debug Boundaries

Feature

Template Deduplication Engine Lands to Cut Memory Footprint

PR #333 introduces a "global prompt cache" via deduplication logic that automatically consolidates fully identical templates. This is a non-trivial factory optimization expected to significantly reduce memory overhead for large-scale integrations without breaking existing template isolation.

Ahead-of-Time Compiled Handler Registration for Next-Gen Context Polygons

The core functionality for annotation handlers is now fully ahead-of-time compiled, waiting on the final memory layout patch to ship. Once merged, this should unlock much faster context-aware routing within the core pipeline.

Observability

Structured Debug Subscriptions and Terminator Protocol

PR #332 standardizes the contract between the main runtime and the debugger, defining explicit boundaries for subscribe and unsubscribe actions. Crucially, it fixes a termination glitch where the runtime would hang indefinitely if a debugger attachment wasn't cleanly severed.

Fix

Shutdown Stability: Resolving Chain Worker Null Pointer Lookaheads

Auto-hydration is currently blowing up the tree size for Chain workers because it blindly resolves pointers. This change filters out null candidates during lookahead to prevent the runtime from freezing on empty states, which is critical for reliability in complex graphs.

Analysis

Debate: Runtime Overhead vs. Locking Costs in the Pointer Architecture

Despite the clean architecture, runtime overhead is still parasitic because locking isn't reducing wild pointer leakage effectively. This is a high-signal cry for help regarding baseline efficiency before adding the next layer of abstraction.