docs(roadmap): add #459 — memory file discovery hardcoded to CLAUDE.md; AGENTS.md/CLAW.md/.claude/CLAUDE.md/case variants silently ignored; memory_files[] not exposed

[Yeachan-Heo]

ROADMAP pinpoint #459 — memory file discovery is hardcoded to 4 literal names with no case-folding, no cross-tool aliases, and no memory_files[] structured field

Dogfooded for the 2026-05-24 10:00 Clawhip pinpoint nudge (message 1508046936177901639).

Discovery matrix (clean isolated env)

File	memory_file_count
CLAUDE.md	1 ✅
CLAUDE.local.md	1 ✅
.claw/CLAUDE.md	1 ✅
.claw/instructions.md	1 ✅
claude.md (lowercase)	0 ❌
Claude.md (mixed case)	0 ❌
CLAUDE.MD (uppercase ext)	0 ❌
CLAW.md (the product's own name)	0 ❌
claw.md	0 ❌
AGENTS.md (Codex / OpenAI Agents / Copilot Agents standard)	0 ❌
agents.md	0 ❌
AGENT.md (singular)	0 ❌
GEMINI.md	0 ❌
CONTEXT.md	0 ❌
memory.md	0 ❌
.claude/CLAUDE.md (Claude Code documented subdir)	0 ❌

Root cause (traced)

rust/crates/runtime/src/prompt.rs:203-223:

fn discover_instruction_files(cwd: &Path) -> std::io::Result<Vec<ContextFile>> {
    // … ancestor walk …
    for dir in directories {
        for candidate in [
            dir.join("CLAUDE.md"),
            dir.join("CLAUDE.local.md"),
            dir.join(".claw").join("CLAUDE.md"),
            dir.join(".claw").join("instructions.md"),
        ] {
            push_context_file(&mut files, candidate)?;
        }
    }
    Ok(dedupe_instruction_files(files))
}

Four hardcoded literal PathBuf::join calls. No case-folding, no cross-tool aliases, no .claude/CLAUDE.md (the official Claude Code documented subdir per docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/memory).

Status JSON drops the path list: StatusContext { …, memory_file_count: project_context.instruction_files.len(), … } keeps only the count. The original Vec<ContextFile> with full paths and content is discarded before reaching the JSON envelope.

Why distinct from existing items

ROADMAP mentions AGENTS.md 5 times (#215, #216, #225, #231, etc.) but only as a config-mutation target ("installer changes AGENTS.md", "AGENTS.md orchestration brain is loaded automatically" — installer/onboarding noise, not the runtime memory loader). Nothing in ROADMAP documents that claw-code does not actually read AGENTS.md as a memory file at runtime.

#84 covers the dump-manifests repo root: /Users/... build-host leak — a different name-identity bug. #1756 mentions ancestor CLAUDE.md for worker safety — different concern. No entry documents the discovery name set or the .claude/CLAUDE.md blind spot.

Why it matters

1. Cross-tool migration silently breaks. A user with an existing AGENTS.md workflow installs claw, runs it in their existing project, status reports memory_file_count: 0. No warning that AGENTS.md was found-but-ignored, no doctor check, no hint. Silent zero context.
2. Product-name divergence. Binary is called claw. Discovered file is CLAUDE.md. A user typing CLAW.md (matching the tool they invoked) gets silently zero memory.
3. Claude Code documented subdir location ignored. .claude/CLAUDE.md is the Claude Code documented memory-file location. claw-code (which advertises Claude Code parity throughout) does not read it.
4. Case-sensitivity is OS-leaky. macOS HFS+/APFS case-insensitive → claude.md happens to work. Linux/Windows case-sensitive → claude.md invisible. Cross-platform users get different memory behavior from the same repo layout.
5. memory_file_count: 0 with no memory_files: [] field means a claw cannot debug "why is my memory not loading?" without re-implementing the discovery walk.

Required fix shape (full detail in ROADMAP entry)

(a) Extend discovery name set: CLAUDE.md, CLAUDE.local.md, CLAW.md, CLAW.local.md, AGENTS.md, AGENTS.local.md, plus .claude/CLAUDE.md and .claw/CLAUDE.md. Optional user-configurable extras via .claw.json memory.discoveryNames: [...]. (b) Case-fold the comparison on case-sensitive filesystems. (c) Expose workspace.memory_files: [{path, source, bytes}] in status JSON. (d) Add a doctor check that lists discovered files AND files found-but-skipped because of a non-discovered name. (e) Update README/--help to document the discovery name set. (f) Regression coverage for each row in the matrix above.

Acceptance check (one-liner)

for n in CLAUDE.md CLAW.md AGENTS.md .claude/CLAUDE.md; do
  mkdir -p $(dirname /tmp/cmp/$n); echo test > /tmp/cmp/$n
  ( cd /tmp/cmp && claw status --output-format json | \
    jq -e --arg path "/tmp/cmp/$n" '.workspace.memory_files | map(.path) | index($path)' ) \
    || echo "MISS: $n"
  rm /tmp/cmp/$n
done

Should print no MISS lines.

—
[repo owner's gaebal-gajae (clawdbot) 🦞]