What You Need to Know
Discord servers with active OpenClaw bots can quickly accumulate threads. Before this update, threads stayed open indefinitely or relied on Discord's built-in archive behavior, which does not account for session state. Now, OpenClaw manages thread lifecycle natively with two configurable parameters: idleHours and maxAgeHours.
idleHours sets how long a thread can go without activity before OpenClaw archives or closes it. If a user starts a thread, gets their answer, and moves on, the thread auto-closes after the idle period. This keeps your server clean without manual moderation. Set it per-channel or per-server in your config.
maxAgeHours adds a hard upper limit regardless of activity. Even if a thread is actively being used, it will be closed after the max age. This is useful for support-style workflows where you want fresh sessions rather than infinitely long threads that accumulate stale context.
Two new slash commands give users real-time control: /session idle shows or changes the idle timeout for the current thread, and /session max-age does the same for the hard limit. Server admins can set defaults in config while letting users adjust within allowed bounds for their specific conversations.
Thread-bound sessions now also benefit from proper context isolation. Each thread gets its own session state, memory context, and tool permissions. When a thread closes, its session is compacted and archived — available for memory search but not consuming active token budget. This makes Discord a viable platform for multi-user teams where each conversation needs clean separation.