Memory/QMD: treat plain-text no-results as empty

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 - Gateway/CLI: when `gateway.bind=lan`, use a LAN IP for probe URLs and Control UI links. (#11448) Thanks @AnonO6.
 - Memory: set Voyage embeddings `input_type` for improved retrieval. (#10818) Thanks @mcinteerj.
 - Memory/QMD: run boot refresh in background by default, add configurable QMD maintenance timeouts, and retry QMD after fallback failures. (#9690, #9705)
+- Memory/QMD: treat plain-text `No results found` output from QMD as an empty result instead of throwing invalid JSON errors. (#9824)
 - Media understanding: recognize `.caf` audio attachments for transcription. (#10982) Thanks @succ985.
 - State dir: honor `OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR` for default device identity and canvas storage paths. (#4824) Thanks @kossoy.
 - Tests: harden flaky hotspots by removing timer sleeps, consolidating onboarding provider-auth coverage, and improving memory test realism. (#11598) Thanks @gumadeiras.

src/memory/qmd-manager.test.ts

@@ -547,6 +547,58 @@ describe("QmdMemoryManager", () => {
     ).rejects.toThrow("qmd index busy while reading results");
     await manager.close();
   });
+
+  it("treats plain-text no-results stdout as an empty result set", async () => {
+    spawnMock.mockImplementation((_cmd: string, args: string[]) => {
+      if (args[0] === "query") {
+        const child = createMockChild({ autoClose: false });
+        setTimeout(() => {
+          child.stdout.emit("data", "No results found.");
+          child.closeWith(0);
+        }, 0);
+        return child;
+      }
+      return createMockChild();
+    });
+
+    const resolved = resolveMemoryBackendConfig({ cfg, agentId });
+    const manager = await QmdMemoryManager.create({ cfg, agentId, resolved });
+    expect(manager).toBeTruthy();
+    if (!manager) {
+      throw new Error("manager missing");
+    }
+
+    await expect(
+      manager.search("missing", { sessionKey: "agent:main:slack:dm:u123" }),
+    ).resolves.toEqual([]);
+    await manager.close();
+  });
+
+  it("treats plain-text no-results stderr as an empty result set", async () => {
+    spawnMock.mockImplementation((_cmd: string, args: string[]) => {
+      if (args[0] === "query") {
+        const child = createMockChild({ autoClose: false });
+        setTimeout(() => {
+          child.stderr.emit("data", "No results found.\n");
+          child.closeWith(0);
+        }, 0);
+        return child;
+      }
+      return createMockChild();
+    });
+
+    const resolved = resolveMemoryBackendConfig({ cfg, agentId });
+    const manager = await QmdMemoryManager.create({ cfg, agentId, resolved });
+    expect(manager).toBeTruthy();
+    if (!manager) {
+      throw new Error("manager missing");
+    }
+
+    await expect(
+      manager.search("missing", { sessionKey: "agent:main:slack:dm:u123" }),
+    ).resolves.toEqual([]);
+    await manager.close();
+  });
 });
 
 async function waitForCondition(check: () => boolean, timeoutMs: number): Promise<void> {

src/memory/qmd-manager.ts

@@ -255,21 +255,16 @@ export class QmdMemoryManager implements MemorySearchManager {
     );
     const args = ["query", trimmed, "--json", "-n", String(limit)];
     let stdout: string;
+    let stderr: string;
     try {
       const result = await this.runQmd(args, { timeoutMs: this.qmd.limits.timeoutMs });
       stdout = result.stdout;
+      stderr = result.stderr;
     } catch (err) {
       log.warn(`qmd query failed: ${String(err)}`);
       throw err instanceof Error ? err : new Error(String(err));
     }
-    let parsed: QmdQueryResult[] = [];
-    try {
-      parsed = JSON.parse(stdout);
-    } catch (err) {
-      const message = err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err);
-      log.warn(`qmd query returned invalid JSON: ${message}`);
-      throw new Error(`qmd query returned invalid JSON: ${message}`, { cause: err });
-    }
+    const parsed = this.parseQmdQueryJson(stdout, stderr);
     const results: MemorySearchResult[] = [];
     for (const entry of parsed) {
       const doc = await this.resolveDocLocation(entry.docid);
@@ -895,4 +890,30 @@ export class QmdMemoryManager implements MemorySearchManager {
       new Promise<void>((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, SEARCH_PENDING_UPDATE_WAIT_MS)),
     ]);
   }
+
+  private parseQmdQueryJson(stdout: string, stderr: string): QmdQueryResult[] {
+    if (this.isQmdNoResultsOutput(stdout) || this.isQmdNoResultsOutput(stderr)) {
+      return [];
+    }
+    const trimmed = stdout.trim();
+    if (!trimmed) {
+      return [];
+    }
+    try {
+      const parsed = JSON.parse(trimmed) as unknown;
+      if (!Array.isArray(parsed)) {
+        throw new Error("qmd query JSON response was not an array");
+      }
+      return parsed as QmdQueryResult[];
+    } catch (err) {
+      const message = err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err);
+      log.warn(`qmd query returned invalid JSON: ${message}`);
+      throw new Error(`qmd query returned invalid JSON: ${message}`, { cause: err });
+    }
+  }
+
+  private isQmdNoResultsOutput(raw: string): boolean {
+    const normalized = raw.trim().toLowerCase().replace(/\s+/g, " ");
+    return normalized === "no results found" || normalized === "no results found.";
+  }
 }