refactor: centralize cli manager cleanup

Co-authored-by: Nicholas Spisak <jsnsdirect@gmail.com>

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.clawd.bot
 
 ### Changes
 - CLI: stamp build commit into dist metadata so banners show the commit in npm installs.
+- CLI: close memory manager after memory commands to avoid hanging processes. (#1127) — thanks @NicholasSpisak.
 
 ## 2026.1.16-1
 

src/cli/cli-utils.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+export type ManagerLookupResult<T> = {
+  manager: T | null;
+  error?: string;
+};
+
+export function formatErrorMessage(err: unknown): string {
+  return err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err);
+}
+
+export async function withManager<T>(params: {
+  getManager: () => Promise<ManagerLookupResult<T>>;
+  onMissing: (error?: string) => void;
+  run: (manager: T) => Promise<void>;
+  close: (manager: T) => Promise<void>;
+  onCloseError?: (err: unknown) => void;
+}): Promise<void> {
+  const { manager, error } = await params.getManager();
+  if (!manager) {
+    params.onMissing(error);
+    return;
+  }
+  try {
+    await params.run(manager);
+  } finally {
+    try {
+      await params.close(manager);
+    } catch (err) {
+      params.onCloseError?.(err);
+    }
+  }
+}

src/cli/memory-cli.test.ts

@@ -135,6 +135,42 @@ describe("memory cli", () => {
     expect(close).toHaveBeenCalled();
   });
 
+  it("logs close failure after status", async () => {
+    const { registerMemoryCli } = await import("./memory-cli.js");
+    const { defaultRuntime } = await import("../runtime.js");
+    const close = vi.fn(async () => {
+      throw new Error("close boom");
+    });
+    getMemorySearchManager.mockResolvedValueOnce({
+      manager: {
+        probeVectorAvailability: vi.fn(async () => true),
+        status: () => ({
+          files: 1,
+          chunks: 1,
+          dirty: false,
+          workspaceDir: "/tmp/clawd",
+          dbPath: "/tmp/memory.sqlite",
+          provider: "openai",
+          model: "text-embedding-3-small",
+          requestedProvider: "openai",
+        }),
+        close,
+      },
+    });
+
+    const error = vi.spyOn(defaultRuntime, "error").mockImplementation(() => {});
+    const program = new Command();
+    program.name("test");
+    registerMemoryCli(program);
+    await program.parseAsync(["memory", "status"], { from: "user" });
+
+    expect(close).toHaveBeenCalled();
+    expect(error).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      expect.stringContaining("Memory manager close failed: close boom"),
+    );
+    expect(process.exitCode).toBeUndefined();
+  });
+
   it("reindexes on status --index", async () => {
     const { registerMemoryCli } = await import("./memory-cli.js");
     const { defaultRuntime } = await import("../runtime.js");
@@ -225,6 +261,42 @@ describe("memory cli", () => {
     expect(process.exitCode).toBeUndefined();
   });
 
+  it("logs close failure after search", async () => {
+    const { registerMemoryCli } = await import("./memory-cli.js");
+    const { defaultRuntime } = await import("../runtime.js");
+    const close = vi.fn(async () => {
+      throw new Error("close boom");
+    });
+    const search = vi.fn(async () => [
+      {
+        path: "memory/2026-01-12.md",
+        startLine: 1,
+        endLine: 2,
+        score: 0.5,
+        snippet: "Hello",
+      },
+    ]);
+    getMemorySearchManager.mockResolvedValueOnce({
+      manager: {
+        search,
+        close,
+      },
+    });
+
+    const error = vi.spyOn(defaultRuntime, "error").mockImplementation(() => {});
+    const program = new Command();
+    program.name("test");
+    registerMemoryCli(program);
+    await program.parseAsync(["memory", "search", "hello"], { from: "user" });
+
+    expect(search).toHaveBeenCalled();
+    expect(close).toHaveBeenCalled();
+    expect(error).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      expect.stringContaining("Memory manager close failed: close boom"),
+    );
+    expect(process.exitCode).toBeUndefined();
+  });
+
   it("closes manager after search error", async () => {
     const { registerMemoryCli } = await import("./memory-cli.js");
     const { defaultRuntime } = await import("../runtime.js");

src/cli/memory-cli.ts

@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import type { Command } from "commander";
 import { resolveDefaultAgentId } from "../agents/agent-scope.js";
 import { loadConfig } from "../config/config.js";
 import { withProgress, withProgressTotals } from "./progress.js";
+import { formatErrorMessage, withManager } from "./cli-utils.js";
 import { getMemorySearchManager, type MemorySearchManagerResult } from "../memory/index.js";
 import { defaultRuntime } from "../runtime.js";
 import { formatDocsLink } from "../terminal/links.js";
@@ -23,34 +24,6 @@ function resolveAgent(cfg: ReturnType<typeof loadConfig>, agent?: string) {
   return resolveDefaultAgentId(cfg);
 }
 
-function formatErrorMessage(err: unknown): string {
-  return err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err);
-}
-
-async function closeManager(manager: MemoryManager): Promise<void> {
-  try {
-    await manager.close();
-  } catch (err) {
-    defaultRuntime.error(`Memory manager close failed: ${formatErrorMessage(err)}`);
-  }
-}
-
-async function withMemoryManager(
-  params: { cfg: ReturnType<typeof loadConfig>; agentId: string },
-  run: (manager: MemoryManager) => Promise<void>,
-): Promise<void> {
-  const { manager, error } = await getMemorySearchManager(params);
-  if (!manager) {
-    defaultRuntime.log(error ?? "Memory search disabled.");
-    return;
-  }
-  try {
-    await run(manager);
-  } finally {
-    await closeManager(manager);
-  }
-}
-
 export function registerMemoryCli(program: Command) {
   const memory = program
     .command("memory")
@@ -71,9 +44,17 @@ export function registerMemoryCli(program: Command) {
     .action(async (opts: MemoryCommandOptions) => {
       const cfg = loadConfig();
       const agentId = resolveAgent(cfg, opts.agent);
-      await withMemoryManager({ cfg, agentId }, async (manager) => {
+      await withManager<MemoryManager>({
+        getManager: () => getMemorySearchManager({ cfg, agentId }),
+        onMissing: (error) => defaultRuntime.log(error ?? "Memory search disabled."),
+        onCloseError: (err) =>
+          defaultRuntime.error(`Memory manager close failed: ${formatErrorMessage(err)}`),
+        close: (manager) => manager.close(),
+        run: async (manager) => {
           const deep = Boolean(opts.deep || opts.index);
-        let embeddingProbe: Awaited<ReturnType<typeof manager.probeEmbeddingAvailability>> | undefined;
+          let embeddingProbe:
+            | Awaited<ReturnType<typeof manager.probeEmbeddingAvailability>>
+            | undefined;
           let indexError: string | undefined;
           if (deep) {
             await withProgress({ label: "Checking memory…", total: 2 }, async (progress) => {
@@ -200,6 +181,7 @@ export function registerMemoryCli(program: Command) {
             lines.push(`${label("Index error")} ${warn(indexError)}`);
           }
           defaultRuntime.log(lines.join("\n"));
+        },
       });
     });
 
@@ -211,7 +193,13 @@ export function registerMemoryCli(program: Command) {
     .action(async (opts: MemoryCommandOptions & { force?: boolean }) => {
       const cfg = loadConfig();
       const agentId = resolveAgent(cfg, opts.agent);
-      await withMemoryManager({ cfg, agentId }, async (manager) => {
+      await withManager<MemoryManager>({
+        getManager: () => getMemorySearchManager({ cfg, agentId }),
+        onMissing: (error) => defaultRuntime.log(error ?? "Memory search disabled."),
+        onCloseError: (err) =>
+          defaultRuntime.error(`Memory manager close failed: ${formatErrorMessage(err)}`),
+        close: (manager) => manager.close(),
+        run: async (manager) => {
           try {
             await manager.sync({ reason: "cli", force: opts.force });
             defaultRuntime.log("Memory index updated.");
@@ -220,6 +208,7 @@ export function registerMemoryCli(program: Command) {
             defaultRuntime.error(`Memory index failed: ${message}`);
             process.exitCode = 1;
           }
+        },
       });
     });
 
@@ -241,7 +230,13 @@ export function registerMemoryCli(program: Command) {
       ) => {
         const cfg = loadConfig();
         const agentId = resolveAgent(cfg, opts.agent);
-        await withMemoryManager({ cfg, agentId }, async (manager) => {
+        await withManager<MemoryManager>({
+          getManager: () => getMemorySearchManager({ cfg, agentId }),
+          onMissing: (error) => defaultRuntime.log(error ?? "Memory search disabled."),
+          onCloseError: (err) =>
+            defaultRuntime.error(`Memory manager close failed: ${formatErrorMessage(err)}`),
+          close: (manager) => manager.close(),
+          run: async (manager) => {
             let results: Awaited<ReturnType<typeof manager.search>>;
             try {
               results = await manager.search(query, {
@@ -276,6 +271,7 @@ export function registerMemoryCli(program: Command) {
               lines.push("");
             }
             defaultRuntime.log(lines.join("\n").trim());
+          },
         });
       },
     );