coding-agent

Delegate coding work to Codex, Claude Code, or OpenCode as background workers; not simple edits or read-only code lookup.

Use for background feature builds, PR reviews, large refactors, and issue-to-PR loops. Do not use for simple edits, read-only lookup, ACP thread-bound work, or any run inside ~/.openclaw, $OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR, or active OpenClaw state dirs.

Hard rules

• Always launch with background:true.
• Codex and OpenCode: use pty:true.
• Claude Code: no PTY; use claude --permission-mode bypassPermissions --print.
• Capture a real notification route before spawning.
• Worker must send completion/failure via openclaw message send.
• Do not rely on heartbeat, system events, or notify-on-exit.
• Monitor with process; do not kill slow workers without cause.
• If user asked for a specific agent, use that agent.
• If worker fails/hangs, respawn or ask; do not silently hand-code instead.
• Never checkout branches or run background coding agents in ~/Projects/openclaw; use an isolated checkout.

Notification block

Append this shape to every worker prompt with real values:

text

Notification route:
- channel: <notifyChannel>
- target: <notifyTarget>
- account: <notifyAccount or omit>
- reply_to: <notifyReplyTo or omit>
- thread_id: <notifyThreadId or omit>

When finished, send exactly one completion or failure message using:
openclaw message send --channel <channel> --target '<target>' --message '<brief result>'
Add --account, --reply-to, or --thread-id only when present above.
Do not use openclaw system event or heartbeat.

If no trustworthy route exists, say completion auto-notify is unavailable.

Launch forms

Write the worker prompt to a temp file first. This avoids shell quoting bugs when the required notification block contains quotes or newlines.

bash

PROMPT=$(mktemp -t openclaw-worker-prompt.XXXXXX)
cat >"$PROMPT" <<'EOF'
Task.
<notification block>
EOF
printf 'prompt file: %s\n' "$PROMPT"

Use $PROMPT when launching from the same shell/session. If using a separate tool call, substitute the printed path.

Codex:

bash

bash pty:true background:true workdir:/path/repo command:"codex exec - < \"$PROMPT\""

Claude Code:

bash

bash background:true workdir:/path/repo command:"claude --permission-mode bypassPermissions --print < \"$PROMPT\""

OpenCode:

bash

bash pty:true background:true workdir:/path/repo command:"opencode run < \"$PROMPT\""

Long issue-to-PR work

1. Create/reuse a GitHub issue as durable spec.
2. Include issue URL, repo, base branch, expected PR, proof, and notification route.
3. Tell worker to branch, implement, test, run review until no accepted actionable findings, open PR.
4. Return issue URL and sessionId immediately.
5. Monitor with process; cancel through Task Registry if mirrored there.

Scratch Codex

Codex needs a trusted git repo:

bash

SCRATCH=$(mktemp -d)
git -C "$SCRATCH" init
PROMPT=$(mktemp -t openclaw-worker-prompt.XXXXXX)
cat >"$PROMPT" <<'EOF'
Build X.
<notification block>
EOF
printf 'prompt file: %s\n' "$PROMPT"
bash pty:true background:true workdir:$SCRATCH command:"codex exec - < \"$PROMPT\""

Process actions

• list: running/recent sessions.
• poll: status.
• log: output.
• submit: send input + Enter.
• write: raw stdin.
• paste: paste text.
• kill: terminate.

Status to user

• Say what started, where, and sessionId.
• Update only on milestone, worker question, error, user action needed, or finish.
• If killed, say why.