ground-control

Verify OpenClaw after upgrades against an operator-maintained model, cron, and channel ground truth. Use for report-only config integrity, provider liveness, cron integrity, session smoke tests, and channel checks; require explicit approval before applying repairs.

Post-upgrade verification for OpenClaw. Keeps your system honest after every upgrade.

🛠️ Installation

1. Ask OpenClaw (Recommended)

Tell OpenClaw: "Install the ground-control skill." Installation does not authorize runtime config or cron changes.

2. Manual Installation (CLI)

If you prefer the terminal, run:

bash

openclaw skills install @jonathanjing/ground-control

Permissions & Privileges

This skill requires the following OpenClaw capabilities:

• gateway config.get — read current config (all phases)
• gateway config.patch — apply an operator-approved config repair (Phase 1 only)
• cron list / cron update — verify cron jobs and apply operator-approved repairs (Phase 3)
• sessions_spawn — smoke test sessions (Phase 2, 4, 5)
• message send — channel liveness test + summary report (Phase 5)

Change-control behavior: Every run is report-only by default. Present a redacted repair plan and obtain explicit operator approval immediately before any gateway config.patch or cron update.

Security & Redaction: This skill enforces a Zero-Secret Logging protocol.

• Immediate Redaction: Sensitive nodes (auth, plugins) are stripped from memory after fetching runtime config.
• Redacted Drift: Mismatches in sensitive fields are reported as [REDACTED_SENSITIVE_MISMATCH].
• Functional Validation: API keys are tested through functional calls (Phase 2), never through literal comparison.
• No Persistence: Literal credentials are never written to memory/ files or messaging channels.

Environment variables: None.

When to use

• After running openclaw update or npm install -g openclaw@latest
• When you suspect config drift (model changed, cron broken, channel down)
• Periodic health check via /verify command

Setup

1. Copy {baseDir}/templates/MODEL_GROUND_TRUTH.md to your workspace root
2. Fill in your actual config values (models, cron jobs, channels)
3. (Optional) For large configs, split into refs/ground-truth/*.md sub-files
4. Add the GROUND_TRUTH sync rule to your AGENTS.md (see README)
5. Run /verify to test

Files

• {baseDir}/templates/MODEL_GROUND_TRUTH.md — Ground truth template (copy to workspace root)
• {baseDir}/scripts/post-upgrade-verify.md — Agent execution prompt for 5-phase verification
• {baseDir}/scripts/UPGRADE_SOP.md — Upgrade standard operating procedure