CLI Worker Skill (Kimi CLI)

Delegates coding tasks to Kimi CLI agents in isolated git worktrees. Use when the user wants to delegate work to Kimi, run a headless task, or run an isolated coding task in parallel. Requires Kimi CLI installed and authenticated (kimi /login).

When to use

• User asks to delegate a coding task to Kimi or a CLI worker
• Isolated coding task that should run in its own worktree (no git conflicts)
• Parallel work: run multiple tasks without blocking the main agent
• Headless task: run Kimi CLI non-interactively from OpenClaw

Delegation: prefer CLI over sessions_spawn

For a single coding task, use the CLI so the task actually runs:

• Do: cli-worker execute "Your task prompt" (and optionally --constraint / --success). This runs Kimi CLI in a worktree and returns output.
• Avoid: Using sessions_spawn to delegate to a "sub-agent" for the same kind of task. Spawn is known to sometimes create a session that never processes (0 messages). Use sessions_spawn only when you need an ongoing sub-agent conversation with multiple back-and-forth or sessions_send.

After any spawn, verify within ~30s: sessions_list with kinds: ["subagent"] and/or sessions_history on the child session; if messages stay 0, treat as failed and retry with cli-worker execute instead.

Prerequisites

You must install and authenticate the CLI yourself before using this skill. This skill does not store or use any credentials.

• Kimi CLI installed (uv tool install kimi-cli or install script from code.kimi.com)
• Authenticated: run kimi then /login in the REPL (user must complete OAuth; cannot be automated)

Verify with: cli-worker verify

How to invoke

bash

# Run a single task (creates worktree if in a git repo)
cli-worker execute "Your task prompt"

# With context
cli-worker execute "Create hello.py" --constraint "Python 3.11" --success "Tests pass"

# To get full plain-text output for the agent (not only the final answer)
cli-worker execute "Your task" --output-format text

# Check task status (after Kimi writes report)
cli-worker status <taskId>

# List / remove worktrees
cli-worker worktree list
cli-worker worktree remove <taskId>

# Cleanup old worktrees
cli-worker cleanup --older-than 24

Merge and cleanup

After a task completes, decide whether to keep or discard the work:

• To keep the work: From the main repo (e.g., on main), run:

  bash

  git merge openclaw/<taskId>
  cli-worker worktree remove <taskId>
  

• To discard: Run cli-worker worktree remove <taskId> directly, or rely on cli-worker cleanup --older-than N.

Install

• CLI (required for execute/verify): Must be on PATH where the agent runs. From the repo: npm install && npm run build && npm link. (From npm: npm install -g @sqncr/openclaw-cli-agent-skill.) If the agent gets "command not found", run npm link from the repo and restart the gateway.
• Skill discovery: From the repo run npm run install-skill to symlink into ~/.openclaw/skills/cli-worker. Restart gateway or new session after that.

OpenClaw integration

• Symlink or copy skills/cli-worker/ to ~/.openclaw/skills/cli-worker/ so agents can discover it
• Optional config: ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json with worktree.basePath for worktree location