Lobster Workflows

Transform OpenClaw cron jobs into Lobster workflows. Analyze, inspect, and validate job migrations. Use when converting automations to deterministic, approval-gated workflows with resume capabilities.

Security Scan

The skill's documentation describes a CLI that manipulates cron jobs and writes Lobster workflows, but the package provides no code or install, references a developer-local install path and commands not declared as required, and has no source/homepage — the pieces don't fully line up.

Purpose & Capability

The skill's stated purpose (convert OpenClaw cron jobs to Lobster workflows) is plausible and the declared required binaries (openclaw, python3) partly match that purpose. However the SKILL.md presents a 'lobster-jobs' CLI and uses 'lobster run' and other commands but the skill bundle contains no code, no install spec, and does not declare the 'lobster-jobs' or 'lobster' binaries as required. The lack of source/homepage and the presence of a hard-coded developer path (/home/art/niemand/skills/...) are additional mismatches.

Instruction Scope

The instructions describe actions that touch scheduler payloads and write workflow files to ~/.lobster/workflows/, and give examples for changing cron payloads to call Lobster. As an instruction-only skill this is mostly guidance, but it implies the operator or binaries will read cron job metadata and write files under the user's home. The SKILL.md also contains example steps invoking external CLIs (gh, telegram-send, 1Password refs, a 'clawd.invoke' step) that are not authorized/declared—this expands the implied scope without justification. There is no explicit instruction to read unrelated system files, but the guidance expects manipulation of cron/job payloads which is sensitive.

Install Mechanism

There is no install spec and no code files; the SKILL.md asks users to add a developer-local path or symlink a binary. That developer-local path is specific to an individual environment (user 'art/niemand'), which looks like a leftover example rather than a vetted install procedure. Because no binary or source is provided, it's unclear what 'lobster-jobs' actually is or where to obtain a trustworthy build.

Credentials

The skill requests no environment variables, credentials, or config paths. The documentation mentions that workflows may use env vars or 1Password refs, but the skill itself does not request or require secrets. That is proportionate — however, users should be aware that actual runtime (the CLI) may prompt for or require credentials for external services referenced in workflow steps.

Persistence & Privilege

The skill is not forced-always, and does not request or claim elevated platform privileges. It does instruct writing workflow files to ~/.lobster/workflows/ and suggests altering cron payloads; these are normal for a migration tool but are potentially impactful operations and should be done with backups/consent. Autonomous invocation is allowed by default but not unusual; it does not combine with 'always:true' or large declared credential sets.

What to consider before installing

This package is an instruction-only skill that documents a 'lobster-jobs' CLI but provides no code, no install bundle, and no source repository or homepage. Before installing or running anything: 1) Ask the publisher for the canonical source (GitHub repo, release archive) and verify checksums/signatures; do not add or execute binaries from unknown local paths like /home/art/niemand/.... 2) Confirm where the 'lobster-jobs' binary comes from — the skill metadata does not supply it. 3) Backup your cron configuration and any existing ~/.lobster workflows before using convert/--force. 4) Inspect any generated workflow files for embedded secrets or unexpected external endpoints (telegram, webhooks, etc.). 5) Prefer vendor-distributed packages (official repo or release) over ad-hoc symlink instructions. If the author can provide a legitimate repository or an installable package and the binary's source matches the docs, this assessment could be upgraded to benign.

lobster-jobs

Transform OpenClaw cron jobs into Lobster workflows with approval gates and resumable execution.

Purpose

OpenClaw cron jobs are either:

• systemEvent: Simple shell commands (fully deterministic)
• agentTurn: Natural language instructions spawning AI agents (flexible but token-heavy)

Lobster workflows offer:

• Deterministic execution: No LLM re-planning each step
• Approval gates: Hard stops requiring explicit user approval
• Stateful execution: Remembers cursors/checkpoints
• Resumability: Pauses and resumes exactly where left off

This skill helps analyze existing cron jobs and transform them into Lobster workflows.

Commands

Tier 1 (Available Now)

lobster-jobs list

List all cron jobs with their Lobster readiness score.

Output categories:

• ✅ Fully Migratable: Simple shell commands (systemEvent)
• 🟡 Partial Migration: Mixed deterministic + LLM steps (agentTurn)
• ❌ Not Migratable: Heavy LLM reasoning required

lobster-jobs inspect <job-id>

Inspect a specific cron job with detailed migration assessment.

Shows:

• Job metadata (schedule, target, payload type)
• Lobster migration status and reason
• Payload preview
• Migration recommendation

lobster-jobs validate <workflow-file>

Validate a Lobster workflow YAML file against schema.

Checks:

• Required fields (name, steps)
• Step structure (id, command)
• Approval gate syntax
• Condition syntax

Tier 2 (Available Now)

lobster-jobs convert <job-id>

Transform a cron job into a Lobster workflow.

lobster-jobs convert 17fe68ca
lobster-jobs convert 17fe68ca --output-dir ~/workflows
lobster-jobs convert 17fe68ca --force  # Overwrite existing

Generates:

• .lobster workflow file in ~/.lobster/workflows/
• Extracts commands from systemEvent or agentTurn payloads
• Auto-validates generated workflow

Options:

• --output-dir, -o: Custom output directory
• --force, -f: Overwrite existing workflow
• --keep-on-error: Keep file even if validation fails

lobster-jobs new <name>

Create a new Lobster workflow from scratch using templates.

lobster-jobs new my-workflow
lobster-jobs new my-workflow --template with-approval
lobster-jobs new my-workflow --template stateful

Templates:

• simple-shell: Basic command execution
• with-approval: Approval gate workflow
• stateful: Workflow with cursor/state tracking

Installation

# Add to PATH
export PATH="$PATH:/home/art/niemand/skills/lobster-jobs/bin"

# Or create symlink
ln -s /home/art/niemand/skills/lobster-jobs/bin/lobster-jobs ~/.local/bin/

Quick Start

# See all your cron jobs and their migration status
lobster-jobs list

# Inspect a specific job
lobster-jobs inspect 17fe68ca

# Convert a job to Lobster workflow
lobster-jobs convert 17fe68ca

# Create a new workflow from template
lobster-jobs new my-workflow --template with-approval

# Validate a workflow file
lobster-jobs validate ~/.lobster/workflows/my-workflow.lobster

Workflow File Format

name: my-workflow
description: Optional description

steps:
  - id: fetch_data
    command: some-cli fetch --json
    
  - id: process
    command: some-cli process
    stdin: $fetch_data.stdout
    
  - id: approve_send
    command: approve --prompt "Send notification?"
    approval: required
    
  - id: send
    command: message.send --channel telegram --text "Done!"
    condition: $approve_send.approved

Migration Strategy

Wrapper Approach (Recommended)

Keep cron as scheduler, change payload to call Lobster:

{
  "payload": {
    "kind": "systemEvent",
    "text": "lobster run ~/.lobster/workflows/my-workflow.lobster"
  }
}

Benefits:

• Rollback is trivial (revert payload)
• Incremental migration
• Cron scheduling already works

Handling LLM Judgment

For jobs needing both deterministic steps and LLM reasoning:

steps:
  - id: gather
    command: gh issue list --json title,body
    
  - id: triage
    command: clawd.invoke
    prompt: "Classify these issues by urgency"
    
  - id: notify
    command: telegram-send

The workflow is deterministic; the LLM is a black-box step.

Edge Cases

Issue	Handling
Idempotency	Workflows track step completion; restart-safe
Approval timeouts	Configurable timeout with default action
Secret handling	Environment variables or 1Password refs
Partial failures	convert validates before writing

References

• Lobster: https://github.com/openclaw/lobster
• Lobster VISION: https://github.com/openclaw/lobster/blob/main/VISION.md