A2A Chatting

Enable communication, coordination, and information exchange between OpenClaw agents through controlled multi-agent chat sessions.

Security Scan

The skill's behavior mostly matches its description (managing A2A sessions), but the shipped script calls external tools and writes files without declaring those dependencies or explaining file access, which is an unexplained inconsistency you should understand before installing.

Purpose & Capability

The skill claims to be instruction-only and lists no required binaries or env vars, but the included a2a-chatting.sh invokes the external 'openclaw' CLI and 'jq' (and expects a valid OpenClaw directory with openclaw.json). Those binaries/configs are necessary for its core functionality but are not declared in the metadata.

Instruction Scope

SKILL.md confines runtime messaging to the platform's sessions_send tool and documents the CLI's lifecycle commands. The script reads and writes files (saves a config to $HOME/.a2a-chatting.conf, writes session records under the configured OpenClaw directory, and reads openclaw.json). This file I/O is reasonable for session management but SKILL.md does not call out the script's direct file operations.

Install Mechanism

There is no install spec (instruction-only). No network downloads or archive extraction are present in the package. Risk from the install mechanism itself is low.

Credentials

The skill declares no required environment variables or credentials, which matches the absence of explicit secrets; however, it does read the OpenClaw directory (openclaw.json) and uses $HOME. openclaw.json could contain sensitive configuration or agent info. The absence of declared dependencies for the 'openclaw' CLI and 'jq' is an inconsistency that affects proportionality.

Persistence & Privilege

The skill does write a small config file ($HOME/.a2a-chatting.conf) and session files under the user-specified OpenClaw directory. It does not request global always-on privileges nor modify other skills' configurations. This level of persistence is expected for a session manager.

What to consider before installing

Before installing: (1) Note the package includes a shell CLI (a2a-chatting.sh) that runs the 'openclaw' command and 'jq' but the skill metadata does not declare these required binaries—installing may fail or run unexpectedly if those tools aren't present. (2) The script stores a config at $HOME/.a2a-chatting.conf and reads <openclaw_dir>/openclaw.json; inspect that openclaw.json for sensitive information (agent configs, tokens) since the skill will read it. (3) The skill writes session records under the OpenClaw directory you configure; ensure you trust the agents you will message because messages are routed via sessions_send and may contain tasking. (4) If you plan to use this skill, verify the presence and provenance of the 'openclaw' CLI and 'jq', review the script source for your environment, and consider running it in a limited user account or sandbox first. The inconsistency in declared dependencies looks like an oversight but should be resolved or explained by the author before wide deployment.

Manage sessions with other OpenClaw agents. Messaging is done via the built-in sessions_send tool, not via the CLI. This CLI only handles session lifecycle (create, list, view, delete).

Message Format (Required)

When sending A2A messages via sessions_send, you must use this exact format:

[From: <name>] [fromAgentId: <agentId>] [reply-to: <sourceSession>] <message>

For notifications (no reply needed):

[From: <name>] [fromAgentId: <agentId>] [DO NOT REPLY] <message>

Example — ask Anna to do something:

[From: Lewis] [fromAgentId: echi-ceo] [reply-to: <your sessionId>] 早上好，请更新本周销售报告。

Example — notify Victor (no reply needed):

[From: Lewis] [fromAgentId: echi-ceo] [DO NOT REPLY] 会议已延期到下午3点。

Fields explained:

• From — Human-readable name of the sender
• fromAgentId — The agent ID (e.g. echi-ceo, echitech-sales-manager-victor)
• reply-to — Your own sourceSession (so the receiver knows where to route replies)
• DO NOT REPLY — Use when no response is needed (fire-and-forget)

Prerequisites

Configure the OpenClaw directory:

a2a-chatting.sh config <openclaw_dir>
# Example: a2a-chatting.sh config /Users/roco/.openclaw

CLI Commands

Command	Description
config <path> [--force]	Configure OpenClaw directory
get-agents	List all available agents with their IDs
new-session <agent_id> <topic>	Create a new A2A session with an agent
list-sessions	List all A2A sessions
get-session <session_id>	Show session info
delete-session <session_id>	Delete a session

Workflow

Step 1: Create a Session

# Use the CLI to create a session with the target agent
a2a-chatting.sh new-session <agent_id> "Discuss project structure"
# Returns: Session ID (e.g. 30d53db1-d1fd-41d8-a7f3-8373aa58a840)

Step 2: Send Message (via sessions_send)

# Use sessions_send tool with the format above:
sessions_send(
  sessionKey: "<target agent session>",
  message: "[From: Lewis] [fromAgentId: echi-ceo] [reply-to: <sourceSession>] 早上好，请更新本周销售报告。"
)

Step 3: Receive Reply

The receiver's reply automatically routes back to your session via sessions_send source tracking.

Tips

• Session Reuse: Reuse existing sessions for ongoing conversations — agents maintain context
• Topic Naming: Use descriptive topics so you can find sessions later with list-sessions
• Format Strictly: Always use the [From: ...] format — it identifies you in multi-agent conversations
• reply-to vs DO NOT REPLY: Only use reply-to when you need a response. Use DO NOT REPLY for notifications.

Examples

Create session with Anna

a2a-chatting.sh new-session echitech-marketing-manager-anna "Marketing sync"
# → Session ID: db4aaf45-dd47-4766-87d0-0c2f690e8797

Send a task request

sessions_send(
  sessionKey: "agent:echitech-marketing-manager-anna:main",
  message: "[From: Lewis] [fromAgentId: echi-ceo] [reply-to: <sourceSession>] 请更新本周营销计划。"
)

Send a notification (no reply)

sessions_send(
  sessionKey: "agent:echitech-sales-manager-victor:main",
  message: "[From: Lewis] [fromAgentId: echi-ceo] [DO NOT REPLY] 今晚8点有全员会议，请准时参加。"
)

Storage

Session index: <openclaw_dir>/a2a-sessions/sessions.jsonl