Self-Improvement Agent

Captures learnings, errors, and corrections for continuous improvement. Use when: (1) A command fails unexpectedly, (2) User corrects you ('No, that's wrong....

Security Scan

The skill's code, scripts, and instructions are internally consistent with a 'self-improvement / learnings logging' purpose and do not request secrets or external network installs, but it does provide hooks and scripts that will run with the agent's normal permissions if you enable them — review before enabling globally.

Purpose & Capability

Name/description (capture learnings, errors, promotions) match the included files: templates, logging formats, promotion rules, hook handlers, and helper scripts. The files and scripts relate to recording and promoting learnings and to optional local setup; nothing obvious is requested that is unrelated to logging and skill extraction.

Instruction Scope

SKILL.md and helpers instruct the agent to log to .learnings/*, promote recurring items to workspace files, and optionally use inter-session APIs (sessions_history, sessions_send, sessions_spawn) to share learnings across sessions. Those inter-session calls are consistent with cross-session knowledge sharing but are sensitive because they read other sessions' transcripts. Scripts reference the CLAUDE_TOOL_OUTPUT environment variable (used by the error detector) which is a platform-provided variable but isn't listed in requires.env — this is expected for hooks but worth noting.

Install Mechanism

No remote install or downloads. This is effectively an instruction-only skill with bundled local scripts and a hook handler. The scripts and handler are plain-text, no obfuscated code, and the extract-skill and activator scripts operate on local paths. There are no URLs, package registry installs, or archive extracts.

Credentials

The skill declares no required environment variables or credentials. However: (1) the error detector reads CLAUDE_TOOL_OUTPUT (a platform-provided variable) when run as a hook, and (2) scripts may write files under the skills or workspace directories when executed (e.g., extract-skill.sh). No secrets or unrelated service credentials are requested.

Persistence & Privilege

always:false (not force-included). The skill provides an OpenClaw hook and shell scripts that, if enabled in your project-level or user-level hook config, will run during agent bootstrap and on PostToolUse. Hook scripts run with the same permissions as your agent process, so enabling them (especially at user/global scope) grants regular execution in your sessions — this is expected for hooks but you should enable only where you trust the code.

Assessment

This skill appears coherent and implements a local 'log learnings' workflow. Key things to consider before installing or enabling hooks: - No credentials are requested, and there are no remote downloads; the code is local and readable. Review the scripts (activator.sh, error-detector.sh, extract-skill.sh) and handler.js/handler.ts yourself before enabling. - Enabling the provided hook(s) (project or user-level) will cause the scripts/handler to run automatically during agent bootstrap or after tool use; those scripts run with the same permissions as your agent and can read/write files in the workspace and skills directories. If you prefer limited scope, enable the hook only at the project level (not user/global) or keep PostToolUse hooks disabled. - The skill suggests using inter-session APIs (sessions_history, sessions_send). If you enable those behaviors, sessions_history can expose other session transcripts — enable only if you are comfortable sharing session content between sessions. - If you install, set script permissions intentionally (chmod +x) and prefer absolute paths in hook configs to avoid surprises. If you want minimal exposure, use the activator reminder only (no PostToolUse error detector) and avoid running extract-skill.sh unless you explicitly want to create new skill files. Overall: coherent and reasonable for its stated purpose, but treat hook/script activation as an explicit opt-in action and review them before enabling globally.

Self-Improvement Skill

Log learnings and errors to markdown files. Important patterns get promoted to project memory files.

Quick Reference

Situation	Action
Command/operation fails	Log to .learnings/ERRORS.md
User corrects you	Log to .learnings/LEARNINGS.md (category: correction)
User wants missing feature	Log to .learnings/FEATURE_REQUESTS.md
API/external tool fails	Log to .learnings/ERRORS.md
Knowledge was outdated	Log to .learnings/LEARNINGS.md (category: knowledge_gap)
Found better approach	Log to .learnings/LEARNINGS.md (category: best_practice)
Similar to existing entry	Link with **See Also**, bump priority
Broadly applicable learning	Promote to workspace files (see below)

Promotion Targets

When a learning proves broadly applicable, elevate it:

Learning Type	Promote To
Behavioral patterns	SOUL.md
Workflow patterns	AGENTS.md
Tool gotchas	TOOLS.md
Project facts	CLAUDE.md or workspace prompt files

Logging Format

Learning Entry

## [LRN-YYYYMMDD-XXX] category

**Logged**: ISO-8601 timestamp
**Priority**: low | medium | high | critical
**Status**: pending | resolved | promoted | in_progress

### Summary
One-line description of what was learned

### Details
Full context: what happened, what was wrong, what's correct

### Suggested Action
Concrete fix or improvement

### Metadata
- Source: conversation | error | user_feedback
- Related Files: path/to/file.ext
- Tags: tag1, tag2
- See Also: LRN-YYYYMMDD-XXX (if related)

Error Entry

## [ERR-YYYYMMDD-XXX] command_or_tool

**Logged**: ISO-8601 timestamp
**Priority**: high
**Status**: pending

### Summary
Brief description of what failed

### Error

Paste actual error output here

### Context
- Command/operation attempted
- Input or parameters used
- Environment details

### Suggested Fix
If identifiable, how to resolve it

### Metadata
- Reproducible: yes | no | unknown
- Related Files: path/to/file.ext

Feature Request Entry

## [FEAT-YYYYMMDD-XXX] capability_name

**Logged**: ISO-8601 timestamp
**Priority**: medium
**Status**: pending

### Requested Capability
What the user wanted to do

### User Context
Why they needed it

### Complexity Estimate
simple | medium | complex

ID Generation

TYPE-YYYYMMDD-XXX — e.g. LRN-20250322-001, ERR-20250322-A3F

Resolving Entries

When fixed:

1. Set Status: resolved or promoted
2. Add resolution block:

### Resolution
- **Resolved**: 2025-01-16T09:00:00Z
- **Commit/PR**: abc123 or #42
- **Notes**: What was done

Promoting to Workspace Files

When: Learning applies across files, prevents recurring mistakes, or any contributor should know it.

How: Distill into a concise rule. Add to target file. Set original entry to promoted.

Example learning:

Project uses pnpm workspaces. npm install fails because lock file is pnpm-lock.yaml.

Promote to CLAUDE.md:

## Build & Dependencies
- Package manager: **pnpm** (not npm) — always use `pnpm install`

Recurring Pattern Detection

Before logging, search for related entries:

grep -r "keyword" .learnings/

If similar entry exists:

• Link with **See Also**: LRN-...
• Increment Recurrence-Count
• Consider systemic fix (promote to AGENTS.md, create tech debt ticket)

Promote to permanent prompt guidance when a pattern:

• Occurs 3+ times
• Spans 2+ distinct tasks
• Within a 30-day window

OpenClaw Inter-Session Tools

Share learnings across sessions:

Tool	Use
sessions_list	View active/recent sessions
sessions_history(sessionKey, limit)	Read another session's transcript
sessions_send(sessionKey, message)	Send a learning to another session
sessions_spawn(task, label, mode)	Spawn a background sub-agent

Example: After a session ends, promote its key learnings to workspace files. Use sessions_history to review what another session discovered.

Periodic Review

Check .learnings/ at natural breakpoints:

• Before starting a new major task
• After completing a feature
• Weekly during active development

Quick status:

grep -h "Status.*pending" .learnings/*.md | wc -l  # count pending
grep -B3 "Priority.*high" .learnings/*.md | grep "^##"  # high priority items

Detection Triggers

Log immediately when you notice:

Signal	→ Entry
Non-zero exit code, exception, timeout	ERRORS.md
User says "No, that's wrong...", "Actually..."	LEARNINGS.md (correction)
User provides info you didn't know	LEARNINGS.md (knowledge_gap)
"Can you also...", "I wish you could..."	FEATURE_REQUESTS.md
Found a better approach mid-task	LEARNINGS.md (best_practice)
Repeated mistake (2+ times)	Promote to workspace file

Best Practices

1. Log immediately — context is freshest right after the issue
2. Be specific — future you needs to understand quickly
3. Suggest concrete fixes — not just "investigate"
4. Link related files — makes fixes easier
5. Promote aggressively — broadly applicable learnings belong in workspace files, not hidden in .learnings/
6. Use consistent IDs — enables See Also linking

Installation (OpenClaw)

clawhub install self-improving-agent

Manual:

git clone https://github.com/pskoett/self-improving-agent.git ~/.openclaw/skills/self-improving-agent

Create log directory:

mkdir -p ~/.openclaw/workspace/.learnings

Detailed Topics

For complete documentation, see:

• OpenClaw integration: references/openclaw-integration.md
• Hook setup: references/hooks-setup.md
• Full entry examples: references/examples.md
• Skill extraction workflow: references/skill-extraction.md
• Other agents (Claude Code, Codex, Copilot): references/other-agents.md