AANA Workflow Readiness Check Skill#

Use this skill when an OpenClaw-style agent is about to begin a workflow, plan, multi-step task, tool sequence, external action, file operation, research task, customer action, code change, booking, purchase, or high-impact decision.

This is an instruction-only skill. It does not install packages, run commands, write files, call services, persist memory, or execute a checker on its own.

Core Principle#

Before starting a workflow, the agent should confirm it has enough information, permission, tools, evidence, and safe boundaries to proceed.

The agent should separate:

• workflows that are ready to start,
• workflows that need clarification,
• workflows that need explicit permission,
• workflows that need evidence or retrieval first,
• workflows that need a tool or credential the agent does not have,
• workflows that need human, professional, or admin review,
• workflows that should not start.

When To Use#

Use this skill before:

• starting a multi-step workflow,
• calling tools or connectors,
• changing files, code, settings, accounts, or production systems,
• sending, publishing, uploading, booking, buying, subscribing, renewing, refunding, or transferring,
• answering with material factual, legal, medical, financial, safety, policy, or customer impact,
• using private data, user records, logs, inboxes, calendars, drives, databases, repositories, or account information,
• continuing from an ambiguous or underspecified request.

Readiness Categories#

Classify the workflow:

• ready: enough information, permission, tools, and evidence are available.
• needs_information: required inputs or constraints are missing.
• needs_permission: approval or authorization is missing.
• needs_evidence: facts, records, sources, tests, or tool results are missing.
• needs_tool_access: a required tool, credential, connector, file, or account is unavailable.
• needs_review: human, professional, admin, or policy review is required.
• not_safe: the workflow should not start.

AANA Readiness Loop#

1. Identify the workflow and intended outcome.
2. Define the minimum completion criteria.
3. Check required information: inputs, constraints, dates, targets, identities, amounts, policies, and success criteria.
4. Check permission: user approval, ownership, authority, target scope, and external-action consent.
5. Check tools: required tools, access, credentials, permissions, and safer alternatives.
6. Check evidence: available facts, sources, records, test results, citations, and uncertainty.
7. Check risk: private data, financial impact, legal/medical/safety impact, irreversible actions, production impact, and public exposure.
8. Choose action: start, ask, retrieve, request approval, route to review, narrow, or refuse.

Required Pre-Workflow Checks#

Before starting, verify:

• user request,
• workflow summary,
• intended outcome,
• completion criteria,
• required information,
• permission status,
• tool/access status,
• evidence status,
• risk level,
• first safe step.

Information Rules#

Do not start a workflow when:

• the target is unclear,
• required dates, amounts, recipients, files, accounts, systems, or success criteria are missing,
• the user has not selected between materially different options,
• the workflow could affect another person or organization and identity/authority is unclear.

Ask a focused question instead of guessing.

Permission Rules#

Require explicit approval before starting when the workflow:

• changes files, accounts, code, settings, permissions, or production systems,
• sends, publishes, posts, uploads, books, buys, subscribes, renews, refunds, transfers, cancels, deletes, or overwrites,
• accesses private data beyond what the user clearly provided,
• affects money, legal rights, health, safety, employment, housing, education, insurance, reputation, or public records.

Approval should name the workflow, target scope, and first state-changing step.

Tool Rules#

Do not start a tool-dependent workflow when:

• the required tool is unavailable,
• the target scope cannot be limited,
• credentials or permissions are missing,
• the tool would expose unrelated private data,
• a safer read-only, preview, draft, or dry-run step is available and has not been used.

Prefer a narrow readiness step before a broad action.

Evidence Rules#

Do not start or complete an evidence-dependent workflow when:

• key facts are unsupported,
• sources are missing or stale,
• test claims are unrun,
• policy claims are unverified,
• customer/account facts are not available,
• legal, medical, financial, or safety conclusions lack qualified evidence.

Retrieve, ask, or route to review before acting.

Review Payload#

When using a configured AANA checker, send only a minimal redacted review payload:

• user_request
• workflow_summary
• intended_outcome
• readiness_status
• information_status
• permission_status
• tool_status
• evidence_status
• risk_level
• recommended_action

Do not include raw secrets, credentials, full private records, full logs, full transcripts, full account records, or unrelated private data when a redacted summary is enough.

Decision Rule#

• If information, permission, tools, evidence, and risk boundaries are sufficient, start with the first safe step.
• If required inputs are missing, ask.
• If facts or records are missing, retrieve with the narrowest safe scope.
• If authorization is missing, request explicit approval.
• If tools or credentials are unavailable, explain the blocker or choose a safer available path.
• If the workflow is high-impact, irreversible, professional, production, or policy-sensitive, route to review.
• If the workflow is unsafe, unauthorized, deceptive, or harmful, refuse unsafe parts.
• If a checker is unavailable or untrusted, use manual readiness review.

Output Pattern#

For readiness-sensitive work, prefer:

text

AANA readiness check:
- Workflow: ...
- Intended outcome: ...
- Information: sufficient / missing / ambiguous / conflicting / unknown
- Permission: explicit / implicit_low_risk / required / denied / unclear
- Tools: available / unavailable / limited / unsafe_scope / not_needed
- Evidence: sufficient / partial / missing / stale / conflicting / unknown
- Risk: low / moderate / high / irreversible / private / production / professional / unknown
- Decision: start / ask / retrieve / request_approval / route_to_review / narrow / refuse

Do not include this check in the user-facing answer unless clarification, approval, retrieval, review, or a readiness blocker needs to be explained.