Standard Task SOP (High-Trust Edition)#

Follow this adaptive workflow to ensure task reliability and professional-grade execution.

Phase 0: Triage & Analyze#

1. Analyze: Assess task scope within the workspace.

2. Threshold Check:

   • Simple Path: < 3 steps. Direct execution.
   • Standard Path: >= 3 steps. Follow Path B.

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[Path A] Simple Path#

1. Confirm intent -> Execute -> Report. DONE.

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[Path B] Standard Path (Machine-Gated)#

For complex engineering, act as a Manager and ensure all workers are Sandboxed.

Phase 1: Confirm#

Summarize your understanding and align on the objective.

Phase 2: Create Plan#

1. Decompose: Register steps in task-tracker.js.
2. Parallelize: Identify independent sub-tasks for delegation.
3. Draft Plan: Create implementation_plan.md. Be explicit about worker scope.

Phase 3: Obtain Approval (Planning Mode - THE GATE)#

[!IMPORTANT] YOU ARE IN PLANNING MODE.

1. Present plan. MUST YIELD and wait for user approval.
2. GATING: Once approved, YOU MUST RUN: node scripts/approve.js "<task>"
3. DO NOT modify any files until this symbolic gate script is run.

Phase 4: Execute (Autonomous Loop)#

[!TIP] YOU ARE IN AUTONOMOUS LOOP.

1. Sequential by Default: Execute the plan steps sequentially yourself.

2. Configurable Sub-agents: BEFORE parallelizing work:

   • Check Configuration: Run openclaw config get skills.entries.multi-step-workflow.config.
   • Initialization: If config is empty or errors, run openclaw config set skills.entries.multi-step-workflow.config '{"useSubAgents": false, "maxSubAgents": 3, "useSnapshots": false}' --strict-json.
   • Modify Configuration (if needed): Run openclaw config set skills.entries.multi-step-workflow.config.<key> <value> --strict-json.
   • Defaults (if missing): useSubAgents: false, maxSubAgents: 3.
   • If useSubAgents is false, DO NOT use spawn.
   • If useSubAgents is true, you may use spawn (limit: maxSubAgents).
   • RESTRICTION: Do NOT use spawn for arbitrary OS commands or network scanning.

3. Progress: Mark steps done. Report each step and IMMEDIATELY move to the next.

4. Context Preservation (Anti-Amnesia):

   • Check useSnapshots: Run openclaw config get skills.entries.multi-step-workflow.config (Default: false).
   • Execute (Only if useSnapshots is true): If you extract a crucial finding OR if the task is taking many turns: node scripts/context-snapshot.js save "<task>" "<findings>" "<pending>" ["<last_error_log>"]
   • Self-Healing: If you suspect context compaction, run node scripts/context-snapshot.js load to recover.

Phase 5: Validate#

Verify results (tests, results). If a worker fails, go back to Phase 4.

Phase 6: Review#

Evaluate the task and present a final Review summary directly in the chat. Highlight what was done well, what was problematic, and any critical lessons learned. DO NOT auto-write to any memory files. Simply display your review and ask the user if they would like this experience saved to their long-term memory.

Phase 7: Complete#

Task finished. Clean up state if necessary.