Replaced dense inline-linked paragraphs with a short intro sentence
per pillar followed by bullet points. Each bullet is one concept with
one link. Removed the ASCII parallelization diagram.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01R3rGevPY748gP4uK2ggYag
Trimmed the chat transcript: removed separate "You jump in" section,
inlined a single human message within the webapp group flow, dropped
Linear sync in favor of GitHub issue creation. Shorter, tighter.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01R3rGevPY748gP4uK2ggYag
Auto-chaining was removed from the codebase. All docs now describe the
scheduling model: work_finish transitions labels, the heartbeat's tick
pass (which also fires immediately after every work_finish) detects
available work and fills free slots. Removed autoChain config references.
Files updated: README.md, README2.md, docs/TOOLS.md, ARCHITECTURE.md,
ROADMAP.md, MANAGEMENT.md, ONBOARDING.md, lib/templates.ts
https://claude.ai/code/session_01R3rGevPY748gP4uK2ggYag
Single unbroken group-chat transcript now flows from autonomous work,
through human planning/steering, syncing issues to Linear, and back
to autonomous execution — showing everything happens in the same
conversation.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01R3rGevPY748gP4uK2ggYag
Manual interaction example now shows creating issues, sequencing work,
and parking tasks in Planning — all in the same conversation where
autonomous execution happens.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01R3rGevPY748gP4uK2ggYag
Show two projects running overnight with heartbeat-driven dispatch,
auto-chaining, QA failures cycling back to DEV, and different developer
levels — all without human involvement. Manual mode shown as secondary.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01R3rGevPY748gP4uK2ggYag
- Bundle task management: issue tracker integration, creating/updating/commenting,
custom instructions per project — all in one section
- Add automatic scheduling section: heartbeat service, auto-chaining, execution
modes, with full config snippets and settings table
- Remove standalone "Parallel everything" section (folded into scheduling)
- Simplify team tables: Level / Assigns to / Model columns
https://claude.ai/code/session_01R3rGevPY748gP4uK2ggYag
Complete from-scratch rewrite of the README with an OpenClaw user perspective:
- Opens with a concrete group chat interaction showing the full flow
- Frames the problem as "babysitting the thing you built to avoid babysitting"
- "Meet your team" section makes the model mapping fun and relatable
- Pipeline explained as a story, not a spec
- Behind-the-scenes section covers session reuse, heartbeat, auto-chaining
- Issue tracker integration framed as "your issues, your tracker"
- Onboarding shown as a natural conversation
- Tools framed as guardrails, not API endpoints
https://claude.ai/code/session_01R3rGevPY748gP4uK2ggYag
- Add "Why DevClaw" paragraph explaining the gap between raw OpenClaw and development orchestration
- Rename "Shared sessions" to "Session re-use (context preservation)" in token savings
- Add "External task state" benefit covering GitHub/GitLab integration and pluggable IssueProvider
- Simplify installation to conversational onboarding with full example dialogue
- Move "How it works" and "Session reuse" diagrams to ARCHITECTURE.md (keep reference)
- Add Architecture section with link to detailed technical documentation
- Explain tools as guardrails that encode operations as deterministic code
https://claude.ai/code/session_01R3rGevPY748gP4uK2ggYag
Complete documentation rewrite to match the current codebase:
- README: add benefits section (process consistency, token savings with
estimates, project isolation, continuous planning, feedback loops,
role-based prompts, atomic operations, audit trail), task workflow
with state diagram, model-to-role mapping tables, installation guide
- New TOOLS.md: complete reference for all 11 tools with parameters,
behavior, and execution guards
- New CONFIGURATION.md: full config reference for openclaw.json,
projects.json, heartbeat, notifications, workspace layout
- Fix tool names across all docs: task_pickup→work_start,
task_complete→work_finish
- Fix tier model: QA has reviewer/tester levels, not flat "qa"
- Fix config schema: nested models.dev.*/models.qa.* structure
- Fix prompt path: projects/roles/ not projects/prompts/
- Fix worker state: uses "level" field not "model"/"tier"
- Fix MANAGEMENT.md: remove incorrect model references
- Fix TESTING.md: update model config example to nested structure
- Remove VERIFICATION.md (one-off checklist, no longer needed)
- Add cross-references between all docs pages
https://claude.ai/code/session_01R3rGevPY748gP4uK2ggYag
Problem:
The work_start tool was automatically running a 'tick' after picking up
an issue, which filled parallel worker slots by dispatching additional
workers for other issues without explicit instruction.
Example: Picking up #123 also auto-dispatched QA for #121 via tickPickups.
Root Cause:
work_start called tickAndNotify() which ran projectTick() to fill free
worker slots in parallel execution mode. This behavior was automatic and
not controllable.
Solution:
- Disabled the auto-tick functionality in work_start
- Commented out the tickAndNotify call
- Removed tickPickups from the response
- Updated documentation to reflect the change
Impact:
- work_start now picks up ONLY the explicitly requested issue
- No automatic worker dispatch for parallel slots
- For filling worker slots, use work_heartbeat instead
- Gives more control over worker assignments
Changes:
- lib/tools/work-start.ts:
* Commented out tickAndNotify call
* Removed tickPickups from output
* Updated file header comment
* Updated tool description
Addresses issue #125
- Updated WorkerState type to use 'level' instead of 'tier'.
- Modified functions related to worker state management, including parseWorkerState, emptyWorkerState, getSessionForLevel, activateWorker, and deactivateWorker to reflect the new terminology.
- Adjusted health check logic to utilize 'level' instead of 'tier'.
- Refactored tick and setup tools to accommodate the change from 'tier' to 'level', including model configuration and workspace scaffolding.
- Updated tests to ensure consistency with the new 'level' terminology.
- Revised documentation and comments to reflect the changes in terminology from 'tier' to 'level'.
- Introduced a new heartbeat service that runs at defined intervals to perform health checks on workers and fill available task slots based on priority.
- Added a health tool to scan worker health across projects with optional auto-fix capabilities.
- Updated the status tool to provide a lightweight overview of worker states and queue counts without health checks.
- Enhanced task creation tool descriptions to clarify task state handling.
- Implemented tests for the work heartbeat logic, ensuring proper project resolution, worker state management, and task prioritization.
Remove TEST.md which was created for testing purposes (issue #105)
and should not be in the repository.
File contained test content about Lauren ten Hoor profile information
and was not part of the core project functionality.
Addresses issue #117
Issue #115 requested changing the default from 'To Do' to 'Planning',
but investigation reveals this is already implemented.
Findings:
- Code has defaulted to 'Planning' since initial commit (8a79755e, Feb 9)
- README documentation correctly states 'defaults to Planning' (line 308)
- Tool description confirms 'defaults to Planning' behavior
Timeline:
- Feb 9, 2026: task_create implemented with Planning default
- Feb 10, 2026: Issue #115 filed (requesting already-implemented feature)
No code changes needed - feature already works as requested.
Added VERIFICATION.md documenting the current implementation and
providing evidence that the requested behavior is already active.
Addresses issue #115
Problem:
When workers were deactivated (task completed or fixed by health checks),
the startTime field was not being cleared. This caused:
- Inactive workers to retain stale timestamps
- Misleading duration data in projects.json
- Potential confusion in health checks and status displays
Example from projects.json:
{
"qa": {
"active": false,
"issueId": null,
"startTime": "2026-02-10T08:51:50.725Z", // Stale!
"tier": "qa"
}
}
Root Cause:
The deactivateWorker() function only set active: false and issueId: null,
but did not clear startTime. Similarly, health check auto-fixes that
deactivated workers also failed to clear startTime.
Solution:
Always set startTime: null when deactivating a worker to ensure clean state.
Changes:
1. lib/projects.ts:
- deactivateWorker() now sets startTime: null
- Updated function comment to document this behavior
2. lib/services/health.ts:
- All three auto-fix paths that deactivate workers now clear startTime:
* active_no_session fix (line 77)
* zombie_session fix (line 98)
* stale_worker fix (line 138)
Impact:
- Inactive workers now have clean state (startTime: null)
- Duration calculations only apply to active workers
- Health checks work with accurate data
- No stale timestamps persisting across task completions
- Complements fix from #108 (which ensures startTime is set on activation)
Together with #108:
- #108: Always SET startTime when activating worker
- #113: Always CLEAR startTime when deactivating worker
- Result: startTime accurately reflects current task duration
Addresses issue #113
Problem:
Stale worker detection was reporting incorrect durations when sessions
were reused. Workers showed total session lifetime rather than time
since current task assignment.
Example:
- Session created 13 hours ago for issue #71
- Session reused 4 minutes ago for issue #106
- Status incorrectly showed: "DEV active on #106 (3.3h)"
- Should show: "DEV active on #106 (4m)"
Root Cause:
In recordWorkerState(), startTime was only set when spawning a new
session (sessionAction === 'spawn'). When reusing an existing session
(sessionAction === 'send'), the old startTime persisted, causing
stale worker detection to use total session age instead of task age.
Solution:
Always set startTime to current time when activating a worker,
regardless of whether we're spawning a new session or reusing one.
The startTime field now consistently represents "when did this worker
start THIS specific task" rather than "when was the session created".
Changes:
- lib/dispatch.ts: Move startTime assignment outside spawn-only block
- startTime now set unconditionally for both spawn and send actions
- Maintains backward compatibility with existing health checks
Impact:
- Stale worker detection now accurately reflects task duration
- Session reuse no longer causes false positive stale alerts
- Duration shown in status matches actual time on current task
Addresses issue #108
- Moved setup logic into dedicated files: agent.ts, config.ts, index.ts, workspace.ts.
- Introduced tool-helpers.ts for shared functions across tools, reducing boilerplate.
- Updated tools (status, task-comment, task-create, task-update, work-finish, work-start) to utilize new helper functions for workspace resolution and provider creation.
- Enhanced error handling and context detection in tools.
- Improved project resolution logic to streamline tool execution.
- Added new functionality for agent creation and configuration management in setup.
Remove hard-coded auto-chain dispatch (DEV done→QA, QA fail→DEV) and
replace with a general-purpose projectTick service that scans the queue
and fills free worker slots after every state transition.
- Create lib/services/tick.ts: consolidates shared helpers and core
projectTick() function from duplicated code in work-start/auto-pickup
- work_finish: replaces auto-chain block with projectTick call
- work_start: adds projectTick after dispatch to fill parallel slots
- auto_pickup: delegates per-project loop to projectTick
- Remove autoChain from Project type, migration code, and project-register
- Remove scheduling config dependency from work_finish
- Net -112 lines: simpler, self-healing pipeline
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
