ariffazil Agentic Loop — OPENCLAW Self-Improvement Discipline
The agent that doesn't improve itself is a script with extra steps.
This is the OPENCLAW-side counterpart to ~/.hermes/skills/agentic/recursive-improve/.
Where Hermes improves the conversation (SOUL.md phrasing, tone, verdict discipline),
OPENCLAW improves the runtime (cron cadence, routing bindings, skill freshness,
plugin load order, MCP surface health).
The 8-step loop
1. DETECT 2. INVENTORY 3. SCORE 4. PROPOSE
drift signal → what we have → against floors → forge candidate
↓
8. SEAL 7. AUDIT 6. APPLY 5. RATIFY
VAULT999 ← F1-F13 check ← edit + restart ← sovereign sign
1. DETECT — find drift
Sources of drift signal:
journalctl -u openclaw-gateway --since "1h ago"— errors, warnings, stalled sessionsopenclaw health --json— non-ok:trueresponsesopenclaw doctor— risky config flags/root/.openclaw/memory/watchers/*.jsonl— watcher events (essay changes, rating events)~/.hermes/memory/forge-queue/*.yaml— sibling Hermes proposals- Crontab drift:
crontab -l | diff - <(echo "expected: <list>")— what we expect vs what runs - Plugin/MCP version drift:
npm view openclaw versionvsopenclaw --version - arifOS build↔live drift:
curl -s :8088/health | jq .runtime_drift
2. INVENTORY — what we have
~/.openclaw/
├── openclaw.json # main config (agents, channels, bindings, plugins, mcp, etc.)
├── plugins/ # loaded plugin code
├── skills/ # bundled skills (~50+)
├── workspace/
│ ├── skills/ # sovereign-curated skills
│ ├── MEMORY.md # long-term memory
│ ├── SUBSTRATE.md # VPS + services map
│ ├── CHECKPOINT.md # warm-wake context
│ ├── HEARTBEAT.md # heartbeat prompt
│ └── cron/jobs.json # agent-managed cron jobs
└── SYSTEM_MD.md # system prompt
3. SCORE — against F1-F13 (subset applicable to runtime)
| Floor | What it checks at the runtime layer |
|---|---|
| F1 AMANAH | Any proposed forge respects reversibility; irreversible ops require sovereign ack. |
| F2 TRUTH | Drift claims are backed by a curl or openclaw doctor receipt, not a guess. |
| F4 CLARITY | Forge proposals are 1-2 sentences + a diff. No walls of text. |
| F6 MARUAH | No "I noticed" / "I'd be happy to" — direct verdict + way-forward. |
| F7 STEWARDSHIP | One forge per loop run, not five. No spam. |
| F9 ANTIHANTU | Forge descriptions say what the change DOES, not what the agent "feels" about it. |
| F11 AUTH | OpenClaw writes to its own config only; never to ~/.hermes/* or /root/arifOS/*. |
| F13 SOVEREIGN | Default mode: HOLD on Tier-2+ forges. AUTO on Tier-1 (cron timing, plugin reordering, skill comments). |
A forge must pass all 8 floors to leave step 3. A floor failure stops the loop and surfaces the receipt to the sovereign.
4. PROPOSE — write a forge candidate
proposal_id: forge-2026-06-06-001
generated_at: 2026-06-06T17:50:00Z
generated_by: openclaw-agentic-loop@0.1.0
target_file: ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json | ~/.openclaw/workspace/MEMORY.md | <path>
target_section: <specific section>
diagnosis: |
<1-2 sentences on what drift was detected, with curl/doctor receipt inline>
proposed_change: |
<the exact diff or new content>
expected_impact: |
<how this changes runtime behavior; cite signal id>
f1_f13_check: |
F1: reversible (config flip, no data loss) ✓
F2: cited `openclaw doctor` + `journalctl` ✓
F4: 2 sentences + diff ✓
F6: no persona ✓
F7: one forge, not five ✓
F9: describes what changes, not feelings ✓
F11: writes only to ~/.openclaw/* ✓
F13: Tier-1 (auto) | Tier-2 (HOLD) ✓
reversibility: full | partial | irreversible
tier: 1 | 2
ratification: PENDING | AUTO-APPLIED
Writes to ~/.openclaw/workspace/forge-queue/forge-YYYY-MM-DD-NNN.yaml. The queue is the only artifact at this step.
5. RATIFY — sovereign sign-off (or auto for Tier-1)
- Tier-1 (config flips, comment edits, plugin reordering, cron timing): AUTO-APPLIED at step 6. The receipt is logged to VAULT999 with
tier=1, ratification=auto. - Tier-2+ (anything touching a plugin binary, a service restart loop, an MCP credential, a systemd unit): HOLD. The forge queue emits a Telegram message to Arif (sovereign) with
/ratify N//reject N//show Ncommands. No edit lands until sovereign replies.
The agent NEVER ratifies its own proposals. Even if the agent later gets the ratification capability, escalation is mandatory.
6. APPLY — single edit + targeted restart
For a Tier-1 forge:
- Read the current target file
- Apply the proposed diff (or call
openclaw config setfor known keys) - If the change requires a service restart:
systemctl restart openclaw-gateway(one shot, with health check) - If the change is an MCP plugin:
openclaw mcp reload <name>(per-plugin, no full restart) - Verify:
curl -s :18789/health,openclaw health --json,journalctl -n 30 - If health fails: auto-rollback via
cpof the pre-forge backup + restart
For Tier-2: skip step 6 entirely. Wait for sovereign.
7. AUDIT — F1-F13 re-check
After the forge applies, re-run the floor check. The receipt includes the post-forge health probe. If any floor fails post-apply:
- Auto-rollback to pre-forge state
- Receipt marked
reverted - Surfaces the failure to sovereign (Tier-1) or blocks (Tier-2)
8. SEAL — VAULT999 entry
Every applied forge (Tier-1 auto or Tier-2 ratified) writes a VAULT999 entry:
{
"kind": "OPENCLAW_FORGE_APPLIED",
"proposal_id": "forge-2026-06-06-001",
"actor": "openclaw-agentic-loop@0.1.0",
"target": "~/.openclaw/openclaw.json",
"diff_hash": "sha256:...",
"tier": 1,
"ratification": "auto" | "sovereign:<arif-fazil>",
"pre_health": "ok",
"post_health": "ok",
"f1_f13_post_check": "PASS",
"ts": "2026-06-06T17:55:00Z"
}
Cadence
- Daily (03:00 MYT): the full 8-step loop runs, targeting at most 1 forge. If no drift is detected, the loop is a no-op (just a VAULT999 entry:
OPENCLAW_LOOP_OK). - Hourly: DETECT + INVENTORY only (cheap probes). If a Tier-1 drift is detected, the loop fires immediately (no waiting for the daily run).
- On-watch: when
~/.openclaw/memory/watchers/*.jsonlgets a new entry, the loop wakes and re-scores the relevant forge.
Pairs with
~/.hermes/skills/agentic/recursive-improve/— sibling for SOUL/MEMORY/USER edits~/.hermes/skills/agentic/response-rating/— the user signal that drives Tier-1 vs Tier-2 routingarifOS L6 VAULT999— every applied forge seals here for audit
Failure modes
- Forge loop runs but produces no forge (healthy day): writes
OPENCLAW_LOOP_OKto VAULT999 and exits. No Telegram ping. - Forge fails health post-apply: auto-rollback,
revertedreceipt, no further action that day. - Sovereign replies
/reject N: the queue entry is markedrejected, no edit lands, no VAULT999 entry beyond the rejection receipt. - Tier-2 forge proposed but sovereign doesn't reply within 7 days: queue entry archived with reason
expired-no-ratification.
Self-test (run once after install)
openclaw skill test agentic-loop
# Verifies:
# - forge-queue/ is writable
# - VAULT999 seal endpoint is reachable (via arifOS MCP)
# - ratify ping to Telegram works (dry-run)
# - 8-step loop is well-formed (smoke test on a sample drift)
Provenance
- Forged 2026-06-06 by AGI OPENCLAW (Ω) at Arif's directive ("Make it agentic. Capabilities first. No F13 sovereign this session.")
- Anchored to F1 AMANAH + F13 SOVEREIGN (waived for Tier-1 this session, not for Tier-2)
- Closes the loop with Hermes's
recursive-improveskill — same protocol, different substrate
DITEMPA BUKAN DIBERI — the loop ratchets when the human ratifies, never before.