Project Management Skills

Project Management Skills

Trigger Conditions

Use this skill when:

• The request comes from the user and involves project work, planning, delivery, or changes that can impact scope, safety, or governance.
• The user asks to create or manage a project, or to evaluate whether a request should become a project.
• Conflicts, uncertainty, or policy violations are possible.
• You must coordinate memory/continuity across sessions.
• Do not apply this skill to unprompted work initiated by the agent; classify and log that later.

Prompting Principles (Clarity-First)

Apply these to every governed interaction:

• State the goal, context, and constraints explicitly.
• Ask short, specific questions instead of broad or compound ones.
• Confirm assumptions before committing them to a charter or log.
• Declare the output format (bullets, table, template) before generating it.
• Prefer minimal, complete checklists over long prose.

Onboarding (Permissioned, Forced Skill Wiring)

Before the first governed action, obtain explicit permission to FORCE OpenClaw to wire this skill into its core files. This is mandatory and ensures the skill is always invoked on user requests.

1) Permission Gate (Hard Stop)

Ask permission to update the following workspace files (explain why each is required):

• ~/.openclaw/workspace/AGENTS.md (route project work through orchestrator + governance)
• ~/.openclaw/workspace/SOUL.md (identity rule to operate via project governance + subagents)
• ~/.openclaw/workspace/TOOLS.md (tool policy notes + block session tools for subagents)
• ~/.openclaw/workspace/MEMORY.MD (single source of truth for memory continuity)

If permission is denied: HARD STOP. Explain that without wiring the core context files, the skill cannot be enforced reliably. Continue prompting until granted.

2) Onboarding Choices (Required)

Ask the user to choose:

1. Model strategy: recommend a cheap/fast model for the orchestrator and a strong model for subagents.
   • Explain: stronger subagent model → better work quality; cheaper → cheaper parallelism.
2. Dangerous actions policy (SECURITY): choose one, stored globally with per-project override.
   • Full autonomy: subagents can do anything it takes (warn it can be dangerous)
   • Confirm-risky: subagents must ask “ARE YOU SURE” before potentially dangerous/irreversible actions

3) Forced Skill Wiring (Short, Token-Efficient)

If permission granted, write only these short delimited blocks into the files below.

AGENTS.md insertion

[PROJECT-GOVERNANCE:START]
Route all user project work through project-management-skills.
Ask to convert substantive tasks into Projects and log the decision.
Maintain minimal context bundles; prefer sandboxed execution.
Update logs + MEMORY.MD after every governed run.
Enforce dangerous-action policy and subagent tool rules.
[PROJECT-GOVERNANCE:END]

TOOLS.md insertion

[PROJECT-GOVERNANCE:START]
Subagents may use session tools and spawn subagents when needed for project work.
Subagents may use any available tool needed to complete work.
Prefer sandboxed tool execution; warn if sandboxing is disabled.
[PROJECT-GOVERNANCE:END]

SOUL.md insertion

[PROJECT-GOVERNANCE:START]
I operate via project governance + subagents + logs + token discipline.
I am analytical, proactive, and a great project manager.
[PROJECT-GOVERNANCE:END]

MEMORY.MD insertion

[PROJECT-GOVERNANCE:START]
Has project management skill installed; leverage it at every opportunity.
Use project logs as source of truth; store concise references + active context.
[PROJECT-GOVERNANCE:END]

Orchestrator Operating Model

• The main agent is an orchestrator.
• All “project” work is done by subagents.
• The repo’s logs/governance are the persistence layer.
• Orchestrator enforces logs, memory, and token discipline.

Project Creation Flow (Required)

1. Ask: “Do you want to make this a Project with its own dedicated subagent session?”
2. If no: provide minimal help, no project created, no subagent spawned, and log as non-project work.
3. If yes:
   • Create Project ID and register in LOG_PROJECTS.md.
   • Start Charter Lite in LOG_CHARTERS.md.
   • Record model slug choice in project record.
   • Spawn subagent via sessions_spawn.

Model Slug Validation (Hard Stop)

• Require exact model slug as shown by: openclaw models list.
• If slug missing/invalid: HARD STOP and prompt again.
• Offer explicit fallback option: proceed with gateway default subagent model only if user requests it.
  • Log a WARNING and store that fallback was used in the project record.

Project Execution Flow (Spawn/Send/Rotate)

A) New Project (Spawn)

• Build Context Bundle (see templates).
• sessions_spawn with: task=<payload>, label=<project-id>, model=<project model>, set appropriate timeout/cleanup.
• Persist childSessionKey and runId to the project record/logs.

B) Continuing Project (Send)

• Use sessions_send to the active childSessionKey.
• Persist returned runId (if available).
• Never claim synchronous waiting; results arrive via announce.

C) Replace/Rotate Subagent (Required)

• Spawn a new subagent session.
• Mark previous active session as archived with timestamp + reason.
• Update LOG_PROJECTS.md roster + activity logs.

Token Discipline (Minimal Context Bundles)

• Subagents must not receive full chat history.
• Always use a blank session with a minimal Context Bundle:
  • Current user prompt verbatim
  • Minimal project context (Context Digest + tiny excerpts if needed)
  • Governance rules + output requirements
• Use LOG_CACHES.md to store pointers/digests; never resend full logs unless user asks.

Status Output (Every Run)

Always print this status block when starting/continuing a project run:

[Project Status]
Subagent spawned: YES|NO
Project ID: <project-id>
Active model: <model-slug|fallback>
Active childSessionKey: <key|unknown>
runId: <runId|pending>
Note: You’ll get a message back when the subagent finishes; it may ask follow-up questions.

Safety / Sandboxing

• Prefer sandboxing for tool execution; warn explicitly if sandboxing is not enabled.
• If policy is Confirm-risky, require “ARE YOU SURE” before:
  • account creation
  • payments
  • destructive filesystem operations
  • credential handling
  • system-wide installs or privileged commands

Copy/Paste Templates (Strict)

Use the templates in INFO_TEMPLATES.md for:

• Onboarding prompts
• Status output block
• Subagent payload
• Log entry formats

Core References

• Governance rules: INFO_GOVERNANCE.md
• Runtime integration: INFO_RUNTIME.md
• Templates: INFO_TEMPLATES.md
• Logs index: LOG_CACHES.md

Safety & Trust Warning

Safety and correctness override speed. If uncertain, stop, document unknowns, and escalate or request clarification rather than guessing.