OpenClaw TaskFlow inbox triage
Use skills/taskflow/examples/inbox-triage.lobster through the managed Lobster run/approval/resume procedure in skills/taskflow/SKILL.md. The default batch is synthetic and already classified. The workflow routes all items into business, personal and later ID lists, suspends for actual approval, then returns those lists without sending anything.
Input and result
Each item has a nonempty id (at most 80 characters) and route (business, personal or later). The batch is capped at 20 items. Invalid input fails visibly; an empty batch yields three empty lists. Override the defaults with argsJson on the initial run, for example:
{
"items": [
{ "id": "demo-business-1", "route": "business" },
{ "id": "demo-personal-1", "route": "personal" },
{ "id": "demo-later-1", "route": "later" },
{ "id": "demo-business-2", "route": "business" }
]
}
Pass this object serialized as the argsJson string. Use synthetic IDs when trying the example. Approval confirms the preview only; it does not authorize or perform real delivery.
Connect real inbox work explicitly
A real controller needs an inbox reader and classifier that produce the bounded input above, plus adapters for these routes:
| Route | Real controller responsibility |
|---|---|
business |
Post through an authorized Slack adapter, persist the returned thread ID, then wait for a correlated human reply. |
personal |
Notify the owner through an authorized channel adapter and record the delivery outcome. |
later |
Retain a bounded summary reference for an explicitly scheduled end-of-day run. |
These adapters are not supplied by the example. Classify every item before routing it; do not decide a mixed batch from its first element. Use a directly available classification tool or a real adapter, not an assumed embedded openclaw.invoke bridge. Keep approvals before real side effects.
For business replies, the controller registers the event listener, calls setWaiting with bounded thread correlation in waitJson, and resumes only after the matching reply arrives. A Lobster approval token, echoed waiting JSON or a setWaiting call alone does not install that listener. Embedded Lobster input/ask requests are not supported.
If classification uses detached work, launch it through the public requester-bound plugin path before linking it with runTask. Wait for actual completion before interpreting results; pending or an observation timeout is not terminal failure. On failure, record a failed/blocked flow outcome and report it. Do not synthesize a child after launch or linkage is refused.
Persist only the IDs, small summaries and cursor needed to continue. After restart or a revision conflict, reload the owner-bound flow and reconcile before applying the next transition. Check every mutation, including finish; do not report success from an unchecked result. See Task Flow for controller-driven resumption and cancellation.