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PaperClipAI/packages/adapters/openclaw-gateway
DottaandPaperclip ce1ee9e89f fix: stop prompts from encouraging subtasks (#20362)
## Thinking Path

> - Paperclip is the open source app people use to manage AI agents for
work.
> - Agents read runtime prompts, tool help, skills, and role
instructions.
> - Several of these texts tell agents to create child tasks as a normal
next step.
> - One accepted-plan prompt even forbids work on the current task.
> - Task parentage is useful, but it does not need a prompt that
encourages task creation.
> - This pull request removes those prompts and keeps the task APIs
available.

## Linked Issues or Issue Description

Refs #10642. This change adjusts prompt wording; it does not add
delegation-cycle guards.

**Current behavior**
Prompts tell agents to create children after plan approval, use children
for long work, and create a task just to pass context. Onboarding
requires a child even for a single request.

**Proposed behavior**
Continue work on the current task. Keep explicit assignments, optional
task creation, parentage, dependencies, and approval gates. Use the
separate-task recipes when the user requests that structure or when
continuing existing work.

**Reason and benefit**
Reduce needless task trees without removing subtask support. Keep the
patch limited to wording, existing test expectations, and generated
catalog data.

## What Changed

- Align accepted-plan prompts and remove direct child-creation advice
from runtime and error text.
- Make task tool descriptions neutral. Keep their fields, defaults, and
handlers.
- Update the main skill, onboarding, CEO instructions, company
templates, specialist workflows, and matching guides.
- Keep historical release snapshots intact. Refresh the explicitly
seeded schema fixture's catalog digest; the server still verifies
historical release snapshot hashes.
- Refresh the affected generated catalogs, capability inventory,
semantic contracts, and fixture manifest.

## Verification

- Final tested head: `c6e304d0c105cdbfbe0b2ab0a233307fcd91a04b`.
- All 66 check runs are complete: 60 pass, one is neutral, and five are
skipped by CI conditions. Snyk also passes. No checks fail or remain
pending.
- [PR
CI](https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip/actions/runs/42846226554)
passes typecheck, build, server/general tests, all eight E2E shards,
Runner support, Runner Rust, and the aggregate verify gate.
[Windows](https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip/actions/runs/42846226546)
and [Docker
Runner](https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip/actions/runs/42846226108)
also pass.
-
[Greptile](https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip/pull/20362#issuecomment-6751419835)
and [Paperclip
review](https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip/pull/20362#issuecomment-6751454010)
give this exact head 5/5. All six inline threads are resolved. Neither
current summary has findings.
- Merged master `bf0220d34a156c81853755c3d1365ddc527037de`. Resolved
three generated-file conflicts with the canonical generators.
- Local verification passes: 473 focused prompt, continuation, UI,
catalog, runtime and native-execution tests; Runner TypeScript build;
generated metadata; UI token gates; and diff checks.
- The prior head `c22018cb0f` failed three SDK evidence tests because
two source hashes were stale. Reproduced all three failures locally. The
existing generator refreshed only the hashes for the denial-copy file
and its test. All 53 affected evidence/source-pin tests then passed,
including private-value rejection. No scanner logic, assertions, or
runtime dependency pins changed. Current CI confirms the support suite
passes.
- A prior commit failed the Rust process reaping test. Its cause remains
unproven. No Rust code or assertions changed. Later Rust runs pass; this
does not establish the cause of the earlier failure.
- Local preflight built shared/plugin SDK packages, then stopped because
`cargo` is absent. Current-head CI supplies Rust and full build
coverage. `pnpm verify --explain` selects broad required CI; full local
suites were not repeated.

## Risks

- Wording changes guide the model; they do not enforce a ban on
subtasks.
- Existing installed skill versions and saved custom instructions need
their normal refresh process. This PR does not migrate company
configuration.
- Existing approved task assignments and approval gates remain in
effect.

## Model Used

- OpenAI GPT-6, through Codex, with reasoning, tool use, and code
execution. The exact routed model ID and context-window size were not
exposed in this session.

## Checklist

- [x] I have included a thinking path that traces from project context
to this change
- [x] I have specified the model used (with version and capability
details)
- [x] I have checked ROADMAP.md and confirmed this PR does not duplicate
planned core work
- [x] I have searched GitHub for duplicate or related PRs and linked
them above
- [x] I have either (a) linked existing issues with `Fixes: #` / `Closes
#` / `Refs #` OR (b) described the issue in-PR following the relevant
issue template
- [x] I have not referenced internal/instance-local Paperclip issues or
links (only public GitHub `#NNN` / `github.com/paperclipai/paperclip`
URLs)
- [x] My branch name describes the change (e.g. `docs/...`, `fix/...`)
and contains no internal Paperclip ticket id or instance-derived details
- [x] I have run tests locally and they pass
- [x] I have added or updated tests where applicable
- [x] I have updated relevant documentation to reflect my changes
- [x] I have considered and documented any risks above
- [x] All Paperclip CI gates are green
- [x] Greptile is 5/5 with no open P2s, recommendations, or follow-ups
- [x] I will address all Greptile and reviewer comments before
requesting merge

---------

Co-authored-by: Paperclip <noreply@paperclip.ing>
2026-11-10 09:58:54 -06:00
..
2026-03-12 13:09:22 -05:00

OpenClaw Gateway Adapter

This document describes how @paperclipai/adapter-openclaw-gateway invokes OpenClaw over the Gateway protocol.

Transport

This adapter always uses WebSocket gateway transport.

  • URL must be ws:// or wss://
  • Connect flow follows gateway protocol:
  1. receive connect.challenge
  2. send req connect (protocol/client/auth/device payload)
  3. send req agent
  4. wait for completion via req agent.wait
  5. stream event agent frames into Paperclip logs/transcript parsing

Auth Modes

Gateway credentials can be provided in any of these ways:

  • authToken / token in adapter config
  • headers.x-openclaw-token
  • headers.x-openclaw-auth (legacy)
  • password (shared password mode)

When a token is present and authorization header is missing, the adapter derives Authorization: Bearer <token>.

Device Auth

By default the adapter sends a signed device payload in connect params.

  • set disableDeviceAuth=true to omit device signing
  • set devicePrivateKeyPem to pin a stable signing key
  • without devicePrivateKeyPem, the adapter generates an ephemeral Ed25519 keypair per run
  • when autoPairOnFirstConnect is enabled (default), the adapter handles one initial pairing required by calling device.pair.list + device.pair.approve over shared auth, then retries once.

Session Strategy

The adapter supports the same session routing model as HTTP OpenClaw mode:

  • sessionKeyStrategy=issue|fixed|run
  • sessionKey is used when strategy is fixed

Resolved session key is sent as agent.sessionKey.

Payload Mapping

The agent request is built as:

  • required fields:
    • message (wake text plus optional payloadTemplate.message/payloadTemplate.text prefix)
    • idempotencyKey (Paperclip runId)
    • sessionKey (resolved strategy)
  • optional additions:
    • all payloadTemplate fields merged in
    • agentId from config if set and not already in template

Timeouts

  • timeoutSec controls adapter-level request budget
  • waitTimeoutMs controls agent.wait.timeoutMs

If agent.wait returns timeout, adapter returns openclaw_gateway_wait_timeout.

Log Format

Structured gateway event logs use:

  • [openclaw-gateway] ... for lifecycle/system logs
  • [openclaw-gateway:event] run=<id> stream=<stream> data=<json> for event agent frames

UI/CLI parsers consume these lines to render transcript updates.

No-remote-git contract

Like every Paperclip adapter, this one must treat the local execution-workspace cwd as the only persistence boundary across runs — no git push from runtime code, no assuming a git remote exists. The gateway transport here doesn't touch the workspace directly, but if you extend the adapter to ship code to the OpenClaw side, use the round-trip helpers in @paperclipai/adapter-utils (prepareWorkspaceForSshExecution → restoreWorkspaceFromSshExecution) rather than reaching for a git remote. See packages/adapters/AUTHORING.md for the full contract and the pinning test at packages/adapter-utils/src/ssh-fixture.test.ts.