ClawSpec

OpenClaw plugin that orchestrates OpenSpec project workflows with visible main-agent execution.

openclaw plugins install clawhub:clawspec

{
  "builtWithOpenClawVersion": "1.0.21",
  "pluginApiRange": ">=2026.3.24"
}

{
  "bundledSkills": [],
  "capabilityTags": [
    "executes-code"
  ],
  "channels": [],
  "commandNames": [],
  "configSchema": true,
  "configUiHints": false,
  "executesCode": true,
  "hooks": [],
  "httpRouteCount": 0,
  "materializesDependencies": false,
  "providers": [],
  "runtimeId": "clawspec",
  "serviceNames": [],
  "setupEntry": false,
  "toolNames": []
}

{
  "hasProvenance": false,
  "scanStatus": "clean",
  "scope": "artifact-only",
  "sourceCommit": "191f681ef10ac8de540fb7a71329842daf002f35",
  "sourceRepo": "bytegh/clawspec",
  "sourceTag": "v1.0.21",
  "summary": "Validated package structure and linked the release to source metadata.",
  "tier": "source-linked"
}

{
  "latest": "1.0.21"
}

ClawSpec

Chinese (Simplified)

ClawSpec is an OpenClaw plugin that embeds an OpenSpec workflow directly into chat. It splits project control and execution on purpose:

• /clawspec ... manages workspace, project, change, and recovery state.
• cs-* chat keywords trigger work inside the active conversation.
• cs-plan runs planning sync in the visible chat turn.
• cs-work runs implementation in the background through a watcher and ACP worker, then reports short progress updates back into chat.

The result is an OpenSpec workflow that stays chat-native without hiding long-running implementation work inside the main session.

At A Glance

• Workspace is remembered per chat channel.
• One active project is tracked per chat channel.
• One unfinished change is enforced per repo across channels.
• Discussion messages are recorded into a planning journal while context is attached.
• cs-plan refreshes proposal.md, design.md, specs, and tasks.md without implementing code.
• cs-work turns tasks.md into background execution, with watcher-driven progress and restart handling.
• A running ACP worker can survive a gateway restart; ClawSpec will try to reattach to the live session before starting a replacement worker.
• /clawspec cancel restores tracked files from snapshots instead of doing a blanket Git reset.
• /clawspec archive validates and archives the finished OpenSpec change, then clears the active change from chat context.

Why The Surface Is Split

ClawSpec uses two different control surfaces because they solve different problems:

In practice:

• Use /clawspec ... to set up and manage the project.
• Use cs-plan when you want the current visible agent turn to refresh planning artifacts.
• Use cs-work when you want the watcher to start background implementation.

Architecture

flowchart TD
    BOOT[clawspec.bootstrap service]
    BOOT --> DEPS[ensure openspec + acpx]
    BOOT --> STORES[state + memory + workspace stores]

    U[User In Chat] --> CMD[/clawspec command/]
    U --> KEY[cs-* keyword]
    U --> MSG[ordinary discussion]

    CMD --> SVC[ClawSpec service]
    KEY --> HOOK[before_prompt_build hook]
    MSG --> INBOUND[message_received hook]

    INBOUND --> JOURNAL[planning-journal.jsonl]
    HOOK --> SVC
    SVC --> STATE[plugin state store]
    SVC --> WS[workspace store]
    SVC --> MEM[project memory store]
    SVC --> OSCLI[OpenSpec CLI]

    SVC -->|cs-plan| MAIN[visible chat agent]
    MAIN -->|skills + planning prompt| ARTIFACTS[proposal/design/specs/tasks]

    SVC -->|cs-work| CTRL[execution-control.json]
    CTRL --> WATCHER[watcher manager]
    WATCHER --> ACPCLIENT[AcpWorkerClient]
    ACPCLIENT --> ACPCLI[direct acpx CLI session]
    ACPCLI --> PROGRESS[worker-progress.jsonl]
    ACPCLI --> RESULT[execution-result.json]
    WATCHER --> NOTIFY[chat progress notifier]
    NOTIFY --> U

    JOURNAL --> MAIN
    ARTIFACTS --> ACPCLI
    RESULT --> STATE
    PROGRESS --> STATE

Current System Architecture

ClawSpec is split into six runtime layers.

Important architectural choices:

• Planning is visible. cs-plan runs in the main chat turn and does not use a hidden subagent.
• Implementation is durable. cs-work is handed off to a watcher-managed background worker.
• Worker transport is direct. ClawSpec talks to acpx through its own AcpWorkerClient, rather than depending on a hidden planning thread.
• Progress is file-backed. The worker writes progress and result files so the watcher can recover after gateway restarts.
• Repo safety is explicit. Cancel uses snapshot restore for tracked files instead of blanket repository reset.

Implementation Strategy

1. Bootstrap and dependency discovery

When the plugin service starts, it:

• initializes the project, memory, and workspace stores
• ensures openspec is available from plugin-local install or PATH
• ensures acpx is available from plugin-local install, the OpenClaw builtin ACPX extension, or PATH
• constructs OpenSpecClient, AcpWorkerClient, ClawSpecNotifier, WatcherManager, and ClawSpecService

This means the plugin can bootstrap its own local toolchain on a fresh gateway host without requiring a manually prepared dev environment.

2. Command routing and prompt injection

ClawSpec uses three hook paths:

• message_received records planning discussion into the journal when the project is attached
• before_prompt_build injects project, planning, or execution context into the visible chat turn
• agent_end reconciles the end of visible planning turns

The /clawspec slash command is used for deterministic operations such as workspace selection, project selection, change creation, pause, continue, archive, and cancel.

3. Visible planning flow

Planning has two modes:

• ordinary attached discussion, which only records requirements
• cs-plan, which runs a deliberate planning sync in the visible chat

During cs-plan, ClawSpec injects:

• the active repo and change
• the planning journal
• imported OpenSpec skill text from skills/
• strict rules that prevent code implementation or silent change switching

The main chat agent then refreshes proposal.md, specs, design.md, and tasks.md in the current visible turn.

4. Background implementation flow

cs-work does not implement inside the visible chat turn. Instead it:

• verifies that planning is clean enough to execute
• writes execution-control.json
• arms the watcher for the active channel/project
• lets the watcher start a direct acpx session for the worker

The worker reads:

• repo-local control files
• planning artifacts
• openspec instructions apply --json

It then works task by task, updates tasks.md, writes execution-result.json, and appends compact structured events to worker-progress.jsonl.

5. Progress reporting and replay

The watcher is responsible for user-facing progress updates:

• it tails worker-progress.jsonl
• translates worker events into short chat updates
• keeps project task counts and heartbeat state in sync
• replays missed progress from the last saved offset before sending the final completion message
• reports startup milestones separately from task milestones, so "worker connected" and "loading context" can appear before the first task starts

You should now expect early implementation updates in two layers:

• watcher-level status such as "starting worker" and "ACP worker connected"
• worker-written status such as "Preparing <task>: loading context", "Loaded proposal.md", and "Context ready..."

That replay step is important because it prevents the user from missing late task updates if the gateway or watcher was temporarily behind.

6. Recovery, restart, and bounded retries

On gateway restart, the watcher manager:

• scans active projects
• adopts a still-running worker session if it is alive
• otherwise re-arms the project for planning or implementation
• preserves task progress and the worker progress offset

Automatic restart recovery is intentionally limited to projects that were actively armed, running, planning, or blocked by a recoverable ACP/runtime failure. A ready or idle project that is simply waiting for cs-plan or cs-work is not auto-started.

On worker failure, ClawSpec:

• distinguishes recoverable ACP failures from real blockers
• retries recoverable failures with bounded backoff
• stops retrying after the configured cap and marks the project as blocked

This keeps cs-work resilient without leaving silent zombie work behind.

What Runs Where

Requirements

• A recent OpenClaw build with plugin hooks and ACP runtime support.
• Node.js >= 24 on the gateway host.
• npm available on the gateway host if OpenSpec must be bootstrapped automatically.
• An OpenClaw agent profile that can run shell commands and edit files for visible planning turns.
• ACP backend acpx enabled for background implementation.

ClawSpec depends on these OpenClaw hook points:

• message_received
• before_prompt_build
• agent_end

If your host disables plugin hooks globally, keyword-based workflow will not work correctly.

Installation

1. Install the plugin

You can install ClawSpec in three common ways:

Option A: OpenClaw plugin installer (recommended)

openclaw plugins install clawspec@latest

Option B: ClawHub CLI installer

npx clawhub@latest install clawspec

Option C: npm package tarball (manual fallback)

$pkg = npm pack clawspec@latest
openclaw plugins install $pkg

@latest always resolves to the newest published ClawSpec release on npm.

If you want an unreleased commit before npm publish, clone the repository and install from the local checkout or a downloaded .tgz archive instead.

2. Enable ACP in OpenClaw

Example ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json:

{
  "acp": {
    "enabled": true,
    "backend": "acpx",
    "defaultAgent": "codex"
  },
  "plugins": {
    "entries": {
      "clawspec": {
        "enabled": true,
        "config": {
          "defaultWorkspace": "~/clawspec/workspace",
          "openSpecTimeoutMs": 120000,
          "watcherPollIntervalMs": 4000
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Important notes:

• Recent OpenClaw builds often bundle acpx under the host install. ClawSpec checks that builtin copy before falling back to acpx on PATH or a plugin-local install.
• If your OpenClaw build does not bundle acpx, ClawSpec can fall back to a plugin-local install automatically.
• ClawSpec manages the acpx command path itself. You do not need to hardcode plugins.entries.acpx.config.command.
• acp.defaultAgent is now the global default used by ClawSpec background workers.
• /clawspec worker <agent-id> is still available as an explicit channel/project override.
• When ACP setup is incomplete, ClawSpec now shows ready-to-run commands such as openclaw config set acp.backend acpx and openclaw config set acp.defaultAgent codex.

2.5. Choose the default worker agent

ClawSpec can run background work with different ACP agents such as codex or claude. There is now one global default source plus an optional per-channel override:

• acp.defaultAgent: the OpenClaw ACP default used by ClawSpec workers
• /clawspec worker <agent-id>: an explicit override persisted for the current channel/project context

Recommended global setup:

{
  "acp": {
    "enabled": true,
    "backend": "acpx",
    "defaultAgent": "claude"
  }
}

Useful runtime commands:

• /clawspec worker shows the current worker agent for this channel/project and the configured default
• /clawspec worker codex switches the current channel/project to codex
• /clawspec worker claude switches the current channel/project to claude
• /clawspec worker status shows the live worker state, runtime transport state, startup phase, startup wait, and current session info

Notes:

• /clawspec worker <agent-id> is persisted at the current channel/project scope
• the chosen agent must exist in your OpenClaw agent list or ACP allowlist
• if you want a global default, set acp.defaultAgent in OpenClaw config
• if you want a one-off override for the active project conversation, use /clawspec worker <agent-id>

2.6. ClawSpec plugin config reference

Common plugins.entries.clawspec.config fields:

Backward-compatibility keys still accepted but currently treated as no-ops:

• maxAutoContinueTurns
• maxNoProgressTurns
• workerAgentId
• workerBackendId
• workerWaitTimeoutMs
• subagentLane

3. Restart the gateway

openclaw gateway restart
openclaw gateway status

4. Understand tool bootstrap behavior

On startup ClawSpec checks for openspec in this order:

1. Plugin-local binary under node_modules/.bin
2. openspec on PATH
3. If missing, it may run:

npm install --omit=dev --no-save @fission-ai/openspec

That means the gateway host may need network access and a working npm if openspec is not already available.

On startup ClawSpec checks for acpx in this order:

1. Plugin-local binary under node_modules/.bin
2. The ACPX binary bundled with the current OpenClaw install
3. acpx on PATH
4. If none of those satisfy the worker runtime requirement, it may run:

npm install --omit=dev --no-save acpx@0.3.1

That fallback install can take a while on the first run. If OpenClaw already bundles ACPX, ClawSpec should now reuse it instead of reinstalling another copy.

4.5. CI and release automation

This repository now includes two GitHub Actions workflows:

• .github/workflows/ci.yml Runs on push to main, pull_request, and manual dispatch. Uses a three-platform matrix: ubuntu-latest, windows-latest, macos-latest. Runs npm ci, npm run check, and npm test.
• .github/workflows/release.yml Runs on tag pushes that match v*. Verifies the tag matches package.json version, runs install/check/test/pack, publishes to npm, then creates a GitHub Release.

Release notes:

• The release workflow expects tags in the form vX.Y.Z.
• The tag must match the package.json version exactly.
• npm publishing requires either npm trusted publishing or an NPM_TOKEN repository secret.
• GitHub Release creation uses the default GitHub Actions token and does not require an extra manual token.

Typical release flow:

# 1. bump package.json version
git add package.json package-lock.json
git commit -m "chore: release vX.Y.Z"
git push origin main

# 2. create and push a matching tag
git tag vX.Y.Z
git push origin vX.Y.Z

Quick Start

/clawspec workspace "<workspace-path>"
/clawspec use "demo-app"
/clawspec proposal add-login-flow "Build login and session handling"
Describe the requirement in chat
cs-plan
cs-work
/clawspec status
/clawspec archive

What happens:

1. /clawspec workspace selects the workspace for this chat channel.
2. /clawspec use selects or creates a repo folder under that workspace and runs openspec init if needed.
3. /clawspec proposal creates the OpenSpec change scaffold and snapshot baseline.
4. Ordinary chat discussion appends requirement notes to the planning journal.
5. cs-plan refreshes planning artifacts in the visible chat turn.
6. cs-work arms the watcher and starts background implementation.
7. Watcher progress updates appear back in the same chat.
8. /clawspec archive validates and archives the completed change.

Recommended First Run

This is the normal happy-path flow for a first-time user.

1. Bind a workspace and select a project

/clawspec workspace "D:\clawspec\workspace"
/clawspec use "demo-app"

Expected result:

• ClawSpec remembers the workspace for the current chat channel.
• The project directory is created if it does not exist.
• openspec init runs automatically the first time a repo is selected.

2. Create a change before discussing requirements

/clawspec proposal add-login-flow "Build login and session handling"

Expected result:

• OpenSpec creates openspec/changes/add-login-flow/
• ClawSpec takes a rollback snapshot baseline
• The chat enters the active change context for add-login-flow

3. Describe the requirement in normal chat

Example:

Use email + password login.
Add refresh token support.
Expire access tokens after 15 minutes.

Expected result:

• Your discussion is appended to the planning journal while the chat is attached.
• ClawSpec does not rewrite artifacts yet.
• ClawSpec does not start coding yet.

4. Run visible planning sync

cs-plan

Expected result:

• The current visible chat turn refreshes proposal.md, design.md, specs, and tasks.md
• You should see planning progress in the main chat
• The final message should clearly tell you to run cs-work

5. Start background implementation

cs-work

Expected result:

• ClawSpec arms the watcher
• The watcher starts the ACP worker through acpx
• Short progress updates begin to appear in chat as tasks start and finish

6. Check progress or temporarily leave project mode

Useful commands:

/clawspec worker status
/clawspec status
cs-detach
cs-attach

Use cs-detach when you want to keep the worker running but stop normal chat from being recorded into the planning journal. Use cs-attach when you want to continue discussing this change.

7. Finish the change

If implementation completes cleanly:

/clawspec archive

If you want to add more requirements before archive:

Describe the new requirement in chat
cs-plan
cs-work

That loop is the normal operating model:

1. discuss
2. cs-plan
3. cs-work
4. archive when done

Slash Commands

Auxiliary host CLI:

Chat Keywords

Send these as normal chat messages in the active conversation.

End-To-End Workflow

sequenceDiagram
    actor User
    participant Chat as OpenClaw Chat
    participant Plugin as ClawSpec Plugin
    participant Main as Visible Chat Agent
    participant Watcher as Watcher Manager
    participant Worker as ACP Worker
    participant OpenSpec as OpenSpec CLI

    User->>Plugin: /clawspec workspace + /clawspec use
    Plugin->>OpenSpec: openspec init (if needed)
    Plugin-->>User: Project selected

    User->>Plugin: /clawspec proposal add-change
    Plugin->>OpenSpec: openspec new change
    Plugin-->>User: Proposal ready

    User->>Chat: ordinary requirement discussion
    Chat->>Plugin: message_received
    Plugin->>Plugin: append planning journal

    User->>Chat: cs-plan
    Chat->>Plugin: before_prompt_build
    Plugin->>Main: inject planning sync context + OpenSpec skills
    Main->>OpenSpec: status + instructions + artifact refresh
    Main-->>User: visible planning updates
    Plugin->>Plugin: write planning snapshot

    User->>Chat: cs-work
    Chat->>Plugin: before_prompt_build
    Plugin->>Watcher: arm implementation
    Watcher->>Worker: start ACP session
    Worker->>OpenSpec: apply instructions
    Worker->>Watcher: progress/result files
    Watcher-->>User: short progress cards

    User->>Plugin: /clawspec archive
    Plugin->>OpenSpec: validate + archive
    Plugin-->>User: Archive complete

Attached vs Detached Chat

ClawSpec keeps a contextMode per chat channel:

Use detached mode when you want background implementation to keep running but you do not want normal conversation to pollute the planning journal.

Planning Journal And Dirty State

ClawSpec keeps a repo-local planning journal at:

<repo>/.openclaw/clawspec/planning-journal.jsonl

Journal behavior:

• User requirement messages are appended while the active change is attached.
• Substantive assistant replies can also be appended.
• Passive workflow control messages are filtered out.
• Commands and cs-* keywords are not journaled as planning content.
• A planning snapshot is written after successful cs-plan.
• If new discussion arrives after the last snapshot, the journal becomes dirty.

This is why cs-work may refuse to start and ask for cs-plan first: the implementation should not run against stale planning artifacts.

Visible Planning

cs-plan does not use the background ACP worker. It runs in the current visible chat turn by injecting:

• the active change context
• the planning journal
• imported OpenSpec skill text from the bundled skills/ directory

Imported skill mapping:

Planning prompt guardrails intentionally prevent the main chat agent from:

• starting planning sync without an explicit cs-plan
• implementing code during ordinary planning discussion
• switching to another OpenSpec change silently
• scanning sibling change directories unnecessarily

Background Implementation

cs-work does three things:

1. Runs openspec status and openspec instructions apply --json
2. Writes execution-control.json and arms the watcher
3. Lets the watcher start an ACP worker session through acpx

The watcher then:

• posts a short startup message
• posts a short "ACP worker connected" message
• streams progress from worker-progress.jsonl
• reconciles execution-result.json
• replays missed progress before the final completion message if the watcher had fallen behind
• updates project state
• restarts recoverable ACP failures with bounded backoff
• surfaces ACPX availability problems in a short actionable format

Recovery And Restart Model

ClawSpec is designed so background work is recoverable:

• gateway start: watcher manager scans active projects and first tries to adopt any still-running ACP worker session
• adopted live session: if the worker is still alive, ClawSpec keeps the existing ACP session, resumes watching its progress files, and does not require you to rerun cs-work
• dead session on restart: if the old worker is gone, ClawSpec re-arms recoverable work and starts a replacement worker when needed
• gateway stop: active background sessions are closed and resumable state is preserved
• ACP worker crash: watcher retries recoverable failures with backoff
• max restart cap: after 10 ACP restart attempts, the project becomes blocked

This makes cs-work much more resilient than trying to keep the entire implementation inside a single visible chat turn.

Lifecycle Model

The real implementation tracks both status and phase. The simplified diagram below is the easiest way to reason about it:

stateDiagram-v2
    [*] --> Idle
    Idle --> Ready: /clawspec proposal
    Ready --> Planning: cs-plan
    Planning --> Ready: planning sync finished
    Ready --> Armed: cs-work
    Armed --> Running: watcher starts ACP worker
    Running --> Paused: /clawspec pause
    Running --> Blocked: blocker / ACPX unavailable / retry cap
    Running --> Done: tasks complete
    Paused --> Armed: /clawspec continue
    Blocked --> Ready: fix planning issue + cs-plan
    Blocked --> Armed: fix implementation issue + cs-work
    Done --> Archived: /clawspec archive
    Ready --> Cancelled: /clawspec cancel
    Paused --> Cancelled: /clawspec cancel
    Blocked --> Cancelled: /clawspec cancel

Files And Storage

Global OpenClaw plugin state:

<openclaw-state-dir>/clawspec/
  active-projects.json
  project-memory.json
  workspace-state.json
  projects/
    <projectId>.json

Repo-local runtime state:

<repo>/.openclaw/clawspec/
  state.json
  execution-control.json
  execution-result.json
  worker-progress.jsonl
  progress.md
  changed-files.md
  decision-log.md
  latest-summary.md
  planning-journal.jsonl
  planning-journal.snapshot.json
  rollback-manifest.json
  snapshots/
    <change-name>/
      baseline/
  archives/
    <projectId>/

OpenSpec change artifacts still live in the normal OpenSpec location:

<repo>/openspec/changes/<change-name>/
  .openspec.yaml
  proposal.md
  design.md
  tasks.md
  specs/

Operational Boundaries

• Workspace is remembered per chat channel.
• One active project is tracked per chat channel.
• One unfinished change is enforced per repo across channels.
• tasks.md remains the task source of truth.
• OpenSpec remains the canonical source for workflow semantics.
• ClawSpec never does a blanket git reset --hard during cancel.
• Detached mode stops prompt injection and journaling, but not watcher notifications.

Troubleshooting

cs-work says planning is required

Cause:

• planning journal is dirty
• planning artifacts are missing or stale
• OpenSpec apply state is still blocked

What to do:

1. keep discussing requirements if needed
2. run cs-plan
3. run cs-work again

Worker looks connected but has not started the task yet

This usually means the ACP worker is already alive and is still digesting the implementation prompt or reading planning artifacts.

What to check:

1. watcher messages such as "ACP worker connected..."
2. worker-written status messages such as "Preparing <task>: loading context"
3. /clawspec worker status, especially startup phase and startup wait

If you already see "Context ready for ..." then the worker has finished loading planning artifacts and is about to move into implementation. That phase can still take a little time before the first task_start.

Watcher says ACPX is unavailable

Cause:

• acp.enabled is false
• acp.backend is not acpx
• acp.defaultAgent is missing
• your OpenClaw build does not bundle acpx and ClawSpec could not find or install a usable copy

What to do:

1. run openclaw config set acp.backend acpx
2. run openclaw config set acp.defaultAgent codex
3. if your host does not bundle ACPX, let ClawSpec install a plugin-local copy or install acpx manually
4. rerun cs-work or /clawspec continue

Ordinary chat is polluting the planning journal

Use:

cs-detach

or:

/clawspec detach

Then reattach later with cs-attach or /clawspec attach.

/clawspec use says there is already an unfinished change

That is expected. ClawSpec prevents you from silently orphaning an active change in the same repo.

Use one of:

• /clawspec continue
• /clawspec cancel
• /clawspec archive

Cancel did not revert the whole repo

That is by design. Cancel restores tracked files from the ClawSpec snapshot baseline for the active change. It is intentionally narrower than a blanket Git restore.

Worker fails with "stdin is not a terminal" or session creation returns no result

Cause:

• ~/.acpx/config.json has a custom agent entry (e.g. agents.codex pointing to a local CLI binary)
• acpx cannot spawn the agent in a non-interactive environment when it is configured as a raw CLI command

What to do:

1. Run /clawspec doctor to check for known configuration issues.
2. If /clawspec doctor reports custom agent entries, run /clawspec doctor fix to clear them automatically.
3. Alternatively, edit ~/.acpx/config.json manually and set "agents": {}.
4. Retry cs-work or /clawspec continue.

Development And Validation

Useful checks while editing the plugin:

node --experimental-strip-types -e "import('./src/index.ts')"
node --experimental-strip-types --test test/watcher-work.test.ts

Useful manual validation flow:

/clawspec workspace "<workspace-path>"
/clawspec use "demo-app"
/clawspec proposal add-something "Build something"
Discuss requirements in chat
cs-plan
cs-work
cs-status
/clawspec worker status
/clawspec pause
/clawspec continue
/clawspec archive

Typical values for <workspace-path>:

• macOS: ~/clawspec/workspace
• Linux: ~/clawspec/workspace
• Windows: D:\clawspec\workspace

Implementation Summary

ClawSpec is intentionally not "just more prompts." It is a small orchestration layer that combines:

• OpenClaw hooks for visible chat control
• OpenSpec CLI for canonical workflow semantics
• a planning journal and snapshots for change tracking
• a watcher manager for durable background work
• ACP worker execution for long-running implementation

That split is the reason the plugin can keep planning conversational while still making implementation durable and resumable.