OpenClaw Task Workflow

Standardized Planning + Subagent + Progress Report workflow for complex tasks in OpenClaw.

Overview

This skill provides structured templates for task planning, subagent dispatch, progress tracking, and result integration. It ensures consistent execution of complex multi-step tasks (>5 tool calls or >10 minutes).

Features

• Structured Planning: Task decomposition with time estimation
• Parallel Execution: Subagent dispatch for concurrent processing
• Progress Tracking: Automated 5-minute interval reporting
• Result Integration: Unified report generation

When to Use

Use this workflow when tasks meet any of these criteria:

• Expected >5 tool calls
• Execution time >10 minutes
• Requires parallel processing
• Involves subagent collaboration

Quick Start

# Initialize task planning
bash ~/.openclaw/skills/planning-with-files/scripts/init-session.sh

# Create task plan
cat > task_plan.md << 'EOF'
# Task Plan - [Task Name]

**Start Time**: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM
**Estimated Duration**: XX minutes
**Report Interval**: 5 minutes

## Batches

| Batch | Task | Assignee | Est. Time | Status |
|-------|------|----------|-----------|--------|
| 1 | [Task] | subagent-1 | 5min | ⏳ |
| 2 | [Task] | subagent-2 | 5min | ⏳ |

## Progress Tracking

| Time | Batch | Status | Notes |
|------|-------|--------|-------|
| HH:MM | 1 | ✅ | Complete |
EOF

# Dispatch subagents
openclaw sessions_spawn --label "batch-1" --task "..."
openclaw sessions_spawn --label "batch-2" --task "..."

# Set up progress reporting
openclaw cron add --name "progress-tracker" \
  --every 300000 \
  --message "Check task_plan.md and report progress"

Workflow Steps

Step 1: Planning (2-3 min)

• Create task_plan.md
• Split into parallel batches
• Estimate time for each batch

Step 2: Subagent Dispatch

• Dispatch independent subagents per batch
• Main agent stays responsive
• Set appropriate timeouts

Step 3: Progress Tracking

• Automatic 5-minute reports
• Update task_plan.md progress
• Alert on anomalies

Step 4: Integration & Report

• Collect subagent results
• Generate unified report
• Update MEMORY.md

Templates

See templates/task-plan.md for the full task plan template.

See examples/example-task.md for a complete example.

Integration with AGENTS.md

Add this to your AGENTS.md:

## Task Execution Workflow

> **Updated**: Use for complex tasks (>5 tool calls)

### Standard Process
1. **Planning**: Create task_plan.md
2. **Dispatch**: Parallel subagents
3. **Tracking**: 5-min progress reports
4. **Integration**: Unified report

**Reference**: `skills/task-workflow/SKILL.md`

Benefits

• Predictability: Clear task structure
• Parallelism: Faster execution via subagents
• Visibility: Regular progress updates
• Reliability: Standardized error handling

Version

• Current: 1.0.0
• OpenClaw: 2026.2.1+

License

MIT