6 custom skills (assign-task, dispatch-webhook, daily-briefing, task-capture, qmd-brain, tts-voice) with technical documentation. Compatible with Claude Code, OpenClaw, Codex CLI, and OpenCode.
1.5 KiB
Agent Loop Documentation - OpenClaw
Overview
The Agent Loop in OpenClaw represents a complete agent execution cycle, encompassing message intake through final reply persistence. An agentic loop is the full run of an agent: intake, context assembly, model inference, tool execution, streaming replies, and persistence.
Key Components
Entry Points:
The system accepts agent requests via Gateway RPC (agent and agent.wait commands) and CLI.
Execution Flow: The process involves parameter validation, session resolution, metadata persistence, and model inference through the pi-agent-core runtime, which handles serialization and event streaming.
Queueing System: Runs are serialized per-session to prevent concurrency issues. Runs are serialized per session key (session lane) and optionally through a global lane.
Extension Mechanisms
OpenClaw provides two hook systems for customization:
- Internal Gateway Hooks - Event-driven scripts for commands and lifecycle events (bootstrap, commands)
- Plugin Hooks - Extension points including
before_agent_start,agent_end, tool call interception, and message lifecycle events
Operational Details
- Timeout defaults: 30 seconds for
agent.wait; 600 seconds for agent runtime - Streaming: Assistant deltas and tool events are emitted as separate streams
- Reply handling: Payloads are assembled from assistant text, tool summaries, and reasoning, with suppression of duplicate messaging tool outputs