Strict Self-Improving Agent (Rule of 3)

SKILL.md

---
name: self-improvement
description: "Captures learnings, errors, and corrections to enable continuous improvement. Use when: (1) A command or operation fails unexpectedly, (2) User corrects Claude ('No, that's wrong...', 'Actually...'), (3) User requests a capability that doesn't exist, (4) An external API or tool fails, (5) Claude realizes its knowledge is outdated or incorrect, (6) A better approach is discovered for a recurring task. Also review learnings before major tasks."
---

# 🦾 Self-Improving Agent (Strict Promotion Protocol)

> **"Stop letting your AI agent pollute its own core instructions based on subjective feelings."**

This is an industrial-grade, closed-loop **Self-Improvement System** for OpenClaw. It replaces the default subjective "agent feelings" with a rigid, quantitative pipeline: **The Rule of 3**.

Instead of bloating your `SOUL.md` or `AGENTS.md` with every random bug the agent encounters, this skill forces the agent to merely *log* errors as pending. Only when an error recurs 3 times (linked via `See Also`) is it eligible for promotion. 

Includes a built-in bash script (`promote-review.sh`) to aggregate pending promotions for human approval.

## 🌟 Why install this?

1. **Zero Context Bloat**: Keeps your `SOUL.md` and 200K window pristine.
2. **Rule of 3 (Quantitative Trigger)**: Issues must happen 3 times before they can be considered a "Rule".
3. **Strict Domain Governance**: Mutually exclusive rules for what goes into SOUL (behavior), AGENTS (workflow), and TOOLS (CLI gotchas).
4. **Human-in-the-Loop Review**: Batch processing of promotions via a weekly aggregator script.

---

## 🚀 Quick Setup (OpenClaw)

This skill is designed natively for the OpenClaw architecture.

**Via ClawdHub CLI (1-Click Install):**
```bash
clawhub install self-improving-agent
```

### Workspace Structure

OpenClaw injects these files into every session:

```
~/.openclaw/workspace/
├── AGENTS.md          # Multi-agent workflows, delegation patterns
├── SOUL.md            # Behavioral guidelines, personality, principles
├── TOOLS.md           # Tool capabilities, integration gotchas
├── MEMORY.md          # Long-term memory (main session only)
├── memory/            # Memory System (v4.0)
│   ├── daily_raw/
│   ├── summaries/
│   ├── projects/
│   └── core/          # This skill's log files
│       ├── learning.md
│       ├── error.md
│       └── features.md
```

### Create Learning Files

```bash
mkdir -p ~/.openclaw/workspace/memory/core
```

Then create the log files (or copy from `assets/`):
- `learning.md` — corrections, knowledge gaps, best practices
- `error.md` — command failures, exceptions
- `features.md` — user-requested capabilities

### Promotion Targets

When learnings prove broadly applicable, promote them to workspace files:

| Learning Type | Promote To | Example |
|---------------|------------|---------|
| Behavioral patterns | `SOUL.md` | "Be concise, avoid disclaimers" |
| Workflow improvements | `AGENTS.md` | "Spawn sub-agents for long tasks" |
| Tool gotchas | `TOOLS.md` | "Git push needs auth configured first" |

### Inter-Session Communication

OpenClaw provides tools to share learnings across sessions:

- **sessions_list** — View active/recent sessions
- **sessions_history** — Read another session's transcript  
- **sessions_send** — Send a learning to another session
- **sessions_spawn** — Spawn a sub-agent for background work

### Optional: Enable Hook

For automatic reminders at session start:

```bash
# Copy hook to OpenClaw hooks directory
cp -r hooks/openclaw ~/.openclaw/hooks/self-improvement

# Enable it
openclaw hooks enable self-improvement
```

See `references/openclaw-integration.md` for complete details.

---

## Generic Setup (Other Agents)

For Claude Code, Codex, Copilot, or other agents, create `memory/core/` in your project:

```bash
mkdir -p memory/core
```

Copy templates from `assets/` or create files with headers.

## Logging Format

### Learning Entry

Append to `memory/core/learning.md`:

```markdown
## [LRN-YYYYMMDD-XXX] category

**Logged**: ISO-8601 timestamp
**Priority**: low | medium | high | critical
**Status**: pending
**Area**: frontend | backend | infra | tests | docs | config

### Summary
One-line description of what was learned

### Details
Full context: what happened, what was wrong, what's correct

### Suggested Action
Specific fix or improvement to make

### Metadata
- Source: conversation | error | user_feedback
- Related Files: path/to/file.ext
- Tags: tag1, tag2
- See Also: LRN-20250110-001 (if related to existing entry)

---
```

### Error Entry

Append to `memory/core/error.md`:

```markdown
## [ERR-YYYYMMDD-XXX] skill_or_command_name

**Logged**: ISO-8601 timestamp
**Priority**: high
**Status**: pending
**Area**: frontend | backend | infra | tests | docs | config

### Summary
Brief description of what failed

### Error
```
Actual error message or output
```

### Context
- Command/operation attempted
- Input or parameters used
- Environment details if relevant

### Suggested Fix
If identifiable, what might resolve this

### Metadata
- Reproducible: yes | no | unknown
- Related Files: path/to/file.ext
- See Also: ERR-20250110-001 (if recurring)

---
```

### Feature Request Entry

Append to `memory/core/features.md`:

```markdown
## [FEAT-YYYYMMDD-XXX] capability_name

**Logged**: ISO-8601 timestamp
**Priority**: medium
**Status**: pending
**Area**: frontend | backend | infra | tests | docs | config

### Requested Capability
What the user wanted to do

### User Context
Why they needed it, what problem they're solving

### Complexity Estimate
simple | medium | complex

### Suggested Implementation
How this could be built, what it might extend

### Metadata
- Frequency: first_time | recurring
- Related Features: existing_feature_name

---
```

## ID Generation

Format: `TYPE-YYYYMMDD-XXX`
- TYPE: `LRN` (learning), `ERR` (error), `FEAT` (feature)
- YYYYMMDD: Current date
- XXX: Sequential number or random 3 chars (e.g., `001`, `A7B`)

Examples: `LRN-20250115-001`, `ERR-20250115-A3F`, `FEAT-20250115-002`

## Resolving Entries

When an issue is fixed, update the entry:

1. Change `**Status**: pending` → `**Status**: resolved`
2. Add resolution block after Metadata:

```markdown
### Resolution
- **Resolved**: 2025-01-16T09:00:00Z
- **Commit/PR**: abc123 or #42
- **Notes**: Brief description of what was done
```

Other status values:
- `in_progress` - Actively being worked on
- `wont_fix` - Decided not to address (add reason in Resolution notes)
- `promoted` - Elevated to CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, or .github/copilot-instructions.md

## 严格晋升机制 (Strict Promotion Protocol)

**CRITICAL RULE**: The main agent is explicitly FORBIDDEN from writing directly to `SOUL.md`, `AGENTS.md`, or `TOOLS.md` during normal tasks. All new knowledge must be recorded in `memory/core/*.md` first.

### When to Trigger Promotion (Rule of 3)

We utilize a strict quantitative counter rather than subjective feelings.

1. **Log the Issue**: If an issue occurs, log it to `memory/core/` (status: `pending`).
2. **Search Historical Logs**: ALWAYS search `memory/core/` for similar past issues using `grep`.
3. **Trigger Threshold**: ONLY if the current issue links to **3 or more** existing entries via `**See Also**`, you MUST change the status of the current entry to `**Status**: ready_for_promotion`.
4. **Wait for Review**: Do not write to workspace files. Leave it as `ready_for_promotion` for the weekly human review pipeline.

### Strict Domain Separation (Target Governance)

If the weekly review script approves a promotion, it must strictly follow these mutually exclusive rules:

| Target | Absolute Membership Criteria |
|--------|------------------------------|
| `SOUL.md` | **Strictly behavioral**. Only modify if changing the agent's core persona, communication tone, or adding global un-overrideable safety bans (e.g., "NEVER use cat to modify files"). |
| `AGENTS.md` | **Strictly workflow orchestration**. Only modify if detailing the mandatory sequence of operations (e.g., "always clear cache before building") or sub-agent delegation chains. |
| `TOOLS.md` | **Strictly 3rd-party tool quirks**. Only modify if documenting a specific bug or required flag for an external CLI or API (e.g., "jq requires -r for raw output"). |
| `skills/` Dir | **Strictly multi-step autonomous logic**. If an issue requires 3+ steps to reliably fix (such as a full diagnosis script), DO NOT put it in SOUL/AGENTS. Run the extract-skill.sh script and make it a dedicated Skill. |

### Promotion Examples

**Learning** (Accumulated 3+ times):
> Project uses pnpm workspaces. Attempted npm install but failed 3 times across sessions.

**In AGENTS.md** (After human approved `ready_for_promotion`):
```markdown
## Build Protocol
- MANDATORY: Use `pnpm install`, NOT npm, for workspace root syncing.
```

## Recurring Pattern Detection

If logging something similar to an existing entry:

1. **Search first**: `grep -r "keyword" memory/core/`
2. **Link entries**: Add `**See Also**: ERR-20250110-001` in Metadata
3. **Bump priority** if issue keeps recurring
4. **Consider systemic fix**: Recurring issues often indicate:
   - Missing documentation (→ promote to CLAUDE.md or .github/copilot-instructions.md)
   - Missing automation (→ add to AGENTS.md)
   - Architectural problem (→ create tech debt ticket)

## Periodic Review

Review `memory/core/` at natural breakpoints:

### When to Review
- Before starting a new major task
- After completing a feature
- When working in an area with past learnings
- Weekly during active development

### Quick Status Check
```bash
# Count pending items
grep -h "Status\*\*: pending" memory/core/*.md | wc -l

# List pending high-priority items
grep -B5 "Priority\*\*: high" memory/core/*.md | grep "^## \["

# Find learnings for a specific area
grep -l "Area\*\*: backend" memory/core/*.md
```

### Review Actions
- Resolve fixed items
- Promote applicable learnings
- Link related entries
- Escalate recurring issues

## Detection Triggers

Automatically log when you notice:

**Corrections** (→ learning with `correction` category):
- "No, that's not right..."
- "Actually, it should be..."
- "You're wrong about..."
- "That's outdated..."

**Feature Requests** (→ feature request):
- "Can you also..."
- "I wish you could..."
- "Is there a way to..."
- "Why can't you..."

**Knowledge Gaps** (→ learning with `knowledge_gap` category):
- User provides information you didn't know
- Documentation you referenced is outdated
- API behavior differs from your understanding

**Errors** (→ error entry):
- Command returns non-zero exit code
- Exception or stack trace
- Unexpected output or behavior
- Timeout or connection failure

## Priority Guidelines

| Priority | When to Use |
|----------|-------------|
| `critical` | Blocks core functionality, data loss risk, security issue |
| `high` | Significant impact, affects common workflows, recurring issue |
| `medium` | Moderate impact, workaround exists |
| `low` | Minor inconvenience, edge case, nice-to-have |

## Area Tags

Use to filter learnings by codebase region:

| Area | Scope |
|------|-------|
| `frontend` | UI, components, client-side code |
| `backend` | API, services, server-side code |
| `infra` | CI/CD, deployment, Docker, cloud |
| `tests` | Test files, testing utilities, coverage |
| `docs` | Documentation, comments, READMEs |
| `config` | Configuration files, environment, settings |

## Best Practices

1. **Log immediately** - context is freshest right after the issue
2. **Be specific** - future agents need to understand quickly
3. **Include reproduction steps** - especially for errors
4. **Link related files** - makes fixes easier
5. **Suggest concrete fixes** - not just "investigate"
6. **Use consistent categories** - enables filtering
7. **Promote aggressively** - if in doubt, add to CLAUDE.md or .github/copilot-instructions.md
8. **Review regularly** - stale learnings lose value

## Gitignore Options

**Keep learnings local** (per-developer):
```gitignore
memory/core/
```

**Track learnings in repo** (team-wide):
Don't add to .gitignore - learnings become shared knowledge.

**Hybrid** (track templates, ignore entries):
```gitignore
memory/core/*.md
!memory/core/memory-system-design.md
```

## Hook Integration

Enable automatic reminders through agent hooks. This is **opt-in** - you must explicitly configure hooks.

### Quick Setup (Claude Code / Codex)

Create `.claude/settings.json` in your project:

```json
{
  "hooks": {
    "UserPromptSubmit": [{
      "matcher": "",
      "hooks": [{
        "type": "command",
        "command": "./skills/self-improvement/scripts/activator.sh"
      }]
    }]
  }
}
```

This injects a learning evaluation reminder after each prompt (~50-100 tokens overhead).

### Full Setup (With Error Detection)

```json
{
  "hooks": {
    "UserPromptSubmit": [{
      "matcher": "",
      "hooks": [{
        "type": "command",
        "command": "./skills/self-improvement/scripts/activator.sh"
      }]
    }],
    "PostToolUse": [{
      "matcher": "Bash",
      "hooks": [{
        "type": "command",
        "command": "./skills/self-improvement/scripts/error-detector.sh"
      }]
    }]
  }
}
```

### Available Hook Scripts

| Script | Hook Type | Purpose |
|--------|-----------|---------|
| `scripts/activator.sh` | UserPromptSubmit | Reminds to evaluate learnings after tasks |
| `scripts/error-detector.sh` | PostToolUse (Bash) | Triggers on command errors |

See `references/hooks-setup.md` for detailed configuration and troubleshooting.

## Automatic Skill Extraction

When a learning is valuable enough to become a reusable skill, extract it using the provided helper.

### Skill Extraction Criteria

A learning qualifies for skill extraction when ANY of these apply:

| Criterion | Description |
|-----------|-------------|
| **Recurring** | Has `See Also` links to 2+ similar issues |
| **Verified** | Status is `resolved` with working fix |
| **Non-obvious** | Required actual debugging/investigation to discover |
| **Broadly applicable** | Not project-specific; useful across codebases |
| **User-flagged** | User says "save this as a skill" or similar |

### Extraction Workflow

1. **Identify candidate**: Learning meets extraction criteria
2. **Run helper** (or create manually):
   ```bash
   ./skills/self-improvement/scripts/extract-skill.sh skill-name --dry-run
   ./skills/self-improvement/scripts/extract-skill.sh skill-name
   ```
3. **Customize SKILL.md**: Fill in template with learning content
4. **Update learning**: Set status to `promoted_to_skill`, add `Skill-Path`
5. **Verify**: Read skill in fresh session to ensure it's self-contained

### Manual Extraction

If you prefer manual creation:

1. Create `skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md`
2. Use template from `assets/SKILL-TEMPLATE.md`
3. Follow [Agent Skills spec](https://agentskills.io/specification):
   - YAML frontmatter with `name` and `description`
   - Name must match folder name
   - No README.md inside skill folder

### Extraction Detection Triggers

Watch for these signals that a learning should become a skill:

**In conversation:**
- "Save this as a skill"
- "I keep running into this"
- "This would be useful for other projects"
- "Remember this pattern"

**In learning entries:**
- Multiple `See Also` links (recurring issue)
- High priority + resolved status
- Category: `best_practice` with broad applicability
- User feedback praising the solution

### Skill Quality Gates

Before extraction, verify:

- [ ] Solution is tested and working
- [ ] Description is clear without original context
- [ ] Code examples are self-contained
- [ ] No project-specific hardcoded values
- [ ] Follows skill naming conventions (lowercase, hyphens)

## Multi-Agent Support

This skill works across different AI coding agents with agent-specific activation.

### Claude Code

**Activation**: Hooks (UserPromptSubmit, PostToolUse)
**Setup**: `.claude/settings.json` with hook configuration
**Detection**: Automatic via hook scripts

### Codex CLI

**Activation**: Hooks (same pattern as Claude Code)
**Setup**: `.codex/settings.json` with hook configuration
**Detection**: Automatic via hook scripts

### GitHub Copilot

**Activation**: Manual (no hook support)
**Setup**: Add to `.github/copilot-instructions.md`:

```markdown
## Self-Improvement

After solving non-obvious issues, consider logging to `memory/core/`:
1. Use format from self-improvement skill
2. Link related entries with See Also
3. Promote high-value learnings to skills

Ask in chat: "Should I log this as a learning?"
```

**Detection**: Manual review at session end

### OpenClaw

**Activation**: Workspace injection + inter-agent messaging
**Setup**: See "OpenClaw Setup" section above
**Detection**: Via session tools and workspace files

### Agent-Agnostic Guidance

Regardless of agent, apply self-improvement when you:

1. **Discover something non-obvious** - solution wasn't immediate
2. **Correct yourself** - initial approach was wrong
3. **Learn project conventions** - discovered undocumented patterns
4. **Hit unexpected errors** - especially if diagnosis was difficult
5. **Find better approaches** - improved on your original solution

### Copilot Chat Integration

For Copilot users, add this to your prompts when relevant:

> After completing this task, evaluate if any learnings should be logged to `memory/core/` using the self-improvement skill format.

Or use quick prompts:
- "Log this to learnings"
- "Create a skill from this solution"
- "Check memory/core/ for related issues"