Monitors subagent runs by enforcing a completion marker file before a deadline and alerts or exits if the marker is missing.
--- name: subagent-watchdog version: 0.1.0 description: Watchdog for OpenClaw subagent runs: enforce a completion marker by deadline and alert if missing. --- # Subagent Watchdog A small reliability tool for agentic workflows. ## What it does - After you spawn a subagent with a **label**, start a watchdog timer. - The subagent must write a **completion marker** file. - If the marker is missing when the timer expires, the watchdog alerts (or exits non-zero so the caller can restart). ## Files - `watch.sh` — watchdog runner - `SUBAGENT_CONTRACT.md` — what the subagent must do ## Usage ### 1) Enforce the contract in your subagent prompt Tell the subagent to: - write full results to the instructed project files - write a marker file: `subagent-watchdog/state/<label>.done` ### 2) Start the watchdog ```bash # explicit wait (seconds) ./watch.sh "my-subagent-label" 601 # or omit wait_seconds to read from ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json: # caliban.subagentWatchdog.maxRuntimeSeconds (+1 second) ./watch.sh "my-subagent-label" ``` ## Notification By default `watch.sh` prints a failure message and **tries** to notify using OpenClaw messaging if: - `OPENCLAW_BIN` and `WATCHDOG_CHAT_ID` are set. Config read (optional): - Reads `OPENCLAW_CONFIG_PATH` or `~/.openclaw/openclaw.json` for `caliban.subagentWatchdog.maxRuntimeSeconds`. This keeps the skill portable: you can use it with or without OpenClaw messaging.
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