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Changelog

All notable changes to DevClaw will be documented in this file.

The format is based on Keep a Changelog, and this project adheres to Semantic Versioning.

[Unreleased]

Fixed

  • Critical: work_finish now re-validates PR mergeable status during conflict resolution cycles, preventing infinite loops where developers claim "fixed" without pushing changes (#482, #480, #464, #483)

Improved

  • Explicit branch name in conflict resolution instructions — Conflict resolution feedback now includes the exact feature branch name and complete step-by-step checkout commands. Developers no longer need to infer the branch name from the PR URL, preventing confusion when multiple PRs exist for the same issue (#482, #484).

1.6.0 - 2026-02-23

Added

  • Automatic workspace refresh on startup — Every heartbeat startup refreshes workspace files (docs, prompts, workflow states) to the latest curated defaults. Role and timeout customizations in workflow.yaml are preserved. No manual tools needed — the mechanism is simple and reliable.
  • Attachment support — Upload images and files to issues via Telegram, GitHub, and GitLab. Channel-agnostic attachment hook detects media in incoming messages and associates them with referenced issues (#397).
  • task_attach tool — Attach files to issues programmatically from worker sessions.
  • claim_ownership tool — Workers can claim ownership of tasks with deterministic name generation for identification.
  • Review skip policy — Auto-merge PRs that match configurable skip criteria (e.g., auto-generated PRs, trivial changes) without requiring human review.
  • Test policy for automated testing — Configurable test phase workflow with skip conditions and auto-transition rules.
  • Orphan scan with smart label revert — Health check detects orphaned labels and reverts to the correct prior state based on PR status (merged, open, or none).
  • Closed issue detection in health checks — Health pass detects issues that were closed externally and cleans up worker state accordingly.
  • Owner label auto-assignment — Task modifications automatically assign an owner label for tracking (#421).
  • PR seen marking — PRs are automatically marked as seen when detected by the heartbeat, preventing duplicate processing (#409).

Changed

  • Worker names use unique-names-generator — Replaced hardcoded name pool with the unique-names-generator library for more distinct, memorable worker names (#424).
  • Standardized worker name in notifications — All task notifications consistently include worker name and level (#412, #416).
  • Enhanced feedback cycle task messages — Feedback dispatches now prioritize PR review comments for clearer context to developers.
  • 18 tools (was 20) — removed upgrade, reset_defaults; workspace defaults are now refreshed automatically on every startup

Fixed

  • Workflow actions for PR approval and skip states — Corrected transition actions that were missing or misconfigured for approval and skip workflows.
  • To Do label color contrast — Improved label color for better readability (#423).
  • GitHub attachment uploads — Fixed gh CLI syntax for file uploads (#410).

Removed

  • WELCOME.md — Removed in favor of streamlined onboarding (#407).

1.5.1 - 2026-02-22

Changed

  • esbuild bundler — Build now produces a single dist/index.js with all dependencies (cockatiel, yaml, zod) inlined via esbuild. Eliminates the need for npm install at plugin install time; only the openclaw peer dependency is kept external.
  • Dependencies moved to devDependencies — cockatiel, yaml, and zod are bundled at build time, so they no longer need to be installed as runtime dependencies.
  • Version injection at build time — PACKAGE_NAME is now injected by esbuild defines instead of reading package.json at runtime, with a fallback for development/test environments.

1.5.0 - 2026-02-22

Added

  • sync_labels tool — Synchronize GitHub/GitLab labels with the current workflow config. Creates any missing state labels, role:level labels, and step routing labels from the resolved three-layer config. Use after editing workflow.yaml to push label changes to your issue tracker.
  • Slot-based worker pools — Workers now support multiple concurrent slots per role level via maxWorkers / maxWorkersPerLevel in workflow.yaml. The dispatch engine, health checks, status dashboard, and project registration all support multi-slot workers.
  • PR closure handling — Closing a PR without merging now transitions the issue to Rejected state with proper issue closure. New PR_CLOSED event in workflow transitions.
  • accountId support in notifications — All notify() call sites now pass accountId and runtime for channel-aware notification routing.
  • PR_CLOSED event in review pass — Heartbeat detects closed (unmerged) PRs in To Review and auto-transitions to To Improve for developer action.
  • Externalized defaults — All built-in templates (AGENTS.md, HEARTBEAT.md, IDENTITY.md, TOOLS.md, workflow states, role prompts) moved to a defaults/ directory. Workspace files are refreshed automatically on every startup.
  • Eyes marker (👀) on managed issues/PRs — DevClaw adds an eyes marker to issue and PR bodies it manages, distinguishing them from legacy or manually-created items.
  • Comment consumption tracking with reactions — Processed comments receive emoji reactions so workers don't re-read already-handled feedback on subsequent dispatches.
  • Auto-heal for context overflow — Workers that hit context limits are automatically recovered and restarted instead of becoming zombies.
  • Session context budget management — Smarter token budgeting prevents context overflow before it happens by tracking available budget.

Changed

  • projects.json is pure runtime state — All configuration moved to workflow.yaml; projects.json only tracks runtime worker state. Simplifies the config story.
  • Bootstrap hook replaces AGENTS.md injection — Worker sessions now receive role-specific instructions via the agent:bootstrap hook instead of AGENTS.md file replacement.
  • Safe two-phase label transitions — Label changes on GitHub/GitLab use a two-phase commit (add new → remove old) to prevent half-states on API failures.
  • PR review detection improvements — More reliable detection of review approvals, change requests, and conversation comments across GitHub and GitLab providers.
  • TOOLS.md template improvements — Cleaner generated tool documentation for new workspaces.
  • 16 tools (was 14) — added tasks_status, task_list, sync_labels (replaced status and work_heartbeat)

Fixed

  • Architect prompt — Enforces single comprehensive task with checklist format instead of multiple small tasks.
  • GitHub PR comment emoji marking — Fixed consumption tracking for PR review comments.
  • PR state property — findPrsViaTimeline now returns state property; getPrStatus distinguishes closed-PR from no-PR.
  • Workflow.yaml comments — Corrected comments and formatting for clarity.

Removed

  • Orphaned session scan — Removed from health and heartbeat services (was causing false positives).

1.3.6 - 2026-02-18

Added

  • Heartbeat starts immediately — No restart needed after onboarding; the scheduler begins on first project registration.
  • tasks_status tool — Full project dashboard showing issues waiting for input (hold), work in progress (active), and queued for work (queue).
  • task_list tool — Browse and filter issues by workflow state with text search.
  • PR validation on work_finish — Developers must have a valid PR before completing; catches missing PRs early.
  • Blocked result support — All worker roles can now report "blocked" to return tasks to the queue with context about what they need.
  • Label colors for GitLab — Pipeline labels get color-coded on GitLab for visual distinction.

Fixed

  • PR state detection improvements — Better handling of draft PRs, merge conflicts, and cross-fork PRs.

1.3.5 - 2026-02-17

Added

  • LLM-powered model autoconfiguration — autoconfigure_models uses an LLM to intelligently assign available models to role tiers based on capability analysis.
  • Registry default fallback — When specific models aren't available, falls back to sensible defaults from the model registry.

Changed

  • Improved onboarding flow — Streamlined setup with clearer prompts and automatic model detection.

1.3.0 - 2026-02-17

Changed — Default Workflow

The out-of-box experience is now human review with no test phase. Previously, the default workflow used reviewPolicy: auto and included a full test phase (toTest → testing → done). The new default is simpler and matches how most teams start:

Planning → To Do → Doing → To Review → PR approved → Done (auto-merge + close)
  • Review policy changed from auto to human — all PRs require human approval on GitHub/GitLab
  • Test phase (toTest/testing states) removed from defaults — enable it in workflow.yaml when ready
  • Heartbeat auto-merge — polls PR status, auto-merges on approval, auto-dispatches DEV fix on changes requested or merge conflict
  • CHANGES_REQUESTED and MERGE_CONFLICT events added to toReview transitions (previously missing)

The test phase is documented as a commented-out section in workflow.yaml with step-by-step enablement instructions.

Added

  • workflow_guide tool — Zero-side-effect informational tool that returns comprehensive workflow.yaml configuration documentation for the LLM. Marks every field as FIXED (enum), FREE-FORM, or extendable. Optional topic parameter narrows to a specific section: overview, states, roles, review, testing, timeouts, overrides. Call this before editing workflow.yaml.
  • autoconfigure_models tool — LLM-powered model selection based on available models
  • task_edit_body tool — Edit issue title/description (initial state only; audit-logged)
  • Architect role — New role for design investigations. research_task creates a Planning issue with rich context and dispatches an architect worker directly. Architect posts findings as comments, completes with done (stays in Planning) or blocked (→ Refining). Levels: junior (Sonnet), senior (Opus).
  • Reviewer role — Dedicated code review role with junior (Sonnet) and senior (Opus) levels. Used when reviewPolicy is agent or auto.
  • Dynamic role registry — Roles are no longer hardcoded. ROLE_REGISTRY in lib/roles/registry.ts defines all roles with configurable levels, models, emoji, and completion results. Adding a new role means one registry entry.
  • Configurable workflow state machine — Issue lifecycle is now a state machine defined in workflow.yaml with typed states (queue, active, hold, terminal), transitions with actions (gitPull, detectPr, mergePr, closeIssue, reopenIssue), and review checks.
  • Three-layer configuration — Config resolution: built-in defaults → workspace workflow.yaml → project workflow.yaml. Validated at load time with Zod schemas. Integrity checks verify transition targets exist.
  • Provider resilience — All issue tracker calls wrapped with cockatiel retry (3 attempts, exponential backoff) and circuit breaker (opens after 5 failures, half-opens after 30s).
  • Bootstrap hook for role instructions — Worker sessions receive role-specific instructions via agent:bootstrap hook at session startup. Reads from devclaw/projects/<project>/prompts/<role>.md, falls back to devclaw/prompts/<role>.md.
  • PR feedback loop — Heartbeat detects PR comments with review feedback, transitions to To Improve, and dispatches DEV with the feedback context. Reacts with 👀 emoji to processed comments.
  • PR context in dispatch — Workers receive PR URL, diff stats, and review comments when dispatched for fixes.
  • Git history fallback — Review transitions work even when no PR exists (falls back to git log analysis).
  • Active workflow in status — status tool response includes activeWorkflow object (reviewPolicy, testPhase, stateFlow, hint).
  • Active workflow in project_register — Registration response includes active workflow config with customization hint.
  • Onboarding workflow overview — Onboarding flow now includes a step explaining the active workflow and how to customize it.
  • Multi-group isolation — notify:{groupId} labels for project-specific notifications.
  • Project-first schema — projects.json restructured with project as the top-level key, channels nested within. Automatic migration from old schema.
  • Orphaned session cleanup — Health pass detects and cleans up subagent sessions that no longer match any active worker.
  • Immediate startup tick — Heartbeat runs first tick 2s after service startup instead of waiting for the full interval.
  • GitHub timeline API — Uses timeline API to find linked PRs for more reliable PR detection.
  • Inline markdown links — All notifications use inline markdown links instead of bare URLs.
  • Telegram link preview control — Notifications disable link previews by default; configurable via linkPreview setting.

Fixed

  • PR comment detection — hasConversationComments in both GitHub and GitLab providers now correctly filters by 👀 reaction instead of using invalid "robot" emoji.
  • Duplicate links in announcements — Removed duplicate issue/PR links from orchestrator announcement guidance.
  • PR-issue linking regex — Fixed regex pattern for GitHub provider PR-issue linking.
  • Self-merged PR bypass — Prevented self-merged PRs from bypassing the review:human gate.
  • Health check false-kills — Fixed health pass incorrectly killing workers due to session cap check and wrong revert label.
  • GitLab approval detection — Removed unreliable GitLab MR approval detection; relies on merge status instead.
  • Heartbeat auto-merge scope — Only auto-merges PRs with explicit review:human label.
  • Project lookup — All tick/heartbeat paths use getProject() for proper slug/groupId resolution.

Changed

  • 14 tools (was 11) — added workflow_guide, autoconfigure_models, task_edit_body, research_task
  • 4 roles (was 2) — developer, tester, architect, reviewer
  • 10 default states (was 12) — removed toTest/testing from defaults
  • Project identification changed from group IDs to project slugs across all tools
  • design_task renamed to research_task
  • QA role renamed to Tester
  • Level names standardized: junior/medior/senior across all roles (architect uses junior/senior)
  • Workspace data directory moved from <workspace>/projects/ to <workspace>/devclaw/ (automatic migration)
  • All documentation updated for consistency with new defaults

1.1.0 - 2026-02-13

Security

  • Eliminated all child_process imports — Migrated 9 files from node:child_process (execFile, execSync, spawn) to the plugin SDK's api.runtime.system.runCommandWithTimeout via a shared runCommand() wrapper. The OpenClaw plugin security scanner no longer flags any warnings during installation.

Added

  • lib/run-command.ts — New thin wrapper module that stores the plugin SDK's runCommandWithTimeout once during register(), making it available to all modules without threading the API object through every function.
  • Session fallback mechanism — ensureSession() now validates stored session keys against the current agent ID and verifies sessions still exist before reuse. Stale, mismatched, or deleted sessions are automatically recreated instead of failing silently.
  • Default workspace discovery — The heartbeat service now scans agents.defaults.workspace in addition to agents.list, so projects in the default workspace are discovered automatically without explicit agent registration.
  • Heartbeat tick notifications — Heartbeat pickups now send workerStart notifications to project groups via the notify system.
  • Agent instructions file — Added AGENTS.md with project structure, conventions, and testing workflow.

Fixed

  • Heartbeat agent ID — Default workspace agents now use agentId: "main" instead of "default", matching OpenClaw's actual routing. Previously caused agent "main" does not match session key agent "default" errors that left workers stuck as active on ghost sessions.
  • Heartbeat config access — discoverAgents() now reads from api.config instead of ctx.config (service context), which didn't include agents.defaults.
  • Session key always persisted — recordWorkerState() now always stores the session key, not just on spawn. This ensures send-to-spawn fallbacks update projects.json with the corrected key.
  • GitLab/GitHub temp file elimination — createIssue() and addComment() in both providers now pass descriptions/comments directly as argv instead of writing temp files and using shell interpolation ($(cat ...)). Safer and simpler.

Changed

  • createProvider() is now async (callers updated across 12 files)
  • fetchModels() / fetchAuthenticatedModels() are now async
  • resolveProvider() is now async

1.0.0 - 2026-02-12

🎉 First Official Launch

DevClaw is now production-ready! Turn any group chat into a dev team that ships.

This is the first stable release of DevClaw, a plugin for OpenClaw that transforms your orchestrator agent into a development manager. It hires developers, assigns tasks, reviews code, and keeps the pipeline moving — across as many projects as you have group chats.

✨ Core Features

Multi-Project Development Pipeline

  • Autonomous scheduling engine — work_heartbeat continuously scans queues, dispatches workers, and drives DEV → QA → DEV feedback loops with zero LLM tokens
  • Project isolation — Each project has its own queue, workers, sessions, and state
  • Parallel execution — DEV and QA work simultaneously within projects, multiple projects run concurrently

Intelligent Developer Assignment

  • Tier-based model selection — Junior (Haiku) for simple fixes, Medior (Sonnet) for features, Senior (Opus) for architecture
  • Automatic complexity evaluation — Orchestrator analyzes tasks and assigns appropriate developer level
  • Session reuse — Workers accumulate codebase knowledge across tasks, reducing token usage by 40-60%

Process Enforcement

  • GitHub/GitLab integration — Issues are the single source of truth, not an internal database
  • Atomic operations — Label transitions, state updates, and session dispatch happen atomically with rollback on failure
  • Tool-based guardrails — 11 tools enforce the development process deterministically

Token Efficiency

  • ~60-80% token savings through tier selection, session reuse, and token-free scheduling
  • No reasoning overhead — Plugin handles orchestration mechanics, agent provides intent only

🚀 Recent Improvements

Added

  • LLM-powered model auto-configuration — Intelligent model selection based on task complexity
  • Enhanced onboarding experience — Model access verification and Telegram group guidance
  • Orchestrator role enforcement — Clear separation between planning (orchestrator) and implementation (workers)
  • Role-specific instructions — Per-project, per-role instruction files injected at dispatch time
  • Automatic log truncation — Maintains last 250 audit log entries for manageable file sizes
  • Comprehensive documentation — Architecture, tools reference, configuration guide, QA workflow, and more

Fixed

  • TypeScript build configuration — Fixed module resolution for proper openclaw plugin-sdk type imports
  • Worker health monitoring — Detects and recovers from crashed or stale worker sessions
  • Label transition atomicity — Clean state management prevents orphaned labels
  • Session persistence — Workers properly maintain context between tasks

📚 Documentation

Comprehensive documentation available in the docs/ directory:

🔧 Installation

openclaw plugins install @laurentenhoor/devclaw

Then start onboarding:

openclaw chat "Hey, can you help me set up DevClaw?"

📦 Requirements

  • OpenClaw >= 2026.0.0
  • Node.js >= 20
  • gh CLI (GitHub) or glab CLI (GitLab), authenticated

0.1.1 - 2026-01-XX

Fixed

  • Correct npm package entry point and include manifest file
  • Update installation commands to reflect new package name

0.1.0 - 2026-01-XX

Added

  • Initial npm publishing infrastructure
  • Core plugin functionality
  • Work heartbeat service for autonomous scheduling
  • Multi-project support with isolated state
  • Developer tier system (Junior/Medior/Senior)
  • QA workflow with Reviewer/Tester roles
  • 11 tools for task and workflow management
  • GitHub and GitLab issue provider integration
  • Session reuse and context accumulation
  • Audit logging system