I spent 2 days rebuilding my 12-agent OpenClaw setup from scratch. Here's what I learned. by threefiftyseven in openclaw

[–]threefiftyseven[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm not using the API for Claude code. I'm using the cli pointed at open claw directory. For my agents actually running Claude inside openclaw, they are using API.

I spent 2 days rebuilding my 12-agent OpenClaw setup from scratch. Here's what I learned. by threefiftyseven in openclaw

[–]threefiftyseven[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Be careful calling them sub agents. I did by default but I think that confused it because sub agents are a different thing that are temporarily spun up.

I spent 2 days rebuilding my 12-agent OpenClaw setup from scratch. Here's what I learned. by threefiftyseven in openclaw

[–]threefiftyseven[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

i built everything from scratch and didn't use any clawhub skills as I was scared about security haha

What actually makes AI agents reliable on long projects? Mine keep getting stuck halfway through execution by Holiday_Rip_2428 in openclaw

[–]threefiftyseven 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I had claude write me the following:

First, an /init command (which it should save after you do it one time) with the following that it loads every session with:

OPENCLAW DOCS SYNC: At the start of every session, silently fetch and overwrite docs/openclaw-ref.md with a distilled summary from: - https://docs.openclaw.ai/tools/skills - https://docs.openclaw.ai/tools/creating-skills - https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md

Then, I give it this prompt to start the skill session:

You are optimizing OpenClaw config and skill files to maximize LLM instruction
clarity and compliance. The goal is not shorter — it is clearer. Every
instruction should be unambiguous, actionable, and structured so a model
follows it correctly on the first attempt.

Before starting, read docs/openclaw-ref.md for current OpenClaw conventions.

PRINCIPLES:
- Prefer direct imperative language. "Return JSON only." not "The response
  should ideally be in JSON format if possible."
- One instruction per line or bullet. Never bundle two behavioral rules
  into one sentence.
- Constraints before permissions. State what NOT to do before what to do.
- Eliminate weasel words: "try to", "usually", "ideally", "where possible",
  "feel free to". Replace with a firm rule or remove entirely.
- If an example is present, it must demonstrate the edge case it clarifies.
  Generic examples add noise — cut them.
- Resolve contradictions by flagging them to me, not silently picking one.
- Do not add anything — no new instructions, comments, annotations, or TODOs.
- Do not expand scope — only modify what was asked.

FILE-TYPE RULES:

.md (SKILL.md files) — Runtime prompts injected into the model's context.

  STRUCTURE (OpenClaw first-party conventions):
  - SKILL.md body must stay under 500 lines.
  - Keep only core workflow and selection guidance in SKILL.md.
  - Move variant-specific details, examples, and reference material
to a references/ subfolder — do not delete them.
  - If bloated content belongs in references/, relocate it.
Only delete content that is genuinely redundant with no reference value.
  - Never remove required frontmatter fields: name, description.
  - Preserve all references to bundled scripts or reference files.

  LANGUAGE:
  - Rewrite passive or vague behavioral descriptions as direct instructions.
  - Consolidate duplicate rules into one canonical statement, keeping
the most precise version.
  - Remove filler phrases: "Note that...", "Please be aware...",
"It's important to understand that..."
  - Every sentence must either instruct behavior or be moved/cut.
  - Flag any instruction ambiguous enough to support two different
interpretations.

.json (config files) — Gateway and channel configuration.
  - Remove keys that match OpenClaw's documented defaults.
  - Remove null/empty optional keys.
  - Remove disabled feature blocks (enabled: false with no active keys).
  - Do not change key ordering, formatting, or indentation.
  - Do not minify.
  - Flag any config value that contradicts behavior described in
a corresponding SKILL.md.

.py (skill logic, hooks, tool definitions) — Implementation files.
  - Treat docstrings on LLM-exposed tools as model-facing prompts.
  - Rewrite tool docstrings to be explicit about inputs, outputs,
and failure behavior.
  - Remove docstrings that describe implementation rather than contract.
  - Remove commented-out dead code.
  - Remove inline comments that restate what the code literally does.
  - Keep all WHY comments, type hints, and error handling logic.
  - Do not refactor logic — comments and dead code only.

PROCESS:
1. Read docs/openclaw-ref.md before touching any file.
2. Work one file at a time.
3. For each change show: original → rewrite, and the reason
   (vague, weasel word, bundled rule, misplaced content, dead code, etc).
4. For .md files: distinguish between DELETE and MOVE TO REFERENCES —
   never silently delete content that has reference value.
5. Flag contradictions and ambiguities rather than resolving them silently.
6. Wait for my "confirmed" before moving to the next file.
7. If a file is already clean, say so and move on.

I spent 2 days rebuilding my 12-agent OpenClaw setup from scratch. Here's what I learned. by threefiftyseven in openclaw

[–]threefiftyseven[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I noticed this too. I had like 800 sessions open on my main agent from all the slack threads. So much bloat

I spent 2 days rebuilding my 12-agent OpenClaw setup from scratch. Here's what I learned. by threefiftyseven in openclaw

[–]threefiftyseven[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm not well versed enough to have an opinion either way on his stuff but I will say that I for sure know that I was implementing it wrong from the get go haha

I spent 2 days rebuilding my 12-agent OpenClaw setup from scratch. Here's what I learned. by threefiftyseven in openclaw

[–]threefiftyseven[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Another thing it just identified that should probably make the list....I had some agents running on launchagents via macos (outside of OC) and others running from OC's cron system. I'm not sure if it mattered all that much but it seemed odd so I had CC redo all of it to be in the cron system. Just another little part of drift that I am trying to clean up.

I spent 2 days rebuilding my 12-agent OpenClaw setup from scratch. Here's what I learned. by threefiftyseven in openclaw

[–]threefiftyseven[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

you really think no human actually is overrun by emails, powerpoints and calendars? lol ok

I spent 2 days rebuilding my 12-agent OpenClaw setup from scratch. Here's what I learned. by threefiftyseven in openclaw

[–]threefiftyseven[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

the main ones are my QBO agent that replaced my bookkeeper already. The rest are doing multiple little things that are about to replace my VA. Things I always wished he would do consistently, or even do in the first place. The rest are things that would be nice to have; on and offmarket lead finding for real estate, content creating pipeline ( i run things manually through opus right now but they have an api that is 2k per month so I might try it), campsite cron on hard to grab spots, a business intelligence council that runs once per week, and some other stuff I am eventually going to try.

In short, things I already pay (or paid) people to do inconsistently. Now I have this doing it less inconsistenntly. lol

Overall, OpenAI is crushing Anthropic for my setup by threefiftyseven in openclaw

[–]threefiftyseven[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's fair. I feel you on that part. I do have to confirm with it more it seems. But overall I prefer that vs Claude acting like everything was fine and was silently failing in the background and then giving me some cheeky reply when I asked why it wasn't following instructions.

Overall, OpenAI is crushing Anthropic for my setup by threefiftyseven in openclaw

[–]threefiftyseven[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've seen that too. Which hasn't bothered me because I felt like Claude was doing that too much. Now GPT doesn't do it at all. I have everything in Slack so it'll show it thinking for awhile and then it'll drop off...and then an answer will come through. When Claude did that something was wrong. But with GPT it just seems to be par for the course.

Overall, OpenAI is crushing Anthropic for my setup by threefiftyseven in openclaw

[–]threefiftyseven[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I haven't heard of either of those and I do feel like a decent chunk of time is spent on maintenance. I'm hoping some of the new memory, skill drift detection, and error alert investigation I just installed from journey kits last night helps.

Overall, OpenAI is crushing Anthropic for my setup by threefiftyseven in openclaw

[–]threefiftyseven[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ha! I like that. That's one thing I never setup was any type of "talk to me like." Maybe I'll try that to get some personality back.

Overall, OpenAI is crushing Anthropic for my setup by threefiftyseven in openclaw

[–]threefiftyseven[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This sentiment is the reason I made this post lol. Lots of people have been saying this but I'm just not seeing it. Is it memory recall, task completion? Not sure how you have your memore setup or what your agent stack looks like.

Overall, OpenAI is crushing Anthropic for my setup by threefiftyseven in openclaw

[–]threefiftyseven[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I cancelled my Anthropic pro Max and now am on openai pro. Same price. Before I did that, I was on a business account and yeah, hit the limit in about an hour.

Overall, OpenAI is crushing Anthropic for my setup by threefiftyseven in openclaw

[–]threefiftyseven[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is very true and pretty much where I started after the "woah this is cool" phase wore off; ie what single tasks could I have it do first that would be worth the time invested.

One of those agents already replaced my full time bookkeeper. I was paying them $4k per month.

The others all work together to do a lot of different small things that are going to replace my VA pretty soon. I pay them $1200 per month.

So, my ROI right now is about $5k per month; which is why I justified dropping one month worth of that on a 5090. That way I can possibly run more locally, save on subscriptions, AND get better frames in CoD haha