alfred-chore-authoring

name	alfred-chore-authoring
description	Create new chores or edit existing ones on Sir's request. A chore is a recurring (or one-shot) Temporal workflow Sir has asked you to set up. This skill teaches the full lifecycle — design the right pattern (agent-driven vs Python-pipeline), author the workflow, register it, test it, and iterate. Use whenever Sir says "set up a chore to…", "every morning remind me to…", "automate X", or asks you to change an existing chore.
version	1.0
metadata	{"openclaw":{"emoji":"🧱"}}

Alfred — Chore Authoring

Companion skill to alfred-chore-management (which covers inspecting, pausing, triggering existing chores). This one is for CREATING and EDITING.

First rule: pick the right pattern

There are two shapes of chore. Pick per-task, not per-project.

Pattern A — agent-driven chore

Pattern used by daily-morning-briefing. The workflow is a thin Temporal wrapper that, at schedule time, prompts YOU (main Alfred) with a task and an optional skill reference. You do the work in one turn. Your reply auto-delivers to Sir's channel.

When to use:

• The work is primarily synthesis, writing, or reasoning (briefings, weekly recaps, pattern checks, "something to tell Sir" output).
• The data sources are things you can fetch via your normal self/composio tools on-the-fly.
• The output is prose (or formatted structured text) that Sir reads.
• The "logic" lives best as a prompt/skill, not as code.

Shape:

1. Write a SKILL.md in /home/node/.openclaw/workspace/skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md that fully documents the gather → reason → deliver loop. Include concrete examples, anti-patterns, and the silence rule if applicable.
2. Write a thin chore Python workflow that calls one activity — call_self against POST /api/v1/agents/main/task — with a task prompt like "Follow the <skill-name> skill precisely. Your reply IS the deliverable." See the daily_morning_briefing.py template as the canonical example.
3. Register the chore via self endpoint="/api/v1/chores" method="POST" body={…}.
4. Temporal fires the schedule → workflow fires → the endpoint wakes you up → you read the skill → you deliver.

Pattern B — Python-pipeline chore

Pattern used by subscription_watcher, weekly_matter_digest. The workflow is multi-step Python: gather, diff, filter, conditionally call the LLM, conditionally notify. The LLM (me, you, or a workers subagent) is consulted only at decision gates.

When to use:

• The work is deterministic data processing with a clear if/then structure (diff this week vs last, filter anomalies, alert only above threshold).
• Most ticks should make ZERO LLM calls (cost/latency sensitive).
• The final action is a single-line notification, not prose synthesis.

Shape:

1. Write a full chore Python workflow using workflow.execute_activity calls to the three generic primitives — call_self, call_composio, spawn_subagent — composed with plain Python between them.
2. Register via self endpoint="/api/v1/chores" method="POST" body={…}.

Decision rule

• "Every morning, synthesize overnight activity and tell me what matters" → Pattern A.
• "Every Friday, summarize the week's wins + blockers per matter" → Pattern A.
• "Every Monday 9am, check for Stripe subscription anomalies and alert if any are suspicious" → Pattern B.
• "Every 10 minutes, poll feed X for new items tagged Y and add to inbox" → Pattern B.

Mixed: "Every morning, gather the data pipeline-style, then ask me to write the prose" → Pattern B with a spawn_subagent call at the prose step. Avoid unless you have a concrete reason; Pattern A is simpler.

Authoring a Pattern A chore (step by step)

1. Write the skill

Put it at /home/node/.openclaw/workspace/skills/<skill-slug>/SKILL.md. The skill is the CONTRACT — when you're invoked later by the chore runtime, this file is what you read.

Required structure:

• --- frontmatter with name, description, version, metadata.openclaw.emoji.
• One-sentence intent below the H1.
• "Step 1 — Gather" with a table of self/composio calls + why.
• "Step 2 — Classify/reason" with rules, anti-patterns, wrong/right examples.
• "Step 3 — Write" with voice/tone guardrails. Always "Sir", never first name.
• "Step 4 — Silence rule" if applicable (when to say nothing).
• "Step 5 — Deliver" — usually "your reply IS the delivery; don't call additional send tools".
• A worked example at the end — inputs, your exact output.

Write the skill BEFORE the workflow. The skill is where the behaviour lives.

2. Write the thin workflow

Use daily_morning_briefing.py as the template. Adapt these fields:

@workflow.defn(name="<ClassName>Workflow")
class <ClassName>Workflow:
    @workflow.run
    async def run(self, input: <ClassName>Input) -> <ClassName>Result:
        ctx = await workflow.execute_activity(load_chore_context, ...)
        if ctx.get("status") != "active":
            return <ClassName>Result(notes="chore not active")
        if is_quarantined(ctx):
            # dry-run path — record + decrement, return early
            ...
        params = ctx.get("params", {}) or {}
        resp = await workflow.execute_activity(
            call_self,
            args=[
                "/api/v1/agents/main/task",
                "POST",
                {
                    "task": "Follow the `<skill-slug>` skill precisely. "
                            "Your reply IS the deliverable.",
                    "channel": params.get("channel") or "last",
                    "announce": not params.get("preview_only", False),
                    "at_seconds": 1,
                },
                None,
            ],
            start_to_close_timeout=timedelta(seconds=60),
            retry_policy=RetryPolicy(maximum_attempts=2),
        )
        # record run log + return

Hard constraints (enforced by the dynamic-loader validator):

• Imports only from temporalio.workflow, temporalio.common, src.workflows.chores._base, src.activities.chore_actions, dataclasses, datetime, typing, json.
• Exactly one @workflow.defn class with exactly one @workflow.run method.
• No forbidden names: eval, exec, open, compile, __import__, getattr/setattr/delattr, globals/locals, vars, dir, breakpoint.
• No non-deterministic calls at workflow scope: datetime.now, random.*, uuid.*, time.time.
• Every workflow.execute_activity(<name>, …) must reference a name imported from the allowed modules.

3. Register the chore

self endpoint="/api/v1/chores" method="POST" body={...}:

{
  "slug": "weekly-review",
  "workflow_class_name": "WeeklyReviewWorkflow",
  "python_source": "<full .py source as a string>",
  "schedule": "0 17 * * 5",
  "name": "Weekly review",
  "user_facing_description": "Every Friday 5pm, Alfred synthesises the week.",
  "params": {"preview_only": false},
  "tags": ["weekly", "review"]
}

Endpoint atomic flow: writes the .py to /alfred-data/user-chores/, creates the vault chore/<slug>.md record, creates the Temporal schedule chore-<slug>, restarts alfred-learn to pick up the new template. Rollback on any failure.

4. Test before the first scheduled tick

• self endpoint="/api/v1/chores/<slug>/trigger" method="POST" — fires the workflow once out-of-cycle.
• Watch for completion via self endpoint="/api/v1/workflows" (last run on the workflow type).
• Sir should see the delivery on his channel. If not, inspect the chore run with self endpoint="/api/v1/chores/<slug>" to read the ## Run log section.

Authoring a Pattern B chore

Same POST /api/v1/chores registration. The difference is the Python source — instead of one thin call_self to the agent-task endpoint, compose from the generic activities:

with workflow.unsafe.imports_passed_through():
    from src.workflows.chores._base import (
        load_chore_context, is_quarantined, record_chore_run,
    )
    from src.activities.chore_actions import (
        call_self, call_composio, spawn_subagent,
    )

Then inside run:

1. call_self to fetch data from ctrl-api (events, tasks, matters, integration dispatches).
2. Plain Python to filter/diff/aggregate.
3. call_composio for any third-party action (Gmail send, GitHub PR, Stripe query).
4. spawn_subagent ONLY for the judgement step (if any) — never for straightforward formatting.
5. call_self to /api/v1/notifications to deliver.

Run self endpoint="/api/v1/chore-actions" to see every activity you're allowed to call with their reads/writes/llm metadata.

Editing an existing chore

The single endpoint for in-place edits is PATCH /api/v1/chores/{slug}. It atomically updates any combination of the workflow source, cron schedule, params, workflow class name, or cosmetic fields. Preserves the slug, schedule id, run-log history, and quarantine state.

self endpoint="/api/v1/chores/{slug}" method="PATCH" body={
  "python_source": "<full .py source>",           // optional
  "schedule":      "0 18 * * 5",                   // optional, rewrites the Temporal schedule
  "params":        {"preview_only": false, ...},   // optional, replaces params JSON
  "workflow_class_name": "NewNameWorkflow",       // optional, only with python_source
  "name":          "Weekly review (v2)",          // optional
  "user_facing_description": "...",               // optional
  "tags":          ["weekly", "review"]            // optional
}

Supply at least one field. The endpoint re-validates any new python_source with the same static checks POST uses, and rolls back the vault record + .py file if the Temporal schedule rewrite fails.

Convenience shortcuts for single-field edits (same effect, different shape):

Change	Shortcut
Pause temporarily	self endpoint="/api/v1/chores/{slug}/pause" method="POST"
Resume	self endpoint="/api/v1/chores/{slug}/resume" method="POST"
Fire one run out-of-cycle	self endpoint="/api/v1/chores/{slug}/trigger" method="POST"
Retire the chore	self endpoint="/api/v1/chores/{slug}" method="DELETE" — removes schedule + marks the record completed.
Edit the Pattern A SKILL.md	Read /home/node/.openclaw/workspace/skills/<slug>/SKILL.md with your read tool, rewrite with write, save. No restart needed — next invocation reads the new text. Use this for tone tweaks, new anti-patterns, added worked examples — anything that doesn't change WHAT the chore does, only HOW you do it.

Good behaviour

1. Always write the skill / prose spec first. The skill is the contract. Writing the thin Temporal glue before the skill means you'll hack the skill to fit code instead of writing the behaviour you actually want.
2. Use Pattern A by default for "Alfred says something to Sir" chores. It's simpler, cheaper, uses your actual voice, and lets Sir tune the behaviour by editing text.
3. Use Pattern B when deterministic logic or cost matters. A watcher that runs 2016 times per week should not invoke you 2016 times per week.
4. Confirm with Sir BEFORE registering. Show him the cron expression in plain English ("every Friday at 5pm Budapest time, ok?"), the skill's intent, and the expected delivery channel. A chore is a promise to do something forever — over-commit is worse than no chore.
5. Fire one manual test trigger after registering. The first real scheduled run should never be the first time the chore has actually executed. Trigger once, confirm Sir sees what he expected, then leave it.
6. Never auto-register a recurring chore without Sir's explicit ask. If you notice a pattern worth automating, propose it in conversation. Don't just build it.

Examples

Sir: "Set up a daily 5pm recap of what I got done today." → Pattern A. Draft alfred-daily-recap skill (gather via self events + vault activity, synthesise in butler voice, deliver). Confirm cadence "daily 17:00 Europe/Budapest, via your main Slack?". Write skill + thin workflow. POST /api/v1/chores with cron 0 17 * * *. Trigger once. Done.

Sir: "Every Monday morning, check if any of my Stripe customers downgraded over the weekend and flag anything suspicious." → Pattern B. Composio GMAIL or STRIPE fetch via call_composio, diff against /alfred-data/chore-snapshots/<slug>.json with load/save_subscription_snapshot-style logic, spawn_subagent only when there are suspicious diffs, deliver via /api/v1/notifications. POST /api/v1/chores with cron 0 9 * * 1.

Sir: "Change the morning briefing to fire at 6am instead of 5:30." → self endpoint="/api/v1/schedules/chore-daily-morning-briefing/rewrite-cron" method="POST" body={"cron":"0 5 * * *"} (6am Budapest = 05:00 UTC). Confirm with Sir the new time is what he meant.

Sir: "The briefing is too long, make it shorter." → Read skills/alfred-daily-briefing/SKILL.md, tighten the structure section ("2–3 paragraphs" → "1–2 sentences plus a closing line"), save. No code change needed.