self-improvement

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User requests a capability that doesn't exist, (4) An external API or tool fails, (5) Claude realizes its knowledge is outdated or incorrect, (6) A better approach is discovered for a recurring task. IMPORTANT: Read .learnings/ files at session start to avoid repeating mistakes.
metadata	null

Self-Improvement Skill

Log learnings and errors to markdown files for continuous improvement. Coding agents can later process these into fixes, and important learnings get promoted to project memory.

⚠️ CRITICAL: Session Start Routine

Every session MUST start by reading learning files to avoid repeating mistakes.

OpenClaw Setup (Automatic)

Add this to your AGENTS.md to ensure learnings are loaded every session:

## Every Session

Before doing anything else:

1. Read `SOUL.md` — this is who you are
2. Read `USER.md` — this is who you're helping
3. Read `memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md` (today + yesterday) for recent context
4. **If in MAIN SESSION**: Also read `MEMORY.md`
5. **Read `.learnings/LEARNINGS.md` and `.learnings/ERRORS.md`** — learn from past mistakes!

Don't ask permission. Just do it.

Why This Matters

Without Session Loading	With Session Loading
❌ Repeats same mistakes	✅ Avoids known errors
❌ Forgets optimizations	✅ Applies learned improvements
❌ No continuity	✅ Continuous improvement

---

Quick Reference

Situation	Action
Command/operation fails	Log to .learnings/ERRORS.md
User corrects you	Log to .learnings/LEARNINGS.md with category correction
User wants missing feature	Log to .learnings/FEATURE_REQUESTS.md
API/external tool fails	Log to .learnings/ERRORS.md with integration details
Knowledge was outdated	Log to .learnings/LEARNINGS.md with category knowledge_gap
Found better approach	Log to .learnings/LEARNINGS.md with category best_practice
Broadly applicable learning	Promote to CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, or TOOLS.md

---

Workspace Structure

~/.openclaw/workspace/
├── AGENTS.md          # ⭐ Add session start routine here!
├── SOUL.md            # Behavioral guidelines
├── USER.md            # User preferences
├── TOOLS.md           # Tool configurations
├── MEMORY.md          # Long-term memory
├── memory/            # Daily memory files
│   └── YYYY-MM-DD.md
└── .learnings/        # This skill's log files
    ├── LEARNINGS.md   # Best practices, corrections
    ├── ERRORS.md      # Failures and fixes
    └── FEATURE_REQUESTS.md

---

Installation

Via SkillHub (recommended):

skillhub install self-improving-agent

Manual:

git clone https://github.com/peterskoett/self-improving-agent.git ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/self-improving-agent

Post-Installation Setup

1. Create learning files:

mkdir -p ~/.openclaw/workspace/.learnings
touch ~/.openclaw/workspace/.learnings/LEARNINGS.md
touch ~/.openclaw/workspace/.learnings/ERRORS.md
touch ~/.openclaw/workspace/.learnings/FEATURE_REQUESTS.md

2. Add session start routine to AGENTS.md (see above)

---

Logging Format

Learning Entry

Append to .learnings/LEARNINGS.md:

## [LRN-YYYYMMDD-XXX] category

**Logged**: ISO-8601 timestamp
**Priority**: low | medium | high | critical
**Status**: pending | resolved | promoted
**Area**: frontend | backend | infra | 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

---

Error Entry

Append to .learnings/ERRORS.md:

## [ERR-YYYYMMDD-XXX] skill_or_command_name

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

### Summary
Brief description of what failed

### Error

Actual error message or output

### Context
- Command/operation attempted
- Environment details if relevant

### Suggested Fix
What might resolve this

### Resolution (when fixed)
- **Resolved**: timestamp
- **Notes**: What was done

---

---

Promotion Targets

When learnings prove broadly applicable, promote them:

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	"PDF font path: /usr/share/fonts/..."
User preferences	USER.md	"Show skill usage after each reply"

How to Promote

1. Distill the learning into a concise rule
2. Add to appropriate file
3. Update original entry: **Status**: promoted

---

Detection Triggers

Automatically log when you notice:

Trigger	Action
"No, that's wrong..."	Log as correction
Command fails	Log to ERRORS.md
Found better way	Log as best_practice
User says "remember this"	Log and promote

---

Best Practices

1. Log immediately - context is freshest right after the issue
2. Be specific - future agents need to understand quickly
3. Promote aggressively - if broadly useful, add to workspace files
4. Read at session start - avoid repeating mistakes
5. Link related entries - use See Also for recurring issues

---

Example: Complete Workflow

1. Error Occurs

PDF generated with Chinese text shows as garbled characters

2. Log to ERRORS.md

## [ERR-20260317-001] pdf_font_error

**Logged**: 2026-03-17T09:40:00Z
**Priority**: high
**Status**: pending
**Area**: docs

### Summary
PDF Chinese text shows as garbled characters due to wrong font path

### Error
Font path /usr/share/fonts/truetype/wqy/wqy-zenhei.ttc does not exist

### Suggested Fix
Use correct font path: /usr/share/fonts/wqy-microhei/wqy-microhei.ttc

---

3. Fix Applied, Update Entry

### Resolution
- **Resolved**: 2026-03-17T09:43:00Z
- **Notes**: Corrected font path, PDF now displays Chinese correctly

4. Promote to TOOLS.md

### PDF Generation
- **Chinese font path**: `/usr/share/fonts/wqy-microhei/wqy-microhei.ttc`

5. Update Learning Status

**Status**: promoted

---

Summary

Step	Action
1️⃣	Session Start: Read .learnings/ files
2️⃣	On Error: Log to ERRORS.md
3️⃣	On Learning: Log to LEARNINGS.md
4️⃣	When Fixed: Update status to resolved
5️⃣	When Broad: Promote to workspace files

---

For full documentation, see the original SKILL.md or visit: https://github.com/peterskoett/self-improving-agent