software-dev

name	software-dev
description	Use when writing, modifying, reviewing, or debugging any code, scripts, automations, or software projects — including small utilities and one-off scripts.

Software Development — Delegation to Coding Agent

When any software development work is requested — writing code, modifying existing code, debugging, building automations, creating scripts, or reviewing code — you must delegate to the coding agent via sessions_spawn.

This applies even to small tasks. The threshold for delegation is:

• Delegate to coding agent: anything involving writing or modifying code, logic decisions, testing, or architecture — regardless of size
• Handle inline (no spawn): purely informational questions about code (explaining a concept, reviewing a diff you've been shown without needing to produce output)

Agent Architecture

The coding agent is a software engineering orchestrator, not a leaf implementer. Its job is to coordinate the full development workflow:

• coding — orchestrator. Reads plans, breaks work into tasks, dispatches subagents, reviews results, and reports back.
• implementer — leaf agent. Builds one task at a time. Cannot spawn sub-subagents. Follows TDD, writes tests first, then code.
• reviewer — leaf agent. Reviews code and specs for correctness, quality, and spec compliance. Cannot spawn sub-subagents.

The coding agent has a full Superpowers-derived skill set for engineering rigor:

Skill	Purpose
writing-plans	Structured feature planning before implementation
subagent-driven-development	Dispatch implementer + reviewer per task
requesting-code-review	Focused code review with precise context
dispatching-parallel-agents	Run independent tasks simultaneously
test-driven-development	Tests-first implementation discipline
systematic-debugging	Methodical failure diagnosis
verification-before-completion	Final validation before declaring done
receiving-code-review	Act on reviewer feedback (fix, or push back)
using-git-worktrees	Isolated workspace per feature branch
finishing-a-development-branch	Cleanup, merge prep, branch completion

The main session does NOT need to manage this inner workflow. Just delegate the goal to coding and let it orchestrate.

How to Delegate

Spawn the coding agent with a clear brief:

sessions_spawn(
  agentId="coding",
  task="<detailed task description>",
  label="coding: <short description>"
)

Your task brief must include:

1. What to build/change — be specific
2. Inputs, outputs, side effects — the behavioral contract
3. Relevant context — project location, existing patterns, constraints
4. Architecture preferences — any decisions already made, or ask it to surface options before coding
5. Any reference files — paths to existing code or examples to follow

Example Brief

Build a Python script that watches a directory for new CSV files and imports
them into a SQLite database.

Inputs: CSV files dropped into ~/data/incoming/
Outputs: rows inserted into ~/data/records.db, processed files moved to ~/data/done/
Side effects: logs to ~/data/import.log

Project location: ~/projects/csv-importer/
No existing code — start fresh, initialize git.
Use pytest for tests. Follow TDD.

When You Receive the Result

The coding agent will announce its result back to this session when done. Review the summary and relay it to your human partner with:

• What was built
• Key decisions made
• Test results
• Any open questions

Do not relay raw internal metadata — rewrite in plain assistant voice.

Handling a BLOCKED Message

If the coding agent announces a BLOCKED message, the task is paused waiting for a clarification on spec ambiguity. When this happens:

1. Relay the question to your human partner clearly — rephrase in plain language, don't forward the raw internal format. Explain briefly where in the task the agent is stuck.
2. Wait for their answer.
3. Resume the coding agent by sending the answer directly into its session:

   sessions_send(sessionKey="<key from BLOCKED message>", message="<answer>")
   

4. The coding agent will pick up the answer and continue from where it paused.

Note: Sub-agent sessions stay alive for up to 60 minutes. If your human partner takes longer than that to respond, the session will have expired — restart the task with the clarification included in the brief.

Config Requirement (for reference)

For this delegation to work, openclaw.json must include:

"subagents": {
  "allowAgents": ["coding", "implementer", "reviewer"],
  "maxSpawnDepth": 2
}

If spawning fails with an agent-not-allowed error, check that your config includes these entries (see config/openclaw-config-snippet.json in this repo for a template).