| name | reactor |
| description | Route coding and engineering tasks to Claude Code (the Reactor) via the bridge |
| tags | ["coding","debugging","engineering","bridge","reactor"] |
| version | 1.0.0 |
Reactor — Claude Code Bridge
Route coding, debugging, and engineering tasks to the Reactor (Claude Code on the host).
When to use
- Code changes that need file edits, debugging, or system work
- Tasks too complex for impulse-tier agents
- Anything requiring access to host files, Docker config, or the OpenClaw codebase
How it works
The Reactor is Claude Code running on the host. It has full access to the OpenClaw deployment, configs, scripts, and codebase. Tasks are sent via the bridge — a file-based handoff.
Usage
Send a task:
bash: ~/.openclaw/scripts/bridge.sh send "reactor" "Fix the webhook handler" --priority normal --desc "The handler at scripts/webhook.sh is returning 500 on POST requests. Error in logs: permission denied on /tmp/webhook.lock"
Check if the reactor has finished:
bash: ~/.openclaw/scripts/bridge.sh status
Parameters
- subject: Short task title (required)
- --desc: Full description with context, error messages, file paths (required for good results)
- --priority:
low, normal, high, urgent
- --files: JSON array of relevant file paths
After Sending a Task
- Tell Captain/Relay: "Reactor task submitted — check #ops-reactor for progress."
- The reactor streams progress markers to #ops-reactor as it works.
- When the reactor finishes, it posts a completion embed to #ops-reactor.
- On your next heartbeat, check results:
bridge.sh check <your-agent-id>
- Read the result from the outbox and relay it back through Captain.
Do NOT poll in a tight loop. The reactor posts progress to Discord — Robert can watch there.
Task Scoping & Chunked Execution
The Reactor enforces a 5-minute wall-clock chunk limit per task. This prevents waste — if something goes wrong, at most 5 minutes of compute is lost, not 30.
How chunking works:
- Each task runs for up to 5 minutes of wall-clock time.
- If time expires mid-work, the Reactor captures partial output and automatically creates a continuation task (chunk 2, 3, etc.) that picks up where it left off.
- Up to 6 chunks (30 minutes total) are allowed per task chain. After that, the task fails with all prior progress preserved.
- A successful completion at any chunk ends the chain — no unnecessary continuations.
What this means for you:
- You can send tasks that need up to ~30 minutes — the Reactor handles chunking automatically.
- Progress is never lost to timeouts or interruptions.
- Chunk progress is posted to #ops-reactor so Robert can follow along.
- You'll see statuses:
chunked (continuing), completed (done), failed (gave up).
Still scope well: Smaller, focused tasks finish in one chunk and produce better results:
- Include error messages, file paths, what you've already tried, what the expected outcome is.
- Always include enough context so the reactor doesn't have to discover things from scratch.
Bad: "Fix everything in the relay workspace"
Good: "Fix the embed color in /root/.openclaw/workspace-relay/scripts/post-status.sh — currently sends 0x000000 (black), should use 0x58B9FF (brand blue)"
Autonomy Policy
The Reactor operates under a confidence-based autonomy policy:
- No direct human contact. The Reactor never asks the human (Robert) for clarification directly. If it needs more info, it returns a clarification question as its result — you (the requesting agent) relay it.
- High confidence + reversible = auto-proceed. If the Reactor is >=80% confident and the action is reversible (file edits, reads, non-destructive commands), it proceeds without asking.
- Low confidence or irreversible = stop and ask. If confidence is <80% or the action is hard to reverse (force-push, config overwrite, infra change), the Reactor stops and returns one concise clarification question.
- Serialized lane. One task at a time: request -> result -> next request. Don't batch multiple tasks into one send.
What this means for you: If you get a clarification question back instead of a result, answer it and re-send the task with the additional context.
Tips
- Be specific. Include error messages, file paths, and what you've already tried.
- The reactor works from
/root/.openclaw/ — use paths relative to that or absolute paths.
- The reactor has unlimited power (flat-rate plan) — don't hesitate to send complex tasks.
- The reactor can search the Chartroom for known fixes before debugging from scratch.
- Results include a duration field so you can gauge how long similar tasks take.
Example tasks
- "Debug why model-health-monitor isn't posting to ops-alerts"
- "Write a new skill for the Scribe agent that summarizes GitHub PRs"
- "Fix the Discord embed formatting in the relay workspace"
- "Create a deployment script for static sites"
Intent: Resourceful [I07]. Purpose: [P-TBD].
