review-bot/SKILL.md

Dev-Loop Skill: review-bot

This file documents the dev-loop architecture for the review-bot project. It lives in the repo so changes are version-controlled alongside the code.

Architecture

Dispatch is a pure shell script — no model reasoning.

Cron (agentTurn, toolsAllow: [exec, sessions_spawn, read])
  → runs dispatch script
  → reads output for SPAWN or HANDOFF lines
  → spawns worker if instructed

Dispatch script  (~/.openclaw/workspace/scripts/dev-loop-dispatch.sh)
  → pure bash, all decisions are curl API calls + branches
  → exits after emitting one SPAWN line (at most one worker per run)
  → emits HANDOFF for each qualifying PR (does not exit after HANDOFF)

Workers (Opus, spawned by cron model)
  → receive precise task description
  → do one job: self-review, fix CI, address feedback, or implement
  → remove wip label when done, reply NO_REPLY

The cron model's only job: run script, read output, spawn worker if told to. The model never assesses project state or makes dispatch decisions.

Safety Invariants

1. NEVER MERGE — no merge API call exists anywhere in the script or worker templates
2. REQUEST_CHANGES always blocks — checked first, before CI, before self-review, before handoff
3. WIP mutex — one active worker per repo; WIP label gates new issue pickup
4. One SPAWN per run — script emits at most one SPAWN line per execution
5. set -euo pipefail — any curl failure aborts immediately, no partial actions
6. Workers reply NO_REPLY — no dispatch-level side effects (workers may push changes and manage labels as part of their task)

Dispatch Rules (in order)

Rule	Condition	Action
0	WIP label > 1hr old	Remove stale WIP, continue
0b	WIP label ≤ 1hr old	Mark ACTIVE_WIP=1, continue (only gates Rule 10)
(1)	(reserved — intentionally unused)	—
2	Any reviewer has REQUEST_CHANGES	SPAWN:findings
3	PR not mergeable	SPAWN:rebase
4	CI failure, no fix plan	SPAWN:ci-fix
4b	CI failure, fix plan exists	Skip (worker in progress)
5	Bot review missing	Wait
6	CI pending/unknown	Wait
7	No clean self-review, no fix plan	SPAWN:self-review
7b	Self-review needs attention, no fix plan	SPAWN:sr-fix
8	Unacknowledged bot review findings	SPAWN:address-feedback
9	Unresolved inline diff comments	SPAWN:address-feedback
10	All checks pass	HANDOFF
11	No open PRs + no ACTIVE_WIP	SPAWN:impl (next issue)

Files

File	Description
~/.openclaw/workspace/scripts/dev-loop-dispatch.sh	Dispatch script — pure bash
~/.openclaw/workspace/scripts/worker-tasks/self-review.md	Self-review worker template
~/.openclaw/workspace/scripts/worker-tasks/sr-fix.md	Fix findings from self-review
~/.openclaw/workspace/scripts/worker-tasks/ci-fix.md	CI fix worker template
~/.openclaw/workspace/scripts/worker-tasks/address-feedback.md	Address feedback worker template
~/.openclaw/workspace/scripts/worker-tasks/findings.md	Address REQUEST_CHANGES findings
~/.openclaw/workspace/scripts/worker-tasks/rebase.md	Rebase worker template
~/.openclaw/workspace/scripts/worker-tasks/impl.md	Issue implementation worker template
~/.openclaw/workspace/scripts/test/dispatch.bats	Unit tests (bats)
~/.openclaw/workspace/scripts/test/check-invariants.sh	Static invariant checks
~/.openclaw/workspace/memory/projects/review-bot.yaml	Project config

Project Config

Config is at ~/.openclaw/workspace/memory/projects/review-bot.yaml.

Key fields:

• repo: rodin/review-bot
• api_base: https://gitea.weiker.me/api/v1
• user: rodin (bot Gitea username)
• labels.wip: WIP label ID
• labels.ready: ready label ID
• review_bots: list of bot sentinel names

Cron Config

- label: review-bot-dev-loop
  schedule: "*/15 * * * *"
  prompt: |
    Run: bash ~/.openclaw/workspace/scripts/dev-loop-dispatch.sh review-bot

    Read the output. If it contains a SPAWN line, load the matching template from
    ~/.openclaw/workspace/scripts/worker-tasks/<type>.md, substitute {{PROJECT}},
    {{PR_NUM}}, and {{HEAD_SHA}}, then spawn with sessions_spawn(mode: "run",
    model: "hai-anthropic/anthropic--claude-4.6-opus", thinking: "high").

    If no SPAWN line in output, reply NO_REPLY.

    See ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/dev-loop/SKILL.md for full instructions.
    (This repo's SKILL.md is deployed to that workspace path.)
  model: hai-anthropic/anthropic--claude-4.5-haiku
  toolsAllow: [exec, sessions_spawn, read]

Tests

# Unit tests (no real API calls):
bats ~/.openclaw/workspace/scripts/test/dispatch.bats

# Invariant checks (static analysis):
bash ~/.openclaw/workspace/scripts/test/check-invariants.sh

# Dry-run against real API:
DRY_RUN=1 bash ~/.openclaw/workspace/scripts/dev-loop-dispatch.sh review-bot

Related Issues

• #144 — autonomous merge: eliminated by removing all merge API calls from dispatch
• #145 — merged despite REQUEST_CHANGES: eliminated by checking REQUEST_CHANGES first, unconditionally
• #148 — this redesign

Spec

Full design spec: docs/dev-loop-spec.md