goal-opencode

Codex-style long-running goal mode for OpenCode, with a sidebar widget that surfaces the active goal in the TUI.

Features

• /goal <objective> starts a goal-bound session. The plugin keeps prompting the model until the goal is achieved, paused, or cleared.
• Sidebar widget shows the active goal: objective, status, and elapsed time.
• Auto-clear on completion: when the model emits ::GOAL_DONE:: after update_goal succeeds, the goal is cleared silently and continuation stops.
• Interrupt-aware: pressing Esc while the model is responding pauses the goal and freezes auto-continuation. The next user message resumes it.
• Hard cap: 3 consecutive idle continuations auto-pause the goal so it does not loop forever.
• Compaction-aware: the active objective and completion protocol are re-injected into the compaction prompt, so goals survive context compaction on long sessions.
• Per-worktree state, persisted to disk. Goals survive restarts.

How It Works

When you set a goal with /goal <objective>, the plugin enters a continuation loop:

1. Goal injection: every model turn receives the objective as system context, so the model stays anchored to it across long sessions.
2. Auto-continuation: after each model reply, the plugin checks whether progress was made. If the model stops without finishing, the plugin sends a continuation prompt automatically.
3. Completion detection: the model has access to an update_goal({ status: "complete" }) tool. Once called and followed by the ::GOAL_DONE:: marker, the goal is cleared silently.
4. Interrupt handling: pressing Esc pauses the goal as interrupted. Your next message resumes it. Use /goal pause for a manual pause that requires /goal resume.
5. Stagnation guard: 3 consecutive idle continuations auto-pause the goal so it never loops forever.

State is persisted per-worktree, so goals survive crashes, restarts, and TUI reloads.

Install

Requires OpenCode >= 1.16 (built against @opencode-ai/plugin 1.17.x and @opentui/* 0.3.4+/0.4.x). For older OpenCode releases, pin @martsallan/[email protected].

Install locally for the current OpenCode project:

opencode plugin @martsallan/goal-opencode

Install globally:

opencode plugin -g @martsallan/goal-opencode

OpenCode detects both package entrypoints and writes the plugin into the server and TUI config targets.

Manual Config

If you configure it manually, add the package to both config files.

opencode.json:

{
  "plugin": ["@martsallan/goal-opencode"]
}

tui.json:

{
  "plugin": ["@martsallan/goal-opencode"]
}

Commands

| Command | Effect | | --- | --- | | /goal <objective> | Set or replace the active goal and start auto-continuation. | | /goal append <text> | Append additional context to the current goal. | | /goal pause | Pause the goal manually. Stays paused until /goal resume. | | /goal resume | Resume a paused goal. | | /goal clear | Drop the current goal entirely. | | /goal | Print the current goal summary. |

Tool exposed to the model

• update_goal({ status: "complete" }) — must be called once the model has audited completion against the objective. After it returns, the model is expected to emit ::GOAL_DONE:: on the final line of its reply, which triggers an automatic clear.

Behaviour cheatsheet

| Situation | Result | | --- | --- | | Esc / Ctrl+C while model is replying | Goal → paused (interrupted). Sidebar reflects it. Next user message auto-resumes. | | Plugin (re)load with a goal still active | Treated as a crashed previous session: demoted to paused (interrupted). Same auto-resume rule applies. | | /goal pause (manual) | Goal → paused (manual). Requires /goal resume, no auto-resume. | | 3 consecutive idle continuations | Goal auto-paused as manual. Toast: Goal stalled after 3 idle continuations — paused. Use /goal resume to retry. | | Model emits ::GOAL_DONE:: after update_goal | Goal cleared silently. |

State

Goal state is stored as JSON under:

$XDG_STATE_HOME/goal-opencode/scope_<sha256-16>/sessions.json

Falling back to ~/.local/state/goal-opencode/... when XDG_STATE_HOME is unset. The scope is the git worktree (or current directory). Override with the GOAL_OPENCODE_STATE_FILE environment variable.

Sidebar

The TUI plugin renders a panel for the current session showing:

• Objective (truncated)
• Status (Active / Paused / Complete)
• Elapsed time, ticking every second while active

The status line carries the pause reason when relevant: Paused (interrupted — next message resumes) or Paused (manual).

Open the command palette and run Goal for a larger dialog with the same fields.

License

MIT