Slack Subagent Card

Slack status cards for OpenClaw sub-agent work.

This plugin posts a Block Kit plan card into the originating Slack thread when a sub-agent is spawned, then updates that card as the work completes or fails.

Current Phase

This repo is currently at Phase 1: richer sub-agent lifecycle cards.

What Phase 1 includes:

• Posts a thread-scoped card when a sub-agent starts.
• Shows a clearer running state with both details and output.
• Updates to a completed state when a completion delivery target is reached.
• Updates to terminal states for error, timeout, killed, reset, and deleted.
• Preserves per-account Slack client selection for multi-account setups.
• Stays presentation-only: it does not wake parent sessions, enqueue system events, or perform orchestration logic.

Hook Surface

The plugin currently uses these OpenClaw hooks:

• subagent_spawned
• subagent_delivery_target
• subagent_ended

The intended behavior is:

• subagent_spawned posts the initial card.
• subagent_delivery_target marks completion early only for runs with expectsCompletionMessage=true.
• subagent_ended finalizes the card for terminal outcomes and cleans up tracked state.

Why This Stays A Plugin

This plugin is meant to be a Slack UI enhancement, not a core orchestration feature.

Core OpenClaw should own:

• sub-agent completion routing
• sessions_yield semantics
• wake / resume behavior
• thread preservation and delivery correctness

This plugin should only own:

• posting a Slack status card
• updating that card as lifecycle events arrive
• presenting useful, user-facing progress context in-thread

Roadmap

Phase 1

Richer sub-agent cards.

• Better running copy
• Better completion copy
• Better error/timeout/reset/deleted copy
• Cleaner packaging / manifest alignment

Phase 2

Optional richer sub-agent detail payloads.

Possible additions:

• high-level tool/activity summaries in output
• optional sources when sub-agents produce web/doc results
• more structured terminal summaries

Phase 3

Optional main-agent activity cards.

Potential direction:

• expand from subagents_only into a broader agent activity card
• show long-running tool work in the same Slack thread
• surface “what the agent is doing” while a turn is in progress

Phase 4

Multi-task plans.

Potential direction:

• render several concurrent sub-agents or agent steps inside one plan
• show multiple tasks for one thread instead of a single status line

Current Limitations

• This plugin does not yet stream intermediate sub-agent progress.
• It does not currently attach Slack sources links to cards.
• It does not yet provide a config flag to expand beyond sub-agent usage.
• Full compile/build validation requires the plugin dependencies to be installed locally.

Package Notes

• Manifest: openclaw.plugin.json
• Entrypoint: index.ts
• Package metadata includes openclaw.extensions, openclaw.compat, and openclaw.build.

Suggested Next Step

If continuing the roadmap, the next high-value improvement is:

1. add optional richer completion/output text for sub-agents
2. then add a config flag for broader activity-card usage