Self-Improvement Skill

---

name: self-improvement

description: "Captures learnings, errors, and corrections to enable continuous improvement. Use when: (1) A command or operation fails unexpectedly, (2) User corrects Claude ('No, that's wrong...', 'Actually...'), (3) User requests a capability that doesn't exist, (4) An external API or tool fails, (5) Claude realizes its knowledge is outdated or incorrect, (6) A better approach is discovered for a recurring task. Also review learnings before major tasks."

metadata:

---

# Self-Improvement Skill

Log learnings and errors to markdown files for continuous improvement. Coding agents can later process these into fixes, and important learnings get promoted to project memory.

First-Use Initialisation

Before logging anything, ensure the `.learnings/` directory and files exist in the project or workspace root. If any are missing, create them:

mkdir -p .learnings
[ -f .learnings/LEARNINGS.md ] || printf "# Learnings\n\nCorrections, insights, and knowledge gaps captured during development.\n\n**Categories**: correction | insight | knowledge_gap | best_practice\n\n---\n" > .learnings/LEARNINGS.md
[ -f .learnings/ERRORS.md ] || printf "# Errors\n\nCommand failures and integration errors.\n\n---\n" > .learnings/ERRORS.md
[ -f .learnings/FEATURE_REQUESTS.md ] || printf "# Feature Requests\n\nCapabilities requested by the user.\n\n---\n" > .learnings/FEATURE_REQUESTS.md

Never overwrite existing files. This is a no-op if `.learnings/` is already initialised.

Do not log secrets, tokens, private keys, environment variables, or full source/config files unless the user explicitly asks for that level of detail. Prefer short summaries or redacted excerpts over raw command output or full transcripts.

If you want automatic reminders or setup assistance, use the opt-in hook workflow described in [Hook Integration](#hook-integration).

Quick Reference

| Situation | Action |

|-----------|--------|

| Command/operation fails | Log to `.learnings/ERRORS.md` |

| User corrects you | Log to `.learnings/LEARNINGS.md` with category `correction` |

| User wants missing feature | Log to `.learnings/FEATURE_REQUESTS.md` |

| API/external tool fails | Log to `.learnings/ERRORS.md` with integration details |

| Knowledge was outdated | Log to `.learnings/LEARNINGS.md` with category `knowledge_gap` |

| Found better approach | Log to `.learnings/LEARNINGS.md` with category `best_practice` |

| Simplify/Harden recurring patterns | Log/update `.learnings/LEARNINGS.md` with `Source: simplify-and-harden` and a stable `Pattern-Key` |

| Similar to existing entry | Link with `**See Also**`, consider priority bump |

| Broadly applicable learning | Promote to `CLAUDE.md`, `AGENTS.md`, and/or `.github/copilot-instructions.md` |

| Workflow improvements | Promote to `AGENTS.md` (OpenClaw workspace) |

| Tool gotchas | Promote to `TOOLS.md` (OpenClaw workspace) |

| Behavioral patterns | Promote to `SOUL.md` (OpenClaw workspace) |

OpenClaw Setup (Recommended)

OpenClaw is the primary platform for this skill. It uses workspace-based prompt injection with automatic skill loading.

Installation

**Via ClawdHub (recommended):**

clawdhub install self-improving-agent

**Manual:**

git clone https://github.com/peterskoett/self-improving-agent.git ~/.openclaw/skills/self-improving-agent

Remade for openclaw from original repo : https://github.com/pskoett/pskoett-ai-skills - https://github.com/pskoett/pskoett-ai-skills/tree/main/skills/self-improvement

Workspace Structure

OpenClaw injects these files into every session:

~/.openclaw/workspace/
├── AGENTS.md          # Multi-agent workflows, delegation patterns
├── SOUL.md            # Behavioral guidelines, personality, principles
├── TOOLS.md           # Tool capabilities, integration gotchas
├── MEMORY.md          # Long-term memory (main session only)
├── memory/            # Daily memory files
│   └── YYYY-MM-DD.md
└── .learnings/        # This skill's log files
    ├── LEARNINGS.md
    ├── ERRORS.md
    └── FEATURE_REQUESTS.md

Create Learning Files

mkdir -p ~/.openclaw/workspace/.learnings

Then create the log files (or copy from `assets/`):

Promotion Targets

When learnings prove broadly applicable, promote them to workspace files:

| Learning Type | Promote To | Example |

|---------------|------------|---------|

| Behavioral patterns | `SOUL.md` | "Be concise, avoid disclaimers" |

| Workflow improvements | `AGENTS.md` | "Spawn sub-agents for long tasks" |

| Tool gotchas | `TOOLS.md` | "Git push needs auth configured first" |

Inter-Session Communication

OpenClaw provides tools to share learnings across sessions:

Use these only in trusted environments and only when the user explicitly wants cross-session sharing. Prefer sending a short sanitized summary and relevant file paths, not raw transcripts, secrets, or full command output.

Optional: Enable Hook

For automatic reminders at session start:

# Copy hook to OpenClaw hooks directory
cp -r hooks/openclaw ~/.openclaw/hooks/self-improvement

# Enable it
openclaw hooks enable self-improvement

See `references/openclaw-integration.md` for complete details.

---

Generic Setup (Other Agents)

For Claude Code, Codex, Copilot, or other agents, create `.learnings/` in the project or workspace root:

mkdir -p .learnings

Create the files inline using the headers shown above. Avoid reading templates from the current repo or workspace unless you explicitly trust that path.

Add reference to agent files AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md, or .github/copilot-instructions.md to remind yourself to log learnings. (this is an alternative to hook-based reminders)

#### Self-Improvement Workflow

When errors or corrections occur:

1. Log to `.learnings/ERRORS.md`, `LEARNINGS.md`, or `FEATURE_REQUESTS.md`

2. Review and promote broadly applicable learnings to:

- `CLAUDE.md` - project facts and conventions

- `AGENTS.md` - workflows and automation

- `.github/copilot-instructions.md` - Copilot context

Logging Format

Learning Entry

Append to `.learnings/LEARNINGS.md`:

## [LRN-YYYYMMDD-XXX] category

**Logged**: ISO-8601 timestamp
**Priority**: low | medium | high | critical
**Status**: pending
**Area**: frontend | backend | infra | tests | docs | config

### Summary
One-line description of what was learned

### Details
Full context: what happened, what was wrong, what's correct

### Suggested Action
Specific fix or improvement to make

### Metadata
- Source: conversation | error | user_feedback
- Related Files: path/to/file.ext
- Tags: tag1, tag2
- See Also: LRN-20250110-001 (if related to existing entry)
- Pattern-Key: simplify.dead_code | harden.input_validation (optional, for recurring-pattern tracking)
- Recurrence-Count: 1 (optional)
- First-Seen: 2025-01-15 (optional)
- Last-Seen: 2025-01-15 (optional)

---

Error Entry

Append to `.learnings/ERRORS.md`:

## [ERR-YYYYMMDD-XXX] skill_or_command_name

**Logged**: ISO-8601 timestamp
**Priority**: high
**Status**: pending
**Area**: frontend | backend | infra | tests | docs | config

### Summary
Brief description of what failed

### Error

Actual error message or output

### Context
- Command/operation attempted
- Input or parameters used
- Environment details if relevant
- Summary or redacted excerpt of relevant output (avoid full transcripts and secret-bearing data by default)

### Suggested Fix
If identifiable, what might resolve this

### Metadata
- Reproducible: yes | no | unknown
- Related Files: path/to/file.ext
- See Also: ERR-20250110-001 (if recurring)

---

Feature Request Entry

Append to `.learnings/FEATURE_REQUESTS.md`:

## [FEAT-YYYYMMDD-XXX] capability_name

**Logged**: ISO-8601 timestamp
**Priority**: medium
**Status**: pending
**Area**: frontend | backend | infra | tests | docs | config

### Requested Capability
What the user wanted to do

### User Context
Why they needed it, what problem they're solving

### Complexity Estimate
simple | medium | complex

### Suggested Implementation
How this could be built, what it might extend

### Metadata
- Frequency: first_time | recurring
- Related Features: existing_feature_name

---

ID Generation

Format: `TYPE-YYYYMMDD-XXX`

Examples: `LRN-20250115-001`, `ERR-20250115-A3F`, `FEAT-20250115-002`

Resolving Entries

When an issue is fixed, update the entry:

1. Change `**Status**: pending` → `**Status**: resolved`

2. Add resolution block after Metadata:

### Resolution
- **Resolved**: 2025-01-16T09:00:00Z
- **Commit/PR**: abc123 or #42
- **Notes**: Brief description of what was done

Other status values:

Promoting to Project Memory

When a learning is broadly applicable (not a one-off fix), promote it to permanent project memory.

When to Promote

Promotion Targets

| Target | What Belongs There |

|--------|-------------------|

| `CLAUDE.md` | Project facts, conventions, gotchas for all Claude interactions |

| `AGENTS.md` | Agent-specific workflows, tool usage patterns, automation rules |

| `.github/copilot-instructions.md` | Project context and conventions for GitHub Copilot |

| `SOUL.md` | Behavioral guidelines, communication style, principles (OpenClaw workspace) |

| `TOOLS.md` | Tool capabilities, usage patterns, integration gotchas (OpenClaw workspace) |

How to Promote

1. **Distill** the learning into a concise rule or fact

2. **Add** to appropriate section in target file (create file if needed)

3. **Update** original entry:

- Change `**Status**: pending` → `**Status**: promoted`

- Add `**Promoted**: CLAUDE.md`, `AGENTS.md`, or `.github/copilot-instructions.md`

Promotion Examples

**Learning** (verbose):

> Project uses pnpm workspaces. Attempted `npm install` but failed.

> Lock file is `pnpm-lock.yaml`. Must use `pnpm install`.

**In CLAUDE.md** (concise):

## Build & Dependencies
- Package manager: pnpm (not npm) - use `pnpm install`

**Learning** (verbose):

> When modifying API endpoints, must regenerate TypeScript client.

> Forgetting this causes type mismatches at runtime.

**In AGENTS.md** (actionable):

## After API Changes
1. Regenerate client: `pnpm run generate:api`
2. Check for type errors: `pnpm tsc --noEmit`

Recurring Pattern Detection

If logging something similar to an existing entry:

1. **Search first**: `grep -r "keyword" .learnings/`

2. **Link entries**: Add `**See Also**: ERR-20250110-001` in Metadata

3. **Bump priority** if issue keeps recurring

4. **Consider systemic fix**: Recurring issues often indicate:

- Missing documentation (→ promote to CLAUDE.md or .github/copilot-instructions.md)

- Missing automation (→ add to AGENTS.md)

- Architectural problem (→ create tech debt ticket)

Simplify & Harden Feed

Use this workflow to ingest recurring patterns from the `simplify-and-harden`

skill and turn them into durable prompt guidance.

Ingestion Workflow

1. Read `simplify_and_harden.learning_loop.candidates` from the task summary.

2. For each candidate, use `pattern_key` as the stable dedupe key.

3. Search `.learnings/LEARNINGS.md` for an existing entry with that key:

- `grep -n "Pattern-Key: <pattern_key>" .learnings/LEARNINGS.md`

4. If found:

- Increment `Recurrence-Count`

- Update `Last-Seen`

- Add `See Also` links to related entries/tasks

5. If not found:

- Create a new `LRN-...` entry

- Set `Source: simplify-and-harden`

- Set `Pattern-Key`, `Recurrence-Count: 1`, and `First-Seen`/`Last-Seen`

Promotion Rule (System Prompt Feedback)

Promote recurring patterns into agent context/system prompt files when all are true:

Promotion targets:

Write promoted rules as short prevention rules (what to do before/while coding),

not long incident write-ups.

Periodic Review

Review `.learnings/` at natural breakpoints:

When to Review

Quick Status Check

# Count pending items
grep -h "Status\*\*: pending" .learnings/*.md | wc -l

# List pending high-priority items
grep -B5 "Priority\*\*: high" .learnings/*.md | grep "^## \["

# Find learnings for a specific area
grep -l "Area\*\*: backend" .learnings/*.md

Review Actions

Detection Triggers

Automatically log when you notice:

**Corrections** (→ learning with `correction` category):

**Feature Requests** (→ feature request):

**Knowledge Gaps** (→ learning with `knowledge_gap` category):

**Errors** (→ error entry):

Priority Guidelines

| Priority | When to Use |

|----------|-------------|

| `critical` | Blocks core functionality, data loss risk, security issue |

| `high` | Significant impact, affects common workflows, recurring issue |

| `medium` | Moderate impact, workaround exists |

| `low` | Minor inconvenience, edge case, nice-to-have |

Area Tags

Use to filter learnings by codebase region:

| Area | Scope |

|------|-------|

| `frontend` | UI, components, client-side code |

| `backend` | API, services, server-side code |

| `infra` | CI/CD, deployment, Docker, cloud |

| `tests` | Test files, testing utilities, coverage |

| `docs` | Documentation, comments, READMEs |

| `config` | Configuration files, environment, settings |

Best Practices

1. **Log immediately** - context is freshest right after the issue

2. **Be specific** - future agents need to understand quickly

3. **Include reproduction steps** - especially for errors

4. **Link related files** - makes fixes easier

5. **Suggest concrete fixes** - not just "investigate"

6. **Use consistent categories** - enables filtering

7. **Promote aggressively** - if in doubt, add to CLAUDE.md or .github/copilot-instructions.md

8. **Review regularly** - stale learnings lose value

Gitignore Options

**Keep learnings local** (per-developer):

.learnings/

This repo uses that default to avoid committing sensitive or noisy local logs by accident.

**Track learnings in repo** (team-wide):

Don't add to .gitignore - learnings become shared knowledge.

**Hybrid** (track templates, ignore entries):

.learnings/*.md
!.learnings/.gitkeep

Hook Integration

Enable automatic reminders through agent hooks. This is **opt-in** - you must explicitly configure hooks.

Quick Setup (Claude Code / Codex)

Create `.claude/settings.json` in your project:

{
  "hooks": {
    "UserPromptSubmit": [{
      "matcher": "",
      "hooks": [{
        "type": "command",
        "command": "./skills/self-improvement/scripts/activator.sh"
      }]
    }]
  }
}

This injects a learning evaluation reminder after each prompt (~50-100 tokens overhead).

Advanced Setup (With Error Detection)

{
  "hooks": {
    "UserPromptSubmit": [{
      "matcher": "",
      "hooks": [{
        "type": "command",
        "command": "./skills/self-improvement/scripts/activator.sh"
      }]
    }],
    "PostToolUse": [{
      "matcher": "Bash",
      "hooks": [{
        "type": "command",
        "command": "./skills/self-improvement/scripts/error-detector.sh"
      }]
    }]
  }
}

This is optional. The recommended default is activator-only setup; enable `PostToolUse` only if you are comfortable with hook scripts inspecting command output for error patterns.

Available Hook Scripts

| Script | Hook Type | Purpose |

|--------|-----------|---------|

| `scripts/activator.sh` | UserPromptSubmit | Reminds to evaluate learnings after tasks |

| `scripts/error-detector.sh` | PostToolUse (Bash) | Triggers on command errors |

See `references/hooks-setup.md` for detailed configuration and troubleshooting.

Automatic Skill Extraction

When a learning is valuable enough to become a reusable skill, extract it using the provided helper.

Skill Extraction Criteria

A learning qualifies for skill extraction when ANY of these apply:

| Criterion | Description |

|-----------|-------------|

| **Recurring** | Has `See Also` links to 2+ similar issues |

| **Verified** | Status is `resolved` with working fix |

| **Non-obvious** | Required actual debugging/investigation to discover |

| **Broadly applicable** | Not project-specific; useful across codebases |

| **User-flagged** | User says "save this as a skill" or similar |

Extraction Workflow

1. **Identify candidate**: Learning meets extraction criteria

2. **Run helper** (or create manually):

```bash

./skills/self-improvement/scripts/extract-skill.sh skill-name --dry-run

./skills/self-improvement/scripts/extract-skill.sh skill-name

```

3. **Customize SKILL.md**: Fill in template with learning content

4. **Update learning**: Set status to `promoted_to_skill`, add `Skill-Path`

5. **Verify**: Read skill in fresh session to ensure it's self-contained

Manual Extraction

If you prefer manual creation:

1. Create `skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md`

2. Use template from `assets/SKILL-TEMPLATE.md`

3. Follow [Agent Skills spec](https://agentskills.io/specification):

- YAML frontmatter with `name` and `description`

- Name must match folder name

- No README.md inside skill folder

Extraction Detection Triggers

Watch for these signals that a learning should become a skill:

**In conversation:**

**In learning entries:**

Skill Quality Gates

Before extraction, verify:

Multi-Agent Support

This skill works across different AI coding agents with agent-specific activation.

Claude Code

**Activation**: Hooks (UserPromptSubmit, PostToolUse)

**Setup**: `.claude/settings.json` with hook configuration

**Detection**: Automatic via hook scripts

Codex CLI

**Activation**: Hooks (same pattern as Claude Code)

**Setup**: `.codex/settings.json` with hook configuration

**Detection**: Automatic via hook scripts

GitHub Copilot

**Activation**: Manual (no hook support)

**Setup**: Add to `.github/copilot-instructions.md`:

## Self-Improvement

After solving non-obvious issues, consider logging to `.learnings/`:
1. Use format from self-improvement skill
2. Link related entries with See Also
3. Promote high-value learnings to skills

Ask in chat: "Should I log this as a learning?"

**Detection**: Manual review at session end

OpenClaw

**Activation**: Workspace injection + inter-agent messaging

**Setup**: See "OpenClaw Setup" section above

**Detection**: Via session tools and workspace files

Agent-Agnostic Guidance

Regardless of agent, apply self-improvement when you:

1. **Discover something non-obvious** - solution wasn't immediate

2. **Correct yourself** - initial approach was wrong

3. **Learn project conventions** - discovered undocumented patterns

4. **Hit unexpected errors** - especially if diagnosis was difficult

5. **Find better approaches** - improved on your original solution

Copilot Chat Integration

For Copilot users, add this to your prompts when relevant:

> After completing this task, evaluate if any learnings should be logged to `.learnings/` using the self-improvement skill format.

Or use quick prompts: