Self-Reflection Skill

---

name: self-reflection

slug: agent-self-reflection

version: 1.0.0

description: Periodic self-reflection on recent sessions. Analyzes what went well, what went wrong, and writes concise, actionable insights to the appropriate workspace files. Designed to run as a cron job.

---

# Self-Reflection Skill

Reflect on recent sessions and extract actionable insights. Runs hourly via cron.

Step 1: Gather Recent Sessions

# List sessions active in the last 2 hours
openclaw sessions --active 120 --json

Parse the output to get session keys and IDs. Skip subagent sessions (they're task workers, not interesting for reflection). Focus on:

Step 2: Read Session History

For each interesting session from Step 1, read the JSONL transcript:

# Read the last ~50 lines of each session file (keep it bounded!)
tail -50 ~/.openclaw/agents/main/sessions/<sessionId>.jsonl

**⚠️ CRITICAL: Never load full session files. Use `tail -50` or `Read` with offset/limit. Sessions can be 100k+ tokens.**

Parse the JSONL to understand what happened. Look for:

Step 3: Analyze & Extract Insights

For each session, ask yourself:

What went well?

What went wrong?

Lessons learned?

**Quality bar:** Each insight must be:

Step 4: Route Insights to the Right Files

Each insight belongs somewhere specific. Route them:

→ `AGENTS.md`

→ `TOOLS.md`

→ `memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md` (today's date)

→ `memory/about-user.md`

→ `skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md`

→ `MEMORY.md`

Step 5: Write the Insights

For each insight, append or edit the appropriate file. Use the `Edit` tool for surgical changes to existing content. Use append (write to end) for daily memory files.

**Format for daily memory files:**

## Self-Reflection — HH:MM ET

### Insights
- [source: session-key] Lesson learned here
- [source: session-key] Another insight

### Tool Notes
- Discovered: tool X needs Y configuration

### User Context
- Brenner mentioned interest in Z

Step 6: Summary

After writing all insights, produce a brief summary of what you reflected on and what you wrote. This is your output — keep it to 2-4 sentences max.

If there's nothing interesting to reflect on (quiet period, only heartbeats), just say so. Don't manufacture insights.

Quality Checklist

Before writing any insight:

Anti-Patterns (Don't Do These)