ACP Harness Router

When user intent is "run this in Pi/Claude Code/Codex/OpenCode/Gemini/Kimi (ACP harness)", do not use subagent runtime or PTY scraping. Route through ACP-aware flows.

Intent detection

Trigger this skill when the user asks OpenClaw to:

• run something in Pi / Claude Code / Codex / OpenCode / Gemini
• continue existing harness work
• relay instructions to an external coding harness
• keep an external harness conversation in a thread-like conversation

Mandatory preflight for coding-agent thread requests:

• Before creating any thread for Pi/Claude/Codex/OpenCode/Gemini work, read this skill first in the same turn.
• After reading, follow

  OpenClaw ACP runtime path

  below; do not use

  message(action="thread-create")

  for ACP harness thread spawn.

Mode selection

Choose one of these paths:

1. OpenClaw ACP runtime path (default): use

   sessions_spawn

   / ACP runtime tools.
2. Direct

   acpx

   path (telephone game): use

   acpx

   CLI through

   exec

   to drive the harness session directly.

Use direct

acpx

when one of these is true:

• user explicitly asks for direct

  acpx

  driving
• ACP runtime/plugin path is unavailable or unhealthy
• the task is "just relay prompts to harness" and no OpenClaw ACP lifecycle features are needed

Do not use:

• subagents

  runtime for harness control

• /acp

  command delegation as a requirement for the user
• PTY scraping of pi/claude/codex/opencode/gemini/kimi CLIs when

  acpx

  is available

AgentId mapping

Use these defaults when user names a harness directly:

• "pi" ->

  agentId: "pi"

• "claude" or "claude code" ->

  agentId: "claude"

• "codex" ->

  agentId: "codex"

• "opencode" ->

  agentId: "opencode"

• "gemini" or "gemini cli" ->

  agentId: "gemini"

• "kimi" or "kimi cli" ->

  agentId: "kimi"

These defaults match current acpx built-in aliases.

If policy rejects the chosen id, report the policy error clearly and ask for the allowed ACP agent id.

OpenClaw ACP runtime path

Required behavior:

1. For ACP harness thread spawn requests, read this skill first in the same turn before calling tools.
2. Use

   sessions_spawn

   with:

   • runtime: "acp"

   • thread: true

   • mode: "session"

     (unless user explicitly wants one-shot)
3. For ACP harness thread creation, do not use

   message

   with

   action=thread-create

   ;

   sessions_spawn

   is the only thread-create path.
4. Put requested work in

   task

   so the ACP session gets it immediately.
5. Set

   agentId

   explicitly unless ACP default agent is known.
6. Do not ask user to run slash commands or CLI when this path works directly.

Example:

User: "spawn a test codex session in thread and tell it to say hi"

Call:

{
  "task": "Say hi.",
  "runtime": "acp",
  "agentId": "codex",
  "thread": true,
  "mode": "session"
}

Thread spawn recovery policy

When the user asks to start a coding harness in a thread (for example "start a codex/claude/pi/kimi thread"), treat that as an ACP runtime request and try to satisfy it end-to-end.

Required behavior when ACP backend is unavailable:

1. Do not immediately ask the user to pick an alternate path.
2. First attempt automatic local repair:
   • ensure plugin-local pinned acpx is installed in

     extensions/acpx

   • verify

     ${ACPX_CMD} --version

3. After reinstall/repair, restart the gateway and explicitly offer to run that restart for the user.
4. Retry ACP thread spawn once after repair.
5. Only if repair+retry fails, report the concrete error and then offer fallback options.

When offering fallback, keep ACP first:

• Option 1: retry ACP spawn after showing exact failing step
• Option 2: direct acpx telephone-game flow

Do not default to subagent runtime for these requests.

ACPX install and version policy (direct acpx path)

For this repo, direct

acpx

calls must follow the same pinned policy as the

@openclaw/acpx

extension.

1. Prefer plugin-local binary, not global PATH:

   • ./extensions/acpx/node_modules/.bin/acpx

2. Resolve pinned version from extension dependency:

   • node -e "console.log(require('./extensions/acpx/package.json').dependencies.acpx)"

3. If binary is missing or version mismatched, install plugin-local pinned version:

   • cd extensions/acpx && npm install --omit=dev --no-save acpx@<pinnedVersion>

4. Verify before use:

   • ./extensions/acpx/node_modules/.bin/acpx --version

5. If install/repair changed ACPX artifacts, restart the gateway and offer to run the restart.
6. Do not run

   npm install -g acpx

   unless the user explicitly asks for global install.

Set and reuse:

ACPX_CMD="./extensions/acpx/node_modules/.bin/acpx"

Direct acpx path ("telephone game")

Use this path to drive harness sessions without

/acp

or subagent runtime.

Rules

1. Use

   exec

   commands that call

   ${ACPX_CMD}

   .
2. Reuse a stable session name per conversation so follow-up prompts stay in the same harness context.
3. Prefer

   --format quiet

   for clean assistant text to relay back to user.
4. Use

   exec

   (one-shot) only when the user wants one-shot behavior.
5. Keep working directory explicit (

   --cwd

   ) when task scope depends on repo context.

Session naming

Use a deterministic name, for example:

• oc-<harness>-<conversationId>

Where

conversationId

is thread id when available, otherwise channel/conversation id.

Command templates

Persistent session (create if missing, then prompt):

${ACPX_CMD} codex sessions show oc-codex-<conversationId> \
  || ${ACPX_CMD} codex sessions new --name oc-codex-<conversationId>

${ACPX_CMD} codex -s oc-codex-<conversationId> --cwd <workspacePath> --format quiet "<prompt>"

One-shot:

${ACPX_CMD} codex exec --cwd <workspacePath> --format quiet "<prompt>"

Cancel in-flight turn:

${ACPX_CMD} codex cancel -s oc-codex-<conversationId>

Close session:

${ACPX_CMD} codex sessions close oc-codex-<conversationId>

Harness aliases in acpx

• pi

• claude

• codex

• opencode

• gemini

• kimi

Built-in adapter commands in acpx

Defaults are:

• pi -> npx pi-acp

• claude -> npx -y @zed-industries/claude-agent-acp

• codex -> npx @zed-industries/codex-acp

• opencode -> npx -y opencode-ai acp

• gemini -> gemini

• kimi -> kimi acp

If

~/.acpx/config.json

overrides

agents

, those overrides replace defaults.

Failure handling

• acpx: command not found

  :
  • for thread-spawn ACP requests, install plugin-local pinned acpx in

    extensions/acpx

    immediately
  • restart gateway after install and offer to run the restart automatically
  • then retry once
  • do not ask for install permission first unless policy explicitly requires it
  • do not install global

    acpx

    unless explicitly requested
• adapter command missing (for example

  claude-agent-acp

  not found):
  • for thread-spawn ACP requests, first restore built-in defaults by removing broken

    ~/.acpx/config.json

    agent overrides
  • then retry once before offering fallback
  • if user wants binary-based overrides, install exactly the configured adapter binary

• NO_SESSION

  : run

  ${ACPX_CMD} <agent> sessions new --name <sessionName>

  then retry prompt.
• queue busy: either wait for completion (default) or use

  --no-wait

  when async behavior is explicitly desired.

Output relay

When relaying to user, return the final assistant text output from

acpx

command result. Avoid relaying raw local tool noise unless user asked for verbose logs.