Self-Improvement Pipeline
Fix what's safe. Propose what's not. Founders approve before morning.
Overview
A single nightly job where each field agent:
- Reviews the day's transcripts and identifies mistakes
- Auto-applies safe fixes (additive knowledge, memory, checklists)
- Sends proposals for risky fixes to founders for approval
- Founders check off approvals whenever they see them (night or morning)
- Agent implements approved changes on next run
No morning report phase needed — everything happens in one pass.
Two-Tier Fix System
Tier 1: Auto-Apply (No Approval Needed)
These are additive, low-risk changes that can't break anything:
| Fix Type | Example |
|----------|---------|
| Add knowledge to memory | Fill a pricing gap in memory/core/products.md |
| Add checklist items to HEARTBEAT.md | "Check voice.md before composing" |
| Update TOOLS.md notes | Correct a tool usage pattern |
| Add entries to knowledge base | New FAQ answer in clients/{name}/kb/ |
| Log corrections/insights | Via agentic-learning system |
Rule: If it only ADDS information and doesn't change behavior logic, auto-apply it.
Tier 2: Propose-and-Wait (Needs Founder Approval)
These change how the agent behaves and need a human check:
| Fix Type | Example | |----------|---------| | Skill logic changes | Modifying workflow steps in a SKILL.md | | SOUL.md updates | Adjusting personality or behavioral rules | | Brand profile changes | Updating voice dimensions or tone | | AGENTS.md workflow changes | Changing when/how the agent does things | | Shared skill modifications | Anything other agents also use | | Deleting or replacing content | Removing existing rules or procedures |
Rule: If it changes behavior, the agent proposes — founders decide.
Nightly Job Process
Step 1: Review Transcripts
Read these for today's activity:
memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md— daily activity logmemory/learning/corrections/— corrections received todaymemory/learning/insights/— insights logged today- Session transcripts (via
sessions_historyif available)
Step 2: Identify Issues
Look for:
| Category | Signal | |----------|--------| | Mistakes | User corrections, failed tasks, wrong outputs | | Missed Knowledge | Had the info but didn't use it | | Capability Gaps | Requests the agent couldn't handle | | Drift | Behavior diverging from SOUL.md or brand profile | | Process Failures | Workflows that broke or were skipped |
For each issue, identify root cause:
- Knowledge gap → Tier 1 fix (add to memory)
- Skill/workflow bug → Tier 2 fix (propose change)
- Missing procedure → Tier 2 fix (propose new workflow)
- Behavioral drift → Tier 2 fix (propose SOUL.md update)
- Config issue → Tier 1 or 2 depending on scope
Step 3: Apply Tier 1 Fixes
Implement all safe, additive fixes immediately:
- Git commit each change:
[self-improvement] <description> - Log in
memory/improvement-logs/YYYY-MM-DD.md
Step 4: Send Tier 2 Proposals to Founders
Send a full nightly report to founders covering BOTH tiers — so founders can review everything and decide what to roll out to other agents.
🔧 **Nightly Improvement Report — {agent_name} ({date})**
**Issues found:** {n} | **Auto-applied:** {n} ✅ | **Needs approval:** {n} ⏳
---
## ✅ Tier 1 — Auto-Applied (Safe Fixes)
### 1. {Short description}
- **What went wrong:** {1-2 sentences}
- **Fix applied:** {file} — {what changed}
- **Git commit:** {hash}
- **🚀 Recommend for all agents?** Yes / No — {why}
### 2. {Short description}
...
## ⏳ Tier 2 — Proposals (Needs Your Approval)
### 1. {Short description}
- **What went wrong:** {1-2 sentences}
- **Proposed change:** {file} — {what to change}
- **Current:** {what it says now}
- **Proposed:** {what it should say}
- **Why:** {reasoning}
- **🚀 Recommend for all agents?** Yes / No — {why}
### 2. {Short description}
...
## 🔄 Coherence Check
- **Identity alignment:** ✅/❌
- **Brand voice:** ✅/❌
- **Regressions:** None / {details}
## 📊 Patterns
{Recurring issues, or "No patterns yet — first day of tracking"}
Use inline buttons for Tier 2 approvals:
buttons: [[{text: "✅ Approve All", callback_data: "approve_all_improvements"}, {text: "❌ Review First", callback_data: "review_improvements"}]]
Key: Each fix (Tier 1 and Tier 2) includes a "Recommend for all agents?" flag. This helps founders quickly spot fixes worth rolling out team-wide vs. fixes that are agent-specific.
Write to Notion
After sending the Telegram message, also write the full report to Notion for persistent tracking:
- Notion page: Self-Improvement Pipeline — Nightly Agent Review (
30b7a723-4ce4-8136-9665-d99c809bf239) - Append a new toggle heading block for each nightly report:
{agent_name} — {YYYY-MM-DD} - Inside the toggle: full report content (Tier 1 fixes, Tier 2 proposals, coherence results, patterns)
- This creates a searchable history of all improvements across all agents
Step 5: Coherence Check
After implementing Tier 1 fixes:
- Re-read SOUL.md — do changes align with identity?
- Re-read brand profile — do changes maintain voice?
- Check for contradictions with existing rules
- If regression detected → revert and move to Tier 2 proposal
Step 6: Commit & Log
git add -A
git commit -m "[self-improvement] {date} — {n} auto-fixes, {n} proposals sent"
Write full log to memory/improvement-logs/YYYY-MM-DD.md using the template.
Handling Founder Responses
When a founder approves a proposal:
- Implement the change
- Run coherence check
- Git commit with
[self-improvement] approved: <description> - Confirm to founder: "✅ Implemented: {description}"
When a founder rejects:
- Log the rejection and reason in improvement log
- Don't implement — mark as closed
- Confirm: "Got it, won't make that change."
Unchecked proposals after 48 hours → remind founders once, then archive.
Cron Setup
One cron job per field agent, added during onboarding:
openclaw cron add \
--cron "0 23 * * *" \
--tz "{agent_timezone}" \
--session isolated \
--name "Self-Improvement: Nightly Review" \
--message "Run self-improvement pipeline:
1. Read today's memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md and memory/learning/ entries
2. Review session transcripts for mistakes, corrections, missed opportunities
3. For each issue: classify as Tier 1 (safe/additive) or Tier 2 (behavioral change)
4. Auto-apply all Tier 1 fixes, git commit each one
5. Send Tier 2 proposals to founders with reasoning
6. Run coherence check on all Tier 1 changes
7. Write improvement log to memory/improvement-logs/YYYY-MM-DD.md
8. Do NOT publish to ClawHub. Push to our git repos only.
Follow skills/self-improvement-pipeline/SKILL.md strictly."
No morning cron needed — founders see proposals whenever they check messages.
Improvement Log Format
Write to memory/improvement-logs/YYYY-MM-DD.md:
# Improvement Log — YYYY-MM-DD
## Issues Found: {n}
### 1. {Short description}
- **What happened:** {description}
- **Root cause:** knowledge-gap | skill-bug | missing-procedure | drift | config | capability-gap
- **Evidence:** {quote or reference}
## Tier 1 Fixes Applied: {n}
### 1. {Short description}
- **File changed:** {path}
- **What changed:** {description}
- **Git commit:** {hash}
## Tier 2 Proposals Sent: {n}
### 1. {Short description}
- **Proposed change to:** {file}
- **Status:** pending | approved | rejected
- **Founder response:** {when received}
## Coherence Check
- **Identity alignment:** ✅/❌
- **Brand voice:** ✅/❌
- **Regressions:** none | {list}
Integration
| System | Connection | |--------|-----------| | agentic-learning | Reads corrections/insights as input | | nightly-report | Runs AFTER nightly-report — uses it as input | | coherence-check | Validates all changes post-fix | | field-report | Improvement data flows into Santos pipeline |
Recommended Cron Order
10:00 PM — nightly-report (compile day's activity)
11:00 PM — self-improvement (review + fix + proposals)
Rules
- Run every night. Even if nothing went wrong.
- Be honest. Don't hide mistakes.
- Tier 1 = additive only. If in doubt, make it Tier 2.
- Always coherence-check. Never ship without verifying.
- No ClawHub. Git repos only.
- Git commit everything. Founders must see exact diffs.
- Silence is scary. Always send something, even "no issues found today."
File Structure
memory/improvement-logs/
└── YYYY-MM-DD.md # Nightly improvement logs
skills/self-improvement-pipeline/
├── SKILL.md # This file
└── templates/
├── improvement-log.md # Template for nightly logs
└── morning-report.md # Template for proposals message
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