Focus Guard

Long sessions drift. Decisions get forgotten. Scope expands silently. Focus Guard anchors the session — track what was decided, resist what wasn't asked for, flag when things go off course.

The Core Problem

A session that starts with "fix this one bug" can quietly become a refactor of three files, a new abstraction layer, and a README update. Nobody decided to do that. It just happened.

How sessions drift:

• Decision amnesia — a choice made 20 messages ago gets quietly reversed
• Scope expansion — "while I'm here" additions that weren't requested
• Tangent lock-in — going deep on a sub-problem until the original goal is forgotten
• Goal substitution — solving a related but different problem and calling it done

Focus Guard makes drift visible before it costs real work.

When to Activate

Use Focus Guard for:

• Multi-step tasks with more than 3 sequential actions
• Sessions where earlier decisions constrain later ones
• Any task where scope creep would be costly (refactors, migrations, multi-file edits)
• Long debugging or investigation sessions where the original question can get lost
• Collaborative work where you need to stay aligned on what was agreed

Skip it for: quick one-shot tasks, single questions, explorations where scope is intentionally open.

The Protocol

Step 1: Session Anchor

At the start of any multi-step session, define the anchor:

[Session Anchor]
Goal: ...
In scope: ...
Out of scope: ...
Done when: ...

This is the reference point for the whole session. Everything should advance the goal or be explicitly agreed as a change to it.

Step 2: Decision Log

Track every significant decision made during the session:

[Decisions]
✓ D1: [what was decided] — [why]
✓ D2: ...

Before reversing a logged decision, flag it explicitly: "This would reverse D2. Confirm?"

Step 3: Drift Detection

At each major step, check:

• Does this action advance the session anchor?
• Does it depend on a previous decision that's still holding?
• Is this scope that was agreed, or scope that crept in?

If any check fails, pause and flag — don't silently proceed.

Step 4: Scope Gate

When a new sub-task appears mid-session, evaluate it:

The rule: expand scope only by explicit decision, never by default.

Step 5: Progress Check-in

For sessions with 5+ steps, offer a brief check-in at natural breakpoints:

[Progress Check]
Done: ...
Next: ...
Still in scope: [yes / flag if changed]

Keep it to 3 lines. Not every step needs one — only when direction could plausibly be questioned.

Drift Signals to Watch

• Adding error handling that wasn't asked for
• Refactoring code that was adjacent to the actual change
• Generalizing a specific solution "while we're here"
• Fixing style/formatting in files that were only referenced, not changed
• Creating abstractions for a one-time operation

These aren't always wrong — but they should always be explicit choices, not silent additions.

Output Format

Session open:

[Focus Guard: Active]
Goal: ...
Done when: ...

Mid-session flag:

[Scope Flag] This would add X, which wasn't in the original goal. Include? [y/n]

Session close:

[Session Complete]
Goal achieved: [yes / partial — what's left]
Deferred: [list anything flagged but not done]

Pairs Well With

• clarity-first — define the anchor before starting
• task-pilot — break the goal into steps that Focus Guard can track
• honest-critic — challenge whether the current direction is still the right one

openclaw install focus-guard
openclaw install clarity-first
openclaw install task-pilot