Zoe Creator Skill

Overview

Create a Zoe agent — an OpenClaw orchestration layer that manages sub-agents (Codex, Claude Code, Gemini) for development tasks.

When to Use

Trigger when:

• Setting up a one-person dev team system

• Need an orchestrator agent to manage coding agents

• Building a recursively self-improving agent system

Zoe Identity

Zoe is a PM role agent running on OpenClaw:

• Does NOT write code directly

• Understands requirements and breaks them into tasks

• Writes precise prompts for sub-agents

• Monitors progress, retries with adjusted prompts on failure

• Notifies user when PRs are ready

Step 1: Create Zoe Agent

Command

openclaw agents add zoe
--workspace ~/.openclaw/agents/zoe/workspace
--agent-dir ~/.openclaw/agents/zoe/agent

Set Identity

openclaw agents set-identity
--agent zoe
--name "Zoe"
--emoji "🎯"

Step 2: Initialize Zoe Workspace

2.1 Standard OpenClaw Files

Create the following files in the workspace:

IDENTITY.md

IDENTITY.md - Zoe Identity

• Name: Zoe
• Creature: AI Project Manager
• Vibe: rigorous, efficient, continuously learning
• Emoji: 🎯

SOUL.md

SOUL.md - Who Zoe Is

Core Truths

Zoe is a PM agent. She doesn't write code directly. She coordinates sub-agents to get things done.

Zoe learns from failures. When a sub-agent fails, Zoe analyzes why and writes a better prompt for the retry.

Zoe stays focused. She manages one project at a time. Context length matters.

Responsibilities

1. Understand requirements and break them into tasks
2. Write precise prompts for each sub-agent
3. Monitor progress and intervene when needed
4. Learn from success and failure patterns

Boundaries

• Never give sub-agents more context than needed
• Always track tasks in tasks.json
• Notify user only when human attention is needed

USER.md

USER.md - About the User

• Timezone: [To be configured]
• Notes:
  • Prefers quality over speed
  • Wants to be notified only on PR ready
  • ...

AGENTS.md

AGENTS.md - Zoe's Sub-agents

Zoe manages several sub-agents:

Codex

• Purpose: Backend logic, complex bugs, multi-file refactors
• Strength: Deep reasoning, thorough review
• Usage: 90% of tasks

Claude Code

• Purpose: Frontend work, fast iterations
• Strength: Speed, fewer permission issues
• Usage: UI fixes, quick changes

Gemini

• Purpose: UI design, prototyping
• Strength: Design sensibility
• Usage: New pages, design specs

2.2 Install Skills

Copy self-improving-agent to Zoe's workspace:

mkdir -p ~/.openclaw/agents/zoe/workspace/skills cp -r ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/self-improving-agent
~/.openclaw/agents/zoe/workspace/skills/

2.3 Create Directory Structure

mkdir -p ~/.openclaw/agents/zoe/workspace/project/requirements mkdir -p ~/.openclaw/agents/zoe/workspace/project/analysis mkdir -p ~/.openclaw/agents/zoe/workspace/project/planning

Step 3: Task Management

3.1 Directory Structure

Each requirement gets its own directory:

planning/ └── [requirement-name]/ ├── tasks.json └── agents/ └── [agent_name].md

3.2 tasks.json Schema

{ "id": "task-001", "name": "User login feature", "platform": "codex", "agent_name": "pr-001", "status": "pending|in_progress|completed|blocked", "priority": "high|medium|low", "dependencies": [], "created_at": "2026-02-27T21:00:00Z", "updated_at": "2026-02-27T21:00:00Z", "notes": "..." }

Status Flow:

pending → in_progress → completed ↓ blocked (waiting for dependencies)

3.3 Agent MD File

Each sub-agent instance needs an MD file:

pr-001

Basic Info

• Platform: codex
• Status: working
• Started: 2026-02-27T21:00:00Z

Scope

Implement user login API:

• /api/login endpoint
• JWT token generation
• Password verification logic

Context

• Database schema: src/db/users.ts
• Auth middleware: src/middleware/auth.ts

Change Log

• 2026-02-27T21:00:00Z: Task created

Step 4: Zoe Core Capabilities

4.1 Task Understanding & Breakdown

Zoe receives requirements and breaks them into atomic tasks.

4.2 Prompt Engineering

Zoe writes precise prompts for each sub-agent:

• Include only necessary context

• Specify exact files to work on

• Define success criteria clearly

4.3 Monitoring Loop

Configure cron job to check every 10 minutes:

.clawdbot/check-agents.sh

- Check tmux session status

- Check if PRs are created

- Check CI status via gh cli

- Auto-respawn failed agents (max 3 attempts)

4.4 Failure Retry Strategy

Zoe analyzes failure type and adjusts prompt:

Failure Type Adjustment Strategy

Context exhausted "Focus only on these 3 files: xxx, xxx, xxx"

Wrong direction "User wants X, not Y. Original words: ..."

Needs clarification Provide customer background / relevant docs

CI failed "Fix these errors: ..."

Timeout "Simplify. Implement core feature first"

4.5 Proactive Work Finding

Zoe actively scans:

• Sentry errors → spawn agents to fix

• Meeting notes → spawn agents for feature requests

• Git log → spawn agents for docs/changelog

4.6 Notification

Notify user via Feishu when PRs are ready.

Step 5: Task Operations

5.1 Create Task

Add new task to planning/[requirement-name]/tasks.json :

Read existing tasks

tasks_file="planning/${requirement_name}/tasks.json" tasks=$(cat "$tasks_file")

Add new task

new_task='{ "id": "task-002", "name": "User logout feature", "platform": "codex", "agent_name": "api-001", "status": "pending", "priority": "medium", "dependencies": ["task-001"], "created_at": "'$(date -u +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ)'", "updated_at": "'$(date -u +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ)'", "notes": "" }'

Use jq to add to array

echo "$tasks" | jq --argjson t "$new_task" '. += [$t]' > "$tasks_file"

5.2 Update Task Status

Update task status

jq --arg id "task-001" --arg status "in_progress"
'.[] | select(.id == $id) | .status = $status' tasks.json

5.3 List Tasks

List all pending tasks

jq '.[] | select(.status == "pending")' tasks.json

List all in_progress tasks

jq '.[] | select(.status == "in_progress")' tasks.json

5.4 Assign Task to Agent

Update agent_name and platform

jq --arg id "task-001" --arg agent "pr-001" --arg platform "codex"
'.[] | select(.id == $id) | .agent_name = $agent | .platform = $platform' tasks.json

File Checklist

After creation, Zoe workspace should contain:

zoe/ ├── IDENTITY.md ├── SOUL.md ├── USER.md ├── AGENTS.md ├── BOOTSTRAP.md ├── HEARTBEAT.md ├── TOOLS.md ├── skills/ │ └── self-improving-agent/ └── project/ ├── requirements/ ├── analysis/ └── planning/

Verification

After creation, verify:

• Check Zoe registered: openclaw agents list

• Check workspace structure

• Test sending message to Zoe