OverClaw Bridge (nanobot-overstory)

The critical integration layer in the OverClaw stack. Connects nanobot (lightweight AI backend powered by Ollama Mistral) to overstory (Claude Code agent swarm system) through the OverClaw HTTP gateway on port 18800. nanobot handles task intake and orchestration; overstory handles all subagent creation, coordination, worktree management, and execution.

Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                        nanobot                              │
│  (Ollama Mistral orchestrator — task intake & routing)      │
└──────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────┘
                       │  task_router.py
                       │  (classify → capability → overstory format)
                       ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│              nanobot-overstory Bridge                        │
│                                                             │
│  ┌──────────────┐  ┌────────────────┐  ┌────────────────┐  │
│  │ task_router   │  │ session_bridge │  │ memory_sync    │  │
│  │ .py           │  │ .py            │  │ .py            │  │
│  │               │  │                │  │                │  │
│  │ route_task()  │  │ create_mapping │  │ sync_to_over() │  │
│  │ translate()   │  │ get_agent()    │  │ sync_from()    │  │
│  │ capability()  │  │ cleanup()      │  │ prune()        │  │
│  └──────┬───────┘  └───────┬────────┘  └───────┬────────┘  │
│         │                  │                    │           │
│         └──────────┬───────┴────────────────────┘           │
│                    │                                        │
│           overstory_client.py                               │
│           (subprocess wrapper around `overstory` CLI)       │
└────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────────┘
                     │
                     ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                       overstory                             │
│  (Claude Code agent swarm — subagent lifecycle & execution) │
│                                                             │
│  coordinator → supervisor → agents (worktrees)              │
│  mail system, merge, inspect, status                        │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Components

overstory_client.py

Python wrapper around the overstory CLI binary. Provides a clean OverstoryClient class with methods for every overstory operation: sling, status, inspect, mail_send, mail_read, coordinator_start, supervisor_start, merge, and list_agents.

task_router.py

Translates nanobot task descriptions into overstory-compatible formats. Maps task intent to overstory capabilities:

session_bridge.py

Maintains a persistent mapping between nanobot session IDs and overstory agent names. Uses SQLite at ~/.nanobot/session_bridge.db for thread-safe, persistent storage. Supports stale mapping cleanup.

memory_sync.py

Bidirectional memory synchronization. Pushes nanobot's MEMORY.md context to overstory agents before task execution, and pulls agent insights back into nanobot's memory after completion.

Usage

From Python

from overstory_client import OverstoryClient
from task_router import TaskRouter
from session_bridge import SessionBridge
from memory_sync import MemorySync

client = OverstoryClient()
router = TaskRouter(client)
bridge = SessionBridge()
memory = MemorySync()

# Route a task from nanobot to overstory
result = router.route_task("Research trending AI papers this week")
# result: {"capability": "researcher", "agent_name": "researcher-abc123", ...}

# Check agent status
status = client.status("researcher-abc123")

# Send inter-agent mail
client.mail_send("coordinator", "researcher-abc123", "Priority update needed")

# Sync memory before/after
memory.sync_to_overstory()
memory.sync_from_overstory({"insight": "Found 3 key papers on reasoning"})

From CLI

# Route a task
python3 scripts/task_router.py route --task "Build a REST API for the dashboard" --json

# Check overstory status
python3 scripts/overstory_client.py status --json
python3 scripts/overstory_client.py status --agent researcher-abc123 --json

# Spawn an agent
python3 scripts/overstory_client.py sling \
  --capability builder \
  --name "api-builder" \
  --description "Build REST API for dashboard" --json

# Sync memory
python3 scripts/memory_sync.py sync --direction to_overstory --json
python3 scripts/memory_sync.py sync --direction from_overstory --json

# List session mappings
python3 scripts/session_bridge.py list --json

# Clean up stale mappings
python3 scripts/session_bridge.py cleanup --max-age 24 --json

Requirements

• Python 3.9+
• overstory CLI installed and on PATH (or set OVERSTORY_BIN env var)
• OverClaw gateway running on port 18800 (scripts/start-overclaw.sh)
• Ollama with Mistral model
• SQLite3 (bundled with Python)

Environment Variables

Note for existing nanobot/OpenClaw users: OverClaw runs on port 18800, separate from the legacy OpenClaw gateway (18789) and nanobot default (18790). No conflicts.

Integration Flow

1. nanobot receives task from user via TUI/API
2. task_router classifies the task and determines the overstory capability
3. session_bridge creates a mapping between nanobot session and upcoming overstory agent
4. memory_sync pushes relevant context to overstory
5. overstory_client spawns the agent via overstory sling
6. overstory manages the agent lifecycle (worktree, execution, mail)
7. On completion, overstory_client retrieves results via inspect/status
8. memory_sync pulls insights back into nanobot memory
9. session_bridge marks the mapping as completed
10. nanobot delivers the result to the user