- name
- subagent-orchestration
- description
- Orchestrate OpenClaw subagents effectively. Covers all three agent types (Worker, Researcher, Council) with correct spawning patterns, sandbox constraints, timeout strategies, and failure mode fixes. Includes multi-model council pattern via the council-of-llms companion skill. Prevents common failures: context overflow, gateway timeouts, web tool access, inline Python restrictions. Triggers on: spawn, delegate, subagent, agent timeout, agent failure, orchestration, multi-agent, council.
- tags
Subagent Orchestration
Agent Types
| Type | Tools | Use For |
|---|---|---|
| Worker | Default (no web) | File ops, script execution, git, code changes |
| Researcher | ollama_web_search, ollama_web_fetch | Web research, API lookups, live data |
| Council | Default (no web) | Analysis, review, decision-making with passed context |
Sandbox Constraints
Default subagents (Worker/Council) cannot:
- Use
ollama_web_fetchorollama_web_search - Run
python3 -c "..."inline commands - Access the main session's conversation history
They can:
- Read/write files
- Run scripts from
.pyfiles (python3 /path/to/script.py) - Execute simple shell commands
- Use
exec,read,write,edittools
Spawning Patterns
Researcher (Web-Enabled)
sessions_spawn(
toolsAllow: ["ollama_web_fetch", "ollama_web_search"],
runtime: "subagent",
mode: "run",
lightContext: true,
runTimeoutSeconds: 600,
task: "Research X. Return: findings, sources, key metrics."
)Worker (File/Code Ops)
sessions_spawn(
runtime: "subagent",
mode: "run",
lightContext: true,
runTimeoutSeconds: 300,
task: "Run python3 /path/to/script.py. Report output."
)Council (Multi-Model Deliberation)
# Spawn 3 parallel subagents with different models and perspectives
# See skills/council-of-llms/SKILL.md for full details
sessions_spawn(model: "ollama/kimi-k2.6:cloud", label: "Council-Strategos", ...)
sessions_spawn(model: "ollama/deepseek-v4-pro:cloud", label: "Council-Analyticos", ...)
sessions_spawn(model: "ollama/gemma4:31b-cloud", label: "Council-Creativos", ...)
# Then synthesize all 3 outputs into a unified verdictSingle-Model Council (Legacy — Avoid)
# WARNING: Single-model councils cause context overflow and produce shallow analysis
# Use multi-model pattern above instead
sessions_spawn(
runtime: "subagent",
mode: "run",
lightContext: true,
runTimeoutSeconds: 900,
task: "Review this data and decide: [data pasted inline]. Return: verdict, conditions, risks."
)Timeout Strategy
| Task Type | Min Timeout | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| Simple file ops | 120s | 180s |
| Research (web) | 300s | 600s |
| Council/review | 300s | 600s |
| Complex multi-step | 600s | 900s |
Never rush agents. Quality > speed. If an agent takes >60s, give the user a brief status update.
Delegation Rules
- Never run long scripts yourself. Write the script, hand the file path to a subagent.
- Pre-fetch web content yourself for Worker/Council agents — they can't browse.
- Use Researcher agents when you need web data that subagents can't access.
- Write
.pyfiles first — don't pass inline Python to subagents. - Paste context inline — Council agents don't have your conversation history.
Common Failure Modes
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Agent times out | Can't access web tools | Use toolsAllow or pre-fetch content |
| Agent times out | Can't run inline Python | Write .py file, pass path |
| Agent times out | runTimeoutSeconds too low | Set runTimeoutSeconds: 900 in spawn call |
| Agent times out | Gateway under load (10s spawn timeout) | Kill zombie subagents, wait, retry |
| Agent returns nothing | Missing context | Paste data in task parameter |
| Agent stuck in loop | Vague task | Add explicit "return X" instruction |
| Gateway crashes | Context overflow on spawn | Use lightContext: true |
| Spawn fails (10s gateway timeout) | Gateway CPU overload | Kill stale subagents first, then retry |
Anti-Patterns
- ❌ Doing research yourself when a Researcher agent could handle it
- ❌ Running
python3 -cinline in task descriptions - ❌ Setting 120s timeouts on research tasks
- ❌ Re-spawning an agent that's still running (>60s = be patient)
- ❌ Not passing context because "the agent should know"
Config (openclaw.json)
Set subagent defaults in ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json:
{
"agents": {
"defaults": {
"subagents": {
"runTimeoutSeconds": 900,
"maxConcurrent": 5
}
}
}
}Also set in ~/.openclaw/council-config.json:
{
"default_timeout": 900,
"max_tokens": 8192
}