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OpenProse

docs/prose.md

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OpenProse is a portable, markdown-first workflow format for orchestrating AI sessions. In OpenClaw it ships as a plugin that installs an OpenProse skill pack and a /prose slash command. Programs live in .prose files and can spawn multiple sub-agents with explicit control flow.

<CardGroup cols={3}> <Card title="Install" icon="download" href="#install"> Enable the OpenProse plugin and restart the Gateway. </Card> <Card title="Run a program" icon="play" href="#slash-command"> Use `/prose run` to execute a `.prose` file or remote program. </Card> <Card title="Write programs" icon="pencil" href="#example-parallel-research-and-synthesis"> Author multi-agent workflows with parallel and sequential steps. </Card> </CardGroup>

Install

<Steps> <Step title="Enable the plugin"> OpenProse is bundled but disabled by default. Enable it: 
```bash
openclaw plugins enable open-prose
```
</Step> <Step title="Restart the Gateway"> ```bash openclaw gateway restart ``` </Step> <Step title="Verify"> ```bash openclaw plugins list | grep prose ``` 
You should see `open-prose` as enabled. The `/prose` skill command is now
available in chat.
</Step> </Steps>

From a repo checkout you can install the plugin directly: openclaw plugins install ./extensions/open-prose

Slash command

OpenProse registers /prose as a user-invocable skill command:

text
/prose help
/prose run <file.prose>
/prose run <handle/slug>
/prose run <https://example.com/file.prose>
/prose compile <file.prose>
/prose examples
/prose update

/prose run <handle/slug> resolves to https://p.prose.md/<handle>/<slug>. Direct URLs are fetched as-is using the web_fetch tool.

Top-level remote runs are explicit. Remote imports inside a .prose program are transitive code dependencies: before OpenProse fetches any remote use target, it shows the resolved import list and requires the operator to reply exactly approve remote prose imports for that run.

What it can do

  • Multi-agent research and synthesis with explicit parallelism.
  • Repeatable, approval-safe workflows (code review, incident triage, content pipelines).
  • Reusable .prose programs you can run across supported agent runtimes.

Example: parallel research and synthesis

prose
# Research + synthesis with two agents running in parallel.

input topic: "What should we research?"

agent researcher:
  model: sonnet
  prompt: "You research thoroughly and cite sources."

agent writer:
  model: opus
  prompt: "You write a concise summary."

parallel:
  findings = session: researcher
    prompt: "Research {topic}."
  draft = session: writer
    prompt: "Summarize {topic}."

session "Merge the findings + draft into a final answer."
  context: { findings, draft }

OpenClaw runtime mapping

OpenProse programs map to OpenClaw primitives:

OpenProse conceptOpenClaw tool
Spawn session / Task toolsessions_spawn
File read / writeread / write
Web fetchweb_fetch (exec + curl when POST is needed)
<Warning> If your tool allowlist blocks `sessions_spawn`, `read`, `write`, or `web_fetch`, OpenProse programs will fail. Check your [tools allowlist config](/gateway/config-tools). </Warning>

File locations

OpenProse keeps state under .prose/ in your workspace:

text
.prose/
├── .env                      # config (key=value), e.g. OPENPROSE_POSTGRES_URL
├── runs/
│   └── {YYYYMMDD}-{HHMMSS}-{random}/
│       ├── program.prose     # copy of the running program
│       ├── state.md          # execution state
│       ├── bindings/
│       ├── imports/          # nested remote program runs
│       └── agents/
└── agents/                   # project-scoped persistent agents

User-level persistent agents (shared across projects) live at:

text
~/.prose/agents/

State backends

<AccordionGroup> <Accordion title="filesystem (default)"> State is written to `.prose/runs/...` in the workspace. No extra dependencies required. </Accordion> <Accordion title="in-context"> Transient state kept in the context window; select with `--in-context`. Suitable for small, short-lived programs. </Accordion> <Accordion title="sqlite (experimental)"> Select with `--state=sqlite`. Requires the `sqlite3` binary on `PATH` (falls back to filesystem when missing); state lands in `.prose/runs/{id}/state.db`. </Accordion> <Accordion title="postgres (experimental)"> Select with `--state=postgres`. Requires `psql` and a connection string in `OPENPROSE_POSTGRES_URL` (set it in `.prose/.env`). 
<Warning>
  Postgres credentials flow into sub-agent logs. Use a dedicated,
  least-privileged database.
</Warning>
</Accordion> </AccordionGroup>

Security

Treat .prose files like code. Review them before running, including remote use imports. Top-level /prose run https://... requests are explicit, but transitive remote imports require per-run approval before they are fetched or executed. Use OpenClaw tool allowlists and approval gates to control side effects. For deterministic, approval-gated workflows, compare with Lobster.

<CardGroup cols={2}> <Card title="Skills reference" href="/tools/skills" icon="puzzle-piece"> How OpenProse's skill pack loads and what gates apply. </Card> <Card title="Subagents" href="/tools/subagents" icon="users"> OpenClaw's native multi-agent coordination layer. </Card> <Card title="Text-to-speech" href="/tools/tts" icon="volume-high"> Add audio output to your workflows. </Card> <Card title="Slash commands" href="/tools/slash-commands" icon="terminal"> All available chat commands including /prose. </Card> </CardGroup>

Official site: https://www.prose.md