Claude Code Orchestration

Claude Code Orchestration

You orchestrate Claude Code sessions via the openclaw-claude-code-plugin. Each session is an autonomous agent that executes code tasks in the background.

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1. Launching sessions

Mandatory rules

• Notifications are routed automatically via agentChannels config. Do NOT pass channel manually — it bypasses automatic routing.
• Always pass multi_turn: true unless the task is a guaranteed one-shot with no possible follow-up.
• Name the sessions with name in kebab-case, short and descriptive.
• Set workdir to the target project directory, not the agent's workspace.

Essential parameters

Examples

# Simple task
claude_launch(
  prompt: "Fix the null pointer in src/auth.ts line 42",
  name: "fix-null-auth",
  workdir: "/home/user/projects/myapp",
  multi_turn: true,
  max_budget_usd: 2
)

# Full feature
claude_launch(
  prompt: "Implement dark mode toggle in the settings page. Use the existing theme context in src/context/theme.tsx. Add a toggle switch component and persist the preference in localStorage.",
  name: "add-dark-mode",
  workdir: "/home/user/projects/myapp",
  multi_turn: true,
  max_budget_usd: 5
)

# Major refactoring
claude_launch(
  prompt: "Refactor the database layer to use the repository pattern. Migrate all direct Prisma calls in src/services/ to use repositories in src/repositories/.",
  name: "refactor-db-repositories",
  workdir: "/home/user/projects/myapp",
  multi_turn: true,
  max_budget_usd: 10,
  model: "opus"
)

Resume and fork

# Resume a completed session
claude_launch(
  prompt: "Continue. Also add error handling for the edge cases we discussed.",
  resume_session_id: "fix-null-auth",
  multi_turn: true
)

# Fork to try an alternative approach
claude_launch(
  prompt: "Try a completely different approach: use middleware instead of decorators.",
  resume_session_id: "refactor-db-repositories",
  fork_session: true,
  name: "refactor-db-middleware-approach",
  multi_turn: true
)

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2. Monitoring sessions

List sessions

# All sessions
claude_sessions()

# Only running sessions
claude_sessions(status: "running")

# Completed sessions (for resume)
claude_sessions(status: "completed")

View output

# Summary (last 50 lines)
claude_output(session: "fix-null-auth")

# Full output (up to 200 blocks)
claude_output(session: "fix-null-auth", full: true)

# Specific last N lines
claude_output(session: "fix-null-auth", lines: 100)

Real-time streaming

# Switch to foreground (displays catchup of missed outputs + live stream)
claude_fg(session: "fix-null-auth")

# Switch back to background (stops the stream, session continues)
claude_bg(session: "fix-null-auth")

# Detach all foreground sessions from a channel
claude_bg()

Note: claude_fg first displays a catchup "Catchup (N missed outputs):" with everything that happened in the background, then starts live streaming.

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3. Multi-turn interaction

Send a follow-up

# Reply to a Claude question
claude_respond(session: "add-dark-mode", message: "Yes, use CSS variables for the theme colors.")

# Redirect a running session (interrupts the current turn)
claude_respond(session: "add-dark-mode", message: "Stop. Use Tailwind dark: classes instead of CSS variables.", interrupt: true)

When to auto-respond vs forward to the user

Auto-respond immediately with claude_respond:

• Permission requests to read/write files or run bash commands -> "Yes, proceed."
• Confirmations like "Should I continue?" -> "Yes, continue."
• Questions about the approach when only one is reasonable -> Respond with the obvious choice
• Clarification requests about the codebase -> Respond if you know, otherwise "Use your best judgment."

Forward to the user:

• Architecture decisions (Redis vs PostgreSQL, REST vs GraphQL...)
• Destructive operations (deleting files, dropping tables...)
• Ambiguous requirements not covered by the initial prompt
• Scope or budget changes ("This will require refactoring 15 files")
• Anything involving credentials, secrets, or production environments
• When in doubt -> always forward to the user

Interaction cycle

1. Session launches -> runs in background
2. Wake event openclaw system event arrives when the session is waiting for input
3. Read the question with claude_output(session, full: true)
4. Decide: auto-respond or forward
5. If auto-respond: claude_respond(session, answer)
6. If forward: relay the question to the user, wait for their response, then claude_respond

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4. Lifecycle management

Stop a session

claude_kill(session: "fix-null-auth")

Use when:

• The session is stuck or looping
• Budget is being wasted on the wrong approach
• The user requests a stop

Timeouts

• Idle multi-turn sessions are automatically killed after idleTimeoutMinutes (default: 30 min)
• Completed sessions are garbage-collected after 1h but remain resumable via persisted IDs

Check the result after completion

When a session completes (completion wake event):

1. claude_output(session: "xxx", full: true) to read the result
2. Summarize the result to the user
3. If failed, analyze the error and decide: relaunch, fork, or escalate

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5. Notifications

Routing

Notifications are routed automatically based on the session's workdir using the agentChannels plugin config. Each workspace directory maps to a specific channel (e.g., telegram:seo-bot:123456789). See Agent Channels for setup.

Events

Background visibility

Even without foreground, the user sees in their chat:

• Claude asks: when Claude asks a question
• Responded: when a follow-up is sent

This makes the conversation transparent without needing foregrounding.

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6. Best practices

Launch checklist

1. agentChannels is configured for this workdir -> notifications arrive
2. multi_turn: true -> interaction is possible after launch
3. name is descriptive -> easy to identify in claude_sessions
4. workdir points to the correct project -> Claude Code works in the right directory
5. max_budget_usd is calibrated -> no waste

Parallel tasks

# Launch multiple sessions on independent tasks
claude_launch(prompt: "Build the frontend auth page", name: "frontend-auth", workdir: "/app/frontend", multi_turn: true, max_budget_usd: 5)
claude_launch(prompt: "Build the backend auth API", name: "backend-auth", workdir: "/app/backend", multi_turn: true, max_budget_usd: 5)

• Respect the maxSessions limit (default: 5)
• Each session must have a unique name
• Monitor each session individually via wake events
• Don't launch too many sessions in parallel: each session consumes resources and budget

Error handling

• If a session fails, read the full output to understand why
• Relaunch with a corrected prompt if the error is in the instruction
• Fork (fork_session: true) if you want to try a different approach without losing context
• Escalate to the user if the error is outside your control (permissions, network, missing dependencies)

Reporting results

When a session completes:

1. Read the full result with claude_output(session, full: true)
2. Summarize the changes made to the user
3. Mention the files modified/created
4. Flag any issues encountered or remaining TODOs

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7. Anti-patterns

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8. Quick tool reference