f7d7148cf0
Source-grounded rewrite of 529 published docs pages with per-unit information-loss verification: 1,713 factual corrections cited to src/**, generated surfaces regenerated, frontmatter titles preserved for i18n, release notes pages untouched. All docs gates green. Closes #100141
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summary, read_when, title
| summary | read_when | title | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ephemeral side questions with /btw |
|
BTW side questions |
/btw (alias /side) asks a quick side question about the current
session without adding it to conversation history. It is modeled after
Claude Code's /btw, adapted to OpenClaw's Gateway and multi-channel
architecture.
/btw what changed?
/side what does this error mean?
What it does
- Snapshots the current session as background context (including any in-flight main-run prompt).
- Runs a separate, one-shot side query telling the model to answer only the side question and not resume or steer the main task.
- Delivers the answer as a live side result, not a normal assistant message.
- Never writes the question or answer to session history or
chat.history.
The main run, if one is active, is left untouched.
For Codex harness sessions, BTW forks the active Codex app-server thread into
an ephemeral child thread instead of running a separate provider call. This
keeps Codex OAuth and native tool/thread behavior intact, and the forked
thread keeps the parent thread's current approval policy, sandbox, and native
tool surface. The forked thread gets a boundary prompt telling the model that
everything before it is inherited reference context, not active instructions,
and that only messages after the boundary are live. /btw requires an
existing Codex thread; send a normal message first.
For CLI runtime aliases, BTW invokes the owning CLI backend in one-shot side-question mode: it seeds sanitized conversation context into a fresh CLI invocation with tool bundling and reusable session state disabled, and adds any no-resume/no-tools flags the backend supports. Direct (non-CLI) runtimes use a direct one-shot provider call instead.
What it does not do
/btw does not create a durable session, continue the unfinished main task,
persist question/answer data to transcript history, or survive a reload.
Delivery model
Normal assistant chat uses the Gateway chat event. BTW uses a separate
chat.side_result event so clients cannot mistake it for regular
conversation history. Because it is not replayed from chat.history, it
disappears after reload.
Surface behavior
| Surface | Behavior |
|---|---|
| TUI | Rendered inline in the chat log, visibly distinct from a normal reply, dismissible with Enter or Esc. |
| External channels | Delivered as a clearly labeled one-off reply (Telegram, WhatsApp, Discord have no local ephemeral overlay). |
| Control UI / web | Gateway emits chat.side_result correctly and it is excluded from chat.history, but Control UI has no consumer yet to render it live in the browser. |
When to use it
Use /btw for a quick clarification, a factual side answer while a long run
is still in progress, or a temporary answer that should not enter future
session context.
/btw what file are we editing?
/btw summarize the current task in one sentence
/btw what is 17 * 19?
For anything you want to become part of the session's future working context, ask normally in the main session instead.