openclaw-openclaw/docs/tools/goal.md

doc-schema-version, summary, read_when, title

doc-schema-version	summary	read_when	title
1	Session goals: durable per-session objectives, /goal controls, model goal tools, token budgets, and TUI status	You want OpenClaw to keep one objective visible across a long session You need to pause, resume, block, complete, or clear a session goal You want to understand the get_goal, create_goal, and update_goal tools You want to see how goals appear in the TUI	Goal

Goal

A goal is one durable objective attached to the current OpenClaw session. It gives the agent and the operator a shared target for long-running work, without turning that target into a background task, reminder, cron job, or standing order.

Goals are session state: they move with the session key, survive process restarts, and appear in /goal, the model-facing goal tools, and the TUI footer.

Quick start

/goal start get CI green for PR 87469 and push the fix
/goal
/goal edit get CI green for PR 87469, push the fix, and update docs
/goal pause waiting for CI
/goal resume
/goal complete pushed and verified
/goal clear

start is optional: /goal get CI green for PR 87469 also creates a goal, since any text after /goal that is not a known action word is treated as a new objective.

What goals are for

Use a goal when a session has a concrete outcome that should stay visible across many turns:

• A PR closeout: fix, verify, autoreview, push, and open or update the PR.
• A debug run: reproduce the bug, identify the owning surface, patch, and prove the fix.
• A docs pass: read the relevant docs, write the new page, cross-link it, and verify the docs build.
• A maintenance task: inspect current state, make bounded changes, run the right checks, and report what changed.

A goal is not a task queue. Use Task Flow, tasks, cron jobs, or standing orders when work should run detached, repeat on a schedule, fan out into managed sub-work, or persist as a policy.

Command reference

/goal with no arguments prints the current goal summary:

Goal
Status: active
Objective: get CI green for PR 87469 and push the fix
Tokens used: 12k
Token budget: 12k/50k

Commands: /goal edit <objective>, /goal pause, /goal complete, /goal clear

Command	Effect
/goal or /goal status	Show the current goal.
/goal start <objective>	Create a new goal for the current session.
/goal set <objective>, /goal create <objective>	Aliases for start.
/goal <objective>	Also creates a new goal (any text that is not a recognized action word).
/goal edit <objective>	Reword the current objective; status and token accounting stay put.
/goal pause [note]	Pause an active goal.
/goal resume [note]	Resume a paused, blocked, usage-limited, or budget-limited goal.
/goal complete [note]	Mark the goal achieved.
/goal done [note]	Alias for complete.
/goal block [note]	Mark the goal blocked.
/goal blocked [note]	Alias for block.
/goal clear	Remove the goal from the session.

Only one goal can exist on a session at a time. Starting a second goal fails with Goal error: goal already exists until the current one is cleared.

/goal start does not take a token-budget flag; a budget can only be set through the model-facing create_goal tool.

Statuses

• active: the session is pursuing the goal.
• paused: the operator paused the goal; /goal resume makes it active again.
• blocked: the agent or operator reported a real blocker; /goal resume makes it active again when new information or state is available.
• budget_limited: the configured token budget was reached; /goal resume restarts pursuit from the same objective with a fresh budget window.
• usage_limited: reserved for a future usage-limit stop state; /goal resume restarts pursuit the same way.
• complete: the goal was achieved. Complete goals are terminal; use /goal clear before starting another goal.

/new and /reset clear the current session goal, since they intentionally start fresh session context.

Token budgets

Goals can have an optional positive token budget, set through the create_goal tool's token_budget parameter. The budget is measured from the session's fresh token count at goal-creation time. If the session only has a stale or unknown token snapshot when the goal starts, OpenClaw waits for the next fresh snapshot and uses that as the baseline, so tokens spent before the goal existed are not charged to it.

When usage reaches the budget, the goal moves to budget_limited. This does not delete the goal or erase the objective; it tells the operator and the agent that the goal is no longer actively being pursued until it is resumed or cleared. Resuming starts a new budget window at the current fresh token count.

Token budgets are a session-goal guardrail, not a billing cap. Provider quota, cost reporting, and context-window behavior still use the normal OpenClaw usage and model controls.

Model tools

OpenClaw exposes three goal tools to agent harnesses:

Tool	Purpose
get_goal	Read the current session goal: status, objective, token usage, and token budget.
create_goal	Create a goal only when the user or system instructions explicitly request one. Fails if the session already has a goal.
update_goal	Mark the goal complete or blocked.

The model cannot silently pause, resume, clear, or replace a goal. Those stay operator/session controls through /goal and reset commands, so the agent can report achievement or a genuine blocker without quietly moving the target.

update_goal should mark a goal complete only when the objective is actually achieved. It should mark a goal blocked only after the same blocking condition recurs for at least three consecutive goal turns, not for ordinary difficulty or missing polish.

Goal context on every turn

Every user/chat turn with an active goal includes this user-role context line:

Active goal: <objective> — advance it or update its status (get_goal/update_goal).

OpenClaw keeps the line compact by truncating long objectives. Paused, blocked, budget-limited, usage-limited, and complete goals are not injected, so an operator stop remains in effect until the goal is resumed.

Control UI

The web Control UI shows the goal as a compact pill above the chat composer: a status icon, the status label (for example Pursuing goal), the truncated objective, and a live elapsed timer.

The pill carries inline controls:

• Pencil prefills the composer with /goal edit <objective> so the objective can be reworded and submitted.
• Pause / resume toggles between /goal pause and /goal resume based on the current status.
• Trash sends /goal clear.
• Chevron expands the pill to show the full objective, the latest status note, token usage, and elapsed time.

The action buttons are hidden while the composer cannot send (for example when the gateway connection is down); the expand chevron keeps working.

TUI

The TUI footer keeps the active session's goal visible next to the agent, session, and model fields, before token/mode indicators.

Footer examples:

• Pursuing goal (12k/50k) for an active goal with a token budget.
• Goal paused (/goal resume) for a paused goal.
• Goal blocked (/goal resume) for a blocked goal.
• Goal hit usage limits (/goal resume) for a usage-limited goal.
• Goal unmet (50k/50k) for a budget-limited goal.
• Goal achieved (42k) for a completed goal.

The footer is intentionally compact. Use /goal for the full objective, note, token budget, and available commands.

Channel behavior

/goal works in command-capable OpenClaw sessions, including the TUI and chat surfaces that permit text commands. Goal state is attached to the session key, not the transport, so two surfaces sharing a session key see the same goal.

Goal state is not a delivery directive: it does not force replies through a channel, change queue behavior, approve tools, or schedule work.

Troubleshooting

Message	Meaning
Goal error: goal already exists	The session already has a goal. Use /goal to inspect it, /goal complete if done, or /goal clear before starting a different objective.
Goal error: goal not found	The session has no goal yet. Start one with /goal start <objective>.
Goal error: goal is already complete	The goal is terminal. Clear it before starting or resuming another objective.

If token usage shows 0 or looks stale, the active session may not have a fresh token snapshot yet. Usage refreshes as OpenClaw records session usage and transcript-derived totals.

Related

• Slash commands
• TUI
• Session tool
• Compaction
• Task Flow
• Standing orders