summary	OpenProse: .prose workflows, slash commands, and state in OpenClaw
read_when	You want to run or write .prose workflows You want to enable the OpenProse plugin You need to understand state storage
title	OpenProse

OpenProse

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 plus a /prose slash command. Programs live in .prose files and can spawn multiple sub-agents with explicit control flow.

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

What it can do

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

Install + enable

Bundled plugins are disabled by default. Enable OpenProse:

openclaw plugins enable open-prose

Restart the Gateway after enabling the plugin.

Dev/local checkout: openclaw plugins install ./extensions/open-prose

Related docs: Plugins, Plugin manifest, Skills.

Slash command

OpenProse registers /prose as a user-invocable skill command. It routes to the OpenProse VM instructions and uses OpenClaw tools under the hood.

Common commands:

/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

Example: a simple .prose file

# 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 }

File locations

OpenProse keeps state under .prose/ in your workspace:

.prose/
├── .env
├── runs/
│   └── {YYYYMMDD}-{HHMMSS}-{random}/
│       ├── program.prose
│       ├── state.md
│       ├── bindings/
│       └── agents/
└── agents/

User-level persistent agents live at:

~/.prose/agents/

State modes

OpenProse supports multiple state backends:

• filesystem (default): .prose/runs/...
• in-context: transient, for small programs
• sqlite (experimental): requires sqlite3 binary
• postgres (experimental): requires psql and a connection string

Notes:

• sqlite/postgres are opt-in and experimental.
• postgres credentials flow into subagent logs; use a dedicated, least-privileged DB.

Remote programs

/prose run <handle/slug> resolves to https://p.prose.md/<handle>/<slug>. Direct URLs are fetched as-is. This uses the web_fetch tool (or exec for POST).

OpenClaw runtime mapping

OpenProse programs map to OpenClaw primitives:

OpenProse concept	OpenClaw tool
Spawn session / Task tool	sessions_spawn
File read/write	read / write
Web fetch	web_fetch

If your tool allowlist blocks these tools, OpenProse programs will fail. See Skills config.

Security + approvals

Treat .prose files like code. Review before running. Use OpenClaw tool allowlists and approval gates to control side effects.

For deterministic, approval-gated workflows, compare with Lobster.