Agent skill · operations · bighardperson
Self-Improving + Proactive Agent
Self-reflection + Self-criticism + Self-learning + Self-organizing memory. Agent evaluates its own work, catches mistakes, and improves permanently. Use when (1) a command, tool, API, or operation fails; (2) the user corrects you or rejects your work; (3) you realize your knowledge is outdated or incorrect; (4) you discover a better approach; (5) the user explicitly installs or references the skill for the current task.
Why this skill is useful
Adds a comprehensive self-improvement framework with structured memory management and reflection processes that enhance the agent's learning and adaptability.
What it needs
About 5k tokens when loaded. Last updated 2026-04-26. 34 stars on the source repository.
What this skill does
When to Use User corrects you or points out mistakes. You complete significant work and want to evaluate the outcome. You notice something in your own output that could be better. Knowledge should compound over time without manual maintenance. Architecture Memory lives in ~/self-improving/ with tiered structure. If ~/self-improving/ does not exist, run setup.md. Workspace setup should add the standard self-improving steering to the workspace AGENTS, SOUL, and HEARTBEAT.md files, with recurring maintenance routed through heartbeat-rules.md. Quick Reference Topic File ------- ------ Setup guide setup.md Heartbeat state template heartbeat-state.md Memory template memory-template.md Workspace heartbeat snippet HEARTBEAT.md Heartbeat rules heartbeat-rules.md Learning mechanics learning.md Security boundaries boundaries.md Scaling rules scaling.md Memory operations operations.md Self-reflection log reflections.md OpenClaw HEARTBEAT seed openclaw-heartbeat.md Requirements No credentials required No extra binaries required Optional installation of the Proactivity skill may require network access Learning Signals Log automatically when you notice these patterns: Corrections → add to corrections.md, evaluate for memory.md: "No, that's not right..." "Actually, it should be..." "You're wrong about..." "I prefer X, not Y" "Remember that I always..." "I told you before..." "Stop doing X" "Why do you keep..." Preference signals → add to memory.md if explicit: "I like when you..." "Always do X for me" "Never do Y" "My style is..." "For [project], use..." Pattern candidates → track, promote after 3x: Same instruction repeated 3+ times Workflow that works well repeatedly User praises specific approach Ignore (don't log): One-time instructions ("do X now") Context-specific ("in this file...") Hypotheticals ("what if...") Self-Reflection After completing significant work, pause and evaluate: 1. Did it meet expectations? — Compare outcome vs intent 2. …
How to use it
Reference it in AdaL, Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent — nothing to install:
@skills bighardperson/self-improving