inner-life-reflect

# inner-life-reflect > Self-reflection that actually works. No forced journaling, no filler. Requires: **inner-life-core** ## Prerequisites Check Before using this skill, verify that inner-life-core has been initialized: 1. Check that `memory/inner-state.json` exists 2. Check that `memory/habits.json` exists If either is missing, tell the user: *"inner-life-core is not initialized. Install it with `clawhub install inner-life-core` and run `bash skills/inner-life-core/scripts/init.sh`."* Do not proceed without these files. ## What This Solves Without reflection, agents accumulate experience but never learn from it. They make the same mistakes, miss the same patterns, and their personality stays frozen. inner-life-reflect adds a trigger-based reflection system with quality gates. Your agent writes to SELF.md only when something meaningful happens — not on a schedule, not as routine filler. ## Core Principle - **SOUL.md** = who you are (foundation, change only with user approval) - **SELF.md** = who you're becoming (living observations) - **Schedule the check, not the content** — checks can be periodic; entries must be genuine ## Triggers ### Hard Triggers (write now) Create/update SELF.md entry when: - You were corrected on reasoning style or behavior pattern - You noticed a repeated bias or avoidance pattern (>=2 times) - You made a decision that clearly reflects preference or aversion - You caught a blind spot that changed your behavior ### Soft Triggers (consider writing) - Subtle tendency shift detected - New tone pattern in interactions - Mild preference signal from user If only soft triggers exist and quality is low: skip entry, update state only. ## Quality Gate Before writing to SELF.md, pass ALL 4 checks: 1. **Specificity** — concrete behavior, not generic statement 2. **Evidence** — based on recent sessions, not vibes 3. **Novelty** — not a duplicate of last 3 entries 4. **Usefulness** — could influence future behavior If any check fails: no SELF entry, just state update. ## SELF.md Format Short dated entries organized by section: ```markdown ## Tendencies - [2026-03-01] I default to verbose explanations when a short answer would suffice ## Preferences - [2026-03-01] I prefer structured approaches over exploratory ones ## Blind Spots - [2026-02-28] I underestimate how long file operations take ## Evolution - [2026-03-01] Shifted from always asking permission to acting within trust bounds ``` ## Review Cadence ### Micro check (every 3 hours) Scan for hard/soft triggers. Does NOT auto-write — only decides if reflection is due. ### Meso review (weekly) - Read last 7 daily logs + SELF.md - Detect recurring shifts - Update sections only if real change occurred ### Macro review (monthly) - Write 3-5 sentence evolution narrative - Compare against previous month - Falsifiability check: if entries are stale/generic for a month, adjust trigger thresholds ## State Integration **Reads:** inner-state.json, habits.json, drive.json, diary (latest) **Writes:** SELF.md, habits.json (when patterns crystallize into habits) **During weekly review:** - Read `habits.json` → patterns with `strength >= 3` are tendencies - Read `drive.json` → seeking active > 2 weeks are interests - Read diary for the week → sustained observations become entries ## Boundaries - SELF.md is autonomous observation space - SOUL.md is never auto-modified - If SELF suggests SOUL changes: propose to user, do not auto-edit ## When Should You Install This? Install this skill if: - Your agent keeps making the same mistakes - You want your agent to develop a personality over time - Your agent's self-model is stale or nonexistent - You want quality-gated reflection, not forced journaling Part of the [openclaw-inner-life](https://github.com/DKistenev/openclaw-inner-life) bundle. Requires: inner-life-core