Claude Code Supervisor

Bridge between Claude Code's lifecycle hooks and your agent harness.

Architecture

Claude Code (in tmux)
  │  Stop / Error / Notification
  ▼
Bash pre-filter (Option D)
  │  obvious cases handled directly
  │  ambiguous cases pass through
  ▼
Fast LLM triage (claude -p with Haiku, or local LLM)
  │  classifies: FINE | NEEDS_NUDGE | STUCK | DONE | ESCALATE
  │  FINE → logged silently
  ▼
Notify command (configurable)
  │  openclaw wake, webhook, ntfy, script, etc.
  ▼
Agent harness decides + acts
  │  nudge (send-keys to tmux), wait, escalate to human

Quick Start

1. Install hooks into a project

{baseDir}/scripts/install-hooks.sh /path/to/your/project

Creates:

• .claude/hooks/supervisor/ — hook scripts + triage
• .claude/settings.json — wired into Claude Code lifecycle
• .claude-code-supervisor.yml — configuration (edit this)

2. Configure

Edit .claude-code-supervisor.yml:

triage:
  command: "claude -p --no-session-persistence"  # or: ollama run llama3.2
  model: "claude-haiku-4-20250414"

notify:
  command: "openclaw gateway call wake --params"  # or: curl, ntfy, script

3. Register a supervised session

Create ~/.openclaw/workspace/supervisor-state.json (or wherever your harness keeps state):

{
  "sessions": {
    "my-task": {
      "socket": "/tmp/openclaw-tmux-sockets/openclaw.sock",
      "tmuxSession": "my-task",
      "projectDir": "/path/to/project",
      "goal": "Fix issue #42",
      "successCriteria": "Tests pass, committed",
      "maxNudges": 5,
      "escalateAfterMin": 60,
      "status": "running"
    }
  }
}

4. Launch Claude Code in tmux

SOCKET="/tmp/openclaw-tmux-sockets/openclaw.sock"
tmux -S "$SOCKET" new -d -s my-task
tmux -S "$SOCKET" send-keys -t my-task "cd /path/to/project && claude 'Fix issue #42'" Enter

Hooks fire automatically. Triage assesses. You get notified only when it matters.

How the Pre-Filter Works (Option D)

Not every hook event needs an LLM call. Bash catches the obvious cases first:

on-stop.sh

Signal	Bash decision	LLM triage?
max_tokens	Always needs attention	✅ Yes
end_turn + shell prompt back	Agent might be done	✅ Yes
end_turn + no prompt	Agent is mid-work	❌ Skip
stop_sequence	Normal	❌ Skip

on-error.sh

Signal	Bash decision	LLM triage?
API 429 / rate limit	Transient, will resolve	❌ Log only
API 500	Agent likely stuck	✅ Yes
Other tool error	Unknown severity	✅ Yes

on-notify.sh

Signal	Bash decision	LLM triage?
auth_*	Internal, transient	❌ Skip
permission_prompt	Needs decision	✅ Yes
idle_prompt	Agent waiting	✅ Yes

Triage Classifications

The LLM returns one of:

Verdict	Meaning	Typical action
FINE	Agent is working normally	Log silently, no notification
NEEDS_NUDGE	Transient error, should continue	Send "continue" to tmux
STUCK	Looping or not progressing	Try different approach or escalate
DONE	Task completed successfully	Report to human
ESCALATE	Needs human judgment	Notify human with context

Handling Notifications (for agent harness authors)

Wake events arrive with the prefix cc-supervisor: followed by the classification:

cc-supervisor: NEEDS_NUDGE | error:api_500 | cwd=/home/user/project | ...
cc-supervisor: DONE | stopped:end_turn:prompt_back | cwd=/home/user/project | ...

Nudging via tmux

tmux -S "$SOCKET" send-keys -t "$SESSION" "continue — the API error was transient" Enter

Escalation format

See references/escalation-rules.md for when to nudge vs escalate and quiet hours.

Watchdog (Who Watches the Watchman?)

Hooks depend on Claude Code being alive. If the session hard-crashes, hits account limits, or the process gets OOM-killed, no hooks fire. The watchdog catches this.

scripts/watchdog.sh is a pure bash script (no LLM, no Claude Code dependency) that:

1. Reads supervisor-state.json for all "running" sessions
2. Checks: is the tmux socket alive? Is the session there? Is Claude Code still running?
3. If something is dead and no hook reported it → notifies via the configured command
4. Updates lastWatchdogAt in state for tracking

Run it on a timer. Choose your poison:

System cron:

*/15 * * * * /path/to/claude-code-supervisor/scripts/watchdog.sh

OpenClaw cron:

{
  "schedule": { "kind": "every", "everyMs": 900000 },
  "payload": { "kind": "systemEvent", "text": "cc-supervisor: watchdog — run /path/to/scripts/watchdog.sh and report" },
  "sessionTarget": "main"
}

systemd timer, launchd, or whatever runs periodically on your box.

The watchdog is deliberately dumb — no LLM, no complex logic, just "is the process still there?" This means it works even when the triage model is down, the API is melting, or your account hit its limit. Belts and suspenders.

Files

• scripts/install-hooks.sh — one-command setup per project
• scripts/hooks/on-stop.sh — Stop event handler with bash pre-filter
• scripts/hooks/on-error.sh — PostToolUseFailure handler with bash pre-filter
• scripts/hooks/on-notify.sh — Notification handler with bash pre-filter
• scripts/triage.sh — LLM triage (called by hooks for ambiguous cases)
• scripts/lib.sh — shared config loading and notification functions
• scripts/watchdog.sh — dead session detector (pure bash, no LLM dependency)
• references/state-patterns.md — terminal output pattern matching guide
• references/escalation-rules.md — when to nudge vs escalate vs wait
• supervisor.yml.example — example configuration