Plugin runtime background work

Dispatch isolated agent turns for untrusted external-content triggers, such as an email watcher. Unlike api.runtime.subagent.run(...), hook dispatch wraps external content, serializes runs for the same session, and reports completion through the Gateway. Plugin turns share the cron execution budget without requiring the HTTP hooks endpoint. When HTTP hooks are enabled, one slot in that shared budget remains reserved for HTTP work.

const result = await api.runtime.hooks.dispatchHookAgentTurn({
  name: "IMAP inbox",
  agentId: "mail",
  sessionKey: "hook:imap:account:123:456",
  message: "Summarize the new email and identify any requested actions.",
  externalContentSource: "email",
  deliver: true,
  thinking: "low", // optional
  timeoutSeconds: 60, // optional
  idempotencyKey: "account:123:456", // optional
});

if (!result.ok) {
  api.logger.warn(`Hook agent turn was rejected: ${result.reason}`);
}

agentId is required, and sessionKey must begin with hook: and contain no whitespace or control characters. externalContentSource currently accepts only "email"; external-content wrapping cannot be disabled. Set deliver to false to record completion without announcing it. Successful admission returns { ok: true, runId }; rejected admission returns { ok: false, reason }.

This capability is available only to bundled plugins and trusted official plugin installations. It does not require enabling or configuring the HTTP hooks endpoint.

Launch and manage background subagent runs.

For a tool-free completion that needs no retained session or reply delivery, use complete(...):

const { text } = await api.runtime.subagent.complete({
  agentId: "research", // required configured agent that owns this work
  message: "Summarize these notes.",
  extraSystemPrompt: "Return a concise summary.", // optional
  timeoutMs: 30_000, // optional; defaults to 30 seconds
  // model: "openai/gpt-5.6-luna", // optional authorized override
  // signal: abortController.signal, // optional cancellation
});

agentId and message are required. extraSystemPrompt, model, timeoutMs, and signal are optional. The selected agent supplies its configured default model and credential owner when model is omitted. The result is { text: string }; no session creation, message polling, deletion, or completion delivery is needed. The configured runtime must support fresh, tool-free isolated inference; unsupported runtimes fail before inference.

Completions use the shared background queue, with up to three runs per plugin within the three-run total budget. Cancellation removes queued work immediately. Running work keeps its slot until underlying runtime cleanup finishes, then rejects; late output is not returned after cancellation, timeout, or runtime retirement. Calls require a live Gateway binding and plugin identity. Request-scoped calls retain the caller's operator scopes and agent access; completions started inside an operator tool invocation are cancelled when that invocation ends. Model overrides retain the existing subagent authorization and allowedModels policy below.

Use run(...) when you need a session or an agent tool surface:

// Start a subagent run
const { runId, sessionKey } = await api.runtime.subagent.run({
  sessionKey: "agent:main:subagent:search-helper",
  message: "Expand this query into focused follow-up searches.",
  toolsAlsoAllow: ["my_plugin_progress"],
  promptMode: "minimal", // optional bounded subagent prompt
  provider: "openai", // optional override
  model: "gpt-6-astra", // optional override
  deliver: false,
  completionDelivery: "current-requester", // optional, before_dispatch hooks only
});

// Wait for completion
const result = await api.runtime.subagent.waitForRun({ runId, timeoutMs: 30000 });

// Read session messages
const { messages } = await api.runtime.subagent.getSessionMessages({
  sessionKey: "agent:main:subagent:search-helper",
  limit: 10,
});

// Delete a session
await api.runtime.subagent.deleteSession({
  sessionKey: "agent:main:subagent:search-helper",
});

Gateway-backed runs return the canonical accepted sessionKey alongside runId. The field is optional in the TypeScript result only so explicit custom runtimes remain compatible.

waitForRun(...) returns the canonical Gateway wait result. status is "ok", "error", "timeout", or "pending"; pending is a normal nonterminal observation, not an exception. Optional error, startedAt, endedAt, stopReason, livenessState, yielded, pendingError, timeoutPhase, providerStarted, and terminalReply metadata is preserved so callers can distinguish observation timeouts from terminal outcomes. timeoutMs bounds the wait call; it does not cancel the run.

plugins.entries.<id>.subagent.allowedModels can restrict overrides to canonical provider/model targets. The same policy applies to complete; request-scoped calls retain their authenticated client's override authority. The check uses the destination agent's model configuration, including exact configured model IDs, and applies to the plugin's initial override. Configured defaults, operator-installed model routing hooks, and automatic model fallbacks retain their own selection policies.

toolsAlsoAllow adds exact, uniquely owned tools registered by the calling plugin to the worker's normal tool surface. The runtime rejects core tools and names shared with another plugin. Profiles and operator tool policies still apply, including explicit allowlists and denies.

Owner-authorized command launches can pass their captured assertion as subagent.run({ ..., assertCurrent }); the Gateway applies it at run admission. Managed worktrees.create({ ..., commitGuard }) accepts the same assertion through its existing creation owner. Revocation prevents pending launches or worktree writes, while accepted work retains its cleanup and completion responsibilities.

promptMode: "minimal" selects the bounded subagent prompt instead of the full conversation prompt. The plugin runtime exposes only this mode; omission keeps the full prompt. Use disableTools: true as well when the run must have an exact empty tool surface.

completionDelivery: "current-requester" is default-off and is only available while a before_dispatch hook is handling an authenticated inbound request. OpenClaw captures the canonical requester session and delivery route before invoking the plugin, then delivers the subagent completion through the normal announce path. Plugins cannot provide or override requester lineage or destination fields. Calls outside that requester-bound hook context are rejected.

deleteSession(...) can delete sessions created by the same plugin through api.runtime.subagent.run(...). Deleting arbitrary user or operator sessions still requires an admin-scoped Gateway request.