openclaw-control-plane/docs/SESSION_FREEZE_PROTOCOL.md

Session Freeze Protocol

Session freeze is how long Cursor agent work survives context exhaustion, window changes, and human interruptions.

When To Freeze

Freeze before:

• A chat window approaches context exhaustion.
• A role finishes a phase or hands work to another role.
• The user reports confusion or asks for a status reset.
• A significant incident occurs, such as sync failure, credential friction, or a blocked safety gate.
• A role-misdirection incident occurs or a prompt may have been sent to the wrong Cursor window.

Required Freeze Outputs

Update:

• USER_STATUS.md: human-facing current state and single next action.
• Relevant handoff/*.md: role-specific state and next owner.
• Relevant tasks/*.md: machine-readable task status.
• knowledge/LESSONS_LEARNED.md: reusable insight from the session.

Create archive note when useful:

archive/YYYYMMDD-short-topic.md

Freeze Template

Current phase:
Completed:
Blocked:
Safety constraints:
Next owner:
Single next action:
Files updated:
Resume prompt:

Resume Prompt

Every freeze should leave a prompt that a new session can use:

You are resuming the OpenClaw COACH/ORCHESTRATOR workflow.
Read USER_STATUS.md, AGENT_BOARD.md, relevant handoff files, sync-state/README.md, and knowledge/LESSONS_LEARNED.md.
Do not start mutation work unless USER_STATUS.md and AGENT_BOARD.md both allow it.

Role-Misdirection Freeze

If a prompt was sent to the wrong role or wrong Cursor window:

• Stop execution immediately.
• Update USER_STATUS.md with a paused status and one safe next action.
• Record the incident in the active role handoff and, if needed, handoff/CORRECTION.md.
• Follow docs/ROLE_MISDIRECTION_RECOVERY.md.
• Do not resume mutation or authorization work until ORCHESTRATOR has adopted or corrected the affected control-plane files.