⚓ Workspace Anchor

Multi-Agent Semantic Orientation & Boundary System

Workspace Anchor is a lightweight coordination layer designed to prevent AI agents from "drifting" outside of their intended project boundaries. It provides semantic orientation and path validation for autonomous workflows.

🌟 Why this exists

When working with autonomous agents, context is everything. Without an anchor, agents can easily:

Edit files in the wrong repository.
Leak context between unrelated projects.
Lose track of where the "Root" of their current task is.

Workspace Anchor solves this by establishing a standardized .project-lock file that defines boundaries, naming, and ignore rules.

🚀 Features

Semantic Discovery: Automatically find all projects in your workspace, regardless of folder depth.
Context Guardrails: Validate every file operation before it happens.
Environment Agnostic: Uses path expansion (~, $HOME, $USER) so configurations work across different machines.
Zero-Config Switching: Jump between projects with a single command, updating the agent's internal "Project Header."

📦 Installation

This is an OpenClaw-native skill. To install:

Drop the workspace-anchor folder into your skills/ directory.

🛠 Usage

🔍 Discovery & Status

# Find all projects on your system
node cli.js discover
 
# List projects with status and paths
node cli.js list
 
# Show which project you are currently "anchored" to
node cli.js status

⚓ Managing Context

# Switch active project context
node cli.js switch stacean-repo
 
# Validate if a path is safe to operate on
node cli.js validate /home/user/stacean-repo/src/index.js

🆕 Onboarding

# Create a new anchor in a directory
node cli.js create ~/my-new-app

📄 The `.project-lock` Format

Workspace Anchor uses a simple, human-readable (and agent-readable) format:

# Project Protocol Lock File (Workspace Anchor)
NAME: my-cool-app
ROOT: ~/projects/my-cool-app
IGNORE: node_modules, .git, dist, .env

🤖 Agent Instructions (Internal)

CRITICAL: Agents reading this skill MUST identify the correct absolute paths for the current environment. Do not rely on hardcoded examples. Use find or ls to locate .project-lock files if the environment variables are not yet mapped.

Built for the OpenClaw ecosystem. Ship safely.