OpenClaw Signals: Trace Propagation, Declarative Migrations, and the Safety Net Stack

Tools

Distributed Trace Propagation Across Task Chains

This PR threads trace context through chained task executions so you can actually see where time goes in a multi-step pipeline. If you're debugging slow or failing task graphs, this is the kind of plumbing that saves hours.

Layered Safety Net for Error Recovery and Circuit Breaking

Adds a composable error handling stack so tasks can define retry, fallback, and circuit-break policies at different levels. Moves beyond simple retries toward something that actually degrades gracefully under load.

Hook Lifecycle Telemetry and Execution Timing

Surfaces per-hook execution times and success rates directly in the task output. Small change but it closes a blind spot where hooks silently consumed time without anyone noticing.

Input Validation Middleware for Task Definitions

Adds a pre-execution validation layer that catches malformed inputs before they hit your task logic. Saves you from the classic garbage-in-garbage-out debugging spiral.

Analysis

Proposal: Declarative Config Migrations Between Versions

Instead of manually patching config files every time OpenClaw bumps, this issue proposes a declarative migration layer that auto-applies version diffs. Think database migrations but for your orchestrator config. Huge for teams running multi-env deployments.

Debate: Should Task Priority Be Weighted or Strict FIFO?

This issue lays out the tradeoffs between weighted priority queues and strict ordering for task scheduling. If you care about latency guarantees versus throughput, this thread has real data points worth reading.