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name: refocus description: > Instant mid-session reorientation for agent sessions that have drifted -- recovers the original goal, separates the main thread from tangents, and delivers a drift verdict with exactly one next step. USE WHEN: user says "I'm lost", "what were we even doing", "where was I", "refocus", "did I go down a rabbit hole", "zoom out", or a long session has visibly drifted from its first request. DON'T USE WHEN: user wants a changelog or status report of completed work (use almanac), wants to debug a specific error (use pathfinder), or wants agent stack health checks (use heartbeat). OUTPUTS: a compact reorientation block under 150 words -- original goal, current position, drift verdict (ON TRACK / PRODUCTIVE DETOUR / RABBIT HOLE), parked tangents, and one next step.

Refocus

Version: 1.0.0 Price: Free Type: Skill

Description

Long agent sessions drift. A test fix becomes a dependency upgrade becomes a refactor becomes a library comparison — and forty minutes later you're staring at the terminal with no idea what you were originally doing. Refocus is the way back.

Say "refocus" (or just "I'm lost") and the agent looks back over the session and reorients you: the goal you started with, where you actually are now, an honest verdict on whether the current work still serves that goal, and one — exactly one — next step.

Built for people with ADHD, and useful for anyone who works in long sessions. Every design choice optimizes for low cognitive load: short output, no option menus, no lectures, and tangents get parked somewhere durable instead of dropped — because fear of losing the idea is what drives chasing it right now.

Prerequisites

None. No API key required. Works on any OpenClaw installation.

Setup

1. Copy SKILL.md into your OpenClaw skills directory (e.g. skills/refocus/SKILL.md)
2. Reload OpenClaw
3. Confirm the skill is active with: "Is Refocus loaded?"

Commands

• "Refocus"
• "I'm lost — what were we even doing?"
• "Where was I?"
• "Did I go down a rabbit hole?"
• "Zoom out. What was the original goal?"
• "Are we still on track?"

Workflow

1. Find the original goal — the first substantive request of the session (or the goal loaded from a handoff/context file if the session started from one)
2. Trace the trail — separate the main thread from tangents and detours in the conversation
3. Ground in reality (cheap only) — if inside a git repo, run git status --short to see what actually changed; read the project todo file if one exists. Two checks maximum; speed beats completeness
4. Judge the drift — pick exactly one verdict (see table below)
5. Park, don't drop — list open tangents worth keeping and offer to capture them in the project todo list so they're saved without being pursued now
6. Give ONE next step — the single most direct action back toward the original goal, or toward closing out a nearly-finished detour. Never a menu of options

Drift Verdicts

| Verdict | Meaning | Typical action | |---------|---------|----------------| | ON TRACK | Current work serves the original goal | Keep going | | PRODUCTIVE DETOUR | Off the original path, but necessary or nearly done | Finish it, then return | | RABBIT HOLE | Current work no longer serves the goal and has no natural end | Park it, return to the goal |

Output Format

**Original goal:** [one line]
**Where we are:** [1-2 sentences; flags uncommitted work at risk]
**Verdict:** ON TRACK | PRODUCTIVE DETOUR | RABBIT HOLE — [one-line why]
**Tangents to park:** [bullets, or "none"] (offered into the todo list)
**Next step:** [the one thing]

Design Rules

• Under 150 words. A long summary is its own rabbit hole for someone already overloaded.
• One next step, never a menu. Option lists restart the decision paralysis that caused the drift.
• Park, don't drop. Tangents with value get captured in a durable todo list. Telling someone to "just forget it" guarantees they won't.
• Orientation, not coaching. No blame, no advice about focus habits, no productivity philosophy. The user asked where they are, not how to be a different person.
• Flag work at risk. If there's a large uncommitted diff, say so in one line — drifting away from unsaved work is how it gets lost.

Guardrails

• Never fabricate the original goal. If the session is long enough that early messages were summarized or truncated, reconstruct from the earliest available context and say so plainly.
• Read-mostly. The only writes Refocus performs are todo-list additions, and only after offering.
• Cheap grounding only. At most two verification checks (git status, todo file). Refocus must respond fast — a slow reorientation defeats its purpose.
• No judgment. The verdict evaluates the work's relationship to the goal, never the user.

Why Free?

Focus tools shouldn't have a paywall between a lost person and their way back. If you're staring at a terminal window trying to remember what you were doing, the last thing you need is a checkout page. Free, because the moment you need this skill is precisely the moment you can't shop for it.