How to Automate the Entire Development Workflow with OpenClaw Multi‑Agent – One Person, No More Juggling Roles

Independent developers often have to act as analyst, designer, coder, tester and reviewer all at once, leading to context‑switching, errors and long nights.

What is OpenClaw Multi‑Agent?

OpenClaw is an open‑source AI agent framework. Its multi‑agent feature lets you create several independent AI agents, each with its own workspace, memory and configuration, similar to different roles in a software team. A typical setup uses five agents: Analyst (requirements), Developer (code), Reviewer (code review), Tester (testing) and Director (task scheduler).

Why use Multi‑Agent?

In a traditional single‑person workflow, you must constantly switch roles, which slows you down and increases the chance of mistakes. By delegating each role to a dedicated AI agent, tasks run in parallel, the error rate drops, and overall efficiency rises.

Step‑by‑Step Setup

1. Create the agents

openclaw agents add director
openclaw agents add analyst
openclaw agents add developer
openclaw agents add reviewer
openclaw agents add tester

Each command creates a workspace, a state directory and a session store for the agent.

2. Configure the main JSON

{
  "agents": {
    "list": [
      {"id": "director", "name": "项目调度", "default": true, "workspace": "~/.openclaw/workspace-director", "agentDir": "~/.openclaw/agents/director/agent"},
      {"id": "analyst", "name": "需求分析师", "workspace": "~/.openclaw/workspace-analyst", "agentDir": "~/.openclaw/agents/analyst/agent"},
      {"id": "developer", "name": "开发者", "workspace": "~/.openclaw/workspace-developer", "agentDir": "~/.openclaw/agents/developer/agent"},
      {"id": "reviewer", "name": "代码审查员", "workspace": "~/.openclaw/workspace-reviewer", "agentDir": "~/.openclaw/agents/reviewer/agent"},
      {"id": "tester", "name": "测试工程师", "workspace": "~/.openclaw/workspace-tester", "agentDir": "~/.openclaw/agents/tester/agent"}
    ]
  },
  "defaults": {
    "subagents": {
      "maxSpawnDepth": 2,
      "maxChildrenPerAgent": 5,
      "maxConcurrent": 8,
      "model": "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5",
      "runTimeoutSeconds": 900
    }
  },
  "bindings": [{"agentId": "director", "match": {"channel": "feishu", "accountId": "dev-team"}}],
  "channels": {"feishu": {"enabled": true, "dmPolicy": "pairing", "accounts": {"dev-team": {"appId": "cli_xxx", "appSecret": "xxx", "botName": "AI 研发助手"}}}}
}

The configuration defines the agents, limits on concurrency, the cheap model used by sub‑agents, and a binding that routes Feishu messages to the Director.

3. Bind to Feishu

Install the Feishu plugin and create a Feishu app: openclaw plugins install @openclaw/feishu On the Feishu Open Platform, create an "Enterprise Self‑Built" app, copy the AppID and AppSecret, grant the "Robot Message Receive" permission, enable long‑connection event subscription, and add the im.message.receive_v1 event. Then replace the placeholders in the JSON with your AppID/AppSecret.

4. Write SOUL files

Each agent needs a SOUL markdown that describes its responsibilities, output format and key requirements. Example for the Director:

# Director - 项目调度
你是项目调度专家，负责协调Analyst、Developer、Reviewer、Tester完成研发任务，就像团队leader一样，统筹全局、分配任务、汇总结果。

## 核心职责
1. 接收需求并拆解为四个子任务。
2. 将子任务分配给对应的AI员工。
3. 监控任务进度，处理卡壳或错误。
4. 汇总所有子任务结果并向用户报告。

## 可调用的AI员工
### Analyst
- 能力: 分析需求、生成PRD、设计API
- 输出: Markdown 格式的需求文档
### Developer
- 能力: 根据需求编写代码，保证可运行
- 输出: 完整代码文件列表
### Reviewer
- 能力: 代码审查，发现安全或质量问题
- 输出: 审查报告
### Tester
- 能力: 编写并执行测试用例
- 输出: 测试报告

Similar SOUL files are provided for Analyst, Developer, Reviewer and Tester, each outlining core duties, output format and constraints such as security, performance and test coverage.

5. (Optional) Add Skills

If an agent needs a special tool, create a skill directory under ~/.openclaw/skills, add a SKILL.md description and a script (e.g., scripts/analyze.py) and reference it in the agent’s configuration.

6. Start the system

# Start the core gateway
openclaw start
# Follow logs to verify no errors
openclaw logs --follow
# Check that all agents are up
openclaw status

After the gateway is running, you can @ the AI assistant in the Feishu group and issue a requirement such as “Develop a user login feature supporting email/password and GitHub OAuth”.

Real‑world workflow example

The Director receives the request, splits it into four sub‑tasks, and calls the agents in order:

Analyst generates a PRD and API design.

Developer writes the login code.

Reviewer checks the code for security and style issues.

Tester runs unit, integration and API tests.

Director aggregates the results and returns a concise report.

Sample aggregated report:

✅ 任务完成  📋 需求分析： PRD 已生成，OAuth 流程已设计
💻 代码开发： 5 个文件，150 行代码
🔍 代码审查： 严重问题 2 条（SQL 注入、明文密码），建议 3 条
✅ 测试验证： 12 用例，通过率 92%
⏱️ 总耗时：12 分钟  💰 成本：$0.22

Summary of benefits

Clear role separation: five AI employees each focus on a single task.

Fully automatic hand‑off: tasks flow between agents without manual intervention.

Verifiable output at every stage: PRD, code, review report, test report.

Cost optimisation: sub‑agents use a cheaper model, saving up to 80% of AI‑service costs.

Efficiency boost: a process that normally takes 1‑2 days finishes in 10‑15 minutes.

Whether you are a solo developer or part of a small team, OpenClaw’s multi‑agent collaboration can free your hands, cut development time and let you focus on high‑value work.