Boris Workflow for OpenClaw
Parallel agent task runner implementing the Boris Cherny multi-agent pattern
 
Overview
Boris Workflow is a powerful parallel execution engine for OpenClaw that enables you to run multiple independent tasks across multiple AI agents simultaneously. Inspired by Boris Cherny's approach to multi-agent orchestration, it provides automatic progress tracking, configurable error retry, and organized artifact management.
What It Does
The Boris Workflow implements a 3-phase parallel execution pattern:
- Phase 1: Distribution — Tasks are queued and distributed to available agents
- Phase 2: Execution — Agents pull work from the queue (work-stealing pattern)
- Phase 3: Verification — Optional verification agent reviews all results
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ ORCHESTRATOR │
│ (boris-run CLI) │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
│
┌───────────────────┼───────────────────┐
▼ ▼ ▼
┌──────────────┐ ┌──────────────┐ ┌──────────────┐
│ AGENT 1 │ │ AGENT 2 │ │ AGENT N │
│ (Task A) │ │ (Task B) │ │ (Task C) │
└──────┬───────┘ └──────┬───────┘ └──────┬───────┘
│ │ │
└───────────────────┼───────────────────┘
▼
┌────────────────────┐
│ RESULT COLLECTOR │
└────────────────────┘Key Features
🚀 Parallel Execution
- Spawn 1-20 agents working simultaneously
- Work-stealing pattern ensures no idle agents
- Automatic load balancing across varying task durations
🔄 Intelligent Retry
- Configurable retry strategies: none, linear, exponential
- Per-task timeout handling
- Automatic failure recovery
📊 Progress Tracking
- Real-time progress updates
- Compact progress bar or verbose logging modes
- Per-task status monitoring
✅ Verification Layer
- Optional verification agent reviews all results
- Quality assessment and error detection
- Verification reports in structured JSON
🎨 Web UI (Optional)
- Modern dark-themed interface
- Real-time status via Server-Sent Events
- Drag-and-drop task management
- Configuration export as YAML
📁 Organized Artifacts
- Automatic directory structure per workflow
- Timestamped artifact naming
- Cleanup policies (keep_all, keep_last_N, age_based)
Quick Start
# Install dependencies
cd ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/boris-workflow
pip install -r requirements.txt
# Run 3 tasks with 3 agents
./bin/boris-run --tasks "research|analyze|write"
# Run 10 tasks with 5 agents
./bin/boris-run --tasks "t1|t2|t3|t4|t5|t6|t7|t8|t9|t10" --agents 5
# With verification step
./bin/boris-run --tasks "code|test|review" --verify
# Dry run to preview
./bin/boris-run --tasks "build|deploy" --dry-runWeb Interface
Boris Workflow includes a modern web UI for visual workflow management:
# Start the Web UI
cd ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/boris-workflow/webui
./start.shOpen http://localhost:8080 in your browser.
Web UI Features
- Dynamic Task Management — Add, remove, and reorder workflow tasks with an intuitive interface
- Agent Configuration — Adjust agent count (1-20) and select AI models from a dropdown
- Real-time Status — Live progress updates via Server-Sent Events (SSE)
- Results Viewer — View and download workflow results in JSON format
- Configuration Management — Save settings and export as YAML
- Modern Dark UI — Clean interface built with Tailwind CSS
- Mobile Responsive — Works seamlessly on all screen sizes
Web UI Screenshots
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 🚀 Boris Workflow [Settings] │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ Workflow Name: batch-analysis │
│ │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ Tasks │ Agents: [ 3 ▼] │ │
│ │ ──────────────────────── │ Model: [kimi-coding ▼] │ │
│ │ □ Research market trends │ Timeout: [300s ▼] │ │
│ │ □ Analyze competitors │ Retries: [2 ▼] │ │
│ │ □ Write summary report │ │ │
│ │ □ + Add Task │ [✓] Enable Verification │ │
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
│ │
│ [Start Workflow] [Dry Run] [Export YAML] │
│ │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ Progress │ │
│ │ ████████░░░░░░░░░░ 8/10 tasks complete (80%) │ │
│ │ │ │
│ │ task_0_research ✅ Complete 2m 14s │ │
│ │ task_1_analyze ✅ Complete 1m 52s │ │
│ │ task_2_write 🔄 Running 0m 45s │ │
│ │ task_3_verify ⏳ Pending -- │ │
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘Requirements
System Requirements
- OpenClaw: Installed and configured
- Python: 3.9 or higher
- OS: Linux, macOS, or WSL on Windows
- Memory: 4GB RAM minimum (8GB recommended for multiple agents)
- Disk: 100MB for installation, variable for artifacts
Python Dependencies
pyyaml>=6.0
requests>=2.28.0Optional Dependencies (for Web UI)
fastapi>=0.100.0
uvicorn[standard]>=0.23.0
pydantic>=2.0.0
python-multipart>=0.0.6Configuration
Configuration Hierarchy
Config values are resolved in priority order (highest to lowest):
- CLI arguments
- Environment variables (
BORIS_*) - Project config (
./.boris/config.yaml) - User config (
~/.boris/config.yaml) - System defaults
Example Config File
# ~/.boris/config.yaml
# Agent defaults
agents:
default_count: 3
max_count: 20
timeout_seconds: 300
model: "kimi-coding/k2p5"
# Retry configuration
retry:
max_attempts: 2
backoff_strategy: "exponential"
initial_delay_ms: 1000
max_delay_ms: 30000
# Output and artifacts
output:
base_dir: "~/.boris/artifacts"
naming_pattern: "{workflow_name}_{timestamp}_{task_id}"
cleanup_policy: "keep_last_10"
# Verification settings
verification:
enabled: false
verifier_model: "kimi-coding/k2p5"
auto_retry_failed: true
# Logging
logging:
level: "info"
format: "text"CLI Reference
Usage: boris-run [OPTIONS]
Required:
-t, --tasks TEXT Tasks to run, pipe-separated
Optional:
-a, --agents INTEGER Number of agents (default: 3, max: 20)
-n, --name TEXT Workflow name
-c, --config PATH Config file path
-o, --output PATH Artifacts directory
-r, --retries INTEGER Max retries per task
-T, --timeout INTEGER Timeout per agent (seconds)
--verify Enable verification step
--dry-run Preview without execution
--mock Use mock bridge for testing
-v, --verbose Verbose logging
-q, --quiet Suppress progress output
--version Show version
-h, --help Show helpUse Cases
- Batch Content Processing — Generate 10 blog posts simultaneously
- Multi-Source Research — Research 5 topics in parallel
- Code Review at Scale — Review 20 files with 5 agents
- Data Analysis Pipeline — Process multiple datasets concurrently
- Test Suite Execution — Run independent test files in parallel
License
MIT License - OpenClaw Community
Author
Created by Goli / mukston for the OpenClaw ecosystem.