clawdbot/docs/tools/lobster.md

title, description

title	description
Lobster	Typed workflow runtime for Clawdbot — composable pipelines with approval gates.

Lobster

Lobster is a workflow shell that lets Clawdbot run multi-step tool sequences as a single, deterministic operation with explicit approval checkpoints.

Why

Today, complex workflows require many back-and-forth tool calls. Each call costs tokens, and the LLM has to orchestrate every step. Lobster moves that orchestration into a typed runtime:

• One call instead of many: Clawdbot calls lobster.run(...) once and gets a structured result.
• Approvals built in: Side effects (send email, post comment) halt the workflow until explicitly approved.
• Resumable: Halted workflows return a token; approve and resume without re-running everything.

Example: Email triage

Without Lobster:

User: "Check my email and draft replies"
→ clawd calls gmail.list
→ LLM summarizes
→ User: "draft replies to #2 and #5"
→ LLM drafts
→ User: "send #2"
→ clawd calls gmail.send
(repeat daily, no memory of what was triaged)

With Lobster:

clawd calls: lobster.run("email.triage --limit 20")

Returns:
{
  "status": "needs_approval",
  "output": {
    "summary": "5 need replies, 2 need action",
    "drafts": [...]
  },
  "requiresApproval": {
    "prompt": "Send 2 draft replies?",
    "resumeToken": "..."
  }
}

User approves → clawd calls: lobster.resume(token, approve: true)
→ Emails sent

One workflow. Deterministic. Safe.

Enable

Lobster is an optional plugin tool. Enable it in your agent config:

{
  "agents": {
    "list": [{
      "id": "main",
      "tools": {
        "allow": ["lobster"]
      }
    }]
  }
}

You also need the lobster CLI installed locally.

Actions

run

Execute a Lobster pipeline in tool mode.

{
  "action": "run",
  "pipeline": "gog.gmail.search --query 'newer_than:1d' | email.triage",
  "timeoutMs": 30000
}

resume

Continue a halted workflow after approval.

{
  "action": "resume",
  "token": "<resumeToken>",
  "approve": true
}

Security

• Local subprocess only — no network calls from the plugin itself.
• No secrets — Lobster doesn't manage OAuth; it calls clawd tools that do.
• Sandbox-aware — disabled when ctx.sandboxed is true.
• Hardened — lobsterPath must be absolute if specified; timeouts and output caps enforced.

Learn more

• Lobster repo — runtime, commands, and workflow examples.