Agent coordination

Multi-agent sandbox and tools

Status: active

Each agent in a multi-agent setup can override the global sandbox and tool policy. This page covers per-agent configuration, precedence rules, and examples.


Configuration examples

Example 1: Personal + restricted family agent
json
{  "agents": {    "list": [      {        "id": "main",        "default": true,        "name": "Personal Assistant",        "workspace": "~/.OmeniaClaw/workspace",        "sandbox": { "mode": "off" }      },      {        "id": "family",        "name": "Family Bot",        "workspace": "~/.OmeniaClaw/workspace-family",        "sandbox": {          "mode": "all",          "scope": "agent"        },        "tools": {          "allow": ["read", "message"],          "deny": ["exec", "write", "edit", "apply_patch", "process", "browser"],          "message": {            "crossContext": {              "allowWithinProvider": false,              "allowAcrossProviders": false            }          }        }      }    ]  },  "bindings": [    {      "agentId": "family",      "match": {        "provider": "whatsapp",        "accountId": "*",        "peer": {          "kind": "group",          "id": "[email protected]"        }      }    }  ]}

Result:

  • main agent: runs on host, full tool access.
  • family agent: runs in Docker (one container per agent), only read and current-conversation message sends.
Example 2: Work agent with shared sandbox
json
{  "agents": {    "list": [      {        "id": "personal",        "workspace": "~/.OmeniaClaw/workspace-personal",        "sandbox": { "mode": "off" }      },      {        "id": "work",        "workspace": "~/.OmeniaClaw/workspace-work",        "sandbox": {          "mode": "all",          "scope": "shared",          "workspaceRoot": "/tmp/work-sandboxes"        },        "tools": {          "allow": ["read", "write", "apply_patch", "exec"],          "deny": ["browser", "gateway", "discord"]        }      }    ]  }}
Example 2b: Global coding profile + messaging-only agent
json
{  "tools": { "profile": "coding" },  "agents": {    "list": [      {        "id": "support",        "tools": { "profile": "messaging", "allow": ["slack"] }      }    ]  }}

Result:

  • default agents get coding tools.
  • support agent is messaging-only (+ Slack tool).
Example 3: Different sandbox modes per agent
json
{  "agents": {    "defaults": {      "sandbox": {        "mode": "non-main",        "scope": "session"      }    },    "list": [      {        "id": "main",        "workspace": "~/.OmeniaClaw/workspace",        "sandbox": {          "mode": "off"        }      },      {        "id": "public",        "workspace": "~/.OmeniaClaw/workspace-public",        "sandbox": {          "mode": "all",          "scope": "agent"        },        "tools": {          "allow": ["read"],          "deny": ["exec", "write", "edit", "apply_patch"]        }      }    ]  }}

Configuration precedence

When both global (agents.defaults.*) and agent-specific (agents.list[].*) configs exist:

Sandbox config

Agent-specific settings override global:

Code
agents.list[].sandbox.mode > agents.defaults.sandbox.modeagents.list[].sandbox.scope > agents.defaults.sandbox.scopeagents.list[].sandbox.workspaceRoot > agents.defaults.sandbox.workspaceRootagents.list[].sandbox.workspaceAccess > agents.defaults.sandbox.workspaceAccessagents.list[].sandbox.docker.* > agents.defaults.sandbox.docker.*agents.list[].sandbox.browser.* > agents.defaults.sandbox.browser.*agents.list[].sandbox.prune.* > agents.defaults.sandbox.prune.*

Tool restrictions

The filtering order is:

  • Tool profile

    tools.profile or agents.list[].tools.profile.

  • Provider tool profile

    tools.byProvider[provider].profile or agents.list[].tools.byProvider[provider].profile.

  • Global tool policy

    tools.allow / tools.deny.

  • Provider tool policy

    tools.byProvider[provider].allow/deny.

  • Agent-specific tool policy

    agents.list[].tools.allow/deny.

  • Agent provider policy

    agents.list[].tools.byProvider[provider].allow/deny.

  • Sandbox tool policy

    tools.sandbox.tools or agents.list[].tools.sandbox.tools.

  • Subagent tool policy

    tools.subagents.tools, if applicable.

  • Precedence rules
    • Each level can further restrict tools, but cannot grant back denied tools from earlier levels.
    • If agents.list[].tools.sandbox.tools is set, it replaces tools.sandbox.tools for that agent.
    • If agents.list[].tools.profile is set, it overrides tools.profile for that agent.
    • Provider tool keys accept either provider (e.g. google-antigravity) or provider/model (e.g. openai/gpt-5.4).
    Empty allowlist behavior

    If any explicit allowlist in that chain leaves the run with no callable tools, OmeniaClaw stops before submitting the prompt to the model. This is intentional: an agent configured with a missing tool such as agents.list[].tools.allow: ["query_db"] should fail loudly until the plugin that registers query_db is enabled, not continue as a text-only agent.

    Tool policies support group:* shorthands that expand to multiple tools. See Tool groups for the full list.

    Per-agent elevated overrides (agents.list[].tools.elevated) can further restrict elevated exec for specific agents. See Elevated mode for details.


    Migration from single agent

    Before (single agent)

    json
    {  "agents": {    "defaults": {      "workspace": "~/.OmeniaClaw/workspace",      "sandbox": {        "mode": "non-main"      }    }  },  "tools": {    "sandbox": {      "tools": {        "allow": ["read", "write", "apply_patch", "exec"],        "deny": []      }    }  }}

    After (multi-agent)

    json
    {  "agents": {    "list": [      {        "id": "main",        "default": true,        "workspace": "~/.OmeniaClaw/workspace",        "sandbox": { "mode": "off" }      }    ]  }}

    Tool restriction examples

    Read-only agent

    json
    {  "tools": {    "allow": ["read"],    "deny": ["exec", "write", "edit", "apply_patch", "process"]  }}

    Shell execution with filesystem tools disabled

    json
    {  "tools": {    "allow": ["read", "exec", "process"],    "deny": ["write", "edit", "apply_patch", "browser", "gateway"]  }}

    Communication-only

    json
    {  "tools": {    "sessions": { "visibility": "tree" },    "allow": ["sessions_list", "sessions_send", "sessions_history", "session_status"],    "deny": ["exec", "write", "edit", "apply_patch", "read", "browser"]  }}

    sessions_history in this profile still returns a bounded, sanitized recall view rather than a raw transcript dump. Assistant recall strips thinking tags, <relevant-memories> scaffolding, plain-text tool-call XML payloads (including <tool_call>...</tool_call>, <function_call>...</function_call>, <tool_calls>...</tool_calls>, <function_calls>...</function_calls>, and truncated tool-call blocks), downgraded tool-call scaffolding, leaked ASCII/full-width model control tokens, and malformed MiniMax tool-call XML before redaction/truncation.


    Common pitfall: "non-main"


    Testing

    After configuring multi-agent sandbox and tools:

  • Check agent resolution

    bash
    OmeniaClaw agents list --bindings
  • Verify sandbox containers

    bash
    docker ps --filter "name=OmeniaClaw-sbx-"
  • Test tool restrictions

    • Send a message requiring restricted tools.
    • Verify the agent cannot use denied tools.
  • Monitor logs

    bash
    tail -f "${OmeniaClaw_STATE_DIR:-$HOME/.OmeniaClaw}/logs/gateway.log" | grep -E "routing|sandbox|tools"

  • Troubleshooting

    Agent not sandboxed despite `mode: 'all'`
    • Check if there's a global agents.defaults.sandbox.mode that overrides it.
    • Agent-specific config takes precedence, so set agents.list[].sandbox.mode: "all".
    Tools still available despite deny list
    • Check tool filtering order: global → agent → sandbox → subagent.
    • Each level can only further restrict, not grant back.
    • Verify with logs: [tools] filtering tools for agent:${agentId}.
    Container not isolated per agent
    • Set scope: "agent" in agent-specific sandbox config.
    • Default is "session" which creates one container per session.

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