Mantis

Mantis is the OpenClaw end-to-end verification system for bugs that need a real runtime, a real transport, and visible proof. It runs a scenario against a known bad ref, captures evidence, runs the same scenario against a candidate ref, and publishes the comparison as artifacts that a maintainer can inspect from a PR or from a local command. Mantis starts with Discord because Discord gives us a high-value first lane: real bot auth, real guild channels, reactions, threads, native commands, and a browser UI where humans can visually confirm what the transport showed.

Goals

Reproduce a bug from a GitHub issue or PR with the same transport shape users see.
Capture a before artifact on the baseline ref before applying the fix.
Capture an after artifact on the candidate ref after applying the fix.
Use a deterministic oracle whenever possible, such as a Discord REST reaction read or channel transcript check.
Capture screenshots when the bug has a visible UI surface.
Run locally from an agent-controlled CLI and remotely from GitHub.
Preserve enough machine state for VNC rescue when login, browser automation, or provider auth gets stuck.
Post concise status to an operator Discord channel when the run is blocked, needs manual VNC help, or finishes.

Non goals

Mantis is not a replacement for unit tests. A Mantis run should usually become a smaller regression test after the fix is understood.
Mantis is not the normal fast CI gate. It is slower, uses live credentials, and is reserved for bugs where the live environment matters.
Mantis should not require a human for normal operation. Manual VNC is a rescue path, not the happy path.
Mantis does not store raw secrets in artifacts, logs, screenshots, Markdown reports, or PR comments.

Ownership

Mantis lives in the OpenClaw QA stack.

OpenClaw owns the scenario runtime, transport adapters, evidence schema, and local CLI under pnpm openclaw qa mantis.
QA Lab owns the live transport harness pieces, browser capture helpers, and artifact writers.
Crabbox owns warmed Linux machines when a remote VM is needed.
GitHub Actions owns the remote workflow entrypoint and artifact retention.
ClawSweeper owns GitHub comment routing: parsing maintainer commands, dispatching the workflow, and posting the final PR comment.
OpenClaw agents drive Mantis through Codex when a scenario needs agentic setup, debugging, or stuck-state reporting.

This boundary keeps transport knowledge in OpenClaw, machine scheduling in Crabbox, and maintainer workflow glue in ClawSweeper.

Command shape

The first local command verifies the Discord bot, guild, channel, message send, reaction send, and artifact path:

pnpm openclaw qa mantis discord-smoke \
  --output-dir .artifacts/qa-e2e/mantis/discord-smoke

The local before and after runner accepts this shape:

pnpm openclaw qa mantis run \
  --transport discord \
  --scenario discord-status-reactions-tool-only \
  --baseline origin/main \
  --candidate HEAD \
  --output-dir .artifacts/qa-e2e/mantis/local-discord-status-reactions

The runner creates detached baseline and candidate worktrees under the output directory, installs dependencies, builds each ref, runs the scenario with --allow-failures, then writes baseline/, candidate/, comparison.json, and mantis-report.md. For the first Discord scenario, a successful verification means baseline status is fail and candidate status is pass. The second Discord before/after probe targets thread attachments:

pnpm openclaw qa mantis run \
  --transport discord \
  --scenario discord-thread-reply-filepath-attachment \
  --baseline <bug-ref> \
  --candidate <fix-ref> \
  --output-dir .artifacts/qa-e2e/mantis/local-discord-thread-attachment

That scenario posts a parent message with the driver bot, creates a real Discord thread, calls OpenClaw’s message.thread-reply action with a repo-local filePath, then polls the thread for the SUT reply and attachment filename. The baseline screenshot shows the reply with no attachment; the candidate screenshot shows the expected mantis-thread-report.md attachment. The first VM/browser primitive is the desktop smoke:

pnpm openclaw qa mantis desktop-browser-smoke \
  --output-dir .artifacts/qa-e2e/mantis/desktop-browser

It leases or reuses a Crabbox desktop machine, starts a visible browser inside the VNC session, captures the desktop, pulls artifacts back to the local output directory, and writes the reconnect command into the report. The command defaults to the Hetzner provider because it is the first provider with working desktop/VNC coverage in the Mantis lane. Override it with --provider, --crabbox-bin, or OPENCLAW_MANTIS_CRABBOX_PROVIDER when running against another Crabbox fleet. Useful desktop smoke flags:

--lease-id <cbx_...> or OPENCLAW_MANTIS_CRABBOX_LEASE_ID reuses a warmed desktop.
--browser-url <url> changes the page opened in the visible browser.
--html-file <path> renders a repo-local HTML artifact in the visible browser. Mantis uses this to capture the generated Discord status-reaction timeline through a real Crabbox desktop.
--browser-profile-dir <remote-path> reuses a remote Chrome user-data-dir so a persistent Mantis desktop can stay logged in between runs. Use this for the long-lived Discord Web viewer profile.
--browser-profile-archive-env <name> restores a base64 .tgz Chrome user-data-dir archive from the named environment variable before launching the browser. Use this for logged-in witnesses such as Discord Web. The default env var is OPENCLAW_MANTIS_BROWSER_PROFILE_TGZ_B64.
--video-duration <seconds> controls the MP4 capture length. Use a longer duration for slow logged-in web apps that need time to settle.
--keep-lease or OPENCLAW_MANTIS_KEEP_VM=1 keeps a newly created passing lease open for VNC inspection. Failed runs keep the lease by default when one was created so an operator can reconnect.
--class, --idle-timeout, and --ttl tune machine size and lease lifetime.

For Discord Web evidence, Mantis uses a dedicated viewer account instead of a bot token. The live Discord API scenario remains the oracle: it creates the real thread, sends the SUT thread-reply, and checks the attachment through Discord REST. When OPENCLAW_QA_DISCORD_CAPTURE_UI_METADATA=1 is set, the scenario also writes a Discord Web URL artifact. When OPENCLAW_QA_DISCORD_KEEP_THREADS=1 is set, it leaves that thread available long enough for a logged-in browser to open and record it. The GitHub workflow opens the candidate thread URL in Discord Web, captures a screenshot, records an MP4, and generates a trimmed GIF preview when Crabbox media tooling is available. Prefer a persistent viewer profile path configured through MANTIS_DISCORD_VIEWER_CHROME_PROFILE_DIR, because full Chrome profile archives can outgrow GitHub’s secret-size limit. For small/bootstrap profiles, the workflow can also restore a base64 .tgz archive from MANTIS_DISCORD_VIEWER_CHROME_PROFILE_TGZ_B64. If neither profile source is configured, the workflow still publishes the deterministic baseline/candidate attachment screenshots and logs a notice that the logged-in Discord Web witness was skipped. The first full desktop transport primitive is the Slack desktop smoke:

pnpm openclaw qa mantis slack-desktop-smoke \
  --output-dir .artifacts/qa-e2e/mantis/slack-desktop \
  --gateway-setup \
  --scenario slack-canary \
  --keep-lease

It leases or reuses a Crabbox desktop machine, syncs the current checkout into the VM, runs pnpm openclaw qa slack inside that VM, opens Slack Web in the VNC browser, captures the visible desktop, and copies both the Slack QA artifacts and the VNC screenshot back to the local output directory. This is the first Mantis shape where the SUT OpenClaw gateway and the browser both live inside the same Linux desktop VM. With --gateway-setup, the command prepares a persistent disposable OpenClaw home at $HOME/.openclaw-mantis/slack-openclaw, patches Slack Socket Mode configuration for the selected channel, starts openclaw gateway run on port 38973, and keeps Chrome running in the VNC session. This is the “leave me a Linux desktop with Slack and a claw running” mode; the bot-to-bot Slack QA lane remains the default when --gateway-setup is omitted. Required inputs for --credential-source env:

OPENCLAW_QA_SLACK_CHANNEL_ID
OPENCLAW_QA_SLACK_DRIVER_BOT_TOKEN
OPENCLAW_QA_SLACK_SUT_BOT_TOKEN
OPENCLAW_QA_SLACK_SUT_APP_TOKEN
OPENCLAW_LIVE_OPENAI_KEY for the remote model lane. If only OPENAI_API_KEY is set locally, Mantis maps it to OPENCLAW_LIVE_OPENAI_KEY before invoking Crabbox so Crabbox’s OPENCLAW_* env forwarding can carry it into the VM.

With --gateway-setup --credential-source convex, Mantis leases the Slack SUT credential from the shared pool before creating the VM and forwards the leased channel id, Socket Mode app token, and bot token as the OPENCLAW_MANTIS_SLACK_* runtime env inside the desktop. That keeps GitHub workflows thin: they only need the Convex broker secret, not raw Slack bot or app tokens. Useful Slack desktop flags:

--lease-id <cbx_...> reruns against a machine where an operator already logged in to Slack Web through VNC.
--gateway-setup starts a persistent OpenClaw Slack gateway in the VM instead of only running the bot-to-bot QA lane.
--keep-lease keeps the gateway VM open for VNC inspection after success; --no-keep-lease stops it after collecting artifacts.
--slack-url <url> opens a specific Slack Web URL. Without it, Mantis derives https://app.slack.com/client/<team>/<channel> from Slack auth.test when the SUT bot token is available.
--slack-channel-id <id> controls the Slack channel allowlist used by gateway setup.
OPENCLAW_MANTIS_SLACK_BROWSER_PROFILE_DIR controls the persistent Chrome profile inside the VM. The default is $HOME/.config/openclaw-mantis/slack-chrome-profile, so a manual Slack Web login survives reruns on the same lease.
--credential-source convex --credential-role ci uses the shared credential pool instead of direct Slack env tokens.
--provider-mode, --model, --alt-model, and --fast pass through to the Slack live lane.

The GitHub smoke workflow is Mantis Discord Smoke. The before and after GitHub workflow for the first real scenario is Mantis Discord Status Reactions. It accepts:

baseline_ref: the ref expected to reproduce queued-only behavior.
candidate_ref: the ref expected to show queued -> thinking -> done.

It checks out the workflow harness ref, builds separate baseline and candidate worktrees, runs discord-status-reactions-tool-only against each worktree, and uploads baseline/, candidate/, comparison.json, and mantis-report.md as Actions artifacts. It also renders each lane’s timeline HTML in a Crabbox desktop browser and publishes those VNC screenshots beside the deterministic timeline PNGs in the PR comment. The same PR comment embeds lightweight motion-trimmed GIF previews generated by crabbox media preview, links to the matching motion-trimmed MP4 clips, and keeps the full desktop MP4 files for deep inspection. Screenshots stay inline for quick review. The workflow builds the Crabbox CLI from openclaw/crabbox main so it can use the current desktop/browser lease flags before the next Crabbox binary release is cut. Mantis Scenario is the generic manual entrypoint. It takes a scenario_id, candidate_ref, optional baseline_ref, and optional pr_number, then dispatches the scenario-owned workflow. The wrapper is intentionally thin: scenario workflows still own their transport setup, credentials, VM class, expected oracle, and artifact manifest. Mantis Slack Desktop Smoke is the first Slack VM workflow. It checks out the trusted candidate ref in a separate worktree, leases a Crabbox Linux desktop, runs pnpm openclaw qa mantis slack-desktop-smoke --gateway-setup against that candidate, opens Slack Web in the VNC browser, records the desktop, generates a motion-trimmed preview with crabbox media preview, uploads the full artifact directory, and optionally posts the inline evidence comment on the target PR. It defaults to AWS for the desktop lease and exposes a manual provider input so operators can switch to Hetzner when AWS capacity is slow or unavailable. Use this lane when you want “a Linux desktop with Slack and a claw running” instead of only a bot-to-bot Slack transcript. Mantis Telegram Live wraps the existing Telegram live QA lane in the same PR evidence pipeline. It checks out the trusted candidate ref in a separate worktree, runs pnpm openclaw qa telegram --credential-source convex --credential-role ci, writes a mantis-evidence.json manifest from the Telegram QA summary and observed-message artifact, renders the redacted transcript HTML through a Crabbox desktop browser, generates a motion-trimmed GIF with crabbox media preview, and posts the inline PR evidence comment when a PR number is available. This lane is transcript-visual rather than logged-in Telegram Web proof: the Telegram Bot API gives stable live message evidence, but Telegram Web login state is not required for normal Mantis automation. Mantis Telegram Desktop Proof is the agentic native Telegram Desktop before/after wrapper. A maintainer can trigger it from a PR comment with @Mantis telegram desktop proof, from the Actions UI with freeform instructions, or through the generic Mantis Scenario dispatcher. The workflow hands the PR, baseline ref, candidate ref, and maintainer instructions to Codex. The agent reads the PR, decides what Telegram-visible behavior proves the change, runs the real-user Crabbox Telegram Desktop proof lane for baseline and candidate, iterates until the native GIFs are useful, writes paired motionPreview artifacts into mantis-evidence.json, uploads the bundle, and posts a 2-column PR evidence table when a PR number is available. For human-in-the-loop Telegram desktop setup, use the scenario builder:

pnpm openclaw qa mantis telegram-desktop-builder \
  --credential-source convex \
  --credential-role maintainer \
  --keep-lease

The builder leases or reuses a Crabbox desktop, installs the native Linux Telegram Desktop binary, optionally restores a user-session archive, configures OpenClaw with the leased Telegram SUT bot token, starts openclaw gateway run on port 38974, posts a driver-bot readiness message to the leased private group, then captures a screenshot and MP4 from the visible VNC desktop. A bot token never logs Telegram Desktop in; it only configures OpenClaw. The desktop viewer is a separate Telegram user session restored from --telegram-profile-archive-env <name> or created manually through VNC and kept alive with --keep-lease. Useful Telegram desktop builder flags:

--lease-id <cbx_...> reruns against a VM where an operator already logged in to Telegram Desktop.
--telegram-profile-archive-env <name> reads a base64 .tgz Telegram Desktop profile archive from that env var and restores it before launch.
--telegram-profile-dir <remote-path> controls the remote Telegram Desktop profile directory. The default is $HOME/.local/share/TelegramDesktop.
--no-gateway-setup installs and opens Telegram Desktop without configuring OpenClaw.
--credential-source convex --credential-role ci uses the shared credential broker instead of direct Telegram env tokens.

Every PR-publishing scenario writes mantis-evidence.json next to its report. This schema is the handoff between scenario code and GitHub comments:

{
  "schemaVersion": 1,
  "id": "discord-status-reactions",
  "title": "Mantis Discord Status Reactions QA",
  "summary": "Human-readable top summary for the PR comment.",
  "scenario": "discord-status-reactions-tool-only",
  "comparison": {
    "baseline": { "sha": "...", "status": "fail", "expected": "queued-only" },
    "candidate": { "sha": "...", "status": "pass", "expected": "queued -> thinking -> done" },
    "pass": true
  },
  "artifacts": [
    {
      "kind": "timeline",
      "lane": "baseline",
      "label": "Baseline queued-only",
      "path": "baseline/timeline.png",
      "targetPath": "baseline.png",
      "alt": "Baseline Discord timeline",
      "width": 420
    }
  ]
}

Artifact path values are relative to the manifest directory. targetPath values are relative paths under the qa-artifacts branch publish directory. The publisher rejects path traversal and skips entries marked "required": false when optional previews or videos are unavailable. Supported artifact kinds:

timeline: deterministic scenario screenshot, usually before/after.
desktopScreenshot: VNC/browser desktop screenshot.
motionPreview: inline animated GIF generated from the desktop recording.
motionClip: motion-trimmed MP4 that removes static lead-in and tail.
fullVideo: full MP4 recording for deep inspection.
metadata: JSON/log sidecar.
report: Markdown report.

The reusable publisher is scripts/mantis/publish-pr-evidence.mjs. Workflows call it with the manifest, target PR, qa-artifacts target root, comment marker, Actions artifact URL, run URL, and request source. It copies declared artifacts to the qa-artifacts branch, builds a summary-first PR comment with inline images/previews and linked videos, then updates the existing marker comment or creates one. You can also trigger the status-reactions run directly from a PR comment:

@Mantis discord status reactions

The comment trigger is intentionally narrow. It only runs on pull request comments from users with write, maintain, or admin access, and it only recognizes Discord status-reaction requests. By default it uses the known bad baseline ref and the current PR head SHA as the candidate. Maintainers can override either ref:

@Mantis discord status reactions baseline=origin/main candidate=HEAD

Telegram live QA can also be triggered from a PR comment:

@Mantis telegram
@Mantis telegram scenario=telegram-status-command
@Mantis telegram scenarios=telegram-status-command,telegram-mentioned-message-reply

By default it uses the current PR head SHA as the candidate and runs telegram-status-command. Maintainers can override candidate=..., provider=aws|hetzner, and lease=<cbx_...> when they need a specific ref or a pre-warmed Crabbox desktop. ClawSweeper command examples:

@clawsweeper mantis discord discord-status-reactions-tool-only
@clawsweeper verify e2e discord

The first command is explicit and scenario-focused. The second can later map a PR or issue to recommended Mantis scenarios from labels, changed files, and ClawSweeper review findings.

Run lifecycle

Acquire credentials.
Allocate or reuse a VM.
Prepare the desktop/browser profile when the scenario needs UI evidence.
Prepare a clean checkout for the baseline ref.
Install dependencies and build only what the scenario needs.
Start a child OpenClaw Gateway with an isolated state directory.
Configure the live transport, provider, model, and browser profile.
Run the scenario and capture baseline evidence.
Stop the gateway and preserve logs.
Prepare the candidate ref in the same VM.
Run the same scenario and capture candidate evidence.
Compare the oracle results and visual evidence.
Write Markdown, JSON, logs, screenshots, and optional trace artifacts.
Upload GitHub Actions artifacts.
Post a concise PR or Discord status message.

The scenario should be able to fail in two different ways:

Bug reproduced: baseline failed in the expected way.
Harness failure: environment setup, credentials, Discord API, browser, or provider failed before the bug oracle was meaningful.

The final report must separate these cases so maintainers do not confuse a flaky environment with product behavior.

Discord MVP

The first scenario should target Discord status reactions in guild channels where the source reply delivery mode is message_tool_only. Why it is a good Mantis seed:

It is visible in Discord as reactions on the triggering message.
It has a strong REST oracle through Discord message reaction state.
It exercises a real OpenClaw Gateway, Discord bot auth, message dispatch, source reply delivery mode, status reaction state, and model turn lifecycle.
It is narrow enough to keep the first implementation honest.

Expected scenario shape:

id: discord-status-reactions-tool-only
transport: discord
baseline:
  expect:
    reproduced: true
candidate:
  expect:
    fixed: true
config:
  messages:
    ackReaction: "👀"
    ackReactionScope: "group-mentions"
    groupChat:
      visibleReplies: "message_tool"
    statusReactions:
      enabled: true
      timing:
        debounceMs: 0
discord:
  requireMention: true
  notifyChannel: operator-notify
evidence:
  rest:
    messageReactions: true
  browser:
    screenshotMessageRow: true

Baseline evidence should show the queued acknowledgement reaction but no lifecycle transition in tool-only mode. Candidate evidence should show lifecycle status reactions running when messages.statusReactions.enabled is explicitly true. The executable first slice is the opt-in Discord live QA scenario:

pnpm openclaw qa discord \
  --scenario discord-status-reactions-tool-only \
  --provider-mode live-frontier \
  --model openai/gpt-5.4 \
  --alt-model openai/gpt-5.4 \
  --fast \
  --output-dir .artifacts/qa-e2e/mantis/discord-status-reactions-candidate

It configures the SUT with always-on guild handling, visibleReplies: "message_tool", ackReaction: "👀", and explicit status reactions. The oracle polls the real Discord triggering message and expects the observed sequence 👀 -> 🤔 -> 👍. Artifacts include discord-qa-reaction-timelines.json, discord-status-reactions-tool-only-timeline.html, and discord-status-reactions-tool-only-timeline.png.

Existing QA pieces

Mantis should build on the existing private QA stack instead of starting from zero:

pnpm openclaw qa discord already runs a live Discord lane with driver and SUT bots.
The live transport runner already writes reports and observed-message artifacts under .artifacts/qa-e2e/.
Convex credential leases already provide exclusive access to shared live transport credentials.
The browser control service already supports screenshots, snapshots, headless managed profiles, and remote CDP profiles.
QA Lab already has a debugger UI and bus for transport-shaped testing.

The first Mantis implementation can be a thin before/after runner over these pieces, plus one visual evidence layer.

Evidence model

Every run writes a stable artifact directory:

.artifacts/qa-e2e/mantis/<run-id>/
  mantis-report.md
  mantis-summary.json
  baseline/
    summary.json
    discord-message.json
    screenshot-message-row.png
    gateway-debug/
  candidate/
    summary.json
    discord-message.json
    screenshot-message-row.png
    gateway-debug/
  comparison.json
  run.log

mantis-summary.json should be the machine-readable source of truth. The Markdown report is for PR comments and human review. The summary must include:

refs and SHAs tested
transport and scenario id
machine provider and machine id or lease id
credential source without secret values
baseline result
candidate result
whether the bug reproduced on baseline
whether the candidate fixed it
artifact paths
sanitized setup or cleanup issues

Screenshots are evidence, not secrets. They still need redaction discipline: private channel names, user names, or message content may appear. For public PRs, prefer GitHub Actions artifact links over inline images until the redaction story is stronger.

Browser and VNC

The browser lane has two modes:

Headless automation: default for CI. Chrome runs with CDP enabled, and Playwright or OpenClaw browser control captures screenshots.
VNC rescue: enabled on the same VM when login, MFA, Discord anti-automation, or visual debugging needs a human.

The Discord observer browser profile should be persistent enough to avoid logging in for every run, but isolated from personal browser state. A profile belongs to the Mantis machine pool, not to a developer laptop. When Mantis gets stuck, it posts a Discord status message with:

run id
scenario id
machine provider
artifact directory
VNC or noVNC connection instructions if available
short blocker text

The first private deployment can post these messages to the existing operator channel and move to a dedicated Mantis channel later.

Machines

Mantis should prefer AWS through Crabbox for the first remote implementation. Crabbox gives us warmed machines, lease tracking, hydration, logs, results, and cleanup. If AWS capacity is too slow or unavailable, add a Hetzner provider behind the same machine interface. Minimum VM requirements:

Linux with a desktop-capable Chrome or Chromium install
CDP access for browser automation
VNC or noVNC for rescue
Node 22 and pnpm
OpenClaw checkout and dependency cache
Playwright Chromium browser cache when Playwright is used
enough CPU and memory for one OpenClaw Gateway, one browser, and one model run
outbound access to Discord, GitHub, model providers, and the credential broker

The VM should not keep long-lived raw secrets outside the expected credential or browser profile stores.

Secrets

Secrets live in GitHub organization or repository secrets for remote runs, and in a local operator-controlled secret file for local runs. Recommended secret names:

OPENCLAW_QA_DISCORD_MANTIS_BOT_TOKEN
OPENCLAW_QA_DISCORD_DRIVER_BOT_TOKEN
OPENCLAW_QA_DISCORD_SUT_BOT_TOKEN
OPENCLAW_QA_DISCORD_GUILD_ID
OPENCLAW_QA_DISCORD_CHANNEL_ID
OPENCLAW_QA_DISCORD_NOTIFY_CHANNEL_ID
OPENCLAW_QA_REDACT_PUBLIC_METADATA=1 for public GitHub artifact uploads
OPENCLAW_QA_CONVEX_SITE_URL
OPENCLAW_QA_CONVEX_SECRET_CI
OPENCLAW_QA_MANTIS_CRABBOX_COORDINATOR
OPENCLAW_QA_MANTIS_CRABBOX_COORDINATOR_TOKEN

Long term, the Convex credential pool should remain the normal source for live transport credentials. GitHub secrets bootstrap the broker and fallback lanes. The Discord status-reactions workflow maps the Mantis Crabbox secrets back to the CRABBOX_COORDINATOR and CRABBOX_COORDINATOR_TOKEN environment variables that the Crabbox CLI expects. The plain CRABBOX_* GitHub secret names remain accepted as a compatibility fallback. The Mantis runner must never print:

Discord bot tokens
provider API keys
browser cookies
auth profile contents
VNC passwords
raw credential payloads

Public artifact uploads should also redact Discord target metadata such as bot, guild, channel, and message ids. The GitHub smoke workflow enables OPENCLAW_QA_REDACT_PUBLIC_METADATA=1 for this reason. If a token is accidentally pasted into an issue, PR, chat, or log, rotate it after the new secret has been stored.

GitHub artifacts and PR comments

Mantis workflows should upload the full evidence bundle as a short-lived Actions artifact. When the workflow is run for a bug report or fix PR, it should also publish the redacted PNG screenshots to the qa-artifacts branch and upsert a comment on that bug or fix PR with inline before/after screenshots. Do not post the primary proof only on a generic QA automation PR. Raw logs, observed messages, and other bulky evidence stay in the Actions artifact. Production workflows should post those comments with the Mantis GitHub App, not with github-actions[bot]. Store the app id and private key as MANTIS_GITHUB_APP_ID and MANTIS_GITHUB_APP_PRIVATE_KEY GitHub Actions secrets. The workflow uses a hidden marker as the upsert key, updates that comment when the token can edit it, and creates a new Mantis-owned comment when an older bot-owned marker cannot be edited. The PR comment should be short and visual:

Mantis Discord Status Reactions QA

Summary: Mantis reran the reported Discord status-reaction bug against the known
bad baseline and the candidate fix. The baseline reproduced the bug, while the
candidate showed the expected queued -> thinking -> done sequence.

- Scenario: `discord-status-reactions-tool-only`
- Run: <workflow run link>
- Artifact: <artifact link>
- Baseline: `<status>` at `<sha>`
- Candidate: `<status>` at `<sha>`

| Baseline            | Candidate           |
| ------------------- | ------------------- |
| <inline screenshot> | <inline screenshot> |

When the run fails because the harness failed, the comment must say that instead of implying the candidate failed.

Private deployment notes

A private deployment may already have a Mantis Discord application. Reuse that application instead of creating another app when it has the right bot permissions and can be safely rotated. Set the initial operator notification channel through secrets or deployment configuration. It can point at an existing maintainer or operations channel first, then move to a dedicated Mantis channel once one exists. Do not put guild ids, channel ids, bot tokens, browser cookies, or VNC passwords in this document. Store them in GitHub secrets, the credential broker, or the operator’s local secret store.

Adding a scenario

A Mantis scenario should declare:

id and title
transport
required credentials
baseline ref policy
candidate ref policy
OpenClaw config patch
setup steps
stimulus
expected baseline oracle
expected candidate oracle
visual capture targets
timeout budget
cleanup steps

Scenarios should prefer small, typed oracles:

Discord reaction state for reaction bugs
Discord message references for threading bugs
Slack thread ts and reaction API state for Slack bugs
email message ids and headers for email bugs
browser screenshots when UI is the only reliable observable

Vision checks should be additive. If a platform API can prove the bug, use the API as the pass/fail oracle and keep screenshots for human confidence.

Provider expansion

After Discord, the same runner can add:

Slack: reactions, threads, app mentions, modals, file uploads.
Email: Gmail auth and message threading using gog where connectors are not enough.
WhatsApp: QR login, re-identification, message delivery, media, reactions.
Telegram: group mention gating, commands, reactions where available.
Matrix: encrypted rooms, thread or reply relations, restart resume.

Each transport should have one cheap smoke scenario and one or more bug-class scenarios. Expensive visual scenarios should stay opt-in.

Open questions

Which Discord bot should be the driver, and which should be the SUT, when the existing Mantis bot is reused?
Should the observer browser login use a human Discord account, a test account, or only bot-readable REST evidence for the first phase?
How long should GitHub retain Mantis artifacts for PRs?
When should ClawSweeper automatically recommend Mantis instead of waiting for a maintainer command?
Should screenshots be redacted or cropped before upload for public PRs?

CLI commands

RPC and API

Codex harness

Templates

Technical reference

Concept internals

Project

Release and CI

Goals

Non goals

Ownership

Command shape

Run lifecycle

Discord MVP

Existing QA pieces

Evidence model

Browser and VNC

Machines

Secrets

GitHub artifacts and PR comments

Private deployment notes

Adding a scenario

Provider expansion

Open questions

CLI commands

RPC and API

Codex harness

Templates

Technical reference

Concept internals

Project

Release and CI

Documentation Index

​Goals

​Non goals

​Ownership

​Command shape

​Run lifecycle

​Discord MVP

​Existing QA pieces

​Evidence model

​Browser and VNC

​Machines

​Secrets

​GitHub artifacts and PR comments

​Private deployment notes

​Adding a scenario

​Provider expansion

​Open questions

Goals

Non goals

Ownership

Command shape

Run lifecycle

Discord MVP

Existing QA pieces

Evidence model

Browser and VNC

Machines

Secrets

GitHub artifacts and PR comments

Private deployment notes

Adding a scenario

Provider expansion

Open questions