Magic Need

magic-need

Capture what your AI agent wishes it had. Let your agent spec your product for you.

Overview

When an AI agent is executing a task and hits a wall because it lacks data or tools, instead of just failing or working around it, this skill lets the agent register exactly what it's missing. Over time, this builds a prioritized roadmap of integrations and features.

Inspired by Sonarly's magic_fetch concept — give the agent a "tool that does nothing" and let it tell you what it actually needs.

Usage

As an Agent (During Task Execution)

When you realize you need something you don't have:

# Option 1: Use the CLI directly
node ~/.openclaw/skills/magic-need/scripts/cli.js "API for recent deploys of service X"
Option 2: Use via shell exec
exec({
  command: 'node ~/.openclaw/skills/magic-need/scripts/cli.js "CPU metrics for upstream service"'
})

The CLI will: 1. Save the need to ~/.magic-need/needs.json 2. Auto-categorize it (integration, observability, devops, auth, database, storage) 3. Return a confirmation with the need ID

As a Human (Reviewing Needs)

# List all needs
node scripts/cli.js list
Generate a report (grouped by category)
node scripts/cli.js report
Archive resolved needs
node scripts/cli.js clear

Auto-Categorization

Needs are automatically categorized based on description keywords:

| Category | Keywords | Example Need | |----------|----------|--------------| | integration | api, endpoint | "API for fetching user data" | | observability | metric, log, monitor | "Error logs from last hour" | | devops | deploy, pipeline, ci | "Recent deployments of service X" | | auth | user, auth, login, permission | "Auth tokens for service Y" | | database | database, db, query, schema | "Query to get active users" | | storage | file, storage, upload, s3 | "Upload files to cloud storage" | | general | (default) | Other needs |

Data Format

Needs are stored as JSON in ~/.magic-need/needs.json:

[
  {
    "id": "j8ldlr",
    "description": "API for recent deploys",
    "createdAt": "2026-03-07T18:09:18.123Z",
    "status": "pending",
    "category": "integration"
  }
]

Report Format

The report command outputs a formatted summary:

🪄 Magic Need Report — 4 pending
🔌 INTEGRATION (2)
  • API for recent deploys of auth-service
  • Feature flags toggled recently
📊 OBSERVABILITY (1)
  • CPU metrics for upstream database
📝 GENERAL (1)
  • Tool to visualize data flow

Best Practices

Good Need Descriptions

Be specific about what you need:

Bad Need Descriptions

Avoid vague descriptions:

Integration Roadmap

Periodically review the generated reports to: 1. Identify patterns (which categories have the most needs?) 2. Prioritize integrations (which needs block the most tasks?) 3. Build the most impactful tools first

CLI Reference

See scripts/cli.js for the full implementation.

Commands

| Command | Description | |---------|-------------| | cli.js "description" | Register a new need | | cli.js list | List all needs | | cli.js report | Generate formatted report | | cli.js clear | Archive pending needs |

Cron Integration

To receive daily reports, set up a cronjob:

# Daily at 10 PM
0 22 * * * node ~/.openclaw/skills/magic-need/scripts/cli.js report | your-notification-script

Or use OpenClaw's cron system to send reports to a Discord channel.

As an Agent (During Task Execution)

When you realize you need something you don't have:

# Option 1: Use the CLI directly
node ~/.openclaw/skills/magic-need/scripts/cli.js "API for recent deploys of service X"
Option 2: Use via shell exec
exec({
  command: 'node ~/.openclaw/skills/magic-need/scripts/cli.js "CPU metrics for upstream service"'
})

The CLI will: 1. Save the need to ~/.magic-need/needs.json 2. Auto-categorize it (integration, observability, devops, auth, database, storage) 3. Return a confirmation with the need ID

As a Human (Reviewing Needs)

# List all needs
node scripts/cli.js list
Generate a report (grouped by category)
node scripts/cli.js report
Archive resolved needs
node scripts/cli.js clear

Good Need Descriptions

Be specific about what you need:

Bad Need Descriptions

Avoid vague descriptions:

Integration Roadmap

Periodically review the generated reports to: 1. Identify patterns (which categories have the most needs?) 2. Prioritize integrations (which needs block the most tasks?) 3. Build the most impactful tools first