Talking to Org Mode from an AI Agent

2026-04-144 min read (712 words)
emacs org-mode openclaw

Table of Contents

I have an AI assistant running on my server via OpenClaw. It lives in Telegram, can run commands, read files, and talk to my Emacs. The point isn't having Emacs on the server — it's having an agent that can interact with my org-mode life from a chat window.

This is how that works and what you can do with it.

/org-mode-agent.jpg

The skill

OpenClaw has a skill system — reusable modules that teach the agent how to do specific things. There wasn't an org-mode skill available on the skill registry (ClawHub), so I wrote one. It gives the agent programmatic access to Emacs in batch mode. The agent runs Emacs with --batch --eval, loads org, and operates on your files directly. The skill lives at github.com/ArthurHeymans/.doom.d/skills/org-mode.md.

I use Doom Emacs on my desktop with a literate config.org. Running the same Doom config on the server means the agent gets the exact same org setup — same agenda files, same capture templates, same habits — without duplicating configuration.

What it can do

Agenda queries

" What's on my agenda today?" — the agent reads your org-agenda-files, parses scheduled items, deadlines, and habits, and gives you a structured summary in chat. You get the same view you'd get in Emacs, just formatted for Telegram.

Habit tracking

The agent reads org-habit data — completion percentages, streaks, last-done dates. "How are my habits?" returns a blunt summary of what's done and what's falling behind.

It can also modify habits. "Change 'Ijsbad nemen' to 'Ijsbad/koude douche' and make it a daily habit" — the agent edits the org file, sets the TODO state, configures the schedule (.+1d/2d), and adds the :STYLE: habit property.

Org captures

New notes, daily entries, meeting templates — all through org-capture invoked programmatically. The agent can create a capture entry in any of your configured templates, or you can define new ones on the fly.

TODO management

Mark items done, change priorities, refile entries between files. "Mark the Proximus invoice as DONE" — the agent finds the heading, changes the TODO state, and logs the completion time.

Filetag-based agenda filtering

My agenda uses filetags to determine which files appear in org-agenda-files. Files with TODO items get auto-tagged with todo; when all items are done, the tag is removed. The agent maintains this automatically — every time it reads the agenda, it re-scans for the current set of active files.

What else could it do

Some things I haven't set up yet but that are straightforward with the skill:

  • Clock in/out: "Start clocking time on the NORbert project" — the agent runs org-clock-in on the right heading. "How much time did I spend on firmware this week?" — it reads clock tables.
  • Refiling: "Move this task to the work file" — the agent uses org-refile to move headings between files.
  • Daily review: A cron job that runs every evening, summarizes what you completed, what's still open, what's overdue, and sends it as a digest.
  • Meeting notes: "Start a meeting note with Microsoft daily" — creates a capture with participants, agenda, and action items template.
  • Recurring check-ins: "Remind me every Monday to review my open PRs" — the agent creates a scheduled TODO item that appears in the agenda.
  • Linking: "Link this note to the NORbert project" — the agent inserts an org-link between nodes.
  • Property editing: "Set the effort on this task to 30 minutes" — edits :Effort: properties on headings.
  • Archive old items: "Archive everything in work.org that's been DONE for more than 30 days" — batch org-archive operations.
  • Search: "Find all notes mentioning FPGA" — the agent runs org-ql or org-node-grep across your roam directory and returns matches.

The setup

The prerequisites are minimal:

  1. Doom Emacs installed on the machine running OpenClaw (using your existing config)
  2. Your org files accessible under ~/org/ (I use Syncthing to keep them in sync between desktop and server)
  3. The org-mode skill from my Doom config

The skill handles the Emacs invocation — you just talk to the agent in chat. It runs emacs --batch under the hood, evaluates elisp expressions against your config, and parses the results back into the conversation.

No new tools. No new formats. Org mode as it was designed to work — just with an agent at the keyboard instead of you.