openclaw/docs/platforms/mac/skills.md

summary, read_when, title

summary	read_when	title
macOS Skills settings UI and gateway-backed status	Updating the macOS Skills settings UI Changing skills gating or install behavior	Skills (macOS)

The macOS app surfaces OpenClaw skills via the gateway; it does not parse skills locally.

Data source

• skills.status (gateway) returns all skills plus eligibility and missing requirements (including allowlist blocks for bundled skills).
• Requirements are derived from metadata.openclaw.requires in each SKILL.md.

Install actions

• metadata.openclaw.install defines install options (brew/node/go/uv).
• The app calls skills.install to run installers on the gateway host.
• Operator-owned security.installPolicy can block gateway-backed skill installs before installer metadata runs. Install-time built-in dangerous-code blocking is not part of the skill install flow.
• If every install option is download, the gateway surfaces all download choices.
• Otherwise, the gateway picks one preferred installer using the current install preferences and host binaries: Homebrew first when skills.install.preferBrew is enabled and brew exists, then uv, then the configured node manager from skills.install.nodeManager, then later fallbacks like go or download.
• Node install labels reflect the configured node manager, including yarn.

Env/API keys

• The app stores keys in ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json under skills.entries.<skillKey>.
• skills.update patches enabled, apiKey, and env.

Remote mode

• Install + config updates happen on the gateway host (not the local Mac).

Related

• Skills
• macOS app