openclaw/docs/tools/acp-agents-setup.md

summary, read_when, title

summary	read_when	title
Setting up ACP agents: acpx harness config, plugin setup, permissions	Installing or configuring the acpx harness for Claude Code / Codex / Gemini CLI Enabling the plugin-tools or OpenClaw-tools MCP bridge Configuring ACP permission modes	ACP agents — setup

For the overview, operator runbook, and concepts, see ACP agents.

The sections below cover acpx harness config, plugin setup for the MCP bridges, and permission configuration.

acpx harness support (current)

Current acpx built-in harness aliases:

• claude
• codex
• copilot
• cursor (Cursor CLI: cursor-agent acp)
• droid
• gemini
• iflow
• kilocode
• kimi
• kiro
• openclaw
• opencode
• pi
• qwen

When OpenClaw uses the acpx backend, prefer these values for agentId unless your acpx config defines custom agent aliases. If your local Cursor install still exposes ACP as agent acp, override the cursor agent command in your acpx config instead of changing the built-in default.

Direct acpx CLI usage can also target arbitrary adapters via --agent <command>, but that raw escape hatch is an acpx CLI feature (not the normal OpenClaw agentId path).

Required config

Core ACP baseline:

{
  acp: {
    enabled: true,
    // Optional. Default is true; set false to pause ACP dispatch while keeping /acp controls.
    dispatch: { enabled: true },
    backend: "acpx",
    defaultAgent: "codex",
    allowedAgents: [
      "claude",
      "codex",
      "copilot",
      "cursor",
      "droid",
      "gemini",
      "iflow",
      "kilocode",
      "kimi",
      "kiro",
      "openclaw",
      "opencode",
      "pi",
      "qwen",
    ],
    maxConcurrentSessions: 8,
    stream: {
      coalesceIdleMs: 300,
      maxChunkChars: 1200,
    },
    runtime: {
      ttlMinutes: 120,
    },
  },
}

Thread binding config is channel-adapter specific. Example for Discord:

{
  session: {
    threadBindings: {
      enabled: true,
      idleHours: 24,
      maxAgeHours: 0,
    },
  },
  channels: {
    discord: {
      threadBindings: {
        enabled: true,
        spawnAcpSessions: true,
      },
    },
  },
}

If thread-bound ACP spawn does not work, verify the adapter feature flag first:

• Discord: channels.discord.threadBindings.spawnAcpSessions=true

Current-conversation binds do not require child-thread creation. They require an active conversation context and a channel adapter that exposes ACP conversation bindings.

See Configuration Reference.

Plugin setup for acpx backend

Fresh installs ship the bundled acpx runtime plugin enabled by default, so ACP usually works without a manual plugin install step.

Start with:

/acp doctor

If you disabled acpx, denied it via plugins.allow / plugins.deny, or want to switch to a local development checkout, use the explicit plugin path:

openclaw plugins install acpx
openclaw config set plugins.entries.acpx.enabled true

Local workspace install during development:

openclaw plugins install ./path/to/local/acpx-plugin

Then verify backend health:

/acp doctor

acpx command and version configuration

By default, the bundled acpx plugin uses its plugin-local pinned binary (node_modules/.bin/acpx inside the plugin package). Startup registers the backend as not-ready and a background job verifies acpx --version; if the binary is missing or mismatched, it runs npm install --omit=dev --no-save acpx@<pinned> and re-verifies. The gateway stays non-blocking throughout.

Override the command or version in plugin config:

{
  "plugins": {
    "entries": {
      "acpx": {
        "enabled": true,
        "config": {
          "command": "../acpx/dist/cli.js",
          "expectedVersion": "any"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

• command accepts an absolute path, relative path (resolved from the OpenClaw workspace), or command name.
• expectedVersion: "any" disables strict version matching.
• Custom command paths disable plugin-local auto-install.

See Plugins.

Automatic dependency install

When you install OpenClaw globally with npm install -g openclaw, the acpx runtime dependencies (platform-specific binaries) are installed automatically via a postinstall hook. If the automatic install fails, the gateway still starts normally and reports the missing dependency through openclaw acp doctor.

Plugin tools MCP bridge

By default, ACPX sessions do not expose OpenClaw plugin-registered tools to the ACP harness.

If you want ACP agents such as Codex or Claude Code to call installed OpenClaw plugin tools such as memory recall/store, enable the dedicated bridge:

openclaw config set plugins.entries.acpx.config.pluginToolsMcpBridge true

What this does:

• Injects a built-in MCP server named openclaw-plugin-tools into ACPX session bootstrap.
• Exposes plugin tools already registered by installed and enabled OpenClaw plugins.
• Keeps the feature explicit and default-off.

Security and trust notes:

• This expands the ACP harness tool surface.
• ACP agents get access only to plugin tools already active in the gateway.
• Treat this as the same trust boundary as letting those plugins execute in OpenClaw itself.
• Review installed plugins before enabling it.

Custom mcpServers still work as before. The built-in plugin-tools bridge is an additional opt-in convenience, not a replacement for generic MCP server config.

OpenClaw tools MCP bridge

By default, ACPX sessions also do not expose built-in OpenClaw tools through MCP. Enable the separate core-tools bridge when an ACP agent needs selected built-in tools such as cron:

openclaw config set plugins.entries.acpx.config.openClawToolsMcpBridge true

What this does:

• Injects a built-in MCP server named openclaw-tools into ACPX session bootstrap.
• Exposes selected built-in OpenClaw tools. The initial server exposes cron.
• Keeps core-tool exposure explicit and default-off.

Runtime timeout configuration

The bundled acpx plugin defaults embedded runtime turns to a 120-second timeout. This gives slower harnesses such as Gemini CLI enough time to complete ACP startup and initialization. Override it if your host needs a different runtime limit:

openclaw config set plugins.entries.acpx.config.timeoutSeconds 180

Restart the gateway after changing this value.

Health probe agent configuration

The bundled acpx plugin probes one harness agent while deciding whether the embedded runtime backend is ready. If acp.allowedAgents is set, it defaults to the first allowed agent; otherwise it defaults to codex. If your deployment needs a different ACP agent for health checks, set the probe agent explicitly:

openclaw config set plugins.entries.acpx.config.probeAgent claude

Restart the gateway after changing this value.

Permission configuration

ACP sessions run non-interactively — there is no TTY to approve or deny file-write and shell-exec permission prompts. The acpx plugin provides two config keys that control how permissions are handled:

These ACPX harness permissions are separate from OpenClaw exec approvals and separate from CLI-backend vendor bypass flags such as Claude CLI --permission-mode bypassPermissions. ACPX approve-all is the harness-level break-glass switch for ACP sessions.

permissionMode

Controls which operations the harness agent can perform without prompting.

Value	Behavior
approve-all	Auto-approve all file writes and shell commands.
approve-reads	Auto-approve reads only; writes and exec require prompts.
deny-all	Deny all permission prompts.

nonInteractivePermissions

Controls what happens when a permission prompt would be shown but no interactive TTY is available (which is always the case for ACP sessions).

Value	Behavior
fail	Abort the session with AcpRuntimeError. (default)
deny	Silently deny the permission and continue (graceful degradation).

Configuration

Set via plugin config:

openclaw config set plugins.entries.acpx.config.permissionMode approve-all
openclaw config set plugins.entries.acpx.config.nonInteractivePermissions fail

Restart the gateway after changing these values.

Important: OpenClaw currently defaults to permissionMode=approve-reads and nonInteractivePermissions=fail. In non-interactive ACP sessions, any write or exec that triggers a permission prompt can fail with AcpRuntimeError: Permission prompt unavailable in non-interactive mode.

If you need to restrict permissions, set nonInteractivePermissions to deny so sessions degrade gracefully instead of crashing.

Related

• ACP agents — overview, operator runbook, concepts
• Sub-agents
• Multi-agent routing