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 come from metadata.openclaw.requires in each SKILL.md.

Install actions

• metadata.openclaw.install defines install options (brew/node/go/uv/download).
• The app calls skills.install to run installers on the gateway host.
• Operator-owned security.installPolicy (enabled, targets, exec) can block gateway-backed skill installs before installer metadata runs. Built-in dangerous-code scanning (used for plugin installs) is not wired into the skill install flow.
• If every install option is download, the gateway surfaces all download choices.
• Otherwise the gateway picks one preferred installer using current install preferences (skills.install.preferBrew, skills.install.nodeManager) and host binaries: Homebrew first when preferBrew is enabled and brew is present, then uv, then the configured node manager, then Homebrew again if available (even without preferBrew), then go, then 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 and config updates happen on the gateway host, not the local Mac.

Related

• Skills
• macOS app