openclaw/docs/tools/skills.md

summary, read_when, title, sidebarTitle

summary	read_when	title	sidebarTitle
Skills: managed vs workspace, gating rules, agent allowlists, and config wiring	Adding or modifying skills Changing skill gating, allowlists, or load rules Understanding skill precedence and snapshot behavior	Skills	Skills

OpenClaw uses AgentSkills-compatible skill folders to teach the agent how to use tools. Each skill is a directory containing a SKILL.md with YAML frontmatter and instructions. OpenClaw loads bundled skills plus optional local overrides, and filters them at load time based on environment, config, and binary presence.

Locations and precedence

OpenClaw loads skills from these sources, highest precedence first:

#	Source	Path
1	Workspace skills	<workspace>/skills
2	Project agent skills	<workspace>/.agents/skills
3	Personal agent skills	~/.agents/skills
4	Managed/local skills	~/.openclaw/skills
5	Bundled skills	shipped with the install
6	Extra skill folders	skills.load.extraDirs (config)

If a skill name conflicts, the highest source wins.

Per-agent vs shared skills

In multi-agent setups each agent has its own workspace:

Scope	Path	Visible to
Per-agent	<workspace>/skills	Only that agent
Project-agent	<workspace>/.agents/skills	Only that workspace's agent
Personal-agent	~/.agents/skills	All agents on that machine
Shared managed/local	~/.openclaw/skills	All agents on that machine
Shared extra dirs	skills.load.extraDirs (lowest precedence)	All agents on that machine

Same name in multiple places → highest source wins. Workspace beats project-agent, beats personal-agent, beats managed/local, beats bundled, beats extra dirs.

Agent skill allowlists

Skill location and skill visibility are separate controls. Location/precedence decides which copy of a same-named skill wins; agent allowlists decide which skills an agent can actually use.

{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      skills: ["github", "weather"],
    },
    list: [
      { id: "writer" }, // inherits github, weather
      { id: "docs", skills: ["docs-search"] }, // replaces defaults
      { id: "locked-down", skills: [] }, // no skills
    ],
  },
}

- Omit `agents.defaults.skills` for unrestricted skills by default. - Omit `agents.list[].skills` to inherit `agents.defaults.skills`. - Set `agents.list[].skills: []` for no skills. - A non-empty `agents.list[].skills` list is the **final** set for that agent — it does not merge with defaults. - The effective allowlist applies across prompt building, skill slash-command discovery, sandbox sync, and skill snapshots.

Plugins and skills

Plugins can ship their own skills by listing skills directories in openclaw.plugin.json (paths relative to the plugin root). Plugin skills load when the plugin is enabled. This is the right place for tool-specific operating guides that are too long for the tool description but should be available whenever the plugin is installed — for example, the browser plugin ships a browser-automation skill for multi-step browser control.

Plugin skill directories are merged into the same low-precedence path as skills.load.extraDirs, so a same-named bundled, managed, agent, or workspace skill overrides them. You can gate them via metadata.openclaw.requires.config on the plugin's config entry.

See Plugins for discovery/config and Tools for the tool surface those skills teach.

Skill Workshop

The optional, experimental Skill Workshop plugin can create or update workspace skills from reusable procedures observed during agent work. It is disabled by default and must be explicitly enabled via plugins.entries.skill-workshop.

Skill Workshop writes only to <workspace>/skills, scans generated content, supports pending approval or automatic safe writes, quarantines unsafe proposals, and refreshes the skill snapshot after successful writes so new skills become available without a Gateway restart.

Use it for corrections such as "next time, verify GIF attribution" or hard-won workflows such as media QA checklists. Start with pending approval; use automatic writes only in trusted workspaces after reviewing its proposals. Full guide: Skill Workshop plugin.

ClawHub (install and sync)

ClawHub is the public skills registry for OpenClaw. Use native openclaw skills commands for discover/install/update, or the separate clawhub CLI for publish/sync workflows. Full guide: ClawHub.

Action	Command
Install a skill into the workspace	openclaw skills install <skill-slug>
Update all installed skills	openclaw skills update --all
Sync (scan + publish updates)	clawhub sync --all

Native openclaw skills install installs into the active workspace skills/ directory. The separate clawhub CLI also installs into ./skills under your current working directory (or falls back to the configured OpenClaw workspace). OpenClaw picks that up as <workspace>/skills on the next session.

Security

Treat third-party skills as **untrusted code**. Read them before enabling. Prefer sandboxed runs for untrusted inputs and risky tools. See [Sandboxing](/gateway/sandboxing) for the agent-side controls.

• Workspace and extra-dir skill discovery only accepts skill roots and SKILL.md files whose resolved realpath stays inside the configured root.
• Gateway-backed skill dependency installs (skills.install, onboarding, and the Skills settings UI) run the built-in dangerous-code scanner before executing installer metadata. critical findings block by default unless the caller explicitly sets the dangerous override; suspicious findings still warn only.
• openclaw skills install <slug> is different — it downloads a ClawHub skill folder into the workspace and does not use the installer-metadata path above.
• skills.entries.*.env and skills.entries.*.apiKey inject secrets into the host process for that agent turn (not the sandbox). Keep secrets out of prompts and logs.

For a broader threat model and checklists, see Security.

SKILL.md format

SKILL.md must include at least:

---
name: image-lab
description: Generate or edit images via a provider-backed image workflow
---

OpenClaw follows the AgentSkills spec for layout/intent. The parser used by the embedded agent supports single-line frontmatter keys only; metadata should be a single-line JSON object. Use {baseDir} in instructions to reference the skill folder path.

Optional frontmatter keys

URL surfaced as "Website" in the macOS Skills UI. Also supported via `metadata.openclaw.homepage`. When `true`, the skill is exposed as a user slash command. When `true`, the skill is excluded from the model prompt (still available via user invocation). When set to `tool`, the slash command bypasses the model and dispatches directly to a tool. Tool name to invoke when `command-dispatch: tool` is set. For tool dispatch, forwards the raw args string to the tool (no core parsing). The tool is invoked with `{ command: "", commandName: "", skillName: "" }`.

Gating (load-time filters)

OpenClaw filters skills at load time using metadata (single-line JSON):

---
name: image-lab
description: Generate or edit images via a provider-backed image workflow
metadata:
  {
    "openclaw":
      {
        "requires": { "bins": ["uv"], "env": ["GEMINI_API_KEY"], "config": ["browser.enabled"] },
        "primaryEnv": "GEMINI_API_KEY",
      },
  }
---

Fields under metadata.openclaw:

When `true`, always include the skill (skip other gates). Optional emoji used by the macOS Skills UI. Optional URL shown as "Website" in the macOS Skills UI. Optional list of platforms. If set, the skill is only eligible on those OSes. Each must exist on `PATH`. At least one must exist on `PATH`. Env var must exist or be provided in config. List of `openclaw.json` paths that must be truthy. Env var name associated with `skills.entries..apiKey`. Optional installer specs used by the macOS Skills UI (brew/node/go/uv/download).

If no metadata.openclaw is present, the skill is always eligible (unless disabled in config or blocked by skills.allowBundled for bundled skills).

Legacy `metadata.clawdbot` blocks are still accepted when `metadata.openclaw` is absent, so older installed skills keep their dependency gates and installer hints. New and updated skills should use `metadata.openclaw`.

Sandboxing notes

• requires.bins is checked on the host at skill load time.
• If an agent is sandboxed, the binary must also exist inside the container. Install it via agents.defaults.sandbox.docker.setupCommand (or a custom image). setupCommand runs once after the container is created. Package installs also require network egress, a writable root FS, and a root user in the sandbox.
• Example: the summarize skill (skills/summarize/SKILL.md) needs the summarize CLI in the sandbox container to run there.

Installer specs

---
name: gemini
description: Use Gemini CLI for coding assistance and Google search lookups.
metadata:
  {
    "openclaw":
      {
        "emoji": "♊️",
        "requires": { "bins": ["gemini"] },
        "install":
          [
            {
              "id": "brew",
              "kind": "brew",
              "formula": "gemini-cli",
              "bins": ["gemini"],
              "label": "Install Gemini CLI (brew)",
            },
          ],
      },
  }
---

- If multiple installers are listed, the gateway picks a single preferred option (brew when available, otherwise node). - If all installers are `download`, OpenClaw lists each entry so you can see the available artifacts. - Installer specs can include `os: ["darwin"|"linux"|"win32"]` to filter options by platform. - Node installs honor `skills.install.nodeManager` in `openclaw.json` (default: npm; options: npm/pnpm/yarn/bun). This only affects skill installs; the Gateway runtime should still be Node — Bun is not recommended for WhatsApp/Telegram. - Gateway-backed installer selection is preference-driven: when install specs mix kinds, OpenClaw prefers Homebrew when `skills.install.preferBrew` is enabled and `brew` exists, then `uv`, then the configured node manager, then other fallbacks like `go` or `download`. - If every install spec is `download`, OpenClaw surfaces all download options instead of collapsing to one preferred installer. - **Go installs:** if `go` is missing and `brew` is available, the gateway installs Go via Homebrew first and sets `GOBIN` to Homebrew's `bin` when possible. - **Download installs:** `url` (required), `archive` (`tar.gz` | `tar.bz2` | `zip`), `extract` (default: auto when archive detected), `stripComponents`, `targetDir` (default: `~/.openclaw/tools/`).

Config overrides

Bundled and managed skills can be toggled and supplied with env values under skills.entries in ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json:

{
  skills: {
    entries: {
      "image-lab": {
        enabled: true,
        apiKey: { source: "env", provider: "default", id: "GEMINI_API_KEY" }, // or plaintext string
        env: {
          GEMINI_API_KEY: "GEMINI_KEY_HERE",
        },
        config: {
          endpoint: "https://example.invalid",
          model: "nano-pro",
        },
      },
      peekaboo: { enabled: true },
      sag: { enabled: false },
    },
  },
}

`false` disables the skill even if it is bundled or installed. Convenience for skills that declare `metadata.openclaw.primaryEnv`. Supports plaintext or SecretRef. Injected only if the variable is not already set in the process. Optional bag for custom per-skill fields. Custom keys must live here. Optional allowlist for **bundled** skills only. If set, only bundled skills in the list are eligible (managed/workspace skills unaffected).

If the skill name contains hyphens, quote the key (JSON5 allows quoted keys). Config keys match the skill name by default — if a skill defines metadata.openclaw.skillKey, use that key under skills.entries.

For stock image generation/editing inside OpenClaw, use the core `image_generate` tool with `agents.defaults.imageGenerationModel` instead of a bundled skill. Skill examples here are for custom or third-party workflows. For native image analysis use the `image` tool with `agents.defaults.imageModel`. If you pick `openai/*`, `google/*`, `fal/*`, or another provider-specific image model, add that provider's auth/API key too.

Environment injection

When an agent run starts, OpenClaw:

1. Reads skill metadata.
2. Applies skills.entries.<key>.env and skills.entries.<key>.apiKey to process.env.
3. Builds the system prompt with eligible skills.
4. Restores the original environment after the run ends.

Environment injection is scoped to the agent run, not a global shell environment.

For the bundled claude-cli backend, OpenClaw also materializes the same eligible snapshot as a temporary Claude Code plugin and passes it with --plugin-dir. Claude Code can then use its native skill resolver while OpenClaw still owns precedence, per-agent allowlists, gating, and skills.entries.* env/API key injection. Other CLI backends use the prompt catalog only.

Snapshots and refresh

OpenClaw snapshots the eligible skills when a session starts and reuses that list for subsequent turns in the same session. Changes to skills or config take effect on the next new session.

Skills can refresh mid-session in two cases:

• The skills watcher is enabled.
• A new eligible remote node appears.

Think of this as a hot reload: the refreshed list is picked up on the next agent turn. If the effective agent skill allowlist changes for that session, OpenClaw refreshes the snapshot so visible skills stay aligned with the current agent.

Skills watcher

By default, OpenClaw watches skill folders and bumps the skills snapshot when SKILL.md files change. Configure under skills.load:

{
  skills: {
    load: {
      watch: true,
      watchDebounceMs: 250,
    },
  },
}

Remote macOS nodes (Linux gateway)

If the Gateway runs on Linux but a macOS node is connected with system.run allowed (Exec approvals security not set to deny), OpenClaw can treat macOS-only skills as eligible when the required binaries are present on that node. The agent should execute those skills via the exec tool with host=node.

This relies on the node reporting its command support and on a bin probe via system.which or system.run. Offline nodes do not make remote-only skills visible. If a connected node stops answering bin probes, OpenClaw clears its cached bin matches so agents no longer see skills that cannot currently run there.

Token impact

When skills are eligible, OpenClaw injects a compact XML list of available skills into the system prompt (via formatSkillsForPrompt in pi-coding-agent). The cost is deterministic:

• Base overhead (only when ≥1 skill): 195 characters.
• Per skill: 97 characters + the length of the XML-escaped <name>, <description>, and <location> values.

Formula (characters):

total = 195 + Σ (97 + len(name_escaped) + len(description_escaped) + len(location_escaped))

XML escaping expands & < > " ' into entities (&, <, etc.), increasing length. Token counts vary by model tokenizer. A rough OpenAI-style estimate is ~4 chars/token, so 97 chars ≈ 24 tokens per skill plus your actual field lengths.

Managed skills lifecycle

OpenClaw ships a baseline set of skills as bundled skills with the install (npm package or OpenClaw.app). ~/.openclaw/skills exists for local overrides — for example, pinning or patching a skill without changing the bundled copy. Workspace skills are user-owned and override both on name conflicts.

Looking for more skills?

Browse https://clawhub.ai. Full configuration schema: Skills config.

Related

• ClawHub — public skills registry
• Creating skills — building custom skills
• Plugins — plugin system overview
• Skill Workshop plugin — generate skills from agent work
• Skills config — skill configuration reference
• Slash commands — all available slash commands