Skip to main content

​
Skills (OpenClaw)

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:
  1. Extra skill folders: configured with skills.load.extraDirs
  2. Bundled skills: shipped with the install (npm package or OpenClaw.app)
  3. Managed/local skills: ~/.openclaw/skills
  4. Personal agent skills: ~/.agents/skills
  5. Project agent skills: <workspace>/.agents/skills
  6. Workspace skills: <workspace>/skills
If a skill name conflicts, precedence is: <workspace>/skills (highest) → <workspace>/.agents/skills → ~/.agents/skills → ~/.openclaw/skills → bundled skills → skills.load.extraDirs (lowest)

​
Per-agent vs shared skills

In multi-agent setups, each agent has its own workspace. That means:
  • Per-agent skills live in <workspace>/skills for that agent only.
  • Project agent skills live in <workspace>/.agents/skills and apply to that workspace before the normal workspace skills/ folder.
  • Personal agent skills live in ~/.agents/skills and apply across workspaces on that machine.
  • Shared skills live in ~/.openclaw/skills (managed/local) and are visible to all agents on the same machine.
  • Shared folders can also be added via skills.load.extraDirs (lowest precedence) if you want a common skills pack used by multiple agents.
If the same skill name exists in more than one place, the usual precedence applies: workspace wins, then project agent skills, then personal agent skills, then managed/local, then bundled, then extra dirs.

​
Plugins + 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. Today those 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.

​
ClawHub (install + sync)

ClawHub is the public skills registry for OpenClaw. Browse at https://clawhub.com. Use native openclaw skills commands to discover/install/update skills, or the separate clawhub CLI when you need publish/sync workflows. Full guide: ClawHub. Common flows:
  • Install a skill into your 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 notes

  • Treat third-party skills as untrusted code. Read them before enabling.
  • Prefer sandboxed runs for untrusted inputs and risky tools. See Sandboxing.
  • 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.

​
Format (AgentSkills + Pi-compatible)

SKILL.md must include at least: 
---
name: image-lab
description: Generate or edit images via a provider-backed image workflow
---
Notes:
  • We follow 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:
    • homepage — URL surfaced as “Website” in the macOS Skills UI (also supported via metadata.openclaw.homepage).
    • user-invocable — true|false (default: true). When true, the skill is exposed as a user slash command.
    • disable-model-invocation — true|false (default: false). When true, the skill is excluded from the model prompt (still available via user invocation).
    • command-dispatch — tool (optional). When set to tool, the slash command bypasses the model and dispatches directly to a tool.
    • command-tool — tool name to invoke when command-dispatch: tool is set.
    • command-arg-mode — raw (default). For tool dispatch, forwards the raw args string to the tool (no core parsing). The tool is invoked with params: { command: "<raw args>", commandName: "<slash command>", skillName: "<skill name>" }.

​
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:
  • always: true — always include the skill (skip other gates).
  • emoji — optional emoji used by the macOS Skills UI.
  • homepage — optional URL shown as “Website” in the macOS Skills UI.
  • os — optional list of platforms (darwin, linux, win32). If set, the skill is only eligible on those OSes.
  • requires.bins — list; each must exist on PATH.
  • requires.anyBins — list; at least one must exist on PATH.
  • requires.env — list; env var must exist or be provided in config.
  • requires.config — list of openclaw.json paths that must be truthy.
  • primaryEnv — env var name associated with skills.entries.<name>.apiKey.
  • install — optional array of installer specs used by the macOS Skills UI (brew/node/go/uv/download).
Note on sandboxing:
  • 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 example: 
---
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)",
            },
          ],
      },
  }
---
Notes:
  • 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).
  • 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/<skillKey>).
If no metadata.openclaw is present, the skill is always eligible (unless disabled in config or blocked by skills.allowBundled for bundled skills).

​
Config overrides (~/.openclaw/openclaw.json)

Bundled/managed skills can be toggled and supplied with env values: 
{
  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 },
    },
  },
}
Note: if the skill name contains hyphens, quote the key (JSON5 allows quoted keys). If you want stock image generation/editing inside OpenClaw itself, 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. For native image generation/editing, use image_generate with agents.defaults.imageGenerationModel. If you pick openai/*, google/*, fal/*, or another provider-specific image model, add that provider’s auth/API key too. Config keys match the skill name by default. If a skill defines metadata.openclaw.skillKey, use that key under skills.entries. Rules:
  • enabled: false disables the skill even if it’s bundled/installed.
  • env: injected only if the variable isn’t already set in the process.
  • apiKey: convenience for skills that declare metadata.openclaw.primaryEnv. Supports plaintext string or SecretRef object ({ source, provider, id }).
  • config: optional bag for custom per-skill fields; custom keys must live here.
  • allowBundled: optional allowlist for bundled skills only. If set, only bundled skills in the list are eligible (managed/workspace skills unaffected).

​
Environment injection (per agent run)

When an agent run starts, OpenClaw:
  1. Reads skill metadata.
  2. Applies any skills.entries.<key>.env or skills.entries.<key>.apiKey to process.env.
  3. Builds the system prompt with eligible skills.
  4. Restores the original environment after the run ends.
This is scoped to the agent run, not a global shell environment.

​
Session snapshot (performance)

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 also refresh mid-session when the skills watcher is enabled or when a new eligible remote node appears (see below). Think of this as a hot reload: the refreshed list is picked up on the next agent turn.

​
Remote macOS nodes (Linux gateway)

If the Gateway is running 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.run. If the macOS node goes offline later, the skills remain visible; invocations may fail until the node reconnects.

​
Skills watcher (auto-refresh)

By default, OpenClaw watches skill folders and bumps the skills snapshot when SKILL.md files change. Configure this under skills.load: 
{
  skills: {
    load: {
      watch: true,
      watchDebounceMs: 250,
    },
  },
}

​
Token impact (skills list)

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))
Notes:
  • XML escaping expands & < > " ' into entities (&amp;, &lt;, 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 as part of the install (npm package or OpenClaw.app). ~/.openclaw/skills exists for local overrides (for example, pinning/patching a skill without changing the bundled copy). Workspace skills are user-owned and override both on name conflicts.

​
Config reference

See Skills config for the full configuration schema.

​
Looking for more skills?

Browse https://clawhub.com.