Manage skills and plugins

OpenClaw can be extended using skills and plugins:

• Skills add new capabilities to the AI. For example, managing Model Context Protocol servers.
• Plugins extend the system to support additional channels or community features. For example, adding iMessage via BlueBubbles.

Why manual installation required

To protect your device, OpenClaw runs in a restricted, non-root environment without administrative privileges. This prevents the agent from modifying your system or self-installing software.

Understanding skills

Understanding where skills come from and how they are loaded helps you manage them effectively.

Locations and precedence

Skills are loaded from three locations. If a skill with the same name exists in multiple locations, OpenClaw uses the one with the highest precedence, allowing you to easily customize or override built-in skills.

The order of precedence from highest to lowest is as follows:

1. Workspace skills (Data/clawdbot/config/workspace/skills): Per-agent skills that override all others.
2. Managed/local skills (Data/clawdbot/config/skills): Shared skills available to all agents on the same machine.
3. Bundled skills: Default skills shipped with your OpenClaw installation.

View all available skills

To see the complete list of skills available to your agent, including the bundled, shared, and workspace skills, run the openclaw skills list command in the OpenClaw CLI.

Compatibility on Olares

Not all skills can run in the Olares environment. OpenClaw actively blocks skills that cannot function correctly based on their declared requirements.

A skill might be blocked for the following reasons:

• Incompatible OS: The skill requires a different operating system (e.g., darwin for macOS), whereas Olares runs on Linux. For example, Apple ecosystem skills like apple-reminders cannot be used in Olares.
• Missing executables (bins): The environment lacks a required command-line tool, such as gh for managing GitHub issues.
• Missing configuration (config): A required setting in openclaw.json is not enabled.
• Missing environment variables (env): A required API key or authentication token has not been provided.

Install skills

There are three ways to add new skills to your OpenClaw:

• Install skills via the openclaw config wizard.
• Install skills from ClawHub, the package manager for OpenClaw.
• Install skills manually via local upload.

Install via openclaw config

You can use the built-in configuration wizard to install default or officially supported skills. In this example, we will install the clawhub skill, which is required for the next method.

1. Open the OpenClaw CLI.

2. Enter the following command to start the wizard:

   openclaw config

3. Follow the prompts to configure your installation. Use the arrow keys to navigate and press Enter to confirm.

   Settings	Option
   Where will the Gateway run	Local (this machine)
   Select settings to configure	Skills
   Configure skills now	Yes
   Install missing skill dependencies	Navigate to the skill clawhub, press the Space key to select it, and then press Enter.
   Preferred node manager for skill installs	npm Wait for the message Installed clawhub to appear before proceeding.
   Set [API_KEY] for [skill]	Select No for all these settings.

4. Finally, select Continue for Select sections to configure. The message Configure complete appears, indicating the setup is finished.

Install from ClawHub

Use the ClawHub CLI to search and install skills from ClawHub. Installing skills via ClawHub automatically handles the necessary package dependencies.

Prerequisite

Ensure that the clawhub skill is installed. This skill enables the openclaw skills commands like list, search, and install, which allows you install more ClawHub-backed skills.

1. Open the OpenClaw CLI.

2. To view the list of officially preset skills, run the following command:

   openclaw skills list

3. To search for a specific skill, use the search command.

   For example, to search for a calendar skill, run the following command:

   openclaw skills search Caldav Calendar

   The terminal returns the search results, displaying the skill ID at the beginning, followed by its description. In this case, the skill ID is caldav-calendar.

   

   Security recommendation

   It is highly recommended that you search for and read the details of a skill on the official ClawHub website before installing it. This ensures you are getting the correct skill and protects you from installing malicious packages.

4. Install the target skill using its skill ID.

   For example, to install this calendar skill, run the following command:

   openclaw skills install caldav-calendar

5. Wait for the terminal to indicate that the skill is installed, and then verify by running the following command:

   openclaw skills list

   The status of caldav-calendar is ready, indicating the installation is successful.

6. Open the Control UI, go to the Skills page, and then click the Ready tab. You will see the newly installed skill is enabled.

   

Upload skills

1. Open the Files app from the Launchpad, and then go to Application > Data > clawdbot > config.
2. Create a new folder named skills.
3. Upload your skill package, such as an extracted zip file, into this skills folder.
4. Install required package dependencies if any are missing.

Install missing dependencies

If a skill is blocked or unusable, you need to identify and install its missing dependencies.

1. Open the OpenClaw CLI and run the following command:

   openclaw skills check

   The terminal lists all unavailable skills and shows their missing requirements in parentheses.

   

2. Use npm or brew to install the dependency manually. For detailed information about the installation requirements, see the skills.md file.

   • Example: The gh-issues skill requires gh to be installed.
   • Run the following command to install it:

     npm i -g gh

3. When the installation of missing components is completed, restart the OpenClaw container for the changes to take effect:

   a. Open Control Hub from Desktop.

   b. Click clawdbot under Deployments, and then click Restart.

4. Verify the installation:

   a. Open the Control UI.

   b. Go to the Skills page. The skill should now be tagged with eligible.

   c. Configure required API keys if there is any, and then the agent will be able to use the skill.

Install plug-ins

1. In the OpenClaw CLI, check the list of compatible plug-ins by entering the following command:

   openclaw plugins list

2. Find the target plug-in name in the Name column, and then install it by entering the following command:

   openclaw plugins install {Name}

   For example, to install BlueBubbles, enter the following command:

   openclaw plugins install @openclaw/bluebubbles

   Blocked plugin installation

   If your installation fails with a Plugin "{Name}" installation blocked error, you can bypass this security restriction by appending --dangerously-force-unsafe-install to your command. Only bypass this protection if you are certain the plugin is safe and comes from a trusted source.

   For example:

   openclaw plugins install @openclaw/nextcloud-talk --dangerously-force-unsafe-install

3. When the installation is completed, close OpenClaw CLI and open it again to load the new plug-in.

4. Verify by checking the plugin status:

   openclaw plugins list

   Now the status of the plug-in is loaded.

5. Open the Control UI, go to Automation > Plugins.

6. Find @openclaw/bluebubbles and click it to expand its panel:

   • If it is enabled, turn off the toggle switch, and then turn it on again to force the system to explicitly save the configuration.
   • If it is disabled, turn on the toggle switch.

   

7. Click Save in the upper-right corner. The system validates the config and applies the change automatically.

   Manual restart

   If you need to restart OpenClaw manually, do not use the OpenClaw CLI. Use one of the following methods:

   • Restart the app from Settings or Market:
     • Open Settings, go to Applications > OpenClaw, click Stop, and then click Resume.
     • Open Market, go to My Olares, find OpenClaw, click keyboard_arrow_down next to the operation button, select Stop, and then select Resume.
   • Restart the container: Open Control Hub, click clawdbot under Deployments, and then click Restart.