Manage OpenClaw 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.

Learning objectives

In this guide, you will learn how to:

• Understand where skills are loaded from and why some are blocked in Olares.
• Install skills using the configuration wizard, ClawHub, or manual upload.
• Identify and install missing dependencies for a skill.
• Install and enable plugins to extend OpenClaw with new channels or features.

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 and their missing dependencies.

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
   	Local (this machine)
   	Skills
   	Select as needed

4. Wait for the installation to finish and review the installed summary.

5. When prompted What do you want to configure, select Done.

   The message Configuration updated 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 to 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.

   

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

   The terminal displays a security audit report for the skill.

5. Review the security audit results, and then type y and press Enter to proceed.

6. 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.

7. Open the Control UI, click the user account in the lower left, and then select Settings.

8. Select Agents from the left sidebar, and then click the Skills tab.

9. Search the skill you just installed, and you will see it is enabled.

Upload skills

1. Open the Files app from the Launchpad, and then go to 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 the Launchpad.

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

4. Verify the installation:

   a. Open the Control UI, click the user account in the lower left, and then select Settings.

   b. Select Agents from the left sidebar, and then click the Skills tab.

   c. Search the skill. It should now be tagged with eligible.

   d. Configure required API keys if any are required, and then the agent will be able to use the skill.

Install plugins

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

   openclaw plugins list

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

   openclaw plugins install {Name}

   For example, to install LLM Task, enter the following command:

   openclaw plugins install @openclaw/llm-task

   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, restart the gateway to load the new plugin.

4. Verify by checking the plugin status:

   openclaw plugins list

   Now the status of the plugin is enabled.

5. Open the Control UI, click the user account in the lower left, and then select Settings.

6. Select Automation from the left sidebar, and then click the Plugins tab.

7. Find LLM Task 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.

   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.