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 two primary ways to add new skills to your OpenClaw:

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

Install from ClawHub

Installing skills via ClawHub automatically handles the necessary package dependencies.

1. Open the OpenClaw CLI.

2. Enter the following command:

   npx clawhub

3. When prompted to proceed, press Y.

4. Check the list of available skills by entering the following command:

   openclaw skills

   

5. Find the target skill name in the Skill column, and then install by entering the following command:

   npx clawhub install {skill_name}

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

   npx clawhub install mcporter

6. If prompted to Install anyway, select Yes.

7. When the installation is completed, verify by entering the following command:

   openclaw skills

   The status of mcporter is ready, indicating the installation is successful.

   

8. Open the Control UI, go to the Skills page and find mcporter:

   • If it is enabled, click Disable, and then click Enable again to force the system to save the configuration.
   • If it is disabled, click Enable.

   

9. Click Save in the upper-right corner. The system validates the config and restarts automatically to apply the changes.

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 there is anyone missing.

Install missing dependencies

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

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 by entering the following command:

   openclaw plugins install {Name}

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

   openclaw plugins install @openclaw/bluebubbles

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 Config > Plugins, and then find @openclaw/bluebubbles on the All tab:

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

   

6. Click Save in the upper-right corner. The system validates the config and restarts automatically to apply the changes.

   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.