Skip to main content

Skill Development

Skills are OpenClaw's extension system. They're Markdown files with YAML frontmatter that teach the agent new capabilities.

Skill File Format​

skills/my-skill.md
---
name: my-skill
version: 1.0.0
description: A brief description of what this skill does
trigger: "keyword1|keyword2|phrase"
tools: [shell, filesystem, browser]
author: your-name
---

# Skill Name

Instructions for the agent when this skill is activated.

## When to Use
Describe the conditions under which this skill should activate.

## Steps
1. First, do this
2. Then do that
3. Finally, return the result

## Examples
- "keyword1 something specific" → expected behavior
- "keyword2 another thing" → expected behavior

Creating Your First Skill​

~/.openclaw/skills/git-summary.md
---
name: git-summary
version: 1.0.0
description: Summarize recent git activity in a repository
trigger: "git summary|repo summary|what happened in git"
tools: [shell]
---

# Git Summary

When triggered, analyze the recent git history of the current
or specified repository and provide a human-readable summary.

## Steps
1. Run `git log --oneline --since="1 week ago"` in the target repo
2. Group commits by author
3. Identify the most-changed files with `git diff --stat HEAD~20`
4. Summarize the overall trajectory (new features, bug fixes, refactors)
5. Present in a clear, concise format

Skill Triggers​

Triggers determine when a skill activates:

Trigger TypeExampleMatches
Keywords"weather|forecast""What's the weather?"
Phrases"deploy to production""Deploy to production please"
Regex"/^deploy .+ to (staging|prod)/""deploy api to staging"
Always"*"Every message (use sparingly)

Skill Tools​

Declare which tools the skill needs:

tools:
  - shell          # Execute terminal commands
  - filesystem     # Read/write files
  - browser        # Web automation
  - http           # Make API requests
  - memory         # Read/write agent memory
  - chat           # Send messages to channels

Testing Skills​

# Test a skill without installing
openclaw skill test ./my-skill.md "trigger phrase here"

# Install locally
openclaw skill install ./my-skill.md

# List installed skills
openclaw skill list

# Remove a skill
openclaw skill remove my-skill

Publishing to ClawHub​

Share your skills with the community:

# Login to ClawHub
openclaw clawhub login

# Publish
openclaw clawhub publish ./my-skill.md

# Update
openclaw clawhub publish ./my-skill.md --update
danger

All published skills are scanned by VirusTotal before appearing on ClawHub. However, review skills carefully before installing — see Skill Verification.

Advanced Patterns​

Skills with Configuration​

---
name: daily-digest
config:
  email: ""          # User must configure
  time: "09:00"
  timezone: "UTC"
---

Users configure via:

openclaw skill config daily-digest --set email=me@example.com

Skills that Chain Other Skills​

---
name: morning-routine
depends: [weather-briefing, calendar-summary, news-digest]
---

Skills with State​

Skills can persist state between invocations:

## State Management
Store results in memory at `memory/skills/my-skill-state.md`
so they're available on the next invocation.

See Also​