Discovering & Installing Skills

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ClawHub Registry(DOCUMENTATION)OpenClaw Skill Management Guide(DOCUMENTATION)

Introduction

ClawHub is the official skill registry for OpenClaw, functioning as a package manager for agent capabilities. It hosts community-created skills that you can search, install, and update with simple CLI commands. Instead of building every skill from scratch, you can leverage thousands of community contributions to quickly extend your agent's abilities.

Key Concepts

  • ClawHub Registry: The central repository of published OpenClaw skills, accessible via the clawhub CLI
  • Skill Search: Finding skills by name, description, or keyword using clawhub search
  • Skill Installation: Downloading and activating skills with clawhub install
  • Skill Updates: Keeping installed skills current with clawhub update --all
  • Managed Skills Directory: The local directory where ClawHub installs skills (~/.openclaw/skills/)

Real World Context

You need your agent to help with Kubernetes deployments, but writing a comprehensive Kubernetes skill from scratch would take hours. A quick clawhub search kubernetes reveals three community skills: one for basic kubectl operations, one for Helm chart management, and one for cluster monitoring. You install the one that matches your needs and your agent gains Kubernetes capabilities in under a minute.

Deep Dive

ClawHub integrates directly with the OpenClaw CLI. All operations start with the clawhub command.

Searching for Skills

To find skills, use the search command:

bash
clawhub search "code review"

This searches the registry for skills matching "code review" and returns a list of results with names, descriptions, download counts, and ratings. The search checks skill names, descriptions, and tags.

Search results look like this:

bash
# Example output:
# NAME              DOWNLOADS  RATING  DESCRIPTION
# code-review       12,450     4.8     Structured PR review with checklist
# review-helper     3,200      4.5     Quick code review suggestions
# pr-analyzer       8,100      4.7     Deep analysis of pull request diffs

The output shows each skill's name, download count, community rating, and a short description to help you choose the right one.

Installing Skills

Once you find a skill you want, install it:

bash
clawhub install code-review

This downloads the skill to your managed skills directory (~/.openclaw/skills/code-review/) and makes it immediately available to your agent. No restart is needed — OpenClaw picks up new skills automatically on the next interaction.

You can also install a specific version:

bash
clawhub install code-review@2.1.0

This pins the installation to version 2.1.0, which is useful when you want reproducible behavior and do not want automatic updates to change the skill's instructions.

Updating Skills

To update all installed skills to their latest versions:

bash
clawhub update --all

This checks the registry for newer versions of every installed skill and downloads updates where available. You can also update a single skill:

bash
clawhub update code-review

This updates only the code-review skill, leaving all others at their current versions.

How OpenClaw Picks Up New Skills

When a skill is installed, ClawHub places it in the managed skills directory. OpenClaw scans this directory at the start of each agent interaction. New or updated skills are loaded automatically without restarting the gateway or the agent.

The scan order follows the precedence hierarchy covered in the previous section: workspace skills first, then managed (ClawHub) skills, then bundled skills. A workspace skill with the same name as a ClawHub skill will take priority.

Common Pitfalls

  • Installing too many skills: Each installed skill contributes to the system prompt token budget. Installing dozens of skills you rarely use wastes tokens on every interaction.
  • Not pinning versions in production: Using clawhub install skill-name without a version gets the latest, which may change behavior unexpectedly. Pin versions for stability.
  • Assuming all skills are trustworthy: Community skills are user-submitted. Review a skill's SKILL.md before installing, especially if it requires elevated permissions or environment variables.

Best Practices

  • Audit before installing: Read the skill's description, check its rating and download count, and review its requirements before installing.
  • Pin versions for production agents: Use clawhub install skill@version in production to prevent unexpected behavior changes.
  • Regularly prune unused skills: Run clawhub list periodically and uninstall skills you no longer use with clawhub uninstall skill-name.

Summary

  • ClawHub is the official skill registry for OpenClaw, providing search, install, and update capabilities
  • Use clawhub search to find skills, clawhub install to add them, and clawhub update --all to keep them current
  • Installed skills are placed in ~/.openclaw/skills/ and picked up automatically by the agent
  • Pin specific versions in production for reproducible behavior
  • Audit community skills before installing, and prune unused skills regularly
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