Skill Discovery

Automatically discover, search, and install skills from ClawHub — the public skill registry for OpenClaw — when no locally installed skill can fulfill the user's request. Acts as a "skill gap filler": when the agent encounters a task it cannot handle with existing skills or built-in tools, it searches ClawHub for a matching skill, presents options to the user, and installs their choice with one command. Use when: (1) the user asks for a capability that no installed skill can fulfill, (2) the user explicitly says "find a skill", "search for a skill", "is there a skill for X", "install a skill from ClawHub", or "search ClawHub", (3) the agent determines that a specialized ClawHub skill would handle the task better than general-purpose reasoning or existing tools, (4) the user asks "what skills are available for X" or "can OpenClaw do X". Triggers on phrases like: "find a skill", "search skills", "install a skill", "search ClawHub", "is there a plugin for", "can you do X", "I need a tool for", "有没有能做X的技能", "帮我找个技能", "搜一下技能", "装个技能". Also activates when no available_skills entry matches the user's intent and the task is clearly skill-shaped (domain-specific workflow, specialized integration, or multi-step procedure).

Automatically search ClawHub for skills that match the user's needs and offer to install them.

When to Activate

• No local skill matches the user's request
• User explicitly asks to find or install a skill
• Agent determines a specialized skill would handle the task better than general-purpose reasoning

Workflow

1. Identify the Need

Extract 1-3 concise search keywords from the user's request. Focus on the core capability, not the full sentence.

Examples:

• "帮我管理 Docker 容器" → docker
• "I need to process CSV files" → csv
• "能不能帮我发邮件" → email

2. Search ClawHub

bash

openclaw skills search "<keywords>"

If no results, try alternative keywords or broader terms.

3. Present Results

Show the user what was found in a concise list:

• Skill name / slug
• Brief description
• Relevance to their request

If nothing relevant is found, tell the user honestly and suggest they could create one or check clawhub.ai manually.

4. Install (with user confirmation)

Always ask the user before installing. Never auto-install.

bash

openclaw skills install <slug>

After install, inform the user:

• The skill is installed
• They need to start a new session (or the agent needs a restart) for the skill to take effect
• Alternatively, they can read the new SKILL.md immediately to use it in the current session

5. Immediate Use (optional)

If the user wants to use the skill right away in the current session:

1. Read the newly installed skill's SKILL.md
2. Follow its instructions to handle the original request

Guidelines

• Don't over-search: Only trigger when there's a genuine gap. If the task can be done with existing tools (exec, read, web_fetch, etc.), just do it.
• Be specific: Use precise keywords. "weather" not "get the current weather forecast for my city".
• Respect the user: Always confirm before installing. Show what you found, let them decide.
• One at a time: Search and install one skill per request. Don't bulk-install.