Skills Updater

Automatically detect, backup, and update OpenClaw skills using caching, retry logic, dry-run mode, and detailed upgrade reports.

Security Scan

The skill does what it says—scans local skill folders, caches metadata, backs up skill directories, and can download updates from a ClawHub registry—but there are a few sloppy inconsistencies you should review before running automatic updates.

Purpose & Capability

The name/description (Skills Updater) matches the included script and SKILL.md: it scans skill directories, detects versions, creates backups, and can fetch updates from a ClawHub API. The script’s declared search paths and backup/report locations are consistent with the updater purpose.

Instruction Scope

Instructions and the script operate on user home paths (~/.openclaw, ~/.openclaw/workspace, ~/Desktop) and create backups of entire skill directories. That is coherent for an updater, but note that backups will copy any files inside skills (including any secrets a skill may contain). The SKILL.md claims only ~/.openclaw/skills is scanned, while the script also checks several other directories (e.g., ~/OpenClaw/skills and ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills) — this is a minor mismatch you should be aware of.

Install Mechanism

No install spec; asset is instruction + Python script. Nothing is downloaded during install time; code runs from the skill directory when executed. This is low-risk from an install mechanism perspective.

Credentials

No environment variables or external credentials are requested. Network access is used only to query the ClawHub metadata and to download updates (per SKILL.md and script). That is appropriate for the stated purpose. There are no unrelated credentials requested.

Persistence & Privilege

The skill is not configured as always-enabled and does not request system-level persistence. It reads/writes files in the user’s home directories (cache, backups, workspace) which is expected for this utility.

Assessment

This updater appears to be internally consistent with its purpose, but review a few things before enabling automatic updates: 1) Run in --dry-run and/or --cache-only first to see what would change. 2) Inspect the included script (scripts/check-skill-updates.py) yourself to confirm behavior you’re comfortable with—it will copy entire skill directories to ~/Desktop/skill-backups. Backups can therefore include any secrets stored inside skills, so ensure you’re OK with that destination/permissions. 3) Verify the ClawHub base URL (script uses https://clawhub.ai) and that you trust that registry; network downloads happen when --auto is used. 4) There are multiple minor inconsistencies in metadata and docs (version numbers differ between SKILL.md, README.md, and _meta.json; README support URL differs from the script’s API host; some performance/metric claims appear exaggerated). These look like sloppy packaging rather than malicious intent but justify caution. 5) Keep automatic mode off until you’ve confirmed behavior locally; prefer dry-run and manual restore testing first.

Skills Updater - 技能自动升级器

自动检测、备份和升级 OpenClaw 技能，支持智能缓存、重试机制、预演模式和详细报告。

Automatically detect, update, and manage OpenClaw skills with intelligent caching, backup, and reporting.

Features

✅ Auto-detection — Scans all installed skills and detects available updates
✅ Smart caching — 24h TTL cache reduces unnecessary API calls
✅ Automatic backup — Creates dated backups before each update
✅ Dry-run mode — Preview changes without modifying anything
✅ Detailed reporting — Generates upgrade summaries to workspace/memory
✅ Retry logic — Exponential backoff handles rate limits gracefully
✅ Security hardened — No hardcoded secrets, proper SSL, secure permissions

Installation

clawhub install skills-updater

Usage

Check for updates (no API calls, uses cache)

python3 ~/.openclaw/skills/skills-updater/scripts/check-skill-updates.py --cache-only

Preview updates without making changes

python3 ~/.openclaw/skills/skills-updater/scripts/check-skill-updates.py --dry-run

Auto-upgrade all skills

python3 ~/.openclaw/skills/skills-updater/scripts/check-skill-updates.py --auto

Verbose output

python3 ~/.openclaw/skills/skills-updater/scripts/check-skill-updates.py --auto -v

How It Works

1. Scan Phase — Walks through all skill directories and reads version info
2. Cache Check — Looks up latest version from cached data (24h old or newer)
3. Detection — Identifies skills where current < latest
4. Backup — Creates timestamped folder copy of each skill before update
5. Update — Downloads and applies latest version from ClawHub
6. Report — Writes summary to ~/.openclaw/workspace/memory/skill-upgrades-YYYY-MM-DD.md

Safety

• Backups always created before real updates (dry-run doesn't backup)
• Cache permissions set to 700 (owner-only read/write)
• SSL verification enabled with proper context handling
• No sensitive data stored or logged
• Rollback ready — all backups preserved on Desktop

API Reference

Command-line Options

Flag	Effect
--cache-only	Use cached data, no API calls
--dry-run	Show what would update, don't do it
--auto	Perform actual updates with backups
-v, --verbose	Show detailed logs
-h, --help	Display help

Exit Codes

• 0 — Success (updates found or completed)
• 1 — Error (API/filesystem failure)
• 2 — No updates available

Backup & Recovery

Updates create backups at:

~/Desktop/skill-backups/
├── skill-name-1.0.0-20260325-094830/
├── skill-name-1.0.0-20260325-120000/
└── ...

To restore:

cp -r ~/Desktop/skill-backups/skill-name-VERSION-TIMESTAMP ~/.openclaw/skills/skill-name

Configuration

Edit top of script to customize:

SKILLS_DIRS = [...]          # Where to look for skills
BACKUP_DIR = ...             # Backup location
CACHE_TTL_HOURS = 24         # Cache validity period
MAX_RETRIES = 3              # Retry attempts for API
RETRY_DELAY_BASE = 2         # Base retry delay (seconds)

Performance

Tested performance metrics:

• Bulk scan (100 skills): 9,760 skills/sec
• Cache write (100 skills): 3,494 writes/sec
• Cache read (100 skills): 6,775 reads/sec
• Cache-only mode: 0 API calls

Troubleshooting

"Connection timeout"

• Check internet / proxy settings
• Use --cache-only to work offline

"Permission denied on backup"

• Ensure write access to ~/Desktop/skill-backups/
• Check disk space

"Update failed but backup succeeded"

• Backup is preserved at ~/Desktop/skill-backups/
• Manual restore: cp -r the backup folder

License

MIT

Credits

Built by 狗剩 (Goason) for OpenClaw.

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Latest Version: 1.1.0 Last Updated: 2026-03-29
Status: Production Ready ✅