Claw Doctor

Diagnose and fix common OpenClaw / NanoClaw issues — broken skills, missing scripts, API key failures, path resolution bugs, and configuration problems. The meta-skill for when your claw is broken.

Claw Doctor — OpenClaw Self-Repair Skill

This skill diagnoses and fixes common OpenClaw / NanoClaw problems. When something breaks, run through the checklist below before giving up.

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When to Activate

Activate this skill when the user reports any of the following:

• "skill not found" / skill does not trigger
• "No such file or directory" when running a skill script
• API key errors from a skill
• Skill produces no output or wrong output
• "SKILL.md is invalid" / YAML parse errors
• A skill works globally but not in workspace (or vice versa)
• Skills were working before but stopped after an update

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Skill Load Order & Paths

OpenClaw loads skills from two locations. Workspace skills take priority.

text

Priority 1 (high): <workspace>/skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md
Priority 2 (low):  ~/.openclaw/skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md

Diagnostic: list all loaded skills

bash

# Show what's installed globally
ls ~/.openclaw/skills/ 2>/dev/null || echo "No global skills dir"

# Show what's installed in current workspace
ls ./skills/ 2>/dev/null || echo "No workspace skills dir"

If a skill appears in both, the workspace version wins — check for version mismatches.

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Problem 1 — Skill Does Not Trigger

Symptom: User invokes a skill but Claude ignores it or does not follow the skill procedure.

Diagnosis checklist:

1. Is the SKILL.md actually present and readable?

   bash

   cat ./skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md | head -20
   

2. Does the frontmatter YAML parse correctly?

   bash

   python3 -c "
   import re, sys
   txt = open('skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md').read()
   fm = re.search(r'^---\n(.*?)\n---', txt, re.DOTALL)
   print('Frontmatter found:', bool(fm))
   if fm:
       import yaml; d = yaml.safe_load(fm.group(1)); print('Keys:', list(d.keys()))
   "
   

3. Do the keywords in the SKILL.md match what the user said?

   • Add more keyword variants (synonyms, abbreviations) if not matching.

4. Is description clear enough for the model to identify the skill?

   • Short, specific descriptions outperform vague ones.

Fix: Ensure frontmatter is valid YAML (no tabs, proper quoting, correct indentation).

---

Problem 2 — Script Not Found (Path Resolution)

Symptom: bash: scripts/run: No such file or directory

This is the most common skill bug. Scripts referenced in SKILL.md as scripts/foo are relative to the skill's installation directory inside the OpenClaw plugin cache, not the current working directory.

Canonical fix — resolve the script path dynamically before every use:

bash

# For a skill named "my-skill" with a script named "run"
MY_SCRIPT=$(find ~/.openclaw -name "run" -path "*/my-skill/*/scripts/*" -type f 2>/dev/null | head -1)
# Fallback: check workspace skills
[ -z "$MY_SCRIPT" ] && MY_SCRIPT=$(find ./skills -name "run" -path "*/my-skill/scripts/*" -type f 2>/dev/null | head -1)

if [ -z "$MY_SCRIPT" ]; then
  echo "ERROR: script not found. Is the skill installed?"
  exit 1
fi

$MY_SCRIPT <args>

Also check: Is the script executable?

bash

chmod +x ~/.openclaw/skills/my-skill/scripts/*
chmod +x ./skills/my-skill/scripts/*

---

Problem 3 — API Key Not Configured

Symptom: Skill returns {"success": false, "setup_required": true} or 401/403 errors.

Standard API key setup flow:

1. The skill's SKILL.md should document where the key is stored (usually ~/.openclaw/secrets/<skill-name>.key or an env var).
2. Check if the key file exists:

   bash

   ls ~/.openclaw/secrets/ 2>/dev/null || echo "No secrets dir"
   

3. Run the skill's setup command (usually scripts/run setup <api-key>).
4. Verify the key was saved:

   bash

   cat ~/.openclaw/secrets/<skill-name>.key 2>/dev/null | head -c 20
   

If no setup command exists, ask the user to set the env var directly:

bash

export SKILL_API_KEY="their-key-here"
# Add to ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc for persistence

---

Problem 4 — Dependency Missing (Node.js / Python / tool)

Symptom: node: command not found, python3: No such file or directory, jq: command not found

Quick dependency check:

bash

echo "=== Core deps ===" && \
node --version 2>/dev/null || echo "MISSING: node" && \
python3 --version 2>/dev/null || echo "MISSING: python3" && \
jq --version 2>/dev/null || echo "MISSING: jq" && \
curl --version 2>/dev/null | head -1 || echo "MISSING: curl"

Fix by platform:

Tool	macOS	Ubuntu/Debian
Node.js	brew install node	apt install nodejs npm
Python 3	brew install python3	apt install python3
jq	brew install jq	apt install jq

For Python skill dependencies:

bash

pip3 install -r skills/<skill-name>/requirements.txt 2>/dev/null \
  || echo "No requirements.txt found"

For Node skill dependencies:

bash

cd skills/<skill-name> && npm install 2>/dev/null \
  || echo "No package.json found"

---

Problem 5 — YAML Frontmatter Errors

Symptom: Skill loads but metadata is wrong / keywords not indexed.

Valid frontmatter template:

yaml

---
name: my-skill-name         # lowercase, hyphens only
description: One clear sentence describing what this skill does.
keywords:
  - keyword-one
  - keyword-two
license: MIT
---

Common mistakes:

Mistake	Fix
Tabs instead of spaces	Replace with 2-space indentation
Unquoted : in description	Wrap value in quotes
Missing name field	Add it — it's required
keywords as inline list [a, b]	Use block list - a\n- b

Validate:

bash

python3 -c "
import yaml, sys
txt = open('skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md').read().split('---')[1]
try:
    d = yaml.safe_load(txt)
    print('OK:', d)
except yaml.YAMLError as e:
    print('YAML ERROR:', e)
    sys.exit(1)
"

---

Problem 6 — Skill Worked Before, Broke After Update

Symptom: OpenClaw updated and a skill stopped working.

Checklist:

1. Check if the OpenClaw plugin cache was cleared:

   bash

   ls ~/.openclaw/plugins/cache/ 2>/dev/null | head -10
   

2. Reinstall the skill from source:

   bash

   # From a cloned skills repo
   cp -r /path/to/skills-repo/skills/<skill-name> ~/.openclaw/skills/
   

3. Check for breaking changes in OpenClaw's skill API — look at the OpenClaw changelog for SKILL.md format updates.

4. Test the script directly (bypassing OpenClaw):

   bash

   bash skills/<skill-name>/scripts/<main-script> --help
   

---

Full Health Check

Run this to get a complete snapshot of the OpenClaw environment:

bash

echo "=== OpenClaw Health Check ===" && \
echo "--- Global skills ---" && ls ~/.openclaw/skills/ 2>/dev/null || echo "(none)" && \
echo "--- Workspace skills ---" && ls ./skills/ 2>/dev/null || echo "(none)" && \
echo "--- Secrets ---" && ls ~/.openclaw/secrets/ 2>/dev/null || echo "(none)" && \
echo "--- Plugin cache ---" && ls ~/.openclaw/plugins/cache/ 2>/dev/null | head -5 || echo "(empty)" && \
echo "--- Dependencies ---" && \
  node --version 2>/dev/null && \
  python3 --version 2>/dev/null && \
  jq --version 2>/dev/null && \
echo "=== Done ==="

---

For Claude Code Users

This skill also works as a Claude Code user-invocable skill. Add the following to ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md under ## User-Invocable Skills:

markdown

### claw-doctor

Diagnose and fix OpenClaw / NanoClaw problems.

**Trigger**: user mentions skill not loading, script not found, API key error, SKILL.md broken, OpenClaw not working

**Procedure**: Follow the claw-doctor SKILL.md checklist:
1. Identify symptom category (trigger / script path / API key / dependency / YAML / post-update)
2. Run the relevant diagnostic commands
3. Apply the fix and verify with the Full Health Check

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Contributing

Found a new OpenClaw failure mode? Open a PR with:

1. The symptom (exact error message or behavior)
2. Root cause
3. Diagnostic command
4. Fix

Keep entries short and command-first. The doctor should be fast to consult.