Skill format

Skill format

On disk

A skill is a folder.

Required:

• SKILL.md (or skill.md; legacy skills.md is also accepted)

Optional:

• any supporting text-based files (see “Allowed files”)
• .clawhubignore (ignore patterns for publishing, legacy .clawdhubignore)
• .gitignore (also honored)

GitHub import

The web GitHub importer is stricter than local publish/sync. It only discovers SKILL.md or legacy skills.md files in public, non-fork repositories owned by the signed-in GitHub account. It does not import private repos, forks, archived/disabled repos, or third-party public repos.

Local install metadata (written by the CLI):

• <skill>/.clawhub/origin.json (legacy .clawdhub)

Workdir install state (written by the CLI):

• <workdir>/.clawhub/lock.json (legacy .clawdhub)

SKILL.md

• Markdown with optional YAML frontmatter.
• The server extracts metadata from frontmatter during publish.
• description is used as the skill summary in the UI/search.

For portable Agent Skills, name should match the parent directory and use 1–64 lowercase letters, numbers, or hyphens. ClawHub keeps the routable slug and catalog display name separate, so existing names from other clients remain publishable and are not silently rewritten. Catalog lists may shorten long names visually without changing the stored name.

Frontmatter metadata

Skill metadata is declared in the YAML frontmatter at the top of your SKILL.md. This tells the registry (and security analysis) what your skill needs to run.

Basic frontmatter

---
name: my-skill
description: Short summary of what this skill does.
version: 1.0.0
---

Runtime metadata (metadata.openclaw)

Declare your skill’s runtime requirements under metadata.openclaw (aliases: metadata.clawdbot, metadata.clawdis).

---
name: my-skill
description: Manage tasks via the Todoist API.
metadata:
  openclaw:
    requires:
      env:
        - TODOIST_API_KEY
      bins:
        - curl
    primaryEnv: TODOIST_API_KEY
---

Use requires.env for environment variables that must be present before the skill can run. Use envVars when you need per-variable metadata, including optional variables with required: false.

Full field reference

Field	Type	Description
requires.env	string[]	Required environment variables your skill expects.
requires.bins	string[]	CLI binaries that must all be installed.
requires.anyBins	string[]	CLI binaries where at least one must exist.
requires.config	string[]	Config file paths your skill reads.
primaryEnv	string	The main credential env var for your skill.
envVars	array	Environment variable declarations with name, optional required, and optional description. Set required: false for optional env vars.
always	boolean	If true, skill is always active (no explicit install needed).
skillKey	string	Override the skill’s invocation key.
emoji	string	Display emoji for the skill.
homepage	string	URL to the skill’s homepage or docs.
os	string[]	OS restrictions (e.g. ["macos"], ["linux"]).
install	array	Install specs for dependencies (see below).
nix	object	Nix plugin spec (see README).
config	object	Clawdbot config spec (see README).

Install specs

If your skill needs dependencies installed, declare them in the install array:

metadata:
  openclaw:
    install:
      - kind: brew
        formula: jq
        bins: [jq]
      - kind: node
        package: typescript
        bins: [tsc]

Supported install kinds: brew, node, go, uv.

Optional environment variables

Declare optional environment variables under metadata.openclaw.envVars and set required: false. Do not add optional entries to requires.env, because requires.env means the skill cannot run without them.

metadata:
  openclaw:
    primaryEnv: TODOIST_API_KEY
    envVars:
      - name: TODOIST_API_KEY
        required: true
        description: Todoist API token used for authenticated requests.
      - name: TODOIST_PROJECT_ID
        required: false
        description: Optional default project ID when the user does not specify one.

Why this matters

ClawHub’s security analysis checks that what your skill declares matches what it actually does. If your code references TODOIST_API_KEY but your frontmatter doesn’t declare it under requires.env, primaryEnv, or envVars, the analysis will flag a metadata mismatch. Keeping declarations accurate helps your skill pass review and helps users understand what they’re installing.

Example: complete frontmatter

---
name: todoist-cli
description: Manage Todoist tasks, projects, and labels from the command line.
version: 1.2.0
metadata:
  openclaw:
    requires:
      env:
        - TODOIST_API_KEY
      bins:
        - curl
    primaryEnv: TODOIST_API_KEY
    envVars:
      - name: TODOIST_API_KEY
        required: true
        description: Todoist API token.
      - name: TODOIST_PROJECT_ID
        required: false
        description: Optional default project ID.
    emoji: "\u2705"
    homepage: https://github.com/example/todoist-cli
---

Allowed files

Only “text-based” files are accepted by publish.

• Extension allowlist is in packages/schema/src/textFiles.ts (TEXT_FILE_EXTENSIONS).
• Script files are still scanned after upload; PowerShell .ps1, .psm1, and .psd1 files are accepted as text.
• Content types starting with text/ are treated as text; plus a small allowlist (JSON/YAML/TOML/JS/TS/Markdown/SVG).

Limits (server-side):

• Total bundle size: 50MB.
• Embedding text includes SKILL.md + up to ~40 non-.md files (best-effort cap).

Slugs

• Derived from folder name by default.
• Package scopes must match the ClawHub publisher handle exactly. Publisher handles can use lowercase letters, numbers, hyphens, dots, and underscores; they must start and end with a lowercase letter or number.
• Package slugs must be lowercase and npm-safe, for example @example.tools/demo-plugin or demo-plugin.

Versioning + tags

• Each publish creates a new version (semver).
• Tags are string pointers to a version; latest is commonly used.

License

• All skills published on ClawHub are licensed under MIT-0.
• Anyone may use, modify, and redistribute published skills, including commercially.
• Attribution is not required.
• Do not add conflicting license terms in SKILL.md; ClawHub does not support per-skill license overrides.

Paid skills

• ClawHub does not support paid skills, per-skill pricing, paywalls, or revenue sharing.
• Do not add pricing metadata to SKILL.md; it is not part of the skill format and will not make a published skill paid.
• If your skill integrates with a paid third-party service, document the external cost and required account clearly in the skill instructions and env declarations (requires.env for required variables, or envVars with required: false for optional variables).