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The macOS app surfaces OpenClaw skills via the gateway; it does not parse skills locally.

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Data source

  • skills.status (gateway) returns all skills plus eligibility and missing requirements, including allowlist blocks for bundled skills.
  • Requirements come from metadata.openclaw.requires in each SKILL.md.
The Skills pane and ClawHub search refresh when the selected Gateway changes. Skill actions and ClawHub reviews keep the Gateway that supplied their contents; a retained action cannot write to a replacement Gateway with the same skill key. A socket reconnect to the same configured Gateway preserves the action’s target.

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Install actions

  • metadata.openclaw.install defines install options (brew/node/go/uv/download).
  • The app calls skills.install to run installers on the gateway host.
  • Install on This Mac explicitly selects Local mode and the Mac’s local Gateway.
  • Operator-owned security.installPolicy (enabled, targets, exec) runs before installer metadata. block results and policy failures stop the install. A warn result also stops the gateway-backed request: review it with the matching direct CLI when one exists, or change the policy to allow the reviewed request, then retry.
  • If every install option is download, the gateway surfaces all download choices.
  • Otherwise the gateway picks one preferred installer using current install preferences (skills.install.preferBrew, skills.install.nodeManager) and host binaries: Homebrew first when preferBrew is enabled and brew is present, then uv, then the configured node manager, then Homebrew again if available (even without preferBrew), then go, then download.
  • Node install labels reflect the configured node manager, including yarn.

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Browse ClawHub

In Skills > Browse, search ClawHub and choose Review to see the skill’s metadata, publisher, and release version. Verify and install sends that exact reference and version to the connected Gateway. The review sheet is a metadata review; the Gateway owns the pre-download security check during installation. Official ClawHub publishers and packages skip the security-verdict fetch, as described in ClawHub release trust. A ClawHub Review audit outcome allows installation and returns audit text in the result warning. The app displays that warning with the install result. Blocked or unavailable security checks stop installation; the app displays the Gateway error and any warning details without an acknowledgement retry. These audit outcomes do not override the operator-owned install policy described above. Install-only search results offer Install instead of a detail review. The app sends their exact source reference without a version selector and labels unscanned sources. After installation, it reads skills.status on the same Gateway route to confirm the reviewed version or the recorded install-only reference. If that refresh fails after the Gateway confirms installation, the app keeps the completed install message and any audit warning. Open Skills > Installed and choose Refresh to load the installed entry. A later connection or search failure appears separately from the completed install and its warning. No skills found means a successful search returned no matches.

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Env/API keys

  • The app stores keys in ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json under skills.entries.<skillKey>.
  • skills.update patches enabled, apiKey, and env.
If the Gateway changes while an editor is open, Save keeps the typed draft visible and reports the Gateway change. Reopen the skill on the intended Gateway to save there; Cancel discards the draft. A save already in flight may have reached the previous Gateway.

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Remote mode

  • Install and config updates happen on the gateway host, not the local Mac.
  • When skill files, config, Mac-node connectivity, its catalog, or its executable inventory changes, the gateway emits skills.changed after invalidating its authoritative snapshot. An open Skills pane then refetches skills.status, including changes that finish while an earlier request is still in flight.