Overview

Use this page to choose the right Capabilities surface. Tools are callable actions, skills teach agents how to work, and plugins add runtime capabilities such as tools, providers, channels, hooks, and packaged skills.

This is an overview and routing page. For exhaustive tool policy, defaults, group membership, provider restrictions, and configuration fields, use Tools and custom providers.

Start here

For most agents, start with the built-in tool categories, then adjust policy only when the agent should see fewer tools or needs explicit host access.

If you need to…	Use this first	Then read
Let an agent act with existing capabilities	Built-in tools	Tool categories
Control what an agent can call	Tool policy	Tools and custom providers
Teach an agent a workflow	Skills	Skills, Creating skills, Skill Workshop, and Self-learning
Add a new integration or runtime surface	Plugins	Plugins and Build plugins
Run work later or in the background	Automation	Automation overview
Coordinate multiple agents or harnesses	Sub-agents	ACP agents and Agent send
Search a large OpenClaw tool catalog	Tool Search	Tool Search

Choose tools, skills, or plugins

1. Use a tool when the agent needs to act

   A tool is a typed function the agent can call, such as exec, browser, web_search, message, or image_generate. Use tools when the agent needs to read data, change files, send messages, call a provider, or operate another system. Visible tools are sent to the model as structured function definitions.

   The model only sees tools that survive the active profile, allow/deny policy, provider restrictions, sandbox state, channel permissions, and plugin availability.

2. Use a skill when the agent needs instructions

   A skill is a SKILL.md instruction pack loaded into the agent prompt. Use a skill when the agent already has the tools it needs, but needs a repeatable workflow, review rubric, command sequence, or operating constraint.

   Skills can live in a workspace, shared skill directory, managed OpenClaw skill root, or plugin package.

   Skills | Skill Workshop | Self-learning | Creating skills | Skills config

3. Use a plugin when OpenClaw needs a new capability

   A plugin can add tools, skills, channels, model providers, speech, realtime voice, media generation, web search, web fetch, hooks, and other runtime capabilities. Use a plugin when the capability has code, credentials, lifecycle hooks, manifest metadata, or installable packaging. Existing plugins can be installed from ClawHub, npm, git, local directories, or archives.

   Install and configure plugins | Build plugins | Plugin SDK

Built-in tool categories

The table lists representative tools so you can recognize the surface. It is not the full policy reference. For exact groups, defaults, and allow/deny semantics, use Tools and custom providers.

Category	Use when the agent needs to…	Representative tools	Read next
Runtime	Run commands, manage processes, or use provider-backed Python analysis	exec, process, code_execution	Exec, Code execution
Files	Read and change workspace files	read, write, edit, apply_patch	Apply patch
Web	Search the web, search X posts, or fetch readable page content	web_search, x_search, web_fetch	Web tools, Web fetch
Browser	Operate a browser session	browser	Browser
Messaging and channels	Send replies or channel actions	message	Agent send
Sessions and agents	Inspect sessions, delegate work, steer another run, or report status	sessions_*, subagents, agents_list, session_status, get_goal, create_goal, update_goal	Goal, Sub-agents, Session tool
Automation	Schedule work or respond to background events	cron, heartbeat_respond	Automation
Gateway and nodes	Inspect Gateway state or paired target devices	gateway, nodes	Gateway configuration, Nodes
Media	Analyze, generate, or speak media	image, image_generate, music_generate, video_generate, tts	Media overview
Large OpenClaw catalogs	Search and call many eligible tools without sending every schema to the model	tool_search_code, tool_search, tool_describe	Tool Search

Tool Search is an experimental OpenClaw agent surface. Codex harness runs use Codex-native code mode, native tool search, deferred dynamic tools, and nested tool calls instead of tools.toolSearch.

Plugin-provided tools

Plugins can register additional tools. Plugin authors wire tools through api.registerTool(...) and the manifest’s contracts.tools; use Plugin SDK and Plugin manifest for contract details.

Common plugin-provided tools include:

• Diffs for rendering file and markdown diffs
• Show widget for self-contained inline SVG and HTML in web chat
• LLM Task for JSON-only workflow steps
• Lobster for typed workflows with resumable approvals
• Tokenjuice for compacting noisy exec and bash tool output
• Tool Search for discovering and calling large tool catalogs without putting every schema in the prompt
• Canvas for node Canvas control and A2UI rendering

Configure access and approvals

Tool policy is enforced before the model call. If policy removes a tool, the model does not receive that tool’s schema for the turn. A run can lose tools because of global config, per-agent config, channel policy, provider restrictions, sandbox rules, channel/runtime policy, or plugin availability.

• Tools and custom providers documents tool profiles, allow/deny lists, provider-specific restrictions, loop detection, and provider-backed tool settings.
• Exec approvals documents host command approval policy.
• Elevated exec documents controlled execution outside the sandbox.
• Sandbox vs tool policy vs elevated explains which layer controls file and process access.
• Per-agent sandbox and tool restrictions documents agent-specific restrictions for delegated runs.

Extend capabilities

Choose the extension path by the job you need OpenClaw to do:

• Install or manage an existing plugin with Plugins.
• Build a new integration, provider, channel, tool, or hook with Build plugins.
• Add or tune reusable agent instructions with Skills and Creating skills.
• Use Plugin SDK and Plugin manifest when you need implementation contracts.

Troubleshoot missing tools

If the model cannot see or call a tool, start with the effective policy for the current turn:

1. Check the active profile, tools.allow, and tools.deny in Tools and custom providers.
2. Check provider-specific restrictions in Tools and custom providers and confirm the selected model provider supports the tool shape.
3. Check channel permissions, sandbox state, and elevated access with Sandbox vs tool policy vs elevated and Elevated exec.
4. Check whether the owning plugin is installed and enabled in Plugins.
5. For delegated runs, check per-agent restrictions in Per-agent sandbox and tool restrictions.
6. For large OpenClaw catalogs, confirm whether the run uses direct tool exposure or Tool Search.

Related

• Automation for cron, tasks, heartbeat, commitments, hooks, standing orders, and Task Flow
• Agents for the agent model, sessions, memory, and multi-agent coordination
• Tools and custom providers for the canonical tool policy reference
• Plugins for plugin installation and management
• Plugin SDK for plugin author reference
• Skills for skill load order, gating, and config
• Skill Workshop for generated and reviewed skill creation
• Tool Search for compact OpenClaw tool catalog discovery