OpenClaw Custom Skills Development: Build Your Own Extensions

By Sarah Chen | February 7, 2026

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OpenClaw Custom Skills Development: Build Your Own Extensions

Skills are what make OpenClaw powerful. While OpenClaw comes with built-in tools, custom skills let you teach your agent entirely new capabilities.

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What Are Skills?

Skills are reusable instruction packages that define:

When to use a capability

How to execute a task

What tools are available

Think of skills as recipes — they tell OpenClaw how to combine tools to accomplish specific goals.

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Skill Structure

A skill is a folder with specific files:

my-custom-skill/ ├── SKILL.md          # Required: Skill definition ├── prompt.md         # Optional: Agent instructions ├── skill.py          # Optional: Python logic ├── config.json       # Optional: Configuration schema └── README.md         # Optional: Documentation 

SKILL.md (Required)

--- name: weather description: Get current weather and forecasts keywords: [weather, forecast, temperature, conditions] platforms: [macOS, Linux, Windows] authors: [OpenClaw Team] ---
Weather Skill
Provides current weather conditions and forecasts for any location.
Usage
When the user asks about weather:
1. Ask for their location if not provided 2. Use the web_fetch tool to get weather data 3. Parse the temperature and conditions 4. Format a friendly response
Examples
"What's the weather in New York?"
 
"Will it rain tomorrow?"
 
"How's the weather out there?"
 

prompt.md (Optional)

# Weather Prompt
You are a weather assistant. When asked about weather:
1. Get the location from context or ask the user 2. Use web_fetch to call: https://wttr.in/{location}?format=%C+%T+%h 3. Parse the response for temperature and conditions 4. Reply with: "Currently [conditions] at [temperature]"
Keep responses brief and friendly. 

skill.py (Optional)

#!/usr/bin/env python3 """Weather skill Python implementation"""
import requests import json
def run(location: str) -> dict:     """Get weather for a location"""     try:         response = requests.get(             f"https://wttr.in/{location}",             params={"format": "json"}         )         return {             "success": True,             "weather": response.json()         }     except Exception as e:         return {             "success": False,             "error": str(e)         } 

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Creating Your First Skill

Step 1: Create the Skill Folder

mkdir -p ~/.openclaw/skills/my-first-skill cd ~/.openclaw/skills/my-first-skill 

Step 2: Write SKILL.md

Create the skill definition:

--- name: my-first-skill description: A simple skill for learning keywords: [tutorial, example, first-skill] platforms: [macOS, Linux, Windows] authors: [Your Name] ---
My First Skill
This skill demonstrates the basic skill structure.
Usage
When the user says "test my skill", respond with: "This is my first OpenClaw skill working!"
Triggers
"test my skill"
 
"check my skill"
 

Step 3: Enable the Skill

# Enable the skill openclaw skills enable my-first-skill
Verify it's loaded
 openclaw skills list 

Step 4: Test the Skill

# Send a test message openclaw message send --message "test my skill" 

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Advanced Skill Development

Using Tools in Skills

Skills can define which tools are available:

## Available Tools
read - Read files from disk
 
write - Create or modify files
 
exec - Run shell commands
Restrictions
Maximum 5 file reads per session
 
Only execute commands in /Users/you/projects
 

Configuration in Skills

## Configuration
This skill requires configuration:
Parameter
Type
Required
Description
apiKey
string
Yes
API key for service
mode
string
No
Operation mode (default: normal)
 
User Configuration
# Configure the skill openclaw config set skills.entries.my-first-skill.apiKey "YOUR_KEY" openclaw config set skills.entries.my-first-skill.mode "advanced" 
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Publishing to ClawHub
Share your skills with the community:
Step 1: Prepare Your Skill
Ensure you have: 
Complete SKILL.md with all sections
 
Working implementation
 
README with examples
 
License file (MIT recommended)
Step 2: Package the Skill
# Create a package tar -czvf my-first-skill-1.0.0.tar.gz my-first-skill/ 
Step 3: Publish via CLI
# Login to ClawHub openclaw clawhub login
Publish the skill
 openclaw clawhub publish ./my-first-skill 
Step 4: Add Metadata
Edit SKILL.md with community info:
--- name: my-first-skill description: A simple skill for learning keywords: [tutorial, example, first-skill] platforms: [macOS, Linux, Windows] authors: [Your Name] homepage: https://github.com/yourusername/openclaw-skills repository: https://github.com/yourusername/openclaw-skills license: MIT version: 1.0.0 
 
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Skill Development Workflow
1. Plan the Skill
What problem does it solve?
 
What tools does it need?
 
How should it be triggered?
2. Create the Skeleton
openclaw skills create my-skill --template basic 
3. Implement and Test
# Develop locally openclaw skills dev my-skill
Test in isolation
 openclaw skills test my-skill --verbose
Check for errors
 openclaw skills lint my-skill 
4. Iterate
# Make changes nano ~/.openclaw/skills/my-skill/SKILL.md
Reload skill
 openclaw skills reload my-skill 
5. Share
openclaw clawhub publish my-skill --public 
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Useful Skill Templates
API Integration Skill
--- name: api-integration description: Call external APIs with authentication keywords: [api, http, rest, integration] ---
API Integration Skill
Calls external REST APIs with proper authentication.
Configuration
Parameter
Type
Required
baseUrl
string
Yes
apiKey
string
Yes
headers
object
No
 
Usage
json {   "action": "api-call",   "url": "/endpoint",   "method": "GET" } 
`
File Processing Skill
markdown 
 name: file-processor description: Process and transform files keywords: [files, processing, transform, csv, json] ---
File Processor Skill
Processes files in various formats.
Supported Formats
CSV
 
JSON
 
XML
 
Markdown
Usage
When user asks to process a file:
1. Read the file using read tool 2. Parse the format 3. Apply transformations 4. Write output using write tool 
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Troubleshooting Skill Issues
Skill Not Loading
bash 
Check skill status
 openclaw skills list --verbose
Check for syntax errors
 openclaw skills validate my-skill
View error logs
 openclaw gateway logs | grep skill 
 
Tools Not Working
bash 
Check tool availability
 openclaw tools list
Verify permissions
 openclaw config get tools.entries 
 
Configuration Errors
bash 
Validate configuration
 openclaw config validate
Check skill config
 openclaw config get skills.entries.my-skill `
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Further Reading
OpenClaw Skills Documentation
 
Zen van Riel: Custom Skill Creation Guide
 
ClawHub Skills Directory
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Related Articles: 
OpenClaw Tools vs Skills: Understanding the Mental Model
 
OpenClaw ClawHub Marketplace: Browse and Install Community Skills
 
OpenClaw Custom Skills Development: Build Your Own Extensions
 


Tags: OpenClaw, AI, Tutorial