Tutorial

Creating Custom OpenClaw Skills

February 14, 20264 min readReviewed March 8, 2026

Skills extend OpenClaw's functionality. They can automate tasks, integrate with external APIs, and add custom commands to your AI assistant.

Understanding Skills

A skill is a package that:

Responds to specific triggers (keywords, commands, patterns)
Performs actions (API calls, file operations, computations)
Returns formatted responses to the user

Skill Structure

            // skill.ts
import { Skill, SkillContext, SkillResult } from '@openclaw/sdk';

export const mySkill: Skill = {
  id: 'my-skill',
  name: 'My Custom Skill',
  description: 'Does something cool',
  version: '1.0.0',

  trigger: {
    type: 'keyword',
    keyword: '/myskill'
  },

  async execute(context: SkillContext): Promise {
    const { input, userId } = context;

    // Your skill logic here
    const result = await doSomething(input);

    return {
      message: `Result: ${result}`,
      mentions: [userId]
    };
  }
};
        

Trigger Types

keyword: Exact match (e.g., "/weather")
prefix: Starts with (e.g., "!")
regex: Pattern matching
intent: AI-detected intent

Skill Example: Weather

            // weather-skill.ts
import { Skill, SkillContext, SkillResult } from '@openclaw/sdk';

export const weatherSkill: Skill = {
  id: 'weather',
  name: 'Weather',
  description: 'Get current weather for a location',
  version: '1.0.0',

  trigger: {
    type: 'keyword',
    keyword: '/weather'
  },

  parameters: [
    {
      name: 'location',
      description: 'City name',
      required: true
    }
  ],

  async execute(context: SkillContext): Promise {
    const location = context.params.location;

    const response = await fetch(
      `https://api.weather.com/v1/current?q=${location}`
    ).then(r => r.json());

    const temp = response.main.temp;
    const desc = response.weather[0].description;

    return {
      message: `🌤️ ${location}: ${temp}°C, ${desc}`,
      mentions: [context.userId]
    };
  }
};
        

Installing Your Skill

            # From npm
openclaw skills install @yourname/your-skill

# From local file
openclaw skills install ./path/to/skill

# Install via config
# config.yaml
skills:
  - id: "my-skill"
    path: "./skills/my-skill"
        

Skill Best Practices

Keep skills focused on one responsibility
Handle errors gracefully and return helpful messages
Use environment variables for API keys
Include clear descriptions for parameters
Document usage examples in README

Publish your skill: Share useful skills with the community by publishing to npm with the openclaw-skill keyword.

References

OpenClaw Official Documentation - https://docs.openclaw.ai/ - Accessed February 2026
OpenClaw GitHub Repository - https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw - Accessed February 2026
OpenClaw Skills SDK - Creating Custom Skills - Accessed February 2026
OpenClaw Skill Format Reference - SKILL.md Format - Accessed February 2026

Build something amazing

Create custom skills and extend OpenClaw to fit your needs.

Read SDK Docs

Creating Custom OpenClaw Skills

Understanding Skills

Skill Structure

Trigger Types

Skill Example: Weather

Installing Your Skill

Skill Best Practices

Related Articles

References

Build something amazing

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