ClawHub Skills Marketplace: Find, Install, and Build OpenClaw Skills

Out of the box, OpenClaw can chat, run shell commands, read files, and search the web. That's useful but limited. Skills are what turn a generic agent into one that reads your Gmail, checks the weather, generates images, transcribes audio, and runs security audits.

ClawHub is where you find them.

What Are Skills?

A skill is a set of instructions that teaches your agent how to do something specific. Technically, it's a folder containing a SKILL.md file (the instructions) and optionally scripts, reference files, and configuration.

When a skill is installed, OpenClaw scans it and matches incoming tasks to the skill's description. Ask your agent "What's the weather in Berlin?" and if the weather skill is installed, the agent reads its SKILL.md and follows the instructions to get weather data.

Skills don't add new code to OpenClaw. They add knowledge — how to use specific APIs, tools, or workflows. The agent still uses its existing capabilities (web search, shell commands, file I/O) but now knows the right sequence for specific tasks.

Finding Skills on ClawHub

Go to clawhub.ai and browse. Skills are organized by category:

Productivity — Gmail, Calendar, Todoist, Notion integration
Development — Git workflows, Vercel deployment, Docker management
Communication — WhatsApp, Discord, Slack enhancements
Security — Auditing, vulnerability scanning, healthchecks
Content — Image generation, text humanization, SEO tools
Data — Web scraping, PDF analysis, spreadsheet manipulation

Each skill listing shows:

Description of what it does
Install count (popularity indicator)
Security verification status (VirusTotal-scanned skills are marked)
Author and last update date

Installing Skills

Two ways to install:

From ClawHub (recommended)

openclaw skill install web-search
openclaw skill install weather
openclaw skill install gog  # Google Workspace (Gmail, Calendar, Drive)

The CLI downloads the skill to your workspace's skills directory and makes it available immediately.

From a Git URL

openclaw skill install https://github.com/username/my-custom-skill

This works for skills not published on ClawHub — private skills, forks, or work-in-progress.

Check Installed Skills

openclaw skill list

Shows all installed skills with their descriptions and status.

Essential Skills for New Users

If you just set up OpenClaw, install these first:

Web Search (Brave)

openclaw skill install web-search

Lets your agent search the internet. Requires a Brave Search API key (free tier: 2,000 queries/month).

Google Workspace (gog)

openclaw skill install gog

Gmail reading and sending, Calendar management, Drive file access, Contacts, Sheets, and Docs. Requires OAuth setup — the skill walks you through it.

Weather

openclaw skill install weather

Current conditions and forecasts via wttr.in or Open-Meteo. No API key needed.

Healthcheck

openclaw skill install healthcheck

Security hardening assessment for your server. Checks SSH config, firewall rules, package updates, and OpenClaw-specific settings.

Video Frames

openclaw skill install video-frames

Extract frames or clips from video files using ffmpeg. Useful if your agent processes video content.

Configuring Skills

Some skills need API keys or settings. The skill's SKILL.md usually documents what's needed.

For example, the web search skill needs a Brave API key:

openclaw config set tools.web_search.apiKey YOUR_BRAVE_API_KEY

Google Workspace needs OAuth credentials — the gog skill provides a setup script that handles the authentication flow.

Building Your Own Skill

Skills are just markdown files with a specific structure. Here's the minimum:

my-skill/
  SKILL.md     # Required — the instructions
  references/  # Optional — example files, templates
  scripts/     # Optional — helper scripts

SKILL.md Structure

---
name: my-custom-skill
description: >
  What this skill does. This description is used for matching —
  when a user asks something that matches, the agent loads this skill.
---

# My Custom Skill

Instructions for the agent on how to use this skill.

## When to Use
- Trigger conditions
- Example queries this handles

## How It Works
Step-by-step instructions the agent follows.

## API Reference
Any API endpoints, parameters, authentication details.

## Examples
Concrete examples of input and expected output.

Practical Example: Hacker News Skill

---
name: hackernews
description: >
  Fetch and summarize top stories from Hacker News. Use when asked
  about trending tech news, HN front page, or tech community discussions.
---

# Hacker News Skill

## When to Use
When the user asks about:
- Hacker News top stories
- Trending tech news
- HN front page

## How It Works

1. Fetch top story IDs:
   ```bash
   curl -s "https://hacker-news.firebaseio.com/v0/topstories.json" | head -c 200

For each story ID, fetch details:

curl -s "https://hacker-news.firebaseio.com/v0/item/{id}.json"

Summarize the top 10 stories with: title, URL, score, and comment count.
If the user asks for details on a specific story, fetch and summarize the linked article using web_fetch.

Notes

The API is rate-limited. Don't fetch more than 30 stories at once.
Story data is real-time. Cache is not needed for fresh requests.


That's it. Install it:

```bash
# Copy to your skills directory
cp -r my-skill ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/hackernews

Now when you ask "What's on Hacker News today?" your agent knows exactly how to answer.

Publishing to ClawHub

Once your skill works well:

clawhub publish ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/hackernews

This uploads it to ClawHub where others can find and install it. Include a clear description, usage examples, and any required configuration.

Skill Security

Be thoughtful about what skills you install:

Read the SKILL.md before installing. Know what it tells your agent to do.
Check the source. ClawHub shows the author and GitHub link. Unfamiliar authors? Read the code.
VirusTotal-verified skills have been scanned for malware. Look for the verification badge.
Skills can't do anything your agent can't already do. They add instructions, not permissions. But clever instructions can be dangerous — a skill that tells your agent to upload files to an external server is a data exfiltration risk.

Our skill vetter can review skills for red flags before you install them.

Updating and Managing Skills

Update all skills to latest versions:

clawhub sync

Update a specific skill:

clawhub sync hackernews

Remove a skill:

rm -rf ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/hackernews

Skills are just folders. No complex package management required.

Building Skills: Tips from Experience

Write descriptions that match how people actually ask. If your skill handles currency conversion, include phrases like "convert dollars to euros" and "exchange rate" in the description.
Include failure handling. What should the agent do if the API is down? If authentication fails? Don't leave the agent guessing.
Keep instructions specific. "Fetch the data and summarize it" is vague. "Fetch the top 10 items, extract title and score, format as a numbered list" is actionable.
Test with different phrasings. Make sure your skill triggers for "What's the weather?" and "Is it going to rain?" and "Temperature in Tokyo" — not just the exact phrasing you first thought of.

Browse what others have built at ClawHub for inspiration. For the foundational setup, check our VPS guide. Questions about skills? Our multi-agent guide shows how skills fit into larger workflows.