OpenClaw Skills Setup Guide
Skills are the most important feature you should set up on your OpenClaw agent. They allow your bot to perform tasks exactly to your specifications, consistently and reliably. This guide teaches you h
OpenClaw Skills Setup Guide
Overview
Skills are the most important feature you should set up on your OpenClaw agent. They allow your bot to perform tasks exactly to your specifications, consistently and reliably. This guide teaches you how to create, manage, and optimize skills for your workflow.
Video Reference: Watch on YouTube
Duration: ~7 minutes
Difficulty: Beginner
What Are Skills?
Skills are reusable instruction sets that tell your agent exactly how to perform specific tasks. Think of them as:
- Recipes for your agent to follow
- Muscle memory that persists across sessions
- Custom commands tailored to your needs
Why Skills Matter
Without Skills: You explain your preferences every session
With Skills: Your agent remembers and applies your preferences automatically
The Core Problem Skills Solve
Your Agent "Dies" Every Day
This is the best way to understand it:
- Your agent's context window resets regularly
- It "forgets" everything from previous sessions
- It has to relearn your preferences each time
Skills = Persistent Memory
Skills give your agent knowledge that survives resets:
- How you like presentations formatted
- Your research methodology
- Your writing style
- Your workflow preferences
Creating Your First Skill
Method 1: Conversational Creation (Recommended)
You don't need to write skills yourself—just talk to your agent.
Step 1: Describe What You Want
I need you to create daily presentations about AI and crypto news.
Here's how I want them:
- Research latest news from the past 24 hours
- Create 5-7 slides
- Use light theme with blue accents
- Include sources at the end
- Save to ~/presentations/daily/
Step 2: Let Your Agent Work
Your agent will:
- Understand your requirements
- Perform the task
- Ask clarifying questions if needed
Step 3: Refine Through Iteration
After seeing the result:
Good, but make the slides more concise.
Each slide should have max 3 bullet points.
Update your skill with this preference.
Step 4: Save as Skill
Save this as a skill called "daily_presentation"
so you can do this automatically every day.
Method 2: Explicit Skill Request
Direct Approach:
Create a skill for making presentations with these specs:
- Title slide with date
- 5 content slides max
- Light theme
- Sources slide at end
- Save to ~/presentations/
Your agent will create the skill immediately.
Real-World Example: Presentation Skill
The Workflow
Morning Routine:
- Agent runs at 8:00 AM (via cron job)
- Invokes "daily_presentation" skill
- Researches latest news
- Creates presentation
- Saves to specified folder
- Notifies you when complete
No Manual Work Required: Everything happens automatically to your exact specifications.
The Skill Structure
Your agent creates something like this internally:
Skill: daily_presentation
Purpose: Create daily news presentation
Steps:
1. Research AI and crypto news from past 24 hours
2. Identify top 5 stories
3. Create presentation with:
- Title slide (date)
- 5 content slides (3 bullets each)
- Light theme, blue accents
- Sources slide
4. Save to ~/presentations/daily/YYYY-MM-DD.pptx
5. Notify user when complete
Dependencies:
- deep_research skill
- presentation_template
You never see this—your agent manages it internally.
Viewing Your Skills
Ask Your Agent
Show me all my skills
or
Send me the presentation skill details
Your agent will display the skill specifications.
Understanding Skill Details
When you view a skill, you'll see:
- Purpose: What the skill does
- Steps: How it accomplishes the task
- Preferences: Your specific requirements
- Dependencies: Other skills it uses
Updating Skills
When to Update
- You discover a better way to do something
- Your preferences change
- You notice consistent issues
- You want to add new features
How to Update
Simple Updates:
Update your presentation skill:
I prefer dark theme now, not light theme.
Detailed Updates:
Update the daily_presentation skill with these changes:
1. Increase to 7 slides instead of 5
2. Add a "Key Takeaways" slide before sources
3. Use dark theme with green accents
4. Include tweet-length summaries for each story
Your agent will modify the skill and confirm changes.
Skill Categories
Research Skills
Example: Deep research on specific topics
Create a skill for deep research that:
- Searches multiple sources
- Verifies information across sources
- Summarizes findings
- Includes citations
- Saves to ~/research/
Content Creation Skills
Example: Blog post writing
Create a skill for blog posts that:
- Researches topic thoroughly
- Writes in my style (conversational, technical)
- Includes code examples when relevant
- Adds SEO-friendly title and meta description
- Saves as markdown
Automation Skills
Example: Daily briefing
Create a skill for daily briefings that:
- Checks email for urgent items
- Reviews calendar for today
- Summarizes news in my industry
- Compiles into one document
- Sends to my Telegram
Analysis Skills
Example: Data analysis
Create a skill for analyzing my trading data that:
- Reads from Notion database
- Identifies patterns in winning trades
- Calculates key metrics
- Generates visual charts
- Saves report to ~/analysis/
Skills vs Memory
When to Use Skills
✅ Repetitive tasks with consistent requirements
✅ Specific workflows you use regularly
✅ Quality standards that must be maintained
✅ Complex processes with multiple steps
When to Use Memory
✅ Personal facts about you
✅ Project context that changes
✅ Temporary preferences
✅ Conversation history
Example Comparison
Skill: "How to create presentations"
- Format specifications
- Design preferences
- File naming conventions
- Save locations
Memory: "User is working on Q2 report"
- Current project details
- Temporary focus areas
- Recent conversations
Advanced: Skill Dependencies
Skills can use other skills.
Example: Presentation Skill Uses Research Skill
Main Skill: daily_presentation
- Calls: deep_research skill
- Calls: format_slides skill
- Calls: save_file skill
Benefit: Modular, reusable components
Creating Dependent Skills
Create a research skill that other skills can use:
- Takes a topic as input
- Searches multiple sources
- Verifies information
- Returns structured summary
Then:
Update my presentation skill to use the research skill
for gathering information.
ClawHub: Skill Marketplace
What is ClawHub?
A marketplace where users share skills.
Should You Use It?
Pros:
- Browse for inspiration
- See what's possible
- Quick start for common tasks
Cons:
- Security concerns (past virus issues)
- Generic skills may not fit your needs
- Less control over implementation
Recommended Approach
- Browse for ideas (don't download)
- Understand what the skill does
- Ask your agent to create similar (customized for you)
Example:
I saw a skill on ClawHub for email management.
Create a similar skill but customized for my workflow:
[describe your specific needs]
Troubleshooting
Skill Not Working
Problem: Skill fails or produces wrong results
Solutions:
- Ask agent to explain what went wrong
- Review skill specifications
- Update with corrections
- Test again
The presentation skill failed.
Show me the error and fix it.
Skill Forgotten After Restart
Problem: Agent doesn't remember skill after restart
Solutions:
- Verify skill was saved (not just executed once)
- Ask agent to list all skills
- Recreate if necessary
List all my saved skills.
If presentation skill is missing, recreate it.
Skill Produces Inconsistent Results
Problem: Sometimes works, sometimes doesn't
Solutions:
- Make specifications more explicit
- Add error handling to skill
- Include verification steps
Update the skill to verify each step completes
before moving to the next.
Best Practices
1. Start Simple
Don't create complex skills immediately. Start with:
Create a skill to summarize articles I send you.
Then gradually add complexity:
Update the summary skill to also:
- Extract key quotes
- Identify main arguments
- Suggest related topics
2. Be Specific
Vague:
Make presentations look good
Specific:
Use dark theme, 24pt titles, 18pt body text,
blue (#0066CC) for headings, white text on dark background
3. Test Thoroughly
Before relying on a skill:
Run the presentation skill 3 times with different topics
to ensure consistency.
4. Document Your Skills
Keep a list:
Create a document listing all my skills,
what they do, and when to use them.
5. Regular Maintenance
Monthly review:
Review all my skills.
Which ones haven't been used in 30 days?
Should we update or remove them?
Skill Ideas to Get Started
For Content Creators
- Video Script Writer: Research topic, write script, format for teleprompter
- Thumbnail Analyzer: Analyze successful thumbnails, suggest improvements
- SEO Optimizer: Optimize titles, descriptions, tags
For Developers
- Code Reviewer: Review code for bugs, suggest improvements
- Documentation Generator: Create docs from code comments
- Test Writer: Generate unit tests for functions
For Business
- Meeting Summarizer: Summarize meeting notes, extract action items
- Email Drafter: Draft professional emails based on bullet points
- Report Generator: Compile data into formatted reports
For Researchers
- Literature Review: Search papers, summarize findings, identify gaps
- Citation Manager: Format citations, check for duplicates
- Data Analyzer: Analyze datasets, generate visualizations
Next Steps
After creating your first skill:
- Use It Regularly: Skills improve with feedback
- Create More Skills: Build a library for your workflow
- Combine Skills: Create complex workflows from simple skills
- Share Knowledge: Help others by describing your successful skills
Related Resources
Final Thoughts
Skills transform your agent from a helpful assistant into a personalized automation system. The key is to start simple, iterate based on results, and gradually build a library of skills that match your exact workflow.
Remember: You don't need to write code. Just describe what you want in plain language, and your agent will create the skill for you.
Last Updated: 2026-05-06