Best OpenClaw Skills: 15 Must-Have Skills Ranked & Reviewed
Skills & Customization · 16 min read
The 20 Best OpenClaw Skills Worth Installing (2026)
Last updated: February 2026 · Reading time: 14 minutes
ClawHub — OpenClaw's skill marketplace — has over 3,000 skills. A year ago it had over 5,700, but in February 2026 researchers discovered 341 malicious skills in what's now called the ClawHavoc incident. About 2,400 suspicious skills were removed. ClawHub added VirusTotal scanning and tighter moderation in response.
Point being: there are thousands of skills, many of them are junk, some were actively dangerous, and figuring out which ones are worth installing is a real problem. The "awesome" lists on GitHub have 3,000 entries, which isn't curation — it's a phone book.
This list is different. These are 20 skills we've actually tested, organized by what you'll probably use them for, with honest notes on what works, what doesn't, and what to watch out for.
Before you install anything: Check the skill's ClawHub page for its VirusTotal security report. Stick to skills from well-known publishers. Read the SKILL.md before running. This isn't paranoia — the ClawHavoc incident proved the ecosystem has real security risks.
How to Install Skills
If you haven't used ClawHub before, the process is simple:
# Install the ClawHub CLI (one time)
npm install -g clawhub
# Search for a skill
clawhub search "gmail"
# Install a skill
clawhub install skill-name
# Start a new OpenClaw session to load it
openclaw restart
You can also paste a skill's GitHub link directly into your assistant's chat and ask it to install it. OpenClaw handles the setup automatically.
Skills install into your workspace at ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/. Each one is just a folder with a SKILL.md file and supporting files — you can read the full source before running it.
Productivity and Organization
1. Gog (Google Workspace)
What it does: Unifies Gmail, Google Calendar, Drive, Contacts, Sheets, and Docs into one interface. Instead of installing five separate integrations, Gog handles your entire Google Workspace.
Why it's worth it: This is the single most impactful skill for anyone who lives in Google's ecosystem. Ask your assistant to "check my calendar for tomorrow," "draft a reply to that email from Sarah," or "find the Q4 spreadsheet in Drive" — and it works across all Google services through one skill.
Watch out for: Requires OAuth setup with Google, which takes about 10 minutes. The permissions request is broad (it needs access to all the Google services it supports), so make sure you trust the skill before authenticating.
clawhub install gog
2. Summarize
What it does: Intelligent text summarization. Feed it articles, documents, long email threads, or web pages and get concise summaries back.
Downloads: 10,900+ — one of the most popular skills on ClawHub.
Why it's worth it: Simple but constantly useful. "Summarize this PDF," "give me the key points from this article," "TLDR this email chain." It works with your existing document and email skills to create a workflow where your assistant reads and distills information for you.
clawhub install summarize
3. Obsidian Notes
What it does: Integrates with your Obsidian vault for knowledge management and note-taking.
Why it's worth it: If you use Obsidian as your second brain, this skill bridges it with your AI assistant. Ask your assistant to "add a note about today's meeting" or "find everything I've written about project X" and it reads and writes directly to your vault. Your notes become searchable through natural conversation.
Watch out for: Your Obsidian vault path needs to be accessible to OpenClaw. If your vault is in iCloud or Dropbox, make sure the files are downloaded locally.
clawhub install obsidian
Web and Research
4. Agent Browser
What it does: Browser automation for web interactions — navigating sites, extracting data, filling forms, taking screenshots.
Downloads: 11,800+ — the most popular web skill on ClawHub.
Why it's worth it: This is what makes OpenClaw feel like having a research assistant. "Check the current price of flights to Lisbon on Skyscanner," "what are the opening hours for this restaurant," "fill out this form with my details." The assistant controls a real browser and interacts with websites the way you would.
Watch out for: Requires the browser tool to be enabled in your OpenClaw config. Works best with the dedicated OpenClaw Chromium instance. Some sites with aggressive bot detection may block it.
clawhub install agent-browser
5. Firecrawl
What it does: Web scraping and data extraction. Crawls websites and returns clean, structured content.
Why it's worth it: Different from the browser tool — Firecrawl is for bulk data extraction rather than interactive browsing. "Scrape all the product prices from this competitor's website," "extract every article headline from this news site," "monitor this page for changes." Ideal for market research, competitive analysis, and monitoring.
Watch out for: Requires a Firecrawl API key (they have a free tier). Respects robots.txt by default.
clawhub install firecrawl
6. YouTube Transcripts
What it does: Extracts transcripts from YouTube videos, with or without timestamps. Also supports video search and channel browsing.
Why it's worth it: "Summarize this YouTube video" is one of the most common requests people make to their assistant. This skill makes it actually work well. Feed it a video URL and it pulls the full transcript, which your assistant can then summarize, search through, or extract specific information from.
Watch out for: Uses the TranscriptAPI service. You get 100 free credits to start, then it's pay-per-use after that.
clawhub install youtube-full
Development and System
7. Wacli
What it does: Versatile CLI utility for command-line operations and automation.
Downloads: 16,400+ — second most downloaded skill on ClawHub.
Why it's worth it: Extends your assistant's ability to work with the command line. Useful for developers who want their assistant to run scripts, manage processes, or perform system operations through natural language.
clawhub install wacli
8. SSH Essentials
What it does: Secure remote server management through SSH commands, key management, and tunneling.
Why it's worth it: If you manage servers (and if you're running OpenClaw on a VPS, you do), this skill lets your assistant help with routine server tasks. "Check disk usage on my server," "restart nginx," "show me the last 50 lines of the error log." Saves you from SSH-ing in manually for quick checks.
Watch out for: Be thoughtful about giving your AI assistant SSH access to production servers. Start with non-critical machines and work up.
clawhub install ssh-essentials
9. System Monitor
What it does: Checks CPU, RAM, and GPU status of your local machine (or the server running OpenClaw).
Why it's worth it: A lightweight but useful skill. Set up a cron job to have your assistant message you on WhatsApp if CPU usage exceeds 90% or disk space drops below 10%. Simple monitoring without installing a full monitoring stack.
clawhub install system-monitor
Smart Home and Devices
10. Weather
What it does: Fetches current weather and forecasts for any location.
Downloads: 9,000+ — consistently popular for good reason.
Why it's worth it: Simple, reliable, and used constantly. "What's the weather tomorrow?" works in any conversation. Pairs well with cron jobs — have your assistant send you a morning weather briefing on WhatsApp every day at 7am.
clawhub install weather
11. SwitchBot
What it does: Controls SwitchBot smart home devices — curtains, plugs, lights, locks, thermostats.
Why it's worth it: If your smart home runs on SwitchBot, this turns your assistant into a voice controller you can access from anywhere. "Close the curtains" on Telegram while you're at work. "Turn off all the lights" from WhatsApp when you realize you forgot.
clawhub install switchbot
12. Tado
What it does: Controls Tado smart thermostats — temperature readings, heating schedules, zone management.
Why it's worth it: "Set the living room to 22 degrees" or "what's the temperature at home right now?" via WhatsApp. Particularly useful if you travel and want to pre-heat your home before arriving.
clawhub install tado
Content and Communication
13. SEO Content Engine
What it does: Takes a target keyword, researches the competition, analyzes top-ranking content, and produces an optimized blog post.
Why it's worth it: This is the skill content marketers and solo founders talk about most. It doesn't just write — it researches first. The output is noticeably better than asking an AI to "write a blog post about X" because it's grounded in what's actually ranking. Founders report publishing at agency scale using this skill alone.
Watch out for: The output still needs human editing and fact-checking. It's a first draft accelerator, not a replacement for editorial judgment.
clawhub install seo-content-engine
14. ElevenLabs Voice
What it does: Text-to-speech, sound effects, music generation, and voice management through ElevenLabs.
Why it's worth it: If you want your assistant to literally speak to you — through Voice Wake or Talk Mode on macOS/iOS — this is the skill that powers it. The voices are remarkably natural. Some people use it to generate voice notes that their assistant sends back via WhatsApp.
Watch out for: Requires an ElevenLabs subscription ($5+/month). Free tier is limited.
clawhub install elevenlabs
Data and Analytics
15. GA4 Analytics
What it does: Queries Google Analytics 4 data — page views, sessions, traffic sources, conversions.
Why it's worth it: "How much traffic did we get yesterday?" or "what were our top 10 pages this week?" through a WhatsApp message. No logging into the GA dashboard, no clicking through reports. Your assistant pulls the numbers and formats them for you.
Watch out for: Requires Google OAuth setup, similar to Gog. Make sure you're comfortable with the permissions scope.
clawhub install ga4-analytics
16. Neon Postgres
What it does: Manages Neon serverless Postgres databases — create projects, branches, databases, and run queries.
Why it's worth it: For developers running apps on Neon's serverless Postgres, this lets your assistant query your database through natural language. "How many new signups did we get this week?" translates into a SQL query that runs against your actual data. Powerful for quick business intelligence.
clawhub install neon-postgres
Automation and Infrastructure
17. Cron (Bundled)
What it does: Schedules recurring tasks — time-based triggers that run automatically.
Why it's worth it: This is a bundled skill (comes pre-installed with OpenClaw) but many people don't realize how powerful it is. Set up "every Monday at 8am, summarize my unread emails and send me the summary on WhatsApp." Or "every day at 6pm, check my calendar for tomorrow and message me any early morning meetings." This is what turns OpenClaw from a chatbot into a proactive assistant.
No installation needed — already included.
18. Reverse Proxy (Tailscale)
What it does: Connects OpenClaw to the internet via Tailscale for secure remote access.
Why it's worth it: If you're running OpenClaw on a home server or a VPS, Tailscale lets you access the gateway dashboard securely from anywhere without exposing ports to the public internet. Free for personal use and takes about 5 minutes to set up.
clawhub install reverse-proxy-local
19. Railway Deployment
What it does: Deploys and manages applications on Railway.app directly through your assistant.
Why it's worth it: For developers who use Railway, this lets your assistant handle deployments through conversation. "Deploy the latest version to production" or "check the status of my Railway services." Useful for solo developers who want deployment management without context-switching.
clawhub install railway-skill
The Wild Card
20. Capability Evolver
What it does: An AI self-evolution engine that continuously enhances your agent's capabilities through machine learning.
Downloads: 35,500+ — the single most downloaded skill on ClawHub.
Why it's notable: This is the most popular skill by a huge margin, and it's also the most controversial. The idea is that your agent gets better over time by learning from its own performance. Some users swear by it. Others argue it's overhyped and that the "self-improvement" is marginal at best.
Our take: Try it if you're curious. The download numbers suggest a lot of people find value in it. But it's not essential — your assistant works perfectly well without it.
Watch out for: Read the permissions carefully. A skill that "continuously enhances agent capabilities" needs access to a lot of your agent's internals.
clawhub install capability-evolver
How to Stay Safe
The ClawHavoc incident wasn't a theoretical risk — 341 skills were actively stealing user data. Here's how to protect yourself:
Check VirusTotal reports. Every skill on ClawHub now has automatic malware scanning. Visit the skill's ClawHub page and check the report before installing.
Stick to well-known publishers. Skills published by the OpenClaw core team, established developers, or listed on the curated awesome-openclaw-skills GitHub repo (7,800+ stars) are safer bets.
Read the SKILL.md. Every skill has one. It's the contract that tells you what the skill does, what permissions it needs, and what it accesses. If the documentation is vague or the permissions are broader than the described functionality, skip it.
Prefer skills with high star counts AND high downloads. Download count alone can be gamed. Stars are harder to fake. A skill with high marks on both is more likely to be genuine.
Review source code for sensitive skills. If a skill accesses your email, files, or credentials, take five minutes to read the source code. Skills are just text files — they're designed to be readable.
Installing Your First Skill Kit
If you're just getting started, here's a solid starter kit that covers the most common use cases:
# Productivity
clawhub install gog
clawhub install summarize
# Research
clawhub install agent-browser
# Daily life
clawhub install weather
# Start a new session to load everything
openclaw restart
Four skills, five minutes to install, and your assistant is immediately more useful. Add more as you discover specific needs.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I uninstall a skill?
clawhub uninstall skill-name
Then restart your OpenClaw session.
Can I write my own skills?
Yes. A skill is just a folder with a SKILL.md file. Write the instructions, put it in your workspace skills folder, and OpenClaw picks it up on the next session. No build process, no compilation. Publish to ClawHub with clawhub publish ./my-skill if you want to share it.
Do skills cost money?
The skills themselves are free. Some skills connect to paid services (ElevenLabs, TranscriptAPI, Firecrawl) that have their own pricing. The skill description on ClawHub should tell you if external services are required.
How many skills should I install?
Start with 3–5 that match your actual needs. Installing dozens of skills increases your attack surface and can slow down session initialization. Most people only actively use 5–10 skills regularly.
Are bundled skills different from ClawHub skills?
Bundled skills come pre-installed with OpenClaw and are maintained by the core team. They include essential features like cron, browser control, and canvas. ClawHub skills are community-built and installed separately. Bundled skills are generally more trustworthy since they're reviewed by the OpenClaw maintainers.
New to OpenClaw? Start with our complete setup guide. Running on a server? Check our hosting comparison to pick the right provider, or our Docker guide for containerized setups.