openclaw/docs/tools/index.md

summary, read_when, title

summary	read_when	title
Agent tool surface for OpenClaw (browser, canvas, nodes, message, cron) replacing legacy `openclaw-*` skills	Adding or modifying agent tools Retiring or changing `openclaw-*` skills	Tools

Tools (OpenClaw)

OpenClaw exposes first-class agent tools for browser, canvas, nodes, and cron. These replace the old openclaw-* skills: the tools are typed, no shelling, and the agent should rely on them directly.

Disabling tools

You can globally allow/deny tools via tools.allow / tools.deny in openclaw.json (deny wins). This prevents disallowed tools from being sent to model providers.

{
  tools: { deny: ["browser"] },
}

Notes:

• Matching is case-insensitive.
• * wildcards are supported ("*" means all tools).
• If tools.allow only references unknown or unloaded plugin tool names, OpenClaw logs a warning and ignores the allowlist so core tools stay available.

Tool profiles (base allowlist)

tools.profile sets a base tool allowlist before tools.allow/tools.deny. Per-agent override: agents.list[].tools.profile.

Profiles:

• minimal: session_status only
• coding: group:fs, group:runtime, group:sessions, group:memory, image
• messaging: group:messaging, sessions_list, sessions_history, sessions_send, session_status
• full: no restriction (same as unset)

Example (messaging-only by default, allow Slack + Discord tools too):

{
  tools: {
    profile: "messaging",
    allow: ["slack", "discord"],
  },
}

Example (coding profile, but deny exec/process everywhere):

{
  tools: {
    profile: "coding",
    deny: ["group:runtime"],
  },
}

Example (global coding profile, messaging-only support agent):

{
  tools: { profile: "coding" },
  agents: {
    list: [
      {
        id: "support",
        tools: { profile: "messaging", allow: ["slack"] },
      },
    ],
  },
}

Provider-specific tool policy

Use tools.byProvider to further restrict tools for specific providers (or a single provider/model) without changing your global defaults. Per-agent override: agents.list[].tools.byProvider.

This is applied after the base tool profile and before allow/deny lists, so it can only narrow the tool set. Provider keys accept either provider (e.g. google-antigravity) or provider/model (e.g. openai/gpt-5.2).

Example (keep global coding profile, but minimal tools for Google Antigravity):

{
  tools: {
    profile: "coding",
    byProvider: {
      "google-antigravity": { profile: "minimal" },
    },
  },
}

Example (provider/model-specific allowlist for a flaky endpoint):

{
  tools: {
    allow: ["group:fs", "group:runtime", "sessions_list"],
    byProvider: {
      "openai/gpt-5.2": { allow: ["group:fs", "sessions_list"] },
    },
  },
}

Example (agent-specific override for a single provider):

{
  agents: {
    list: [
      {
        id: "support",
        tools: {
          byProvider: {
            "google-antigravity": { allow: ["message", "sessions_list"] },
          },
        },
      },
    ],
  },
}

Tool groups (shorthands)

Tool policies (global, agent, sandbox) support group:* entries that expand to multiple tools. Use these in tools.allow / tools.deny.

Available groups:

• group:runtime: exec, bash, process
• group:fs: read, write, edit, apply_patch
• group:sessions: sessions_list, sessions_history, sessions_send, sessions_spawn, session_status
• group:memory: memory_search, memory_get
• group:web: web_search, web_fetch
• group:ui: browser, canvas
• group:automation: cron, gateway
• group:messaging: message
• group:nodes: nodes
• group:openclaw: all built-in OpenClaw tools (excludes provider plugins)

Example (allow only file tools + browser):

{
  tools: {
    allow: ["group:fs", "browser"],
  },
}

Plugins + tools

Plugins can register additional tools (and CLI commands) beyond the core set. See Plugins for install + config, and Skills for how tool usage guidance is injected into prompts. Some plugins ship their own skills alongside tools (for example, the voice-call plugin).

Optional plugin tools:

• Lobster: typed workflow runtime with resumable approvals (requires the Lobster CLI on the gateway host).
• LLM Task: JSON-only LLM step for structured workflow output (optional schema validation).

Tool inventory

apply_patch

Apply structured patches across one or more files. Use for multi-hunk edits. Experimental: enable via tools.exec.applyPatch.enabled (OpenAI models only).

exec

Run shell commands in the workspace.

Core parameters:

• command (required)
• yieldMs (auto-background after timeout, default 10000)
• background (immediate background)
• timeout (seconds; kills the process if exceeded, default 1800)
• elevated (bool; run on host if elevated mode is enabled/allowed; only changes behavior when the agent is sandboxed)
• host (sandbox | gateway | node)
• security (deny | allowlist | full)
• ask (off | on-miss | always)
• node (node id/name for host=node)
• Need a real TTY? Set pty: true.

Notes:

• Returns status: "running" with a sessionId when backgrounded.
• Use process to poll/log/write/kill/clear background sessions.
• If process is disallowed, exec runs synchronously and ignores yieldMs/background.
• elevated is gated by tools.elevated plus any agents.list[].tools.elevated override (both must allow) and is an alias for host=gateway + security=full.
• elevated only changes behavior when the agent is sandboxed (otherwise it’s a no-op).
• host=node can target a macOS companion app or a headless node host (openclaw node run).
• gateway/node approvals and allowlists: Exec approvals.

process

Manage background exec sessions.

Core actions:

• list, poll, log, write, kill, clear, remove

Notes:

• poll returns new output and exit status when complete.
• log supports line-based offset/limit (omit offset to grab the last N lines).
• process is scoped per agent; sessions from other agents are not visible.

web_search

Search the web using Brave Search API.

Core parameters:

• query (required)
• count (1–10; default from tools.web.search.maxResults)

Notes:

• Requires a Brave API key (recommended: openclaw configure --section web, or set BRAVE_API_KEY).
• Enable via tools.web.search.enabled.
• Responses are cached (default 15 min).
• See Web tools for setup.

web_fetch

Fetch and extract readable content from a URL (HTML → markdown/text).

Core parameters:

• url (required)
• extractMode (markdown | text)
• maxChars (truncate long pages)

Notes:

• Enable via tools.web.fetch.enabled.
• maxChars is clamped by tools.web.fetch.maxCharsCap (default 50000).
• Responses are cached (default 15 min).
• For JS-heavy sites, prefer the browser tool.
• See Web tools for setup.
• See Firecrawl for the optional anti-bot fallback.

browser

Control the dedicated OpenClaw-managed browser.

Core actions:

• status, start, stop, tabs, open, focus, close
• snapshot (aria/ai)
• screenshot (returns image block + MEDIA:<path>)
• act (UI actions: click/type/press/hover/drag/select/fill/resize/wait/evaluate)
• navigate, console, pdf, upload, dialog

Profile management:

• profiles — list all browser profiles with status
• create-profile — create new profile with auto-allocated port (or cdpUrl)
• delete-profile — stop browser, delete user data, remove from config (local only)
• reset-profile — kill orphan process on profile's port (local only)

Common parameters:

• profile (optional; defaults to browser.defaultProfile)
• target (sandbox | host | node)
• node (optional; picks a specific node id/name) Notes:
• Requires browser.enabled=true (default is true; set false to disable).
• All actions accept optional profile parameter for multi-instance support.
• When profile is omitted, uses browser.defaultProfile (defaults to "chrome").
• Profile names: lowercase alphanumeric + hyphens only (max 64 chars).
• Port range: 18800-18899 (~100 profiles max).
• Remote profiles are attach-only (no start/stop/reset).
• If a browser-capable node is connected, the tool may auto-route to it (unless you pin target).
• snapshot defaults to ai when Playwright is installed; use aria for the accessibility tree.
• snapshot also supports role-snapshot options (interactive, compact, depth, selector) which return refs like e12.
• act requires ref from snapshot (numeric 12 from AI snapshots, or e12 from role snapshots); use evaluate for rare CSS selector needs.
• Avoid act → wait by default; use it only in exceptional cases (no reliable UI state to wait on).
• upload can optionally pass a ref to auto-click after arming.
• upload also supports inputRef (aria ref) or element (CSS selector) to set <input type="file"> directly.

canvas

Drive the node Canvas (present, eval, snapshot, A2UI).

Core actions:

• present, hide, navigate, eval
• snapshot (returns image block + MEDIA:<path>)
• a2ui_push, a2ui_reset

Notes:

• Uses gateway node.invoke under the hood.
• If no node is provided, the tool picks a default (single connected node or local mac node).
• A2UI is v0.8 only (no createSurface); the CLI rejects v0.9 JSONL with line errors.
• Quick smoke: openclaw nodes canvas a2ui push --node <id> --text "Hello from A2UI".

nodes

Discover and target paired nodes; send notifications; capture camera/screen.

Core actions:

• status, describe
• pending, approve, reject (pairing)
• notify (macOS system.notify)
• run (macOS system.run)
• camera_snap, camera_clip, screen_record
• location_get

Notes:

• Camera/screen commands require the node app to be foregrounded.
• Images return image blocks + MEDIA:<path>.
• Videos return FILE:<path> (mp4).
• Location returns a JSON payload (lat/lon/accuracy/timestamp).
• run params: command argv array; optional cwd, env (KEY=VAL), commandTimeoutMs, invokeTimeoutMs, needsScreenRecording.

Example (run):

{
  "action": "run",
  "node": "office-mac",
  "command": ["echo", "Hello"],
  "env": ["FOO=bar"],
  "commandTimeoutMs": 12000,
  "invokeTimeoutMs": 45000,
  "needsScreenRecording": false
}

image

Analyze an image with the configured image model.

Core parameters:

• image (required path or URL)
• prompt (optional; defaults to "Describe the image.")
• model (optional override)
• maxBytesMb (optional size cap)

Notes:

• Only available when agents.defaults.imageModel is configured (primary or fallbacks), or when an implicit image model can be inferred from your default model + configured auth (best-effort pairing).
• Uses the image model directly (independent of the main chat model).

message

Send messages and channel actions across Discord/Google Chat/Slack/Telegram/WhatsApp/Signal/iMessage/MS Teams.

Core actions:

• send (text + optional media; MS Teams also supports card for Adaptive Cards)
• poll (WhatsApp/Discord/MS Teams polls)
• react / reactions / read / edit / delete
• pin / unpin / list-pins
• permissions
• thread-create / thread-list / thread-reply
• search
• sticker
• member-info / role-info
• emoji-list / emoji-upload / sticker-upload
• role-add / role-remove
• channel-info / channel-list
• voice-status
• event-list / event-create
• timeout / kick / ban

Notes:

• send routes WhatsApp via the Gateway; other channels go direct.
• poll uses the Gateway for WhatsApp and MS Teams; Discord polls go direct.
• When a message tool call is bound to an active chat session, sends are constrained to that session’s target to avoid cross-context leaks.

cron

Manage Gateway cron jobs and wakeups.

Core actions:

• status, list
• add, update, remove, run, runs
• wake (enqueue system event + optional immediate heartbeat)

Notes:

• add expects a full cron job object (same schema as cron.add RPC).
• update uses { id, patch }.

gateway

Restart or apply updates to the running Gateway process (in-place).

Core actions:

• restart (authorizes + sends SIGUSR1 for in-process restart; openclaw gateway restart in-place)
• config.get / config.schema
• config.apply (validate + write config + restart + wake)
• config.patch (merge partial update + restart + wake)
• update.run (run update + restart + wake)

Notes:

• Use delayMs (defaults to 2000) to avoid interrupting an in-flight reply.
• restart is disabled by default; enable with commands.restart: true.

sessions_list / sessions_history / sessions_send / sessions_spawn / session_status

List sessions, inspect transcript history, or send to another session.

Core parameters:

• sessions_list: kinds?, limit?, activeMinutes?, messageLimit? (0 = none)
• sessions_history: sessionKey (or sessionId), limit?, includeTools?
• sessions_send: sessionKey (or sessionId), message, timeoutSeconds? (0 = fire-and-forget)
• sessions_spawn: task, label?, agentId?, model?, runTimeoutSeconds?, cleanup?
• session_status: sessionKey? (default current; accepts sessionId), model? (default clears override)

Notes:

• main is the canonical direct-chat key; global/unknown are hidden.
• messageLimit > 0 fetches last N messages per session (tool messages filtered).
• sessions_send waits for final completion when timeoutSeconds > 0.
• Delivery/announce happens after completion and is best-effort; status: "ok" confirms the agent run finished, not that the announce was delivered.
• sessions_spawn starts a sub-agent run and posts an announce reply back to the requester chat.
• sessions_spawn is non-blocking and returns status: "accepted" immediately.
• sessions_send runs a reply‑back ping‑pong (reply REPLY_SKIP to stop; max turns via session.agentToAgent.maxPingPongTurns, 0–5).
• After the ping‑pong, the target agent runs an announce step; reply ANNOUNCE_SKIP to suppress the announcement.

agents_list

List agent ids that the current session may target with sessions_spawn.

Notes:

• Result is restricted to per-agent allowlists (agents.list[].subagents.allowAgents).
• When ["*"] is configured, the tool includes all configured agents and marks allowAny: true.

Parameters (common)

Gateway-backed tools (canvas, nodes, cron):

• gatewayUrl (default ws://127.0.0.1:18789)
• gatewayToken (if auth enabled)
• timeoutMs

Note: when gatewayUrl is set, include gatewayToken explicitly. Tools do not inherit config or environment credentials for overrides, and missing explicit credentials is an error.

Browser tool:

• profile (optional; defaults to browser.defaultProfile)
• target (sandbox | host | node)
• node (optional; pin a specific node id/name)

Recommended agent flows

Browser automation:

1. browser → status / start
2. snapshot (ai or aria)
3. act (click/type/press)
4. screenshot if you need visual confirmation

Canvas render:

1. canvas → present
2. a2ui_push (optional)
3. snapshot

Node targeting:

1. nodes → status
2. describe on the chosen node
3. notify / run / camera_snap / screen_record

Safety

• Avoid direct system.run; use nodes → run only with explicit user consent.
• Respect user consent for camera/screen capture.
• Use status/describe to ensure permissions before invoking media commands.

How tools are presented to the agent

Tools are exposed in two parallel channels:

1. System prompt text: a human-readable list + guidance.
2. Tool schema: the structured function definitions sent to the model API.

That means the agent sees both “what tools exist” and “how to call them.” If a tool doesn’t appear in the system prompt or the schema, the model cannot call it.