Skills are plugins that extend what your OpenClaw AI agent can do. Out of the box, your agent can chat and answer questions. With skills, it can control browsers, read PDFs, scrape websites, create videos, schedule tasks, and much more.
OpenClaw ships with 50+ built-in skills, but the real power comes from the community ecosystem. Here are 10 manually-installed skills that have made the biggest difference in my daily workflow.
Install: openclaw skills install browser-automation
What it does: Vision-driven browser automation using Midscene. The AI interacts with websites by looking at screenshots — no DOM selectors or accessibility labels needed. Click, type, fill forms, scroll, and scrape data from any webpage.
Why install it: The most powerful skill you can add. Automate any website task — booking appointments, checking prices, filling forms, testing web apps, collecting data.
Try it: "Open Chrome and search for flights from Singapore to Tokyo on Skyscanner, then screenshot the cheapest option."
Install: openclaw skills install pdf
What it does: Full PDF processing — read and extract text/tables, combine or split documents, rotate pages, add watermarks, create PDFs, fill forms, encrypt/decrypt, extract images, and OCR scanned PDFs.
Why install it: Feed your agent any PDF — contracts, reports, research papers — and ask it to summarise, extract data, or find specific info. Essential for anyone who works with documents.
Try it: Send a 50-page report and ask "What are the top 3 takeaways?"
Install: openclaw skills install agent-browser
What it does: A browser automation CLI for AI agents. Navigate pages, fill forms, click buttons, take screenshots, extract data, and test web apps — all through command-line automation.
Why install it: A lighter-weight alternative to browser-automation. Great for scripted, repeatable browser tasks where you want more programmatic control.
Try it: "Navigate to example.com, fill in the search form, and extract the results."
Install: openclaw skills install multi-search-engine
What it does: Integrates 17 search engines (8 China + 9 Global) into your agent. Supports advanced search operators, time filters, site-specific search, privacy engines, and WolframAlpha knowledge queries. No API keys required.
Why install it: Better search coverage means your agent can find information even when one engine is blocked. Perfect for thorough research.
Try it: "Search for the latest AI trends across multiple engines and compare the results."
Install: openclaw skills install scrapling-official
What it does: Scrape web pages with anti-bot bypass (Cloudflare Turnstile, etc.), stealth headless browsing, spiders framework, adaptive scraping, and JavaScript rendering.
Why install it: When normal web fetching fails due to anti-bot protections, Scrapling gets through. Essential for data collection from protected websites.
Try it: "Scrape product prices from this e-commerce site that blocks normal scrapers."
Install: openclaw skills install tavily-search
What it does: AI-powered web search using the Tavily API. Returns comprehensive, accurate, and up-to-date results — optimised for current events, news, real-time information, and deep research.
Why install it: When you need fast, high-quality search results without the noise. Tavily's AI understands context and ranks results for relevance.
Try it: "Search for the latest AI regulation updates in Singapore and summarise the key points."
Install: openclaw skills install self-improvement
What it does: Captures learnings, errors, and corrections to enable continuous improvement. When a command fails, a user corrects the AI, or a better approach is discovered — it records it so future sessions don't repeat the same mistakes.
Why install it: Your agent gets smarter over time. It learns from errors, remembers corrections, and builds a knowledge base of best practices specific to your workflow.
Install: openclaw skills install skill-vetter
What it does: Security-first skill vetting for AI agents. Before installing any skill from ClawHub, GitHub, or other sources, it checks for red flags, permission scope, and suspicious patterns.
Why install it: Safety first. Not all community skills are created equal. Skill Vetter analyses a skill's code before you install it, flagging potential security risks.
Try it: "Vet this skill before I install it" — paste the skill name or GitHub URL.
Install: openclaw skills install github
What it does: Full GitHub CLI integration — manage issues, PRs, CI runs, and advanced queries using the gh CLI.
Why install it: Essential for developers. Your agent can open issues, review PRs, check CI status, and automate GitHub workflows.
Try it: "Show me all open issues in my repo with label 'bug'."
Install: openclaw skills install openai-whisper
What it does: Local speech-to-text with the Whisper CLI. No API key required — transcribe audio files, meetings, interviews, and voice notes directly on your machine.
Why install it: Perfect for Singapore professionals who record meetings, interviews, or content. Transcribe English, Chinese, Malay, Tamil, and 100+ languages — all offline and private. No data leaves your computer.
Try it: "Transcribe this audio file" or "Convert this meeting recording to text."
