OpenClaw Skills
OpenClaw skills are pre-built automation modules that give your AI agent specific capabilities, like managing email, scheduling meetings, handling GitHub tasks, or making voice calls.
What is openclaw skills?
OpenClaw skills are modular extensions that add specific capabilities to an AI agent. Each skill teaches the agent how to perform a particular type of task: sending emails, managing a calendar, creating GitHub issues, making voice calls, or handling customer support workflows. Skills combine tool definitions (what actions the agent can take) with instructions (how and when to use them).
The OpenClaw ecosystem includes a public marketplace called ClawHub where developers publish skills. While this marketplace offers thousands of options, security researchers have found that a significant percentage of third-party skills contain malicious code, credential harvesting, or data exfiltration. The convenience of a public marketplace comes with real supply chain risks.
Curated, audited skills provide the same functionality without the risk. Instead of pulling from an unvetted marketplace, a managed approach involves reviewing each skill's code, testing its behavior in sandbox environments, and verifying that it does only what it claims to do. This is the approach security-conscious deployments use.
Why it matters
Skills determine what your AI agent can actually do. The right skills turn a general-purpose AI into a specialized business assistant. But skills also represent a significant attack vector. A malicious skill runs with your agent's permissions and can access your credentials, exfiltrate data, or install persistent backdoors.
The OpenClaw skill marketplace has documented cases of popular skills containing hidden malware, credential stealers, and data exfiltration mechanisms. For any production deployment, skill provenance and code review are essential. Running unvetted third-party skills is equivalent to installing unreviewed software with full access to your business accounts.
How ClawTrust handles this
ClawTrust does not install skills from the public marketplace. Instead, we maintain a curated library of audited skills that have been reviewed for security, tested for correct behavior, and verified to contain no malicious code. Every ClawTrust agent comes pre-loaded with core skills for common business tasks. All skill execution happens inside Docker sandboxes with strict resource limits, so even if a skill behaved unexpectedly, it cannot escape its container or access data outside its scope. You can request additional skills through the dashboard, and our team reviews and deploys them to your agent.
Related terms
OpenClaw
OpenClaw is a powerful open-source AI agent framework that lets you deploy autonomous assistants across messaging channels. Out of the box, it prioritizes ease of use over security.
Container Isolation
Container isolation uses Docker to run AI agent processes in sandboxed environments with strict resource limits, read-only filesystems, and restricted system access. If something goes wrong inside the container, it cannot affect the host system.
Team Brain
Team Brain is a persistent, searchable memory system for AI agents that stores learned knowledge, preferences, and processes while automatically filtering out sensitive personal data.
Frequently asked questions
What skills come pre-installed?
Every ClawTrust agent includes core skills for credential management, email handling, GitHub integration, calendar scheduling, and voice calls. The exact set depends on your plan tier. Pro and Enterprise plans include additional skills for advanced automation.
Can I request custom skills?
Yes. If you need a skill that is not in the standard library, you can request it through the dashboard. Our team will build or review the skill, test it in a sandbox, and deploy it to your agent. Custom skill development is available on Pro and Enterprise plans.
Why not use ClawHub skills directly?
Security researchers have found that a significant percentage of third-party skills on ClawHub contain malicious code, from credential stealers to data exfiltration tools. The most-downloaded third-party skill on ClawHub was found to be a multi-stage malware delivery vehicle. ClawTrust uses only audited, verified skills.
Do skills have access to my credentials?
Skills execute inside sandboxed containers and do not have direct access to your credentials. When a skill needs to interact with an external service, the request is proxied through the credential vault. The skill never sees the raw API key or password.
Can I disable specific skills?
Yes. You have full control over which skills are active on your agent. You can enable or disable any skill through the ClawTrust dashboard at any time.
Explore further
See it in action
ClawTrust implements openclaw skills automatically. Your agent is live in under 5 minutes.