openclaw/docs/tools/index.md

summary	read_when	title
OpenClaw tools and plugins overview: what the agent can do and how to extend it	You want to understand what tools OpenClaw provides You need to configure, allow, or deny tools You are deciding between built-in tools, skills, and plugins	Tools and Plugins

Tools and Plugins

OpenClaw gives the agent a set of tools it can call during a conversation. Tools are how the agent reads files, runs commands, browses the web, sends messages, and interacts with devices. Everything the agent does beyond generating text happens through tools.

How it all fits together

Core tools shipped with OpenClaw: exec, browser, web search, file I/O, messaging, cron, canvas, and nodes. Markdown instructions that teach the agent how and when to use tools. Skills ship inside plugins or live in your workspace. Packages that add new capabilities: channels, model providers, tools, skills, or any combination. Published on npm and installed with the CLI. Hooks, cron jobs, heartbeats, webhooks, and scheduled tasks that run without manual messages.

Tool configuration

Allow and deny lists

Control which tools the agent can call via tools.allow / tools.deny in config. Deny always wins over allow.

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

Tool profiles

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

Profile	What it includes
full	All tools (default)
coding	File I/O, runtime, sessions, memory, image
messaging	Messaging, session list/history/send/status
minimal	session_status only

Tool groups

Use group:* shorthands in allow/deny lists:

Group	Tools
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 plugin tools)

Provider-specific restrictions

Use tools.byProvider to restrict tools for specific providers without changing global defaults:

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

Built-in tool reference

For the full tool-by-tool reference (parameters, actions, notes), see the individual tool pages in the sidebar. Key tools:

Tool	What it does	Page
exec / process	Run shell commands, manage background processes	Exec
browser	Control a Chromium browser (navigate, click, screenshot)	Browser
web_search / web_fetch	Search the web, fetch page content	Web
read / write / edit	File I/O in the workspace
apply_patch	Multi-hunk file patches	Apply Patch
message	Send messages across all channels	Agent Send
canvas	Drive node Canvas (present, eval, snapshot)
nodes	Discover and target paired devices
cron / gateway	Manage scheduled jobs, restart gateway
image / image_generate	Analyze or generate images
sessions_* / agents_list	Session management, sub-agents	Sub-agents

Plugins add more

Plugins can register additional tools beyond the built-in set. Some examples:

• Lobster — typed workflow runtime with resumable approvals
• LLM Task — JSON-only LLM step for structured output
• Diffs — diff viewer and renderer
• OpenProse — markdown-first workflow orchestration

Plugins can also ship skills alongside tools, so the agent gets both the tool definition and the instructions for using it. See Building Plugins to create your own.

How tools reach the agent

Tools are exposed in two parallel channels:

1. System prompt text — a human-readable list with guidance (from skills)
2. Tool schemas — structured function definitions sent to the model API

If a tool doesn't appear in either, the model cannot call it.