#How do i add bot access to trello

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summer lintel
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@twilit mica

summer lintel
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I have the api key and the token for trello. What is the easiest way to give the bot access? @twilit mica

twilit micaBOT
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Trello “access” is basically: the token belongs to a Trello user, and that user can only see boards they’re a member of.

So the easiest setup is:

  1. Pick which Trello user the bot should act as
  • Fastest: use your Trello token → the bot has the same board access you do.
  • Cleaner/safer: create a separate Trello account for the bot, generate the token from that account.
  1. Make sure that Trello user is on the board
  • In Trello: Board → Share/Invite → add that user (email/username).
    If the user isn’t a member, the API will never be able to read/write that board.
  1. Give OpenClaw the creds (don’t paste them in Discord)
    OpenClaw’s Trello skill reads:
  • TRELLO_API_KEY
  • TRELLO_TOKEN
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Most reliable: put them in ~/.openclaw/.env (so it works even when the Gateway runs as a service):

# ~/.openclaw/.env
TRELLO_API_KEY=...
TRELLO_TOKEN=...

Then restart the gateway.

Docs on env loading (important if you’re running as a service): https://docs.openclaw.ai/help/environment (also see the FAQ section “Env vars and .env loading”).

If you tell me how you’re running OpenClaw (npm vs git, and service vs openclaw gateway start in a shell) I can point to the exact place to put the env vars for your setup.

summer lintel
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i use telegram

twilit micaBOT
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Using Telegram doesn’t change the Trello part — Trello access is still just API key + a Trello user token, and that Trello user must be added to the board.

What changes is where you set the secrets:

  1. On the machine where the OpenClaw Gateway is running (VPS/Mac/etc), put this in:
    ~/.openclaw/.env
TRELLO_API_KEY=...
TRELLO_TOKEN=...

Then restart the gateway.

  1. In Trello, make sure the Trello account that token belongs to is invited to the board (Board → Share/Invite).

  2. Test from Telegram by asking the bot something like:

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  • “List my Trello boards”
  • “Create a Trello card in list X”

If you tell me where your Gateway runs (local machine vs VPS) I can tell you the exact place to edit + the exact restart command for your setup.

summer lintel
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how would i do that?

summer lintel
twilit micaBOT
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You don’t “invite” OpenClaw to Trello the way you invite a Discord bot — Trello access is entirely via the API key + token, and that token acts as the Trello user who created it. So the “bot has access” as soon as:

  1. the Trello user behind that token can see the board, and
  2. you put the creds on the machine where your OpenClaw Gateway is running.

The easiest path is to install the existing Trello skill + set two env vars.

1) Install the Trello skill (ClawHub)

On the Gateway host:

cd ~/.openclaw/workspace
clawhub install steipete/trello

(If you don’t have the CLI yet: pnpm add -g clawhub or npm i -g clawhub)

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2) Make sure jq is installed (skill requirement)

  • macOS: brew install jq
  • Ubuntu/Debian: sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y jq

3) Add your Trello credentials to the Gateway env

Put them in the global OpenClaw env file on the Gateway host:

nano ~/.openclaw/.env

Add:

TRELLO_API_KEY="...your key..."
TRELLO_TOKEN="...your token..."
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(Important: don’t paste these into Discord—they’re full account access.)

4) Restart the Gateway + start a fresh chat session

Restart:

openclaw gateway restart

Then in chat do /new and try:

  • “List my Trello boards”
  • “Create a Trello card in list X”

Quick sanity check (optional)

openclaw skills list --eligible | grep trello -i