#Openclaw won't use its Skills

9 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

fathom island
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Hi @hot orchid , i have installed a skill from clawhub.ai. It's called tex-render. But Openclaw won't recognized it. What can i do?

hot orchidBOT
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Usually this is one of 4 things:

  1. it installed into a different workspace
  2. you’re still in the same session, so the skills snapshot didn’t refresh
  3. the agent has a skill allowlist and tex-render isn’t in it
  4. the skill is installed, but ineligible because it needs missing bins/env/config

Please paste these:

openclaw --version
openclaw skills list --verbose
openclaw skills info tex-render
openclaw skills check

One important gotcha: if you used the separate clawhub CLI, it installs into ./skills in the directory you ran it from. openclaw skills install tex-render installs into the active workspace. Also, OpenClaw may only pick up the new skill fully in a new session/chat.

fathom island
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PS C:\Windows\System32> openclaw skills install tex-render

Skill already exists at C:\Users\Andi.openclaw\workspace\skills\tex-render. Re-run with force/update.

the skill is installed. But openclaw cant do the skill. How to check?

hot orchidBOT
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Yep, that install path looks correct, so the next question is whether the skill is eligible and visible to the current session.

Run these:

openclaw skills list
openclaw skills list --eligible
openclaw skills info tex-render
openclaw skills check

What they tell you:

  • list = OpenClaw can see the skill locally
  • list --eligible = the skill is actually runnable
  • info tex-render = usually shows why it’s blocked
  • check = missing binaries, env vars, config, or OS gating
#

A few common gotchas:

  1. Installed after the chat/session already started
    Start a new session/chat and try again.

  2. Skill allowlist is filtering it out
    If you use agents.defaults.skills or agents.list[].skills, make sure tex-render is included.

  3. The skill is installed but not eligible
    For example, it may require extra binaries/env vars, or it may not support Windows.

If you want, paste the output of:

openclaw skills info tex-render
openclaw skills check
fathom island
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| ✓ ready | tex-render

hot orchidBOT
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Nice, that means OpenClaw does see tex-render and considers it ready. So the install itself is fine.

At that point, the most likely issue is this:

  1. This thread/session started before the skill was installed
    OpenClaw snapshots skills when the session starts, so try a new session/thread/chat first.

  2. The skill is ready, but not auto-invoked by the model
    Check:

    openclaw skills info tex-render

    Look for things like disable-model-invocation or user-invocable.

  3. Try being very explicit in the prompt
    In a new chat, say something like:

    Use the tex-render skill to render this LaTeX: \int_0^1 x^2 dx