#Installed Skills Needs Setup

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glacial mortar
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For some reason when I install a skill via openclaw skills install it remains saying needs setup in the openclaw skills list even after I installed the binary via npm install -g <skill-name> and I restarted the gateway. Any ideas on how to fix?

carmine matrixBOT
#

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dry cloakBOT
rapid ploverBOT
#

Yep, △ needs setup usually means the skill is installed but not eligible yet, not that openclaw skills install failed.

Most likely causes are:

  • a missing requirement in metadata.openclaw.requires (bins, anyBins, env, config, or os)
  • the binary is on your shell PATH, but not the gateway service PATH
  • the skill was installed into a different workspace/agent than the one list is checking
  • the current session still has the old skill snapshot

Please paste these:

openclaw --version
openclaw skills list --verbose
openclaw skills check
openclaw skills info <skill-name>
# 
openclaw gateway status

A few concrete checks:

  • openclaw skills install <slug> installs into the active workspace skills/ directory
  • openclaw skills list/info/check only inspect skills visible to the current workspace/config
  • npm install -g <pkg> only helps if the required executable from requires.bins is actually on the gateway's PATH
  • after fixing it, start a new session so OpenClaw picks up the refreshed skill snapshot

If you changed profiles/workspaces and the service may be using different config, also run:

openclaw gateway install --force
glacial mortar
#

openclaw version is OpenClaw 2026.4.2 (d74a122)
openclaw skills info ddg-search:
🦆 ddg-search △ Needs setup

DuckDuckGo HTML search scraper CLI with JSON, CSV, OpenSearch, markdown, and compact outputs.

Details:
Source: openclaw-workspace
Path: ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/ddg-search-cli/SKILL.md
Homepage: https://github.com/camohiddendj/ddg-search

Requirements:
Binaries: ✗ ddg-search

Install options:
→ Install ddg-search (npm)
openclaw gateway status:
◇
Service: systemd (disabled)
File logs: /tmp/openclaw-998/openclaw-2026-04-23.log

Service config looks out of date or non-standard.
Service config issue: Gateway service PATH is not set; the daemon should use a minimal PATH.
Recommendation: run "openclaw doctor" (or "openclaw doctor --repair").
Config (cli): ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json
Config (service): ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json

Gateway: bind=loopback (127.0.0.1), port=18789 (env/config)
Probe target: ws://127.0.0.1:18789
Dashboard: http://127.0.0.1:18789/
Probe note: Loopback-only gateway; only local clients can connect.

Runtime: unknown (systemctl not available; systemd user services are required on Linux.)
RPC probe: ok

systemd user services unavailable.
systemd user services are unavailable; install/enable systemd or run the gateway under your supervisor.
If you're in a container, run the gateway in the foreground instead of openclaw gateway.

Listening: 127.0.0.1:18789, [::1]:18789
Troubles: run openclaw status
Troubleshooting: https://docs.openclaw.ai/troubleshooting

rapid ploverBOT
#

Nice, this narrows it down a lot.

The skill itself is installed correctly. The problem is just this line:

Requirements:
  Binaries: ✗ ddg-search

So △ Needs setup here means OpenClaw cannot find the ddg-search executable on PATH.

For this specific skill, the package/binary should be:

npm install -g ddg-search
#

Then check:

command -v ddg-search
ddg-search --help
npm prefix -g
echo "$PATH"

If command -v ddg-search is empty, your global npm bin dir is not on PATH. On Linux/macOS the usual fix is:

export PATH="$(npm prefix -g)/bin:$PATH"

Then add that to your shell startup file (~/.bashrc, ~/.zshrc, etc.), reopen the shell, and try again.

#

Important detail, openclaw skills info is already showing the binary as missing from the current CLI environment, so this is not only a gateway restart issue. The shell where you ran openclaw also cannot see ddg-search.

Your gateway status warning about PATH is also relevant, but secondary here:

  • Service: systemd (disabled)
  • Gateway service PATH is not set

So if you are running OpenClaw manually or in a container, restart it from a shell where command -v ddg-search works.
If you want the managed service fixed too, run:

openclaw doctor

and if/when user services are available again:

glacial mortar
#

command -v ddg-search returns /home/alt/.nvm/versions/node/v22.22.2/bin/ddg-search

rapid ploverBOT
#

Aha, yep, that explains it.

ddg-search is installed inside nvm's Node bin dir:

/home/alt/.nvm/versions/node/v22.22.2/bin/ddg-search

So the issue is very likely PATH drift:
your interactive shell sees it, but the OpenClaw process that did the skill check / gateway startup probably did not load the nvm PATH.

Try this in the same shell where command -v ddg-search works:

openclaw skills info ddg-search
#

If it flips to ✓ Ready, then that's the whole problem.

Fix

  • Start/restart OpenClaw from that same shell
  • then start a new session
  • re-check:
openclaw skills info ddg-search

If you want it to stick

Make sure nvm is initialized in your shell startup (~/.bashrc / ~/.zshrc) so PATH is present in new shells too.

Your gateway status also showed:

# 
openclaw skills info ddg-search
echo "$PATH"

from that exact shell, and I can confirm the last step. Glad we caught it 🦐

If this fixed it, please right-click the solution message → Apps → ✅ Mark Solution so Answer Overflow can index it.

glacial mortar
#

Sorry I was in the wrong shell. The one i need to be in has an empty return for command -v ddg-search. After, i export PATH="$(npm prefix -g)/bin:$PATH" then what?

rapid ploverBOT
#

Yep, then do this, in that same shell:

command -v ddg-search
ddg-search --help
openclaw skills info ddg-search

What you want to see is:

  • command -v ddg-search returns a path
  • ddg-search --help works
  • openclaw skills info ddg-search changes to ✓ Ready

If command -v ddg-search is still empty after the export, then install it in that shell's Node environment:

# 
npm install -g ddg-search

Then re-run:

command -v ddg-search
openclaw skills info ddg-search

After it shows ✓ Ready:

  • restart OpenClaw/gateway from that same shell/environment
  • start a new session so the skill snapshot refreshes

To make it permanent, add this to your ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc:

glacial mortar
#

npm prefix -g:
/tmp/npm-global
openclaw skills info ddg-search:
🦆 ddg-search △ Needs setup

DuckDuckGo HTML search scraper CLI with JSON, CSV, OpenSearch, markdown, and compact outputs.

Details:
Source: openclaw-workspace
Path: ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/ddg-search-cli/SKILL.md
Homepage: https://github.com/camohiddendj/ddg-search

Requirements:
Binaries: ✗ ddg-search

Install options:
→ Install ddg-search (npm)

Tip: use openclaw skills search, openclaw skills install, and openclaw skills update for ClawHub-backed skills.
🦆 ddg-search △ Needs setup

DuckDuckGo HTML search scraper CLI with JSON, CSV, OpenSearch, markdown, and compact outputs.

Details:
Source: openclaw-workspace
Path: ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/ddg-search-cli/SKILL.md
Homepage: https://github.com/camohiddendj/ddg-search

Requirements:
Binaries: ✗ ddg-search

Install options:
→ Install ddg-search (npm)

Tip: use openclaw skills search, openclaw skills install, and openclaw skills update for ClawHub-backed skills.

rapid ploverBOT
#

Yep, that explains it.

npm prefix -g being /tmp/npm-global means this shell is using a different Node/npm environment than the one where ddg-search already exists under ~/.nvm/....

So this line:

export PATH="$(npm prefix -g)/bin:$PATH"

only adds /tmp/npm-global/bin, it does not add the nvm binary you found earlier.

Preferred fix

Load nvm in the shell OpenClaw is actually using, then re-check:

# 
export NVM_DIR="$HOME/.nvm"
[ -s "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" ] && . "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh"

command -v ddg-search
openclaw skills info ddg-search

If command -v ddg-search is still empty after that, install it in that same shell/environment:

npm install -g ddg-search
hash -r
command -v ddg-search
openclaw skills info ddg-search