Openclaw-config

by ara.so — 1.5K+ installs on skills.sh

Agent skill for managing, debugging, and operating OpenClaw — the open-source AI agent runtime with 30+ LLM providers and 14 messaging channels.

Install it and your coding agent instantly knows how to diagnose issues, search sessions, edit config, and troubleshoot every channel.

Install

npx skills add adisinghstudent/ara.so

Works with Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Windsurf, Cline, GitHub Copilot, and 30+ other agents.

Repository Structure

.
├── README.md
└── skills/
    └── openclaw-config/
        └── SKILL.md          # 850 lines of operational knowledge

What's in the Skill

Diagnostics

Quick health check — one-shot command that checks gateway, config JSON, channels, plugins, credentials, cron, recent errors, and memory DB
Known error patterns — 12 documented errors with exact meaning and fix

File Map

Complete reference for everything in ~/.openclaw/:

~/.openclaw/
├── openclaw.json                    # Main config — channels, auth, gateway, plugins
├── agents/main/
│   ├── agent/auth-profiles.json     # LLM auth tokens
│   └── sessions/
│       ├── sessions.json            # Session index
│       └── *.jsonl                  # Session transcripts
├── workspace/                       # Agent workspace
│   ├── SOUL.md                      # Personality and tone
│   ├── IDENTITY.md                  # Name and branding
│   ├── USER.md                      # Owner context
│   ├── AGENTS.md                    # Operating rules
│   ├── BOOT.md                      # Startup instructions
│   ├── HEARTBEAT.md                 # Periodic task checklist
│   ├── MEMORY.md                    # Long-term curated memory
│   ├── TOOLS.md                     # Contacts, SSH hosts
│   ├── memory/                      # Daily logs
│   └── skills/                      # Workspace-level skills
├── memory/main.sqlite               # Vector memory DB (Gemini embeddings)
├── logs/
│   ├── gateway.log                  # Runtime events
│   └── gateway.err.log              # Errors
├── cron/
│   ├── jobs.json                    # Job definitions
│   └── runs/                        # Per-job run logs
├── credentials/
│   ├── whatsapp/default/            # Baileys session (~1400 files)
│   ├── telegram/{bot}/token.txt     # Bot tokens
│   └── bird/cookies.json            # X/Twitter auth
├── extensions/{name}/               # Custom plugins (TypeScript)
├── browser/openclaw/user-data/      # Chromium profile
└── tools/signal-cli/                # Signal CLI binary

Channel Troubleshooting

Deep troubleshooting playbooks for each channel:

Channel	Covered Issues
WhatsApp	No reply to messages, 408 timeouts, cross-context blocks, session lookup, allowlist/group policy, lane congestion, full disconnection, credential wipe
Telegram	Config validation errors (`botToken` vs `token`), polling timeouts, offset stuck, bot "forgetting" (compaction), correct config template
Signal	RPC failures, signal-cli process health, rate limiting, wrong target format, profile name spam, daemon restart
Cron	Job status overview, failure details, run log parsing, common failure causes, next scheduled times, disabling broken jobs

Memory System

Three-layer memory architecture:

Context window — in-session, pruned by compaction
Workspace files — MEMORY.md + daily logs in memory/
Vector DB — SQLite + Gemini embeddings with FTS5 search

Includes commands for inspecting each layer, checking embedding rate limits, and rebuilding the index.

Session Search

Find conversations by person, channel, or date
Search message content across all sessions
Read specific session transcripts with formatted output
Understand the JSONL format (session, message, compaction, model_change events)

Config Editing

Safe edit patterns using jq:

Switch channel policies (open, allowlist, pairing, disabled)
Enable autopilot mode
Change LLM model
Set concurrency limits
Enable/disable plugins
Backup and restore

Security Modes

Mode	Behavior	Risk
`open` + `allowFrom: ["*"]`	Anyone can message, bot responds to all	HIGH
`allowlist` + `allowFrom: ["+1..."]`	Only listed numbers	LOW
`pairing`	Unknown senders get approval code	LOW
`disabled`	Channel off	NONE

Extending OpenClaw

Skills — markdown knowledge packs via ClawdHub or npx skills add
Extensions — custom TypeScript channel plugins
Cron jobs — scheduled autonomous tasks
Multi-agent — spawn Codex/Claude Code/Pi as background workers
Cross-channel — receive on WhatsApp, notify on Signal
Canvas — push HTML/dashboards to connected devices
Voice calls — Twilio/Telnyx/Plivo integration

Example Usage

Ask your agent any of these:

Why is my WhatsApp channel not connecting?
Show me the last 10 sessions on Telegram
Search all sessions for "deployment"
Switch Signal to allowlist mode for just my number
Which cron jobs are failing and why?
How do I add a new Telegram bot?

The skill gives the agent the exact commands, files, and fixes — no guessing.

License

MIT

openclaw-config