OpenClaw plugin development (book-style skill)

This skill is a progressive-disclosure manual for OpenClaw’s native plugin system. Read SKILL.md first for routing; load references/* only for the topic at hand.

Audience and version anchor

• Audience: Developers comfortable with JS/TS, Node ESM, and CLI tooling. Not a general frontend tutorial.
• Version: Treat openclaw@2026.3.28 as the contract anchor. Newer OpenClaw versions may differ; diff src/plugins/ and src/plugin-sdk/ in upstream when upgrading.

How agents should use this skill

1. Classify the task: manifest-only change, new capability (channel/provider/speech/…​), tool/hook, CLI/Gateway surface, memory/context-engine, or bundle compatibility.
2. Open one reference file from the map below instead of loading everything. Cross-chapter pointers always use paths relative to this skill directory, e.g. references/04-openclaw-plugin-api.md.
3. Cross-check upstream: Official English docs live under docs/plugins/ in the OpenClaw repository; types and behavior are authoritative in src/plugins/types.ts, src/plugins/manifest.ts, src/plugins/loader.ts, and src/plugin-sdk/*. Paths under src/ in this skill match a source checkout (.ts files); published packages may list .js in import traces.
4. Respect compatibility stance: Capability registration is the direction of travel; hook-only plugins remain a supported baseline for external integrations. See references/07-capabilities-and-compatibility.md.

Recommended reading order (first-time mastery)