SecurityClawHub Vetting

ClawHub Skill Vetting: Trust but Verify

ClawHub is OpenClaw’s community skill marketplace — think of it like an app store for agent capabilities. There are thousands of skills available: email management, calendar integration, research tools, home automation, and more.

The problem: over 400 malicious or unsafe skills have been identified in ClawHub. These range from skills that exfiltrate API keys to ones that inject hidden instructions into the agent’s context.

How to Vet a Skill Before Installing

1. Check the Author

  • Is the author a known contributor to the OpenClaw project?
  • Do they have other well-reviewed skills?
  • Is their GitHub profile real and active?

2. Check the Stars and Downloads

  • Skills with very few downloads could be new and unvetted
  • High stars with low recent downloads could indicate a stale or abandoned skill
  • Look for a consistent download trend, not just a spike

3. Read the Code

This is the most important step. Before installing any skill:

# Clone the skill repo first — do NOT install blindly
git clone https://github.com/author/skill-name
cd skill-name
 
# Look at what files exist
find . -type f -name "*.ts" -o -name "*.js" -o -name "*.py"
 
# Search for suspicious patterns
grep -r "fetch\|axios\|http\|request" --include="*.ts" --include="*.js"
grep -r "env\|secret\|key\|token\|password" --include="*.ts" --include="*.js"
grep -r "eval\|exec\|spawn\|child_process" --include="*.ts" --include="*.js"

Red flags to look for:

PatternWhy It Is Suspicious
Outbound HTTP requests to unknown domainsCould be exfiltrating data
Reading environment variablesCould be stealing API keys
Using eval() or exec()Could execute arbitrary code
Obfuscated or minified source codeHiding malicious behavior
Requesting permissions beyond stated purposeA “weather” skill should not need shell access
No README or documentationLow effort, potentially malicious

4. Check Recent Activity

# Look at recent commits
git log --oneline -20
 
# Check if there were any suspicious recent changes
git diff HEAD~5..HEAD

A skill that was dormant for months and suddenly received a large update could have been compromised (supply chain attack).

5. Use the Community

The OpenClaw Discord and GitHub Discussions are active communities. Before installing a skill you are unsure about, search for it in these forums. Others may have already reviewed it.

Installing Skills Safely

Even after vetting, install skills with restricted permissions:

# Install with restricted permissions
openclaw skill install author/skill-name --sandbox
 
# Review what permissions the skill requests
openclaw skill inspect author/skill-name

The --sandbox flag runs the skill in an isolated environment where it cannot access your file system, environment variables, or other skills.

Next Steps

With your skills vetted, make sure the rest of your setup is hardened:

API Keys & Tool PoliciesNetwork Security & Checklist