clawhub/CONTRIBUTING.md

Contributing to ClawHub

Welcome! ClawHub is the public skill registry for OpenClaw. We appreciate bug fixes, documentation improvements, and feature contributions.

• Questions? Ask in #clawhub on Discord.
• Bug fixes — PRs are welcome.
• New features or architectural changes — please start with a Discord conversation in #clawhub first so we can align on scope.

Local Development Setup

Prerequisites

• Bun (Convex CLI runs via bunx, no global install needed)
• Node.js v18, 20, 22, or 24 (required by the local Convex backend; v25+ is not yet supported)
• Worktrunk (wt) for bun run dev:worktree and disposable/Codex worktrees. On macOS, brew install worktrunk is the quickest path; shell integration is optional.

Install and configure

bun install
cp .env.local.example .env.local

Edit .env.local with the following values for local Convex:

# Frontend
VITE_CONVEX_URL=http://127.0.0.1:3210
VITE_CONVEX_SITE_URL=http://127.0.0.1:3211
SITE_URL=http://localhost:3000

# Convex Auth / HTTP routes
CONVEX_SITE_URL=http://127.0.0.1:3211

# Deployment used by `bunx convex dev`
CONVEX_DEPLOYMENT=anonymous:anonymous-clawhub

Local Convex serves the function endpoint on port 3210 and HTTP routes (/api/* and auth callbacks) through the site proxy on port 3211.

GitHub OAuth App (for login)

1. Go to github.com/settings/developers and create a new OAuth App.
2. Set Homepage URL to http://localhost:3000.
3. Set Authorization callback URL to http://127.0.0.1:3211/api/auth/callback/github.
4. Copy the Client ID and generate a Client Secret.

Run the Convex backend

Start the local Convex backend first — other setup steps depend on it:

bunx convex dev --typecheck=disable

Set backend environment variables

The Convex backend has its own env var store separate from .env.local. With the backend running, open a new terminal and set the required variables:

bunx convex env set AUTH_GITHUB_ID <your-client-id>
bunx convex env set AUTH_GITHUB_SECRET <your-client-secret>
bunx convex env set SITE_URL http://localhost:3000

JWT keys (for Convex Auth)

With the backend still running, generate the signing keys:

bunx @convex-dev/auth

This sets JWT_PRIVATE_KEY and JWKS on the Convex backend and outputs values you can also save to .env.local for reference.

Run the frontend

bun run dev -- --port 3000

Change the port if 3000 is already in use, and update SITE_URL in both .env.local and the Convex backend (bunx convex env set SITE_URL ...) to match.

Worktree/Codex fast path

Use this path for disposable branches, Codex sessions, or parallel worktrees after one source worktree already has a working .env.local and .convex local Convex setup:

bun run setup:worktree
bun run dev:worktree
wt --yes url
wt --yes stop

setup:worktree finds a usable source worktree and symlinks .env.local plus .convex into the current checkout. If discovery picks the wrong source, pass one explicitly:

bun run setup:worktree -- --from /path/to/source/worktree
CLAWHUB_WORKTREE_SOURCE=/path/to/source/worktree bun run setup:worktree

dev:worktree is the Worktrunk entrypoint. It runs the hooks in .config/wt.toml, copies ignored dependencies listed in .worktreeinclude when possible, falls back to bun install if Vite is missing, and starts detached services on a branch-hashed loopback port. Use wt --yes url from the same worktree to print the URL.

The detached server writes runtime state under .codex/runtime/. Stop it with wt --yes stop before removing the worktree.

Local Codex workers

Local dev does not start Codex-backed workers by default, so dev:worktree does not spend Codex quota.

To process local ClawScan or Skill Card jobs, opt in for that shell:

CLAWHUB_ALLOW_LOCAL_CODEX_SCAN=1 bun run dev:workers -- --workers security-scan --once
CLAWHUB_ALLOW_LOCAL_CODEX_SCAN=1 bun run dev:workers -- --workers skill-card --once

Opted-in local runs use an ignored worktree-local CODEX_HOME unless you provide one.

Without those workers, local ClawScan and Skill Card jobs stay pending until you opt in, seed/mock results, or use the production workflows.

Seed the database

Populate local QA fixtures and the committed public corpus so the UI isn't empty:

bun run seed:dev

seed:dev runs worktree setup, starts or waits for local Convex, seeds the hand-authored local QA fixtures, imports the committed public corpus, and refreshes cached global stats. It is safe to rerun after fixture or schema changes.

Lower-level seed commands are available for manual recovery or focused fixture work:

# local moderation/security fixtures only
bunx convex run --no-push devSeed:seedLocalFixtures

# committed public corpus only
bun run seed:public-corpus

# validate the committed public corpus fixture
bun run validate:public-corpus

# 50 extra skills for pagination testing (optional)
bunx convex run --no-push devSeedExtra:seedExtraSkillsInternal

# Refresh cached global stats after manual seeding
bunx convex run --no-push statsMaintenance:updateGlobalStatsAction

To reset and re-seed:

bunx convex run --no-push devSeed:seedLocalFixtures '{"reset": true}'
bun run seed:public-corpus -- --reset
bunx convex run --no-push statsMaintenance:updateGlobalStatsAction

Without OPENAI_API_KEY, public corpus import still works, but semantic search quality degrades because embeddings fall back to zero vectors.

Worktree troubleshooting

• wt: command not found: install Worktrunk, then rerun bun run dev:worktree. Manual bun run dev plus bunx convex dev --typecheck=disable still works without Worktrunk.
• Missing .env.local or .convex: run bun run setup:worktree -- --from /path/to/source/worktree. The source must contain .env.local and, for local Convex deployments, .convex/local/default/config.json.
• Wrong local Convex deployment: make sure CONVEX_DEPLOYMENT in .env.local matches the local Convex deployment in .convex/local/default/config.json when using a local: deployment.
• Port mismatch: local Convex normally serves cloud functions at http://127.0.0.1:3210 and HTTP routes/auth callbacks at http://127.0.0.1:3211. Keep VITE_CONVEX_URL, VITE_CONVEX_SITE_URL, and CONVEX_SITE_URL aligned with the local config.
• wt step copy-ignored reports that .convex cannot be copied: this can happen when .convex is a symlink to the source worktree. The Worktrunk hook continues; confirm .env.local, .convex, and node_modules/.bin/vite exist before debugging deeper.
• Local Convex functions are not queryable yet during seeding: leave bunx convex dev --typecheck=disable running or rerun bun run seed:dev; the seed runner retries while Convex finishes pushing functions.
• Local seeding hits a transient Convex write conflict: seed:public-corpus retries retryable batch conflicts. If retries are exhausted, stop other local writers and rerun bun run seed:dev.
• Stale detached services: run wt --yes stop, then inspect .codex/runtime/dev-worktree.log if the server still does not restart cleanly.

Optional environment variables

These features degrade gracefully without their keys:

Variable	Purpose
OPENAI_API_KEY	Embeddings and vector search (falls back to zero vectors)
VT_API_KEY	VirusTotal malware scanning
DISCORD_WEBHOOK_URL	Discord notifications
REGISTRY_BACKUP_R2_ACCOUNT_ID / REGISTRY_BACKUP_BUCKET / REGISTRY_BACKUP_ACCESS_KEY_ID / REGISTRY_BACKUP_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY	Registry artifact publish backup and seed/backfill

CLI Development

The CLI source lives in packages/clawhub/. Both clawhub and clawdhub are registered as bin aliases.

To test the CLI against your local instance:

CLAWHUB_REGISTRY=http://127.0.0.1:3211 CLAWHUB_SITE=http://localhost:3000 clawhub search "padel"

Use the package-local verification contract when working on the CLI:

bun run --cwd packages/clawhub test
bun run --cwd packages/clawhub verify:build
bun run --cwd packages/clawhub test:artifact
bun run --cwd packages/clawhub verify

bun test packages/clawhub/ is not the supported workflow. Source tests and built-artifact smoke tests are intentionally split.

Manual smoke tests are documented in specs/manual-testing.md.

Skill Publishing

• Skill format reference: docs/skill-format.md
• End-to-end walkthrough (search, install, and publish): docs/quickstart.md

Quick publish:

clawhub publish <path-to-skill-directory>

Before Submitting a PR

Run the narrowest meaningful check while iterating, then run the matching CI aliases before handoff:

• All PRs: bun run ci:static.
• Source or test changes: focused tests for the touched behavior plus bun run ci:unit unless the change is docs/config-only or a maintainer asks to rely on CI.
• App runtime, Convex, or build changes: bun run ci:types-build.
• Package changes: bun run ci:packages.
• HTTP/API/CLI integration changes: bun run ci:e2e-http.
• Browser smoke or visual behavior changes: bun run ci:playwright-smoke, bun run test:pw:local-auth, and/or bun run proof:ui depending on the touched flow.

bun run ci:pr is the local aggregate for the non-browser PR gates. See specs/ci.md for the full CI contract.

Crabbox remote checks

Maintainers can run the same checks in a Crabbox lease instead of spending local CPU. ClawHub uses Crabbox as the agent-facing command surface; the Testbox workflow is only the backend for the default Blacksmith provider.

bun run crabbox:warmup -- --provider blacksmith-testbox
bun run crabbox:run -- --provider blacksmith-testbox --shell -- "bun run lint"
bun run crabbox:run -- --provider blacksmith-testbox --shell -- "bun run test"
bun run crabbox:run -- --provider blacksmith-testbox --shell -- "bun run build"

Use --id <id-or-slug> with crabbox:run when reusing an existing warmed lease, and stop disposable leases with bun run crabbox:stop -- --provider <provider> <id-or-slug>. Use CLAWHUB_LOCAL_CHECK_MODE=throttled or CLAWHUB_LOCAL_CHECK_MODE=full as the explicit local escape hatch when you intentionally want laptop-side proof. If Crabbox auth/provider access is missing, report that instead of falling back to a broad local gate that can bog down a dev machine.

PR guidelines:

• Keep PRs focused — one concern per PR.
• Use Conventional Commits: feat:, fix:, chore:, docs:, etc.
• Include test commands and screenshots for UI changes.
• Write a clear description of what changed and why.

AI-Generated Code

AI-assisted contributions are welcome. When submitting AI-generated or AI-assisted code:

• Note it in the PR description.
• Describe the level of testing you applied.
• Include prompts if useful for reviewers.
• Confirm that you understand and can maintain the code.

Security Reporting

Report vulnerabilities to security@openclaw.ai with:

• Severity assessment
• Technical reproduction steps
• Suggested remediation

See docs/security.md for moderation and upload gating details.

Reading Order for New Contributors

1. This file (local setup)
2. docs/clawhub.md — public registry overview
3. docs/quickstart.md — end-to-end workflows
4. docs/how-it-works.md — registry behavior and system overview
5. docs/skill-format.md — skill structure
6. docs/cli.md — CLI reference
7. docs/http-api.md — HTTP endpoints
8. docs/auth.md — authentication
9. specs/deploy.md — deployment
10. docs/troubleshooting.md — common issues