Plugin SDK overview

The plugin SDK is the typed contract between plugins and core. This page is the reference for what to import and what you can register.

Import convention

Always import from a specific subpath:

Each subpath is a small, self-contained module. This keeps startup fast and prevents circular dependency issues. For channel-specific entry/build helpers, prefer openclaw/plugin-sdk/channel-core; keep openclaw/plugin-sdk/core for the broader umbrella surface and shared helpers such as buildChannelConfigSchema.

For channel config, publish the channel-owned JSON Schema through openclaw.plugin.json#channelConfigs. The plugin-sdk/channel-config-schema subpath is for shared schema primitives and the generic builder. OpenClaw's bundled plugins use plugin-sdk/bundled-channel-config-schema for retained bundled-channel schemas. Deprecated compatibility exports remain on plugin-sdk/channel-config-schema-legacy; neither bundled schema subpath is a pattern for new plugins.

Subpath reference

The plugin SDK is exposed as a set of narrow subpaths grouped by area (plugin entry, channel, provider, auth, runtime, capability, memory, and reserved bundled-plugin helpers). For the full catalog — grouped and linked — see Plugin SDK subpaths.

The compiler entrypoint inventory lives in scripts/lib/plugin-sdk-entrypoints.json; package exports are generated from the public subset after subtracting repo-local test/internal subpaths listed in scripts/lib/plugin-sdk-private-local-only-subpaths.json. Run pnpm plugin-sdk:surface to audit the public export count. Deprecated public subpaths that are old enough and unused by bundled extension production code are tracked in scripts/lib/plugin-sdk-deprecated-public-subpaths.json; broad deprecated re-export barrels are tracked in scripts/lib/plugin-sdk-deprecated-barrel-subpaths.json.

Registration API

The register(api) callback receives an OpenClawPluginApi object with these methods:

Capability registration

Worker providers must also declare their id in contracts.workerProviders. Core persists durable intent before provision(profile, operationId). Providers validate settings before external allocation and throw WorkerProviderError for permanent profile rejection. provision must adopt the same lease when the operation id repeats. Core persists the validated profile settings with the lease and supplies that snapshot to destroy({ leaseId, profile }), which must be idempotent, and inspect({ leaseId, profile }), which returns active, destroyed, or unknown. This lets providers route lifecycle calls after a gateway restart or named-profile removal. SSH endpoints use a SecretRef for keyRef, never inline key material, and include a hostKey from trusted provisioning output as exactly algorithm base64, without a hostname or comment. Core pins hostKey and never trusts a key from the first connection. A provider that mints a dynamic keyRef can implement resolveSshIdentity({ leaseId, profile, keyRef }); when present, that resolver is authoritative, while providers without it use the configured generic secret resolver. Providers with renewable leases can also implement renew(leaseId). inspect must throw on transient or indeterminate failures; return unknown only for authoritative absence. Core marks an active local record orphaned, or treats the absence as teardown completion after a persisted destroy request.

Embedding providers registered with api.registerEmbeddingProvider(...) must also be listed in contracts.embeddingProviders in the plugin manifest. This is the generic embedding surface for reusable vector generation. Memory search can consume this generic provider surface. The older api.registerMemoryEmbeddingProvider(...) and contracts.memoryEmbeddingProviders seam is deprecated compatibility while existing memory-specific providers migrate.

Memory-specific providers that still expose a runtime batchEmbed(...) stay on the existing per-file batching contract unless their runtime explicitly sets sourceWideBatchEmbed: true. That opt-in lets the memory host submit chunks from multiple dirty memory files and enabled sources in one batchEmbed(...) call up to the host batch limits. Batch adapters that upload JSONL request files must split provider jobs before their upload-size cap as well as their request-count cap. The provider must return one embedding per input chunk in the same order as batch.chunks; omit the flag when the provider expects file-local batches or cannot preserve input ordering across a larger source-wide job.

Tools and commands

Use defineToolPlugin for simple tool-only plugins with fixed tool names. Use api.registerTool(...) directly for mixed plugins or fully dynamic tool registration.

Plugin commands can set agentPromptGuidance when the agent needs a short, command-owned routing hint. Keep that text about the command itself; do not add provider- or plugin-specific policy to core prompt builders.

Guidance entries may be legacy strings, which apply to every prompt surface, or structured entries:

agentPromptGuidance: [  "Global command hint.",  { text: "Only show this in the main OpenClaw prompt.", surfaces: ["openclaw_main"] },];

Structured surfaces may include openclaw_main, codex_app_server, cli_backend, acp_backend, or subagent. pi_main remains a deprecated alias for openclaw_main. Omit surfaces for intentional all-surface guidance. Do not pass an empty surfaces array; it is rejected so accidental scope loss does not become global prompt text.

Native Codex app-server developer instructions are stricter than other prompt surfaces: only guidance explicitly scoped to codex_app_server is promoted into that higher-priority lane. Legacy string guidance and unscoped structured guidance remain available to non-Codex prompt surfaces for compatibility.

Node-host commands run on the connected node host, not inside the Gateway process. If agentTool is present, the node publishes a descriptor after a successful Gateway connect; the Gateway exposes it to agent runs only while that node is connected and only if the descriptor's command is in the node's approved command surface. Set agentTool.defaultPlatforms to opt a non-dangerous command into the default node command allowlist; otherwise require explicit gateway.nodes.allowCommands or a node-invoke policy. agentTool.name must be provider-safe: start with a letter, use only letters, digits, underscores, or hyphens, and stay within 64 characters. MCP-backed node tools can set agentTool.mcp metadata so catalog and tool-search surfaces can show the remote MCP server/tool identity, but execution still goes through the advertised node command.

Infrastructure

Memory prompt supplement builders receive optional agentId, agentSessionKey, and sandboxed context. Memory corpus supplement search and get calls receive optional agentId and sandboxed context. Plugins with agent-owned storage should resolve that storage for each call instead of capturing one global path during registration. If an agent id is required but missing in a multi-agent operation, fail closed rather than choosing an arbitrary agent.

Telegram interactive handlers can return { submitText } to route text through Telegram's normal inbound agent path after the handler succeeds. OpenClaw keeps the callback button when inbound policy skips the text or processing fails, so the user can retry after the blocking condition changes. This result field is Telegram-specific; other channels keep their own interactive result contracts.

Host hooks for workflow plugins

Host hooks are the SDK seams for plugins that need to participate in the host lifecycle rather than only adding a provider, channel, or tool. They are generic contracts; Plan Mode can use them, but so can approval workflows, workspace policy gates, background monitors, setup wizards, and UI companion plugins.

A surface: "tab" descriptor adds a sidebar tab to the Control UI. Active plugins' tab descriptors are advertised to dashboard clients in the gateway hello (controlUiTabs), so the tab appears only while the plugin is enabled. Bundled plugins may ship a first-class dashboard view for their tab; other plugins can set path to a plugin HTTP route (see api.registerHttpRoute(...)) that the dashboard renders in a sandboxed frame. icon is a dashboard icon name hint, group picks the sidebar section (control or agent), order sorts among plugin tabs, and requiredScopes hides the tab from connections lacking those operator scopes:

api.session.controls.registerControlUiDescriptor({  surface: "tab",  id: "logbook",  label: "Logbook",  description: "Your day as a timeline, built from screen snapshots.",  icon: "sun",  group: "control",  requiredScopes: ["operator.write"],});

Use the grouped namespaces for new plugin code:

• api.session.state.registerSessionExtension(...)
• api.session.workflow.enqueueNextTurnInjection(...)
• api.session.workflow.registerSessionSchedulerJob(...)
• api.session.workflow.sendSessionAttachment(...)
• api.session.workflow.scheduleSessionTurn(...)
• api.session.workflow.unscheduleSessionTurnsByTag(...)
• api.session.controls.registerSessionAction(...)
• api.session.controls.registerControlUiDescriptor(...)
• api.agent.events.registerAgentEventSubscription(...)
• api.agent.events.emitAgentEvent(...)
• api.runContext.setRunContext(...) / getRunContext(...) / clearRunContext(...)
• api.lifecycle.registerRuntimeLifecycle(...)

The equivalent flat methods remain available as deprecated compatibility aliases for existing plugins. Do not add new plugin code that calls api.registerSessionExtension, api.enqueueNextTurnInjection, api.registerControlUiDescriptor, api.registerRuntimeLifecycle, api.registerAgentEventSubscription, api.emitAgentEvent, api.setRunContext, api.getRunContext, api.clearRunContext, api.registerSessionSchedulerJob, api.registerSessionAction, api.sendSessionAttachment, api.scheduleSessionTurn, or api.unscheduleSessionTurnsByTag directly.

scheduleSessionTurn(...) is a session-scoped convenience over the Gateway Cron scheduler. Cron owns timing and creates the background task record when the turn runs; the Plugin SDK only constrains the target session, plugin-owned naming, and cleanup. Use api.runtime.tasks.managedFlows inside the scheduled turn when the work itself needs durable multi-step Task Flow state.

The contracts intentionally split authority:

• External plugins can own session extensions, UI descriptors, commands, tool metadata, next-turn injections, and normal hooks.
• Trusted tool policies run before ordinary before_tool_call hooks and are host-trusted. Bundled policies run first; installed-plugin policies require explicit enablement plus their local ids in contracts.trustedToolPolicies, and run next in plugin-load order. Policy ids are scoped to the registering plugin.
• Reserved command ownership is bundled-only. External plugins should use their own command names or aliases.
• allowPromptInjection=false disables prompt-mutating hooks including agent_turn_prepare, before_prompt_build, heartbeat_prompt_contribution, prompt fields from legacy before_agent_start, and enqueueNextTurnInjection.

Examples of non-Plan consumers:

Gateway discovery registration

api.registerGatewayDiscoveryService(...) lets a plugin advertise the active Gateway on a local discovery transport such as mDNS/Bonjour. OpenClaw calls the service during Gateway startup when local discovery is enabled, passes the current Gateway ports and non-secret TXT hint data, and calls the returned stop handler during Gateway shutdown.

api.registerGatewayDiscoveryService({  id: "my-discovery",  async advertise(ctx) {    const handle = await startMyAdvertiser({      gatewayPort: ctx.gatewayPort,      tls: ctx.gatewayTlsEnabled,      displayName: ctx.machineDisplayName,    });    return { stop: () => handle.stop() };  },});

Gateway discovery plugins must not treat advertised TXT values as secrets or authentication. Discovery is a routing hint; Gateway auth and TLS pinning still own trust.

CLI registration metadata

api.registerCli(registrar, opts?) accepts two kinds of command metadata:

• commands: explicit command names owned by the registrar
• descriptors: parse-time command descriptors used for CLI help, routing, and lazy plugin CLI registration
• parentPath: optional parent command path for nested command groups, such as ["nodes"]

For paired-node features, prefer api.registerNodeCliFeature(registrar, opts?). It is a small wrapper around api.registerCli(..., { parentPath: ["nodes"] }) and makes commands such as openclaw nodes canvas explicit plugin-owned node features.

If you want a plugin command to stay lazy-loaded in the normal root CLI path, provide descriptors that cover every top-level command root exposed by that registrar.

api.registerCli(  async ({ program }) => {    const { registerMatrixCli } = await import("./src/cli.js");    registerMatrixCli({ program });  },  {    descriptors: [      {        name: "matrix",        description: "Manage Matrix accounts, verification, devices, and profile state",        hasSubcommands: true,      },    ],  },);

Nested commands receive the resolved parent command as program:

api.registerCli(  async ({ program }) => {    const { registerNodesCanvasCommands } = await import("./src/cli.js");    registerNodesCanvasCommands(program);  },  {    parentPath: ["nodes"],    descriptors: [      {        name: "canvas",        description: "Capture or render canvas content from a paired node",        hasSubcommands: true,      },    ],  },);

Use commands by itself only when you do not need lazy root CLI registration. That eager compatibility path remains supported, but it does not install descriptor-backed placeholders for parse-time lazy loading.

CLI backend registration

api.registerCliBackend(...) lets a plugin own the default config for a local AI CLI backend such as claude-cli or my-cli.

• The backend id becomes the provider prefix in model refs like my-cli/gpt-5.
• The backend config uses the same shape as agents.defaults.cliBackends.<id>.
• User config still wins. OpenClaw merges agents.defaults.cliBackends.<id> over the plugin default before running the CLI.
• Use normalizeConfig when a backend needs compatibility rewrites after merge (for example normalizing old flag shapes).
• Use resolveExecutionArgs for request-scoped argv rewrites that belong to the CLI dialect, such as mapping OpenClaw thinking levels to a native effort flag. The hook receives ctx.executionMode; use "side-question" to add backend-native isolation flags for ephemeral /btw calls. If those flags reliably disable native tools for an otherwise always-on CLI, declare sideQuestionToolMode: "disabled" too.
• Backends that can disable all native tools for a specific run may declare nativeToolMode: "selectable". Restricted calls pass an empty ctx.toolAvailability.native tuple plus an exact host-isolated MCP allowlist; resolveExecutionArgs must enforce both on the final fresh or resume argv. OpenClaw fails closed if the backend cannot do so.

For an end-to-end authoring guide, see CLI backend plugins.

Exclusive slots

Deprecated memory embedding adapters

• registerMemoryCapability is the preferred exclusive memory-plugin API.
• registerMemoryCapability may also expose publicArtifacts.listArtifacts(...) so companion plugins can consume exported memory artifacts through openclaw/plugin-sdk/memory-host-core instead of reaching into a specific memory plugin's private layout.
• registerMemoryPromptSection, registerMemoryFlushPlan, and registerMemoryRuntime are legacy-compatible exclusive memory-plugin APIs.
• MemoryFlushPlan.model can pin the flush turn to an exact provider/model reference, such as ollama/qwen3:8b, without inheriting the active fallback chain.
• registerMemoryEmbeddingProvider is deprecated. New embedding providers should use api.registerEmbeddingProvider(...) and contracts.embeddingProviders.
• Existing memory-specific providers continue to work during the migration window, but plugin inspection reports this as compatibility debt for non-bundled plugins.

Events and lifecycle

See Plugin hooks for examples, common hook names, and guard semantics.

Hook decision semantics

before_install is a plugin-runtime lifecycle hook, not the operator install policy surface. Use security.installPolicy when an allow/block decision must cover CLI and Gateway-backed install or update paths.

• before_tool_call: returning { block: true } is terminal. Once any handler sets it, lower-priority handlers are skipped.
• before_tool_call: returning { block: false } is treated as no decision (same as omitting block), not as an override.
• before_install: returning { block: true } is terminal. Once any handler sets it, lower-priority handlers are skipped.
• before_install: returning { block: false } is treated as no decision (same as omitting block), not as an override.
• reply_dispatch: returning { handled: true, ... } is terminal. Once any handler claims dispatch, lower-priority handlers and the default model dispatch path are skipped.
• message_sending: returning { cancel: true } is terminal. Once any handler sets it, lower-priority handlers are skipped.
• message_sending: returning { cancel: false } is treated as no decision (same as omitting cancel), not as an override.
• message_received: use the typed threadId field when you need inbound thread/topic routing. Keep metadata for channel-specific extras.
• message_sending: use typed replyToId / threadId routing fields before falling back to channel-specific metadata.
• gateway_start: use ctx.config, ctx.workspaceDir, and ctx.getCron?.() for gateway-owned startup state instead of relying on internal gateway:startup hooks. Cron may still be loading at this point.
• cron_reconciled: rebuild a full external cron projection after startup or scheduler reload. It includes reason and the effective enabled state, including enabled: false, while ctx.getCron?.() returns the exact reconciled scheduler. Pass ctx.abortSignal into durable projection work; it aborts when that scheduler snapshot is superseded or the Gateway closes.
• cron_changed: observe gateway-owned cron lifecycle changes. scheduled and removed events are post-commit reconciliation hints, not an ordered delta log. A scheduled event's event.nextRunAtMs is absent when the job has no next wake; a removed event still carries the deleted job snapshot.

External wake schedulers should debounce or coalesce cron_changed events, then reread the full durable view from the scheduler last captured by cron_reconciled. Do not adopt the scheduler from a cron_changed context: a detached hint from an older scheduler can overlap a later reload.

Use cron_reconciled as the full-snapshot trigger for durable state loaded at Gateway startup or scheduler replacement. It is not replayed for a plugin-only hot reload. Observation handlers run in parallel, and fire-and-forget dispatches can overlap, so consumers must not depend on event completion order. Keep OpenClaw as the source of truth for due checks and execution.

For a single-flight adapter with durable replacement, retry/backoff, and clean shutdown, see Safe external cron projection.

API object fields

Internal module convention

Within your plugin, use local barrel files for internal imports:

my-plugin/  api.ts            # Public exports for external consumers  runtime-api.ts    # Internal-only runtime exports  index.ts          # Plugin entry point  setup-entry.ts    # Lightweight setup-only entry (optional)

Facade-loaded bundled plugin public surfaces (api.ts, runtime-api.ts, index.ts, setup-entry.ts, and similar public entry files) prefer the active runtime config snapshot when OpenClaw is already running. If no runtime snapshot exists yet, they fall back to the resolved config file on disk. Packaged bundled plugin facades should be loaded through OpenClaw's plugin facade loaders; direct imports from dist/extensions/... bypass the manifest and runtime sidecar checks that packaged installs use for plugin-owned code.

Provider plugins can expose a narrow plugin-local contract barrel when a helper is intentionally provider-specific and does not belong in a generic SDK subpath yet. Bundled examples:

• Anthropic: public api.ts / contract-api.ts seam for Claude beta-header and service_tier stream helpers.
• @openclaw/openai-provider: api.ts exports provider builders, default-model helpers, and realtime provider builders.
• @openclaw/openrouter-provider: api.ts exports the provider builder plus onboarding/config helpers.

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