OpenClaw Plugins vs Skills: What's the Difference and When to Use Each
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One of the most common questions from new OpenClaw users: "Should I write a plugin or a skill?"
The answer depends on what you're trying to do. Skills teach your agent how to use tools it already has. Plugins give it entirely new tools. The distinction sounds simple, but getting it wrong means either over-engineering a text file or under-building something that should have been a full integration.
This article breaks down the difference, when to use each, and the pattern that combines both for maximum flexibility.
Quick Comparison
Before diving deep, here's the summary:
| Skills | Plugins | |
|---|---|---|
| What they are | Markdown text files | Code modules |
| What they do | Teach the agent workflows and conventions | Add new tools, channels, and services |
| Runs code? | No. Just instructions for the AI | Yes. Runs inside the agent's runtime |
| Creates new tools? | No. References existing ones | Yes. Registers entirely new capabilities |
| Who can edit them | Anyone (it's just text) | Developers |
| Security risk | Low. No code execution | Higher. Runs with full agent access |
| Survives updates | Always. Completely independent | Config survives. Code gets replaced |
The simplest way to think about it: if your customization can be expressed as "here's how to do X with tools you already have," it's a skill. If it requires "here's a new tool that connects to X," it's a plugin.
What Are Skills?
Skills are text documents that teach your agent domain-specific knowledge and workflows. They get loaded into the agent's context when relevant.
Think of skills like training documents for a new employee. You're not giving them new equipment. You're teaching them how to use the equipment they already have, but for your specific processes.
A skill might say: "When reviewing a pull request, check for security vulnerabilities first, then performance issues, then style violations. Post your findings as a comment using the GitHub tool." No code. No API calls. Just instructions that shape how the agent applies its existing capabilities to your specific workflow.
What Skills Are Good For
Organization-specific workflows. Every team has its own way of doing code reviews, writing tickets, naming branches, and structuring commits. Skills capture these conventions without writing a single line of code.
Business rules and naming conventions. "All deals in Pipedrive must follow the format Company - Product - Quarter." This is a skill, not a plugin. The Pipedrive tools already exist. The naming convention is your layer on top.
Tool usage instructions. "When searching our codebase, always check the legacy directory too, because half our API endpoints are still there." The search tools exist. The skill adds institutional knowledge about where to look.
Workflow customization. "When creating a Jira ticket, always add the needs-triage label and assign it to the current sprint." The Jira plugin provides the tools. The skill defines your team's process for using them.
The Key Advantage: Portability and Safety
Skills are just text files. They can't execute code, make network requests, or access your filesystem beyond what the agent already has permission to do. This makes them:
- Safe to share. A malicious skill can try prompt injection, but it can't run shell commands or exfiltrate data on its own.
- Easy to version control. They're markdown files. Git handles them perfectly.
- Resilient to updates. When you update a plugin that provides tools, your skills keep working because they reference tool names, not implementation details.
That said, "safe" isn't the same as "risk-free." Cisco's research found that 26% of skills in public repositories contained at least one vulnerability, mostly prompt injection payloads. Even without code execution, a skill can manipulate agent behavior in harmful ways. Always review skills before installing them. 🔍
What Are Plugins?
Plugins are code modules that extend OpenClaw's runtime with new capabilities. Where skills teach the agent what to do with existing tools, plugins create the tools themselves.
Without a Linear plugin, your agent has no way to create issues in Linear. With it, the agent gets a new "create Linear issue" tool that works just like built-in tools. The plugin handles authentication, API calls, and data formatting behind the scenes.
What Plugins Can Add
New tools. This is the most common use case. Connect to external APIs like Linear, Jira, Notion, Salesforce, or your own internal services. The plugin handles the API integration so the agent just calls a simple tool.
Messaging channels. Telegram, Slack, WhatsApp, Discord. Each channel plugin handles incoming messages and outgoing responses for its platform. This is how agents become multi-channel.
AI model providers. Want to use a model that OpenClaw doesn't support natively? A provider plugin adds support for it.
Background services. Webhook listeners, polling loops, scheduled tasks. Anything that needs to run continuously alongside the agent.
How Plugins Are Discovered
OpenClaw loads plugins from several locations. Workspace-level plugins override global ones, and explicitly configured paths override everything. This means you can customize which plugins are active per project without affecting your global setup.
When to Use a Skill
Use a skill when the tools already exist and you just need to shape how the agent uses them.
You're defining processes, not capabilities. "Here's how we do code reviews" is a skill. "Here's how to connect to our code review platform" is a plugin.
You're adding business rules. "All customer emails must be CC'd to support@" is a skill. The email tool already exists.
You want something non-technical users can edit. Skills are plain text. Anyone can update them. Plugins require a developer.
You need it to survive plugin updates. Skills are completely independent of plugin code. When the Pipedrive plugin updates from v1 to v2, your "how we use Pipedrive" skill keeps working unchanged.
When to Use a Plugin
Use a plugin when the capability doesn't exist yet.
You need to connect to an external API. Linear, Jira, Notion, Salesforce, your internal services. If the agent needs to talk to a service it can't currently reach, that's a plugin.
You need custom authentication. OAuth flows, API key management, token refresh. Plugins handle the auth layer so the agent just calls tools without worrying about credentials.
You want to add a messaging channel. Making your agent available on a new platform (Matrix, IRC, a custom webhook) requires a channel plugin.
You need background processing. Webhook receivers, event listeners, polling loops. Anything that needs to run continuously alongside the agent is a service plugin.
The Power Pattern: Plugin + Skill
The most effective approach combines both. The plugin provides generic capabilities. The skill adds your organization's specific workflows on top. 🧩
Think of it like this:
- Plugin = the tool itself (a hammer)
- Skill = how your team uses the tool ("always nail at a 15-degree angle on this type of joint")
Example: CRM Integration
The plugin (openclaw-pipedrive) provides generic Pipedrive tools: create deals, update contacts, search records. It's published publicly and used by thousands of agents. It knows how to talk to the Pipedrive API, but it knows nothing about your business.
The skill defines your team's specific CRM process: deal naming format ("Acme Corp - Enterprise - Q1 2026"), required fields for every new deal, pipeline stages, and rules like "never skip from Discovery directly to Proposal" and "deals over $50k require manager approval."
The plugin gives the agent hands. The skill gives it institutional knowledge. When the Pipedrive plugin updates, your workflow skill remains untouched.
Why This Pattern Works
Separation of concerns. The plugin author doesn't need to know your naming conventions. Your team doesn't need to understand API authentication. Each layer does what it's best at.
Independent update cycles. Plugin updates don't break your workflows. Workflow changes don't require code deploys.
Composability. Different teams in the same org can share the same plugin but have different skills. The sales team's CRM workflow is different from customer success, but both use the same Pipedrive tools.
Security: Why the Distinction Matters
Skills and plugins have fundamentally different risk profiles. Understanding this helps you make better decisions about what to install and from whom.
Skills: Low Risk, Not Zero Risk
Skills can't execute code, but they can manipulate agent behavior through prompt injection. A malicious skill might instruct the agent to exfiltrate data using tools it already has access to, override safety guidelines, or modify how existing tools are used in harmful ways.
Cisco's analysis of 31,000 skills found vulnerabilities in 26% of them, including the most popular skill in the entire ecosystem. The #1 ranked skill contained active data exfiltration commands, prompt injection, and tool poisoning.
What to do: Review skill contents before installation. Use scanning tools like Cisco's Skill Scanner. In enterprise environments, maintain an allowlist of vetted skills.
Plugins: Higher Risk, Higher Reward
Plugins run inside the agent's runtime. A compromised plugin has access to everything the gateway can reach: network, filesystem, other plugins, and the agent's memory and conversation history.
This is the same trust model as browser extensions or IDE plugins. You're running someone else's code in your environment. 🔒
What to do: Only install plugins from trusted sources. Use network restrictions to limit what plugins can reach. Run agents in sandboxed environments to contain the blast radius if something goes wrong.
The Supply Chain Problem
Both skills and plugins face supply chain risks: typosquatting (misspelled package names), fake popularity metrics, delayed payloads that activate after building trust, and dependency hijacking.
The key difference is blast radius. A compromised skill can manipulate the agent's behavior. A compromised plugin can do anything on the system.
Decision Flowchart
When you're not sure which to use, walk through these questions:
Does the agent already have the tools it needs?
- Yes → Write a skill
- No → You probably need a plugin
Are you defining processes or capabilities?
- Processes (how to do things) → Skill
- Capabilities (what it can do) → Plugin
Does it need to connect to a new external service?
- Yes → Plugin
- No → Skill
Should non-developers be able to edit it?
- Yes → Skill (it's just text)
- No → Either works
Does it need to run in the background?
- Yes → Plugin
- No → Could be either
If you answered "Skill" to most of these, write a skill. If even one answer pointed firmly to "Plugin," you probably need a plugin. And if you're genuinely unsure, start with a skill. You can always build a plugin later if the skill approach hits a wall.
Skills and Plugins on Agento
On Agento, skills come pre-configured through our managed marketplace. You can browse, install, and manage skills directly from the dashboard without SSH access or file editing. Every skill in the marketplace goes through automated security scanning before it's available.
For plugins, Agento handles dependency management, configuration, and runtime isolation. Channel plugins (Telegram, Slack, WhatsApp) work out of the box. Custom plugins can be added through the agent configuration panel.
The sandboxed execution environment means that even if a plugin or skill has a vulnerability, the blast radius is contained to the individual agent's isolated container. No lateral movement to other agents or infrastructure. 🛡️
Start building with managed skills and plugins →
Related reading:
- Anatomy of an OpenClaw Agent: Soul, Memory, Heartbeat
- AI Agent Security: Preventing Prompt Injection and Runaway Loops
- Best OpenClaw Hosting Providers 2026