openclaw-extensions

This repo contains my extensions and mods to OpenClaw for my docker setup.

Contents

Docker Fixes

Problem Statement

I run OpenClaw in a docker environment on an Ubuntu vm. The OpenClaw docker-setup.sh presented a number of limitations and problems for me.

Re-running the script would wipe environment variables like OPENCLAW_DOCKER_APT_PACKAGES. I was not comfortable with exporting all of these, and the existing approach seemed inconsistent as to where this is truly mastered.

In many cases I just needed to rebuild the image. I didn't want to customize Dockerfile directly, only to have it wiped on an update.

Skills were not installable from the OpenClaw Console - any skill with dependencies (such as linuxbrew) could not be installed.

There are a bunch of packages and binaries that are needed for Tools and Skills to function. e.g. there is no browser installed.

The Approach

My approach is to build Dockerfile.local, layering on top of the stock openclaw:local image.

Dockerfile.local - custom dockerfile. Key features:

• Install user defined apt packages. List is mastered here. Bypasses use of OPENCLAW_DOCKER_APT_PACKAGES.
• Install and set up the runtime environments (npm/uv/go/brew) so that skills can install from the console at runtime and are persistent.
• Installs Google Chrome, which is needed by the OpenClaw "browser" tool.
• Sets ownership of /home/node/.config so that Chrome works.
• Customize the whisper install for tiny model as the default is gigantic.
• Installs user defined skills. Add your own here.

docker-update.sh - This script was created to manage the image build. I use this instead of calling docker-setup directly. Key features:

• installs linuxbrew if needed. linuxbrew is bindmounted for persistence, refer to docker-compose.override.yml.
• command line argument to build the image or perform an update with the latest from github.
• builds the image from Dockerfile.local.
• restarts the gateway.

docker-compose.override.yml - overrides to compose file. Key features:

• bind mount for linuxbrew so installs are persisted.
• bind mount for gog /home/node/.config/gogcli so keyring is persisted.
• sets timezone so that tools such as browser get correct ltz. Modify this for your timezone
• gog keyring environment variables. In your .env set GOG_KEYRING_BACKEND=file and GOG_KEYRING_PASSWORD=your-password
• environment variables for site-specific integrations (in my case, HomeAssistant api token HA_TOKEN).

Summary Files

The following docker files were added:

File	Description
docker-compose.override.yml	Overrides to compose.
docker-update.sh	Script to build or update the docker image. Don't run docker-setup.sh directly.
Dockerfile.local	Custom dockerfile.

Place these in your openclaw installation directory (e.g. ~/openclaw).

Residual Problems

Some of the brew skills (e.g. summarize) are arm64 and can fail install (without a meaningful error message) depending on your environment.

Skills

The set of custom and modified skills.

Bundled Skill Overrides

Skill overrides mechanism - mirroring the skill at .openclaw/skills//SKILL.md overrides the bundled version without a rebuild.

weather - the bundled weather skill failed for me most of the time, with timeouts. Modified for wttr.in retries with a fallback to using Open-Meteo.

whisper - skill trigger enhancements.

Custom Skills

These are my adds.

home_weatherstation - serves as an example for calling the Home Assistant api to obtain weatherstation info. HA_TOKEN is defined in .env.

my_location - serves as an example for calling the Home Assistant api to obtain location info from OwnTracks. HA_TOKEN is defined in .env.

Environment

Ubuntu, x86_64/amd64

License

MIT