goclaw/skills/skill-creator/references/distribution-guide.md

Distribution Guide

Distribution Models in GoClaw

1. Publish to Current Instance (Primary)

Register skill directly in the running GoClaw instance:

publish_skill(path: "~/.goclaw/skills-store/<name>")

• Copies files to managed store: ~/.goclaw/skills-store/<slug>/<version>/ (Docker: /app/.goclaw/skills-store/)
• Registers in skills table (is_system=false, visibility='public')
• Scans + reports missing dependencies
• Auto-increments version only if SKILL.md content (SHA-256) changes

2. Upload via Admin UI

Package skill as ZIP, then upload via GoClaw admin dashboard (/skills page):

scripts/package_skill.py ~/.goclaw/skills-store/<name>
# → creates <name>.zip

Upload at: Admin UI → Skills → Upload skill

Use case: distributing skills to other GoClaw instances without direct filesystem access.

3. Bundled Skills (Image-level)

Skills placed in the skills/ directory of the repo are bundled into the Docker image:

skills/
└── my-skill/
    └── SKILL.md

Rebuild required: docker compose up -d --build

Bundled skills are seeded automatically on gateway startup. They have lowest priority — user-uploaded skills with same slug override them.

Use case: ship default skills with every GoClaw deployment.

Version Management

GoClaw manages versions automatically via content hash:

Scenario	Result
First publish	version = 1
Re-publish, content unchanged	No-op (version stays)
Re-publish, SKILL.md changed	version += 1
Upload same slug via UI	Version bumped, new files copied

Do NOT manually set version in SKILL.md frontmatter — it has no effect on GoClaw's versioning.

Dependency Handling

After publishing, GoClaw scans for missing Python/Node deps automatically.

If deps are missing (status = archived):

1. View missing deps in Admin UI → Skills → skill row
2. Click "Install" per-dep, or install manually via exec tool:

   pip3 install <pkg>
   npm install -g <pkg>
   

3. Skill auto-transitions to status = active after install

System packages (apk) require ENABLE_PYTHON=true and doas available in the image.

Sharing Skills

To share a skill externally:

1. Package: scripts/package_skill.py ~/.goclaw/skills-store/<name> → ZIP file
2. Share the ZIP — recipient uploads via Admin UI → Skills → Upload
3. Or contribute to skills/ directory in the GoClaw repo for bundling