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Installing Agents

Terminal window
clawstore install @someone/calorie-coach
clawstore install @someone/calorie-coach@0.3.1 # pin a specific version

The install flow runs these steps in order:

  1. Resolve the version — fetches the package metadata from the registry. If you pinned a version, that exact version is used.

  2. Download the tarball — content-hash verified on arrival.

  3. Validate locally — runs the same validator the server ran at publish time, catching truncated downloads or tampered caches.

  4. Show the install plan:

    Calorie Coach 0.3.1 by @someone
    Log meals by chat, get daily nutrition summaries
    This package will:
    - create workspace at ~/.openclaw/workspace-calorie-coach
    - install 1 required plugin: @someone/nutrition-api 1.2.0
    - prompt for 1 secret: NUTRITIONIX_API_KEY
    - register agent in OpenClaw with model openai/gpt-5.4
    Proceed? [Y/n]
  5. Resolve dependencies — installs plugins via openclaw plugins install and skills via openclaw skills install. Required dependencies that fail abort the install.

  6. Prompt for secrets — writes values to ~/.openclaw/.env. Clawstore never stores secret values itself.

  7. Create the workspace — populates files at ~/.openclaw/workspace-<id>/.

  8. Take a snapshot — stores a backup for rollback.

  9. Register with OpenClaw — runs openclaw agents add so the agent is ready to use.

Then you’re ready:

Terminal window
openclaw chat calorie-coach

If any step fails after workspace creation, everything is cleaned up automatically.

Install from a local file or URL instead of the registry:

Terminal window
clawstore install ./my-agent.tgz
clawstore install https://example.com/agent.tgz

Same install flow, but skips the catalog lookup. Sideloaded agents don’t auto-update — you re-run clawstore install with a newer file when ready.

Terminal window
clawstore uninstall calorie-coach

The uninstall flow:

  1. Removes the agent from OpenClaw’s registry
  2. Asks if you want to preserve your files (default: yes) — MEMORY.md, notes, and other files you created are moved to ~/.clawstore/orphans/, not deleted
  3. Asks about plugin dependencies — shows which plugins are shared with other agents (default: keep them)
  4. Deletes the workspace
  5. Keeps snapshots for 30 days in case you reinstall

Detects and fixes drift between the install record and what’s on disk:

Terminal window
clawstore doctor # check all agents
clawstore doctor calorie-coach # check one agent
clawstore doctor --fix # auto-fix issues

Checks for:

  • Missing workspace directory
  • Missing or modified entrypoint files
  • Missing plugin dependencies
  • Missing secrets
  • Orphaned install records
  • Stale snapshots

--fix re-installs against the recorded version without touching your files.

Everything Clawstore writes to your machine:

~/.clawstore/
├── config.json # Your preferences (update policy, API URL)
├── auth.json # API token from `clawstore login`
├── api-cache/ # Short-TTL response cache
├── installs/
│ └── <agent-id>.json # Install record per agent
├── snapshots/
│ └── <agent-id>/
│ └── <timestamp>.tgz # Rollback snapshots
├── graveyard/ # Old workspaces pending cleanup
├── orphans/ # User files preserved from uninstalls
├── staging/ # In-flight install/update work
└── preview/ # Scratch workspaces for `clawstore preview`

Agent workspaces live under ~/.openclaw/workspace-<id>/ — that’s OpenClaw’s territory; Clawstore only populates it.