nix-openclaw-tools

Reproducible OpenClaw tool packaging.

Nix packaging for OpenClaw-adjacent tools, with per-tool OpenClaw plugin metadata. Part of the nix-openclaw ecosystem.

Darwin/aarch64 plus Linux (x86_64/aarch64) for tools that ship Linux builds. On Linux, summarize is built from source (Node 24 + pnpm 11, matching upstream’s package manager) since upstream only ships a macOS Bun binary.

Why this exists

OpenClaw should have a small default toolchain and explicit optional plugins. Packaging these tools as Nix flakes with OpenClaw plugin metadata means:

• Reproducible: Pinned versions, no Homebrew drift
• Declarative: Add a plugin, home-manager switch, done
• Fresh: CI keeps tools and skills at latest automatically
• Integrated: Skills teach your bot how to use each tool

Pure Nix and Home Manager design

This repo is meant to be consumable directly from Nix flakes, Darwin, and Home Manager configs. Packages should stay pinned and reproducible, and optional Home Manager modules should expose normal programs. options instead of requiring downstream users to hand-write app bundle or launchd glue.

For macOS app bundles, prefer a Nix package plus Home Manager integration. Home Manager can expose app bundles from home.packages through its Darwin app targets, and modules can opt into launchd.agents when Home Manager should own startup. Homebrew casks are still useful, but they belong in a nix-darwin Homebrew configuration, not in these pure Nix package/module definitions.

What’s included

Usage (as openclaw plugins)

Each tool is a subflake under tools// exporting openclawPlugin. Point your nix-openclaw config at the tool you want:

programs.openclaw.plugins = [
  { source = "github:openclaw/nix-openclaw-tools?dir=tools/camsnap"; }
  { source = "github:openclaw/nix-openclaw-tools?dir=tools/discrawl"; }
  { source = "github:openclaw/nix-openclaw-tools?dir=tools/peekaboo"; }
  { source = "github:openclaw/nix-openclaw-tools?dir=tools/summarize"; }
  { source = "github:openclaw/nix-openclaw-tools?dir=tools/wacrawl"; }
];

Each plugin bundles:

• The tool binary (on PATH)
• A skill (SKILL.md) so your bot knows how to use it
• Any required state dirs / env declarations

Usage (packages only)

If you just want the binaries without the plugin wrapper:

The camsnap executable includes its ffmpeg runtime on PATH, including when you invoke it directly from the Nix store.

inputs.nix-openclaw-tools.url = "github:openclaw/nix-openclaw-tools";

# Then use:
inputs.nix-openclaw-tools.packages.aarch64-darwin.camsnap
inputs.nix-openclaw-tools.packages.aarch64-darwin.discrawl
inputs.nix-openclaw-tools.packages.aarch64-darwin.peekaboo
inputs.nix-openclaw-tools.packages.aarch64-darwin.wacrawl
# etc.

# Linux examples:
inputs.nix-openclaw-tools.packages.x86_64-linux.camsnap
inputs.nix-openclaw-tools.packages.x86_64-linux.discrawl
inputs.nix-openclaw-tools.packages.aarch64-linux.gogcli
inputs.nix-openclaw-tools.packages.x86_64-linux.summarize
inputs.nix-openclaw-tools.packages.x86_64-linux.wacrawl

Skills syncing

Nine skills track openclaw/openclaw main. The wacrawl skill tracks openclaw/wacrawl main. QMD and poltergeist skills are maintained in this repository.

go run ./cmd/sync-skills

Pulls latest main via sparse checkout, only updates files when contents actually change. The upstream paths are listed in cmd/sync-skills/main.go; edit upstream for changes to vendored skills.

Missing upstream skills retain their existing local copy and fail the sync so path moves are visible in CI. Temporary clones are removed on success, failure, and interruption.

Tool updates

Tools track upstream GitHub releases directly (not Homebrew).

go run ./cmd/update-tools

Fetches latest release versions/URLs/hashes and updates the Nix expressions. Asset patterns match complete filenames, excluding checksum/signature sidecars and prefixed variants of the expected archives.

Each package update is committed only after all of its source fields and hashes are ready. A failed update leaves that package unchanged; other tools still get checked. Automation publishes the successful updates while keeping the run red for any failures. Interrupting the command stops further updates.

GitHub requests time out after 30 seconds waiting for response headers. Once a response starts, slow bodies can finish without a whole-request deadline.

QMD is source-packaged because upstream does not publish release assets. Keep it fresh through the same maintainer automation path, but do not make its smoke check pull embedding/reranking models; model prewarming belongs in nix-openclaw.

CI

Automation commits directly when versions or skills change. The two maintenance workflows share a concurrency group so their pushes do not overlap. They use Go 1.27.1; CI also tests Go 1.22.12, preserving the module’s Go 1.22 minimum.

All plugin flakes follow the root nixpkgs input. After updating the root lock, refresh the plugin locks with nix flake update --flake ./tools/ for each tool. CI validates all twelve committed plugin locks without updating them.

License

Tools are packaged as-is from upstream. See individual tool repos for their licenses.

Nix packaging: MIT

Maintenance deadlines

sync-skills --git-timeout=5m bounds each Git command. update-tools --prefetch-timeout=10m --build-timeout=45m bounds each Nix prefetch and summarize build. These are the defaults; increase them for slow builders or use 0 to leave a command unlimited. On Linux and macOS, deadline expiry, Ctrl-C, and SIGTERM terminate the command’s process group, including helpers that retain output pipes. Cancelling a summarize build restores its package expression and does not start the cross-platform fallback.