openclaw/docs/plugins/manifest.md

summary, read_when, title

summary	read_when	title
Plugin manifest + JSON schema requirements (strict config validation)	You are building an OpenClaw plugin You need to ship a plugin config schema or debug plugin validation errors	Plugin manifest

This page is for the native OpenClaw plugin manifest only.

For compatible bundle layouts, see Plugin bundles.

Compatible bundle formats use different manifest files:

• Codex bundle: .codex-plugin/plugin.json
• Claude bundle: .claude-plugin/plugin.json or the default Claude component layout without a manifest
• Cursor bundle: .cursor-plugin/plugin.json

OpenClaw auto-detects those bundle layouts too, but they are not validated against the openclaw.plugin.json schema described here.

For compatible bundles, OpenClaw currently reads bundle metadata plus declared skill roots, Claude command roots, Claude bundle settings.json defaults, Claude bundle LSP defaults, and supported hook packs when the layout matches OpenClaw runtime expectations.

Every native OpenClaw plugin must ship a openclaw.plugin.json file in the plugin root. OpenClaw uses this manifest to validate configuration without executing plugin code. Missing or invalid manifests are treated as plugin errors and block config validation.

See the full plugin system guide: Plugins. For the native capability model and current external-compatibility guidance: Capability model.

What this file does

openclaw.plugin.json is the metadata OpenClaw reads before it loads your plugin code. Everything below must be cheap enough to inspect without booting plugin runtime.

Use it for:

• plugin identity, config validation, and config UI hints
• auth, onboarding, and setup metadata (alias, auto-enable, provider env vars, auth choices)
• activation hints for control-plane surfaces
• shorthand model-family ownership
• static capability-ownership snapshots (contracts)
• QA runner metadata the shared openclaw qa host can inspect
• channel-specific config metadata merged into catalog and validation surfaces

Do not use it for: registering runtime behavior, declaring code entrypoints, or npm install metadata. Those belong in your plugin code and package.json.

Minimal example

{
  "id": "voice-call",
  "configSchema": {
    "type": "object",
    "additionalProperties": false,
    "properties": {}
  }
}

Rich example

{
  "id": "openrouter",
  "name": "OpenRouter",
  "description": "OpenRouter provider plugin",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "providers": ["openrouter"],
  "modelSupport": {
    "modelPrefixes": ["router-"]
  },
  "providerEndpoints": [
    {
      "endpointClass": "xai-native",
      "hosts": ["api.x.ai"]
    }
  ],
  "cliBackends": ["openrouter-cli"],
  "syntheticAuthRefs": ["openrouter-cli"],
  "providerAuthEnvVars": {
    "openrouter": ["OPENROUTER_API_KEY"]
  },
  "providerAuthAliases": {
    "openrouter-coding": "openrouter"
  },
  "channelEnvVars": {
    "openrouter-chatops": ["OPENROUTER_CHATOPS_TOKEN"]
  },
  "providerAuthChoices": [
    {
      "provider": "openrouter",
      "method": "api-key",
      "choiceId": "openrouter-api-key",
      "choiceLabel": "OpenRouter API key",
      "groupId": "openrouter",
      "groupLabel": "OpenRouter",
      "optionKey": "openrouterApiKey",
      "cliFlag": "--openrouter-api-key",
      "cliOption": "--openrouter-api-key <key>",
      "cliDescription": "OpenRouter API key",
      "onboardingScopes": ["text-inference"]
    }
  ],
  "uiHints": {
    "apiKey": {
      "label": "API key",
      "placeholder": "sk-or-v1-...",
      "sensitive": true
    }
  },
  "configSchema": {
    "type": "object",
    "additionalProperties": false,
    "properties": {
      "apiKey": {
        "type": "string"
      }
    }
  }
}

Top-level field reference

Field	Required	Type	What it means
id	Yes	string	Canonical plugin id. This is the id used in plugins.entries.<id>.
configSchema	Yes	object	Inline JSON Schema for this plugin's config.
enabledByDefault	No	true	Marks a bundled plugin as enabled by default. Omit it, or set any non-true value, to leave the plugin disabled by default.
legacyPluginIds	No	string[]	Legacy ids that normalize to this canonical plugin id.
autoEnableWhenConfiguredProviders	No	string[]	Provider ids that should auto-enable this plugin when auth, config, or model refs mention them.
kind	No	"memory" | "context-engine"	Declares an exclusive plugin kind used by plugins.slots.*.
channels	No	string[]	Channel ids owned by this plugin. Used for discovery and config validation.
providers	No	string[]	Provider ids owned by this plugin.
providerDiscoveryEntry	No	string	Lightweight provider-discovery module path, relative to the plugin root, for manifest-scoped provider catalog metadata that can be loaded without activating the full plugin runtime.
modelSupport	No	object	Manifest-owned shorthand model-family metadata used to auto-load the plugin before runtime.
modelCatalog	No	object	Declarative model catalog metadata for providers owned by this plugin. This is the control-plane contract for future read-only listing, onboarding, model pickers, aliases, and suppression without loading plugin runtime.
providerEndpoints	No	object[]	Manifest-owned endpoint host/baseUrl metadata for provider routes that core must classify before provider runtime loads.
cliBackends	No	string[]	CLI inference backend ids owned by this plugin. Used for startup auto-activation from explicit config refs.
syntheticAuthRefs	No	string[]	Provider or CLI backend refs whose plugin-owned synthetic auth hook should be probed during cold model discovery before runtime loads.
nonSecretAuthMarkers	No	string[]	Bundled-plugin-owned placeholder API key values that represent non-secret local, OAuth, or ambient credential state.
commandAliases	No	object[]	Command names owned by this plugin that should produce plugin-aware config and CLI diagnostics before runtime loads.
providerAuthEnvVars	No	Record<string, string[]>	Deprecated compatibility env metadata for provider auth/status lookup. Prefer setup.providers[].envVars for new plugins; OpenClaw still reads this during the deprecation window.
providerAuthAliases	No	Record<string, string>	Provider ids that should reuse another provider id for auth lookup, for example a coding provider that shares the base provider API key and auth profiles.
channelEnvVars	No	Record<string, string[]>	Cheap channel env metadata that OpenClaw can inspect without loading plugin code. Use this for env-driven channel setup or auth surfaces that generic startup/config helpers should see.
providerAuthChoices	No	object[]	Cheap auth-choice metadata for onboarding pickers, preferred-provider resolution, and simple CLI flag wiring.
activation	No	object	Cheap activation planner metadata for provider, command, channel, route, and capability-triggered loading. Metadata only; plugin runtime still owns actual behavior.
setup	No	object	Cheap setup/onboarding descriptors that discovery and setup surfaces can inspect without loading plugin runtime.
qaRunners	No	object[]	Cheap QA runner descriptors used by the shared openclaw qa host before plugin runtime loads.
contracts	No	object	Static bundled capability snapshot for external auth hooks, speech, realtime transcription, realtime voice, media-understanding, image-generation, music-generation, video-generation, web-fetch, web search, and tool ownership.
mediaUnderstandingProviderMetadata	No	Record<string, object>	Cheap media-understanding defaults for provider ids declared in contracts.mediaUnderstandingProviders.
channelConfigs	No	Record<string, object>	Manifest-owned channel config metadata merged into discovery and validation surfaces before runtime loads.
skills	No	string[]	Skill directories to load, relative to the plugin root.
name	No	string	Human-readable plugin name.
description	No	string	Short summary shown in plugin surfaces.
version	No	string	Informational plugin version.
uiHints	No	Record<string, object>	UI labels, placeholders, and sensitivity hints for config fields.

providerAuthChoices reference

Each providerAuthChoices entry describes one onboarding or auth choice. OpenClaw reads this before provider runtime loads. Provider setup lists use these manifest choices, descriptor-derived setup choices, and install-catalog metadata without loading provider runtime.

Field	Required	Type	What it means
provider	Yes	string	Provider id this choice belongs to.
method	Yes	string	Auth method id to dispatch to.
choiceId	Yes	string	Stable auth-choice id used by onboarding and CLI flows.
choiceLabel	No	string	User-facing label. If omitted, OpenClaw falls back to choiceId.
choiceHint	No	string	Short helper text for the picker.
assistantPriority	No	number	Lower values sort earlier in assistant-driven interactive pickers.
assistantVisibility	No	"visible" | "manual-only"	Hide the choice from assistant pickers while still allowing manual CLI selection.
deprecatedChoiceIds	No	string[]	Legacy choice ids that should redirect users to this replacement choice.
groupId	No	string	Optional group id for grouping related choices.
groupLabel	No	string	User-facing label for that group.
groupHint	No	string	Short helper text for the group.
optionKey	No	string	Internal option key for simple one-flag auth flows.
cliFlag	No	string	CLI flag name, such as --openrouter-api-key.
cliOption	No	string	Full CLI option shape, such as --openrouter-api-key <key>.
cliDescription	No	string	Description used in CLI help.
onboardingScopes	No	Array<"text-inference" | "image-generation">	Which onboarding surfaces this choice should appear in. If omitted, it defaults to ["text-inference"].

commandAliases reference

Use commandAliases when a plugin owns a runtime command name that users may mistakenly put in plugins.allow or try to run as a root CLI command. OpenClaw uses this metadata for diagnostics without importing plugin runtime code.

{
  "commandAliases": [
    {
      "name": "dreaming",
      "kind": "runtime-slash",
      "cliCommand": "memory"
    }
  ]
}

Field	Required	Type	What it means
name	Yes	string	Command name that belongs to this plugin.
kind	No	"runtime-slash"	Marks the alias as a chat slash command rather than a root CLI command.
cliCommand	No	string	Related root CLI command to suggest for CLI operations, if one exists.

activation reference

Use activation when the plugin can cheaply declare which control-plane events should include it in an activation/load plan.

This block is planner metadata, not a lifecycle API. It does not register runtime behavior, does not replace register(...), and does not promise that plugin code has already executed. The activation planner uses these fields to narrow candidate plugins before falling back to existing manifest ownership metadata such as providers, channels, commandAliases, setup.providers, contracts.tools, and hooks.

Prefer the narrowest metadata that already describes ownership. Use providers, channels, commandAliases, setup descriptors, or contracts when those fields express the relationship. Use activation for extra planner hints that cannot be represented by those ownership fields. Use top-level cliBackends for CLI runtime aliases such as claude-cli, codex-cli, or google-gemini-cli; activation.onAgentHarnesses is only for embedded agent harness ids that do not already have an ownership field.

This block is metadata only. It does not register runtime behavior, and it does not replace register(...), setupEntry, or other runtime/plugin entrypoints. Current consumers use it as a narrowing hint before broader plugin loading, so missing activation metadata usually only costs performance; it should not change correctness while legacy manifest ownership fallbacks still exist.

{
  "activation": {
    "onProviders": ["openai"],
    "onCommands": ["models"],
    "onChannels": ["web"],
    "onRoutes": ["gateway-webhook"],
    "onCapabilities": ["provider", "tool"]
  }
}

Field	Required	Type	What it means
onProviders	No	string[]	Provider ids that should include this plugin in activation/load plans.
onAgentHarnesses	No	string[]	Embedded agent harness runtime ids that should include this plugin in activation/load plans. Use top-level cliBackends for CLI backend aliases.
onCommands	No	string[]	Command ids that should include this plugin in activation/load plans.
onChannels	No	string[]	Channel ids that should include this plugin in activation/load plans.
onRoutes	No	string[]	Route kinds that should include this plugin in activation/load plans.
onCapabilities	No	Array<"provider" | "channel" | "tool" | "hook">	Broad capability hints used by control-plane activation planning. Prefer narrower fields when possible.

Current live consumers:

• command-triggered CLI planning falls back to legacy commandAliases[].cliCommand or commandAliases[].name
• agent-runtime startup planning uses activation.onAgentHarnesses for embedded harnesses and top-level cliBackends[] for CLI runtime aliases
• channel-triggered setup/channel planning falls back to legacy channels[] ownership when explicit channel activation metadata is missing
• provider-triggered setup/runtime planning falls back to legacy providers[] and top-level cliBackends[] ownership when explicit provider activation metadata is missing

Planner diagnostics can distinguish explicit activation hints from manifest ownership fallback. For example, activation-command-hint means activation.onCommands matched, while manifest-command-alias means the planner used commandAliases ownership instead. These reason labels are for host diagnostics and tests; plugin authors should keep declaring the metadata that best describes ownership.

qaRunners reference

Use qaRunners when a plugin contributes one or more transport runners beneath the shared openclaw qa root. Keep this metadata cheap and static; the plugin runtime still owns actual CLI registration through a lightweight runtime-api.ts surface that exports qaRunnerCliRegistrations.

{
  "qaRunners": [
    {
      "commandName": "matrix",
      "description": "Run the Docker-backed Matrix live QA lane against a disposable homeserver"
    }
  ]
}

Field	Required	Type	What it means
commandName	Yes	string	Subcommand mounted beneath openclaw qa, for example matrix.
description	No	string	Fallback help text used when the shared host needs a stub command.

setup reference

Use setup when setup and onboarding surfaces need cheap plugin-owned metadata before runtime loads.

{
  "setup": {
    "providers": [
      {
        "id": "openai",
        "authMethods": ["api-key"],
        "envVars": ["OPENAI_API_KEY"]
      }
    ],
    "cliBackends": ["openai-cli"],
    "configMigrations": ["legacy-openai-auth"],
    "requiresRuntime": false
  }
}

Top-level cliBackends stays valid and continues to describe CLI inference backends. setup.cliBackends is the setup-specific descriptor surface for control-plane/setup flows that should stay metadata-only.

When present, setup.providers and setup.cliBackends are the preferred descriptor-first lookup surface for setup discovery. If the descriptor only narrows the candidate plugin and setup still needs richer setup-time runtime hooks, set requiresRuntime: true and keep setup-api in place as the fallback execution path.

OpenClaw also includes setup.providers[].envVars in generic provider auth and env-var lookups. providerAuthEnvVars remains supported through a compatibility adapter during the deprecation window, but non-bundled plugins that still use it receive a manifest diagnostic. New plugins should put setup/status env metadata on setup.providers[].envVars.

OpenClaw can also derive simple setup choices from setup.providers[].authMethods when no setup entry is available, or when setup.requiresRuntime: false declares setup runtime unnecessary. Explicit providerAuthChoices entries stay preferred for custom labels, CLI flags, onboarding scope, and assistant metadata.

Set requiresRuntime: false only when those descriptors are sufficient for the setup surface. OpenClaw treats explicit false as a descriptor-only contract and will not execute setup-api or openclaw.setupEntry for setup lookup. If a descriptor-only plugin still ships one of those setup runtime entries, OpenClaw reports an additive diagnostic and continues ignoring it. Omitted requiresRuntime keeps legacy fallback behavior so existing plugins that added descriptors without the flag do not break.

Because setup lookup can execute plugin-owned setup-api code, normalized setup.providers[].id and setup.cliBackends[] values must stay unique across discovered plugins. Ambiguous ownership fails closed instead of picking a winner from discovery order.

When setup runtime does execute, setup registry diagnostics report descriptor drift if setup-api registers a provider or CLI backend that the manifest descriptors do not declare, or if a descriptor has no matching runtime registration. These diagnostics are additive and do not reject legacy plugins.

setup.providers reference

Field	Required	Type	What it means
id	Yes	string	Provider id exposed during setup or onboarding. Keep normalized ids globally unique.
authMethods	No	string[]	Setup/auth method ids this provider supports without loading full runtime.
envVars	No	string[]	Env vars that generic setup/status surfaces can check before plugin runtime loads.

setup fields

Field	Required	Type	What it means
providers	No	object[]	Provider setup descriptors exposed during setup and onboarding.
cliBackends	No	string[]	Setup-time backend ids used for descriptor-first setup lookup. Keep normalized ids globally unique.
configMigrations	No	string[]	Config migration ids owned by this plugin's setup surface.
requiresRuntime	No	boolean	Whether setup still needs setup-api execution after descriptor lookup.

uiHints reference

uiHints is a map from config field names to small rendering hints.

{
  "uiHints": {
    "apiKey": {
      "label": "API key",
      "help": "Used for OpenRouter requests",
      "placeholder": "sk-or-v1-...",
      "sensitive": true
    }
  }
}

Each field hint can include:

Field	Type	What it means
label	string	User-facing field label.
help	string	Short helper text.
tags	string[]	Optional UI tags.
advanced	boolean	Marks the field as advanced.
sensitive	boolean	Marks the field as secret or sensitive.
placeholder	string	Placeholder text for form inputs.

contracts reference

Use contracts only for static capability ownership metadata that OpenClaw can read without importing the plugin runtime.

{
  "contracts": {
    "agentToolResultMiddleware": ["pi", "codex"],
    "externalAuthProviders": ["acme-ai"],
    "speechProviders": ["openai"],
    "realtimeTranscriptionProviders": ["openai"],
    "realtimeVoiceProviders": ["openai"],
    "memoryEmbeddingProviders": ["local"],
    "mediaUnderstandingProviders": ["openai", "openai-codex"],
    "imageGenerationProviders": ["openai"],
    "videoGenerationProviders": ["qwen"],
    "webFetchProviders": ["firecrawl"],
    "webSearchProviders": ["gemini"],
    "tools": ["firecrawl_search", "firecrawl_scrape"]
  }
}

Each list is optional:

Field	Type	What it means
embeddedExtensionFactories	string[]	Codex app-server extension factory ids, currently codex-app-server.
agentToolResultMiddleware	string[]	Runtime ids a bundled plugin may register tool-result middleware for.
externalAuthProviders	string[]	Provider ids whose external auth profile hook this plugin owns.
speechProviders	string[]	Speech provider ids this plugin owns.
realtimeTranscriptionProviders	string[]	Realtime-transcription provider ids this plugin owns.
realtimeVoiceProviders	string[]	Realtime-voice provider ids this plugin owns.
memoryEmbeddingProviders	string[]	Memory embedding provider ids this plugin owns.
mediaUnderstandingProviders	string[]	Media-understanding provider ids this plugin owns.
imageGenerationProviders	string[]	Image-generation provider ids this plugin owns.
videoGenerationProviders	string[]	Video-generation provider ids this plugin owns.
webFetchProviders	string[]	Web-fetch provider ids this plugin owns.
webSearchProviders	string[]	Web-search provider ids this plugin owns.
tools	string[]	Agent tool names this plugin owns for bundled contract checks.

contracts.embeddedExtensionFactories is retained for bundled Codex app-server-only extension factories. Bundled tool-result transforms should declare contracts.agentToolResultMiddleware and register with api.registerAgentToolResultMiddleware(...) instead. External plugins cannot register tool-result middleware because the seam can rewrite high-trust tool output before the model sees it.

Provider plugins that implement resolveExternalAuthProfiles should declare contracts.externalAuthProviders. Plugins without the declaration still run through a deprecated compatibility fallback, but that fallback is slower and will be removed after the migration window.

Bundled memory embedding providers should declare contracts.memoryEmbeddingProviders for every adapter id they expose, including built-in adapters such as local. Standalone CLI paths use this manifest contract to load only the owning plugin before the full Gateway runtime has registered providers.

mediaUnderstandingProviderMetadata reference

Use mediaUnderstandingProviderMetadata when a media-understanding provider has default models, auto-auth fallback priority, or native document support that generic core helpers need before runtime loads. Keys must also be declared in contracts.mediaUnderstandingProviders.

{
  "contracts": {
    "mediaUnderstandingProviders": ["example"]
  },
  "mediaUnderstandingProviderMetadata": {
    "example": {
      "capabilities": ["image", "audio"],
      "defaultModels": {
        "image": "example-vision-latest",
        "audio": "example-transcribe-latest"
      },
      "autoPriority": {
        "image": 40
      },
      "nativeDocumentInputs": ["pdf"]
    }
  }
}

Each provider entry can include:

Field	Type	What it means
capabilities	("image" | "audio" | "video")[]	Media capabilities exposed by this provider.
defaultModels	Record<string, string>	Capability-to-model defaults used when config does not specify a model.
autoPriority	Record<string, number>	Lower numbers sort earlier for automatic credential-based provider fallback.
nativeDocumentInputs	"pdf"[]	Native document inputs supported by the provider.

channelConfigs reference

Use channelConfigs when a channel plugin needs cheap config metadata before runtime loads. Read-only channel setup/status discovery can use this metadata directly for configured external channels when no setup entry is available, or when setup.requiresRuntime: false declares setup runtime unnecessary.

channelConfigs is plugin manifest metadata, not a new top-level user config section. Users still configure channel instances under channels.<channel-id>. OpenClaw reads manifest metadata to decide which plugin owns that configured channel before plugin runtime code executes.

For a channel plugin, configSchema and channelConfigs describe different paths:

• configSchema validates plugins.entries.<plugin-id>.config
• channelConfigs.<channel-id>.schema validates channels.<channel-id>

Non-bundled plugins that declare channels[] should also declare matching channelConfigs entries. Without them, OpenClaw can still load the plugin, but cold-path config schema, setup, and Control UI surfaces cannot know the channel-owned option shape until plugin runtime executes.

channelConfigs.<channel-id>.commands.nativeCommandsAutoEnabled and nativeSkillsAutoEnabled can declare static auto defaults for command config checks that run before channel runtime loads. Bundled channels can also publish the same defaults through package.json#openclaw.channel.commands alongside their other package-owned channel catalog metadata.

{
  "channelConfigs": {
    "matrix": {
      "schema": {
        "type": "object",
        "additionalProperties": false,
        "properties": {
          "homeserverUrl": { "type": "string" }
        }
      },
      "uiHints": {
        "homeserverUrl": {
          "label": "Homeserver URL",
          "placeholder": "https://matrix.example.com"
        }
      },
      "label": "Matrix",
      "description": "Matrix homeserver connection",
      "commands": {
        "nativeCommandsAutoEnabled": true,
        "nativeSkillsAutoEnabled": true
      },
      "preferOver": ["matrix-legacy"]
    }
  }
}

Each channel entry can include:

Field	Type	What it means
schema	object	JSON Schema for channels.<id>. Required for each declared channel config entry.
uiHints	Record<string, object>	Optional UI labels/placeholders/sensitive hints for that channel config section.
label	string	Channel label merged into picker and inspect surfaces when runtime metadata is not ready.
description	string	Short channel description for inspect and catalog surfaces.
commands	object	Static native command and native skill auto-defaults for pre-runtime config checks.
preferOver	string[]	Legacy or lower-priority plugin ids this channel should outrank in selection surfaces.

Replacing another channel plugin

Use preferOver when your plugin is the preferred owner for a channel id that another plugin can also provide. Common cases are a renamed plugin id, a standalone plugin that supersedes a bundled plugin, or a maintained fork that keeps the same channel id for config compatibility.

{
  "id": "acme-chat",
  "channels": ["chat"],
  "channelConfigs": {
    "chat": {
      "schema": {
        "type": "object",
        "additionalProperties": false,
        "properties": {
          "webhookUrl": { "type": "string" }
        }
      },
      "preferOver": ["chat"]
    }
  }
}

When channels.chat is configured, OpenClaw considers both the channel id and the preferred plugin id. If the lower-priority plugin was only selected because it is bundled or enabled by default, OpenClaw disables it in the effective runtime config so one plugin owns the channel and its tools. Explicit user selection still wins: if the user explicitly enables both plugins, OpenClaw preserves that choice and reports duplicate channel/tool diagnostics instead of silently changing the requested plugin set.

Keep preferOver scoped to plugin ids that can really provide the same channel. It is not a general priority field and it does not rename user config keys.

modelSupport reference

Use modelSupport when OpenClaw should infer your provider plugin from shorthand model ids like gpt-5.5 or claude-sonnet-4.6 before plugin runtime loads.

{
  "modelSupport": {
    "modelPrefixes": ["gpt-", "o1", "o3", "o4"],
    "modelPatterns": ["^computer-use-preview"]
  }
}

OpenClaw applies this precedence:

• explicit provider/model refs use the owning providers manifest metadata
• modelPatterns beat modelPrefixes
• if one non-bundled plugin and one bundled plugin both match, the non-bundled plugin wins
• remaining ambiguity is ignored until the user or config specifies a provider

Fields:

Field	Type	What it means
modelPrefixes	string[]	Prefixes matched with startsWith against shorthand model ids.
modelPatterns	string[]	Regex sources matched against shorthand model ids after profile suffix removal.

modelCatalog reference

Use modelCatalog when OpenClaw should know provider model metadata before loading plugin runtime. This is the manifest-owned source for fixed catalog rows, provider aliases, suppression rules, and discovery mode. Runtime refresh still belongs in provider runtime code, but the manifest tells core when runtime is required.

{
  "providers": ["openai"],
  "modelCatalog": {
    "providers": {
      "openai": {
        "baseUrl": "https://api.openai.com/v1",
        "api": "openai-responses",
        "models": [
          {
            "id": "gpt-5.4",
            "name": "GPT-5.4",
            "input": ["text", "image"],
            "reasoning": true,
            "contextWindow": 256000,
            "maxTokens": 128000,
            "cost": {
              "input": 1.25,
              "output": 10,
              "cacheRead": 0.125
            },
            "status": "available",
            "tags": ["default"]
          }
        ]
      }
    },
    "aliases": {
      "azure-openai-responses": {
        "provider": "openai",
        "api": "azure-openai-responses"
      }
    },
    "suppressions": [
      {
        "provider": "azure-openai-responses",
        "model": "gpt-5.3-codex-spark",
        "reason": "not available on Azure OpenAI Responses"
      }
    ],
    "discovery": {
      "openai": "static"
    }
  }
}

Top-level fields:

Field	Type	What it means
providers	Record<string, object>	Catalog rows for provider ids owned by this plugin. Keys should also appear in top-level providers.
aliases	Record<string, object>	Provider aliases that should resolve to an owned provider for catalog or suppression planning.
suppressions	object[]	Model rows from another source that this plugin suppresses for a provider-specific reason.
discovery	Record<string, "static" | "refreshable" | "runtime">	Whether the provider catalog can be read from manifest metadata, refreshed into cache, or requires runtime.

Provider fields:

Field	Type	What it means
baseUrl	string	Optional default base URL for models in this provider catalog.
api	ModelApi	Optional default API adapter for models in this provider catalog.
headers	Record<string, string>	Optional static headers that apply to this provider catalog.
models	object[]	Required model rows. Rows without an id are ignored.

Model fields:

Field	Type	What it means
id	string	Provider-local model id, without the provider/ prefix.
name	string	Optional display name.
api	ModelApi	Optional per-model API override.
baseUrl	string	Optional per-model base URL override.
headers	Record<string, string>	Optional per-model static headers.
input	Array<"text" | "image" | "document" | "audio" | "video">	Modalities the model accepts.
reasoning	boolean	Whether the model exposes reasoning behavior.
contextWindow	number	Native provider context window.
contextTokens	number	Optional effective runtime context cap when different from contextWindow.
maxTokens	number	Maximum output tokens when known.
cost	object	Optional USD per million token pricing, including optional tieredPricing.
compat	object	Optional compatibility flags matching OpenClaw model config compatibility.
status	"available" | "preview" | "deprecated" | "disabled"	Listing status. Suppress only when the row must not appear at all.
statusReason	string	Optional reason shown with non-available status.
replaces	string[]	Older provider-local model ids this model supersedes.
replacedBy	string	Replacement provider-local model id for deprecated rows.
tags	string[]	Stable tags used by pickers and filters.

Do not put runtime-only data in modelCatalog. If a provider needs account state, an API request, or local process discovery to know the complete model set, declare that provider as refreshable or runtime in discovery.

OpenClaw Provider Index

The OpenClaw Provider Index is OpenClaw-owned preview metadata for providers whose plugins may not be installed yet. It is not part of a plugin manifest. Plugin manifests remain the installed-plugin authority. The Provider Index is the internal fallback contract that future installable-provider and pre-install model picker surfaces will consume when a provider plugin is not installed.

Catalog authority order:

1. User config.
2. Installed plugin manifest modelCatalog.
3. Model catalog cache from explicit refresh.
4. OpenClaw Provider Index preview rows.

The Provider Index must not contain secrets, enabled state, runtime hooks, or live account-specific model data. Its preview catalogs use the same modelCatalog provider row shape as plugin manifests, but should stay limited to stable display metadata unless runtime adapter fields such as api, baseUrl, pricing, or compatibility flags are intentionally kept aligned with the installed plugin manifest. Providers with live /models discovery should write refreshed rows through the explicit model catalog cache path instead of making normal listing or onboarding call provider APIs.

Provider Index entries may also carry installable-plugin metadata for providers whose plugin has moved out of core or is otherwise not installed yet. This metadata mirrors the channel catalog pattern: package name, npm install spec, expected integrity, and cheap auth-choice labels are enough to show an installable setup option. Once the plugin is installed, its manifest wins and the Provider Index entry is ignored for that provider.

Legacy top-level capability keys are deprecated. Use openclaw doctor --fix to move speechProviders, realtimeTranscriptionProviders, realtimeVoiceProviders, mediaUnderstandingProviders, imageGenerationProviders, videoGenerationProviders, webFetchProviders, and webSearchProviders under contracts; normal manifest loading no longer treats those top-level fields as capability ownership.

Manifest versus package.json

The two files serve different jobs:

File	Use it for
openclaw.plugin.json	Discovery, config validation, auth-choice metadata, and UI hints that must exist before plugin code runs
package.json	npm metadata, dependency installation, and the openclaw block used for entrypoints, install gating, setup, or catalog metadata

If you are unsure where a piece of metadata belongs, use this rule:

• if OpenClaw must know it before loading plugin code, put it in openclaw.plugin.json
• if it is about packaging, entry files, or npm install behavior, put it in package.json

package.json fields that affect discovery

Some pre-runtime plugin metadata intentionally lives in package.json under the openclaw block instead of openclaw.plugin.json.

Important examples:

Field	What it means
openclaw.extensions	Declares native plugin entrypoints. Must stay inside the plugin package directory.
openclaw.runtimeExtensions	Declares built JavaScript runtime entrypoints for installed packages. Must stay inside the plugin package directory.
openclaw.setupEntry	Lightweight setup-only entrypoint used during onboarding, deferred channel startup, and read-only channel status/SecretRef discovery. Must stay inside the plugin package directory.
openclaw.runtimeSetupEntry	Declares the built JavaScript setup entrypoint for installed packages. Must stay inside the plugin package directory.
openclaw.channel	Cheap channel catalog metadata like labels, docs paths, aliases, and selection copy.
openclaw.channel.commands	Static native command and native skill auto-default metadata used by config, audit, and command-list surfaces before channel runtime loads.
openclaw.channel.configuredState	Lightweight configured-state checker metadata that can answer "does env-only setup already exist?" without loading the full channel runtime.
openclaw.channel.persistedAuthState	Lightweight persisted-auth checker metadata that can answer "is anything already signed in?" without loading the full channel runtime.
openclaw.install.npmSpec / openclaw.install.localPath	Install/update hints for bundled and externally published plugins.
openclaw.install.defaultChoice	Preferred install path when multiple install sources are available.
openclaw.install.minHostVersion	Minimum supported OpenClaw host version, using a semver floor like >=2026.3.22.
openclaw.install.expectedIntegrity	Expected npm dist integrity string such as sha512-...; install and update flows verify the fetched artifact against it.
openclaw.install.allowInvalidConfigRecovery	Allows a narrow bundled-plugin reinstall recovery path when config is invalid.
openclaw.startup.deferConfiguredChannelFullLoadUntilAfterListen	Lets setup-only channel surfaces load before the full channel plugin during startup.

Manifest metadata decides which provider/channel/setup choices appear in onboarding before runtime loads. package.json#openclaw.install tells onboarding how to fetch or enable that plugin when the user picks one of those choices. Do not move install hints into openclaw.plugin.json.

openclaw.install.minHostVersion is enforced during install and manifest registry loading. Invalid values are rejected; newer-but-valid values skip the plugin on older hosts.

Exact npm version pinning already lives in npmSpec, for example "npmSpec": "@wecom/wecom-openclaw-plugin@1.2.3". Official external catalog entries should pair exact specs with expectedIntegrity so update flows fail closed if the fetched npm artifact no longer matches the pinned release. Interactive onboarding still offers trusted registry npm specs, including bare package names and dist-tags, for compatibility. Catalog diagnostics can distinguish exact, floating, integrity-pinned, missing-integrity, package-name mismatch, and invalid default-choice sources. They also warn when expectedIntegrity is present but there is no valid npm source it can pin. When expectedIntegrity is present, install/update flows enforce it; when it is omitted, the registry resolution is recorded without an integrity pin.

Channel plugins should provide openclaw.setupEntry when status, channel list, or SecretRef scans need to identify configured accounts without loading the full runtime. The setup entry should expose channel metadata plus setup-safe config, status, and secrets adapters; keep network clients, gateway listeners, and transport runtimes in the main extension entrypoint.

Runtime entrypoint fields do not override package-boundary checks for source entrypoint fields. For example, openclaw.runtimeExtensions cannot make an escaping openclaw.extensions path loadable.

openclaw.install.allowInvalidConfigRecovery is intentionally narrow. It does not make arbitrary broken configs installable. Today it only allows install flows to recover from specific stale bundled-plugin upgrade failures, such as a missing bundled plugin path or a stale channels.<id> entry for that same bundled plugin. Unrelated config errors still block install and send operators to openclaw doctor --fix.

openclaw.channel.persistedAuthState is package metadata for a tiny checker module:

{
  "openclaw": {
    "channel": {
      "id": "whatsapp",
      "persistedAuthState": {
        "specifier": "./auth-presence",
        "exportName": "hasAnyWhatsAppAuth"
      }
    }
  }
}

Use it when setup, doctor, or configured-state flows need a cheap yes/no auth probe before the full channel plugin loads. The target export should be a small function that reads persisted state only; do not route it through the full channel runtime barrel.

openclaw.channel.configuredState follows the same shape for cheap env-only configured checks:

{
  "openclaw": {
    "channel": {
      "id": "telegram",
      "configuredState": {
        "specifier": "./configured-state",
        "exportName": "hasTelegramConfiguredState"
      }
    }
  }
}

Use it when a channel can answer configured-state from env or other tiny non-runtime inputs. If the check needs full config resolution or the real channel runtime, keep that logic in the plugin config.hasConfiguredState hook instead.

Discovery precedence (duplicate plugin ids)

OpenClaw discovers plugins from several roots (bundled, global install, workspace, explicit config-selected paths). If two discoveries share the same id, only the highest-precedence manifest is kept; lower-precedence duplicates are dropped instead of loading beside it.

Precedence, highest to lowest:

1. Config-selected — a path explicitly pinned in plugins.entries.<id>
2. Bundled — plugins shipped with OpenClaw
3. Global install — plugins installed into the global OpenClaw plugin root
4. Workspace — plugins discovered relative to the current workspace

Implications:

• A forked or stale copy of a bundled plugin sitting in the workspace will not shadow the bundled build.
• To actually override a bundled plugin with a local one, pin it via plugins.entries.<id> so it wins by precedence rather than relying on workspace discovery.
• Duplicate drops are logged so Doctor and startup diagnostics can point at the discarded copy.

JSON Schema requirements

• Every plugin must ship a JSON Schema, even if it accepts no config.
• An empty schema is acceptable (for example, { "type": "object", "additionalProperties": false }).
• Schemas are validated at config read/write time, not at runtime.

Validation behavior

• Unknown channels.* keys are errors, unless the channel id is declared by a plugin manifest.
• plugins.entries.<id>, plugins.allow, plugins.deny, and plugins.slots.* must reference discoverable plugin ids. Unknown ids are errors.
• If a plugin is installed but has a broken or missing manifest or schema, validation fails and Doctor reports the plugin error.
• If plugin config exists but the plugin is disabled, the config is kept and a warning is surfaced in Doctor + logs.

See Configuration reference for the full plugins.* schema.

Notes

• The manifest is required for native OpenClaw plugins, including local filesystem loads. Runtime still loads the plugin module separately; the manifest is only for discovery + validation.
• Native manifests are parsed with JSON5, so comments, trailing commas, and unquoted keys are accepted as long as the final value is still an object.
• Only documented manifest fields are read by the manifest loader. Avoid custom top-level keys.
• channels, providers, cliBackends, and skills can all be omitted when a plugin does not need them.
• providerDiscoveryEntry must stay lightweight and should not import broad runtime code; use it for static provider catalog metadata or narrow discovery descriptors, not request-time execution.
• Exclusive plugin kinds are selected through plugins.slots.*: kind: "memory" via plugins.slots.memory, kind: "context-engine" via plugins.slots.contextEngine (default legacy).
• Env-var metadata (setup.providers[].envVars, deprecated providerAuthEnvVars, and channelEnvVars) is declarative only. Status, audit, cron delivery validation, and other read-only surfaces still apply plugin trust and effective activation policy before treating an env var as configured.
• For runtime wizard metadata that requires provider code, see Provider runtime hooks.
• If your plugin depends on native modules, document the build steps and any package-manager allowlist requirements (for example, pnpm allow-build-scripts + pnpm rebuild <package>).

Related

Getting started with plugins. Internal architecture and capability model. Plugin SDK reference and subpath imports.