Talk to OpenClaw from your terminal with openclaw-cli, or run it as an MCP server with openclaw-cli mcp.
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/TimoBechtel/openclaw-cli/main/install.sh | bashThis repo ships a skill at skills/openclaw-cli/SKILL.md so agents can call the CLI directly.
Install it with:
npx skills add TimoBechtel/openclaw-cli --skill openclaw-cliopenclaw-cli ask "Is there anything on my calendar for today?" # one-off question
openclaw-cli ask "Let's cancel this appointment and block 1h this afternoon for a coding session." --session-key "<session-key>" # continue same conversation
openclaw-cli ask "Send me a rain report for tomorrow on Telegram." --json # script-friendly JSON object: { response, sessionKey }
openclaw-cli ask "What should I do next?" --context=none # opt out of auto context injection
cat prompt.txt | openclaw-cli ask "Create a skill from this" # combine message argument + piped content
cat prompt.txt | openclaw-cli ask # stdin-only input also works
openclaw-cli mcp # run as an MCP server over stdioWhen omitted, --session-key is auto-generated.
Example MCP config for Cursor (~/.cursor/mcp.json):
{
"mcpServers": {
"openclaw": {
"command": "openclaw-cli",
"args": ["mcp"],
"env": {
"OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_TOKEN": "your-token-here"
}
}
}
}| Variable | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
OPENCLAW_BASE_URL |
OpenClaw Gateway URL | http://127.0.0.1:18789 |
OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_TOKEN |
Bearer token for auth | - |
OPENCLAW_AGENT_ID |
Target agent ID | main |
OPENCLAW_SESSION_KEY_PREFIX |
Prefix for generated session keys | - |
OPENCLAW_ALIAS |
Alias in MCP tool description | OpenClaw |
Enable OpenResponses in your OpenClaw config:
{ gateway: { http: { endpoints: { responses: { enabled: true } } } } }Do not expose your OpenClaw Gateway to the public internet. Use Tailscale for remote access.
You need Bun.
bun install
bun run build:all