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Plugins are OpenClaw extensions that add persistent services, new commands, and autonomous capabilities to your agent. They complement skills by handling things that run continuously in the background.

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Skills vs plugins

SkillsPlugins
What they areTrading strategies (Python scripts + SKILL.md)Runtime extensions (TypeScript npm packages)
How they runOn a schedule (cron) or on-demandPersistent background services
Published toClawHubnpm
Installed viaclawhub install <slug>openclaw plugins install <name>
Examplepolymarket-weather-trader — runs every 15 min, checks NOAA, tradessimmer-autoresearch — continuously optimizes skill config in the background
Skills are stateless — they run, trade, exit. Plugins are stateful — they maintain connections, track state across cycles, and can inject context into your agent’s decision-making.

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Available plugins

PluginDescriptionStatus
simmer-autoresearchAutonomous skill optimization — mutates config, measures results, keeps what worksPro
simmer-reactorReal-time whale activity monitor and trade reactorComing soon

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Install a plugin

openclaw plugins install simmer-autoresearch

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Configure a plugin

Plugin config lives in your OpenClaw plugins.json. Each plugin defines its own config schema: 
{
  "simmer-autoresearch": {
    "maxExperiments": 50
  }
}
Environment variables (like SIMMER_API_KEY) are read from your agent’s environment automatically — you don’t need to duplicate them in plugin config.

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Requirements

  • OpenClaw agent runtime (plugins are OpenClaw extensions)
  • Simmer Pro plan for premium plugins (autoresearch, reactor)
  • simmer-sdk installed (pip install simmer-sdk) for plugins that trade