---

name: scaffold description: > Generate boilerplate SKILL.md files for new OpenClaw skills and personas. USE WHEN: the user says "scaffold a new skill", "create a new persona", "generate a skill skeleton", "scaffold a skill like [name]", or "show me what a blank skill looks like". DON'T USE WHEN: the user wants to edit an existing skill, release or publish a skill (use release-workflow), or verify skill authenticity (use provenance-verifier). OUTPUTS: a new skills/[name]/ directory containing a SKILL.md (and STUB.md for paid products) with all required sections populated with contextual placeholders ready to fill in.

Scaffold

Version: 1.1.0 Price: Free Type: Skill

Description

Boilerplate generator for new OpenClaw skills and personas. Instead of copying an existing SKILL.md and deleting half of it, Scaffold asks you four questions — type, name, role, and price tier — and generates a complete, conformance-ready starting point with the right sections, frontmatter structure, guardrails block, and directory layout.

Every template follows the exact conventions used by published Claw Mart listings. Start writing the interesting parts immediately instead of fighting with format.

Prerequisites

None. No API key required. No network access. Works on any OpenClaw installation.

Setup

1. Copy SKILL.md into your OpenClaw skills directory (e.g. skills/scaffold/SKILL.md)
2. Reload OpenClaw
3. Confirm the skill is active with: "Is Scaffold loaded?"

Commands

Create

• "Scaffold a new skill"
• "Scaffold a new persona"
• "Create a new skill called [name]"
• "Generate a persona skeleton for [name]"

From Template

• "Scaffold a skill like [existing-skill-name]"
• "Use [existing-skill] as a template for a new skill"

Inspect Output

• "Show me what a blank skill looks like"
• "Preview the persona stub template"

Workflow

New Skill

1. Ask: Name

   • Prompt: "What's the skill name?" (e.g. daily-briefing)
   • Validate: lowercase, hyphen-separated, no spaces or special characters
   • Derive the H1 title: daily-briefing becomes Daily Briefing

2. Ask: Description

   • Prompt: "What does this skill do? One or two sentences."
   • This becomes both the frontmatter description opening line and the ## Description body

3. Ask: Price

   • Prompt: "Free or paid? If paid, what price?" ($9 / $14 / $19 are the standard tiers)
   • Free skills get the full template with all sections
   • Paid skills get the full template locally, plus a separate stub file for the public listing

4. Ask: Prerequisites

   • Prompt: "Does this skill need any API keys, environment variables, or external tools?"
   • If none: populate with "None. No API key required."
   • If yes: list them in the Prerequisites section

5. Generate

   • Create the directory: skills/[name]/
   • Write skills/[name]/SKILL.md using the Skill Template (see below)
   • Populate frontmatter: name, description (with USE WHEN / DON'T USE WHEN / OUTPUTS placeholders), version: 1.1.0, author, tags, price
   • Populate body sections with contextual placeholders based on the description
   • If paid: also generate skills/[name]/STUB.md using the Persona Stub Template

6. Report

   • Show the generated file path(s)
   • Show a summary of what was created
   • Suggest next steps: "Fill in the Workflow section, then run conformance check"

New Persona

1. Ask: Name

   • Same validation as skill: lowercase, hyphen-separated
   • Derive the H1 title

2. Ask: Role

   • Prompt: "What role does this persona play? One sentence."
   • Format: [Title] — [what it does] (e.g. Security Operations Engineer — reviews code for exploitable vulnerabilities)

3. Ask: Price

   • Prompt: "What price tier?" ($9 / $14 / $19)
   • Personas are always paid — if user says "free", confirm: "Personas on Claw Mart are typically paid. Proceed as free, or switch to a skill?"

4. Ask: Capabilities

   • Prompt: "List 3-5 core capabilities this persona should have."
   • These seed the Commands and Workflow sections

5. Generate

   • Create the directory: skills/[name]/
   • Write skills/[name]/SKILL.md with the full persona content (private — not published to the repo)
   • Write skills/[name]/STUB.md using the Persona Stub Template (this is what goes in the public listing)
   • Populate frontmatter, role description, commands, workflow, and guardrails

6. Report

   • Show both generated file paths
   • Explain: "SKILL.md is your full persona. STUB.md is the public listing preview."
   • Suggest next steps: "Flesh out the Workflow section, then run conformance check"

From Template

1. Identify source

   • Accept a skill name or path: "Scaffold a skill like skill-inspector"
   • Read the source SKILL.md

2. Ask: New name and description

   • Same name validation as above
   • New description is required — never copy the source description verbatim

3. Generate

   • Copy the source structure (sections, frontmatter shape, guardrails pattern)
   • Replace all source-specific content with placeholders
   • Preserve the section ordering and formatting conventions from the source
   • Update frontmatter: new name, new description, version: 1.1.0

4. Report

   • Show what was borrowed from the template vs. what needs to be filled in
   • Highlight any sections that still contain placeholder text

Generated Structure

Free Skill

skills/daily-briefing/
  SKILL.md          # Full skill — ready to fill in and publish

Paid Persona

skills/sentinel/
  SKILL.md          # Full persona content (private — your working copy)
  STUB.md           # Public listing stub (this goes in the repo)

Templates

Skill Template

The generated SKILL.md for a free skill follows this exact structure:

---
name: {skill-name}
description: >
  {One-line description of what the skill does.}
  USE WHEN: {When the agent should invoke this skill — trigger phrases and conditions.}
  DON'T USE WHEN: {What this skill is NOT for — anti-triggers to prevent mis-routing.}
  OUTPUTS: {What the skill produces — reports, files, status updates, etc.}
version: 1.1.0
author: {YourName}
tags: [{tag1}, {tag2}, {tag3}]
price: 0
---

# {Skill Name}

**Version:** 1.1.0
**Price:** Free
**Type:** Skill

## Description

{2-3 sentences — what it does, why it exists, the value proposition.}

{One sentence on the approach or key constraint — e.g. "No external calls. Fully offline."}

## Prerequisites

{List any API keys, env vars, or tools required. If none: "None. No API key required."}

## Setup

1. Copy `SKILL.md` into your OpenClaw skills directory (e.g. `skills/{skill-name}/SKILL.md`)
2. Reload OpenClaw
3. Confirm the skill is active with: "Is {Skill Name} loaded?"

## Commands

- "{Natural language trigger phrase 1}"
- "{Natural language trigger phrase 2}"
- "{Natural language trigger phrase 3}"
- "{Natural language trigger phrase 4}"
- "{Natural language trigger phrase 5}"

## Workflow

### {Primary Flow}

1. {Step one}
2. {Step two}
3. {Step three}
4. {Step four}

### {Secondary Flow}

1. {Step one}
2. {Step two}
3. {Step three}

## Output Format

```
{Example output that the skill produces}
```

## Guardrails

- {Rule 1 — what the skill must never do}
- {Rule 2 — data safety constraint}
- {Rule 3 — confirmation requirement}
- {Rule 4 — scope boundary}
- {Rule 5 — audit or logging rule}

Persona Stub Template

The public-facing stub for a paid persona:

# {Persona Name}

**Version:** 1.1.0
**Price:** ${price}
**Type:** Persona

## Role

{Role Title} — {one sentence describing what this persona does, in active voice.}

---

This is a paid persona. The full SKILL.md is available on Claw Mart.

**Purchase:** https://www.shopclawmart.com/listings/{slug}

Full Persona Template (Private)

The working SKILL.md for a paid persona (not published to the repo):

---
name: {persona-name}
description: >
  {One-line description of the persona's role.}
  USE WHEN: {When this persona should be invoked.}
  DON'T USE WHEN: {What this persona does NOT handle.}
  OUTPUTS: {What the persona produces.}
version: 1.1.0
author: {YourName}
tags: [{tag1}, {tag2}, {tag3}]
price: {9|14|19}
---

# {Persona Name}

**Version:** 1.1.0
**Price:** ${price}
**Type:** Persona

## Role

{Role Title} — {what this persona does, in active voice.}

## Capabilities

- {Capability 1}
- {Capability 2}
- {Capability 3}
- {Capability 4}
- {Capability 5}

## Commands

- "{Trigger phrase 1}"
- "{Trigger phrase 2}"
- "{Trigger phrase 3}"
- "{Trigger phrase 4}"
- "{Trigger phrase 5}"

## Workflow

### {Primary Workflow}

1. {Step one}
2. {Step two}
3. {Step three}

### {Secondary Workflow}

1. {Step one}
2. {Step two}
3. {Step three}

## Output Format

```
{Example output}
```

## Guardrails

- {Rule 1}
- {Rule 2}
- {Rule 3}
- {Rule 4}
- {Rule 5}

Guardrails

• Never overwrites existing files. If skills/[name]/SKILL.md already exists, stop and report the conflict. Offer to pick a different name or confirm the overwrite explicitly.
• Never generates outside the skills directory. All output goes to skills/[name]/. No writes to parent directories, home directories, or system paths.
• Never copies secrets or credentials. When using an existing skill as a template, strip any API keys, tokens, or environment variable values. Keep the variable names as placeholders.
• Never publishes. Scaffold generates files locally. It does not call any API, upload anything, or interact with Claw Mart. Publishing is a separate step.
• Never fills in Workflow steps with fabricated logic. Placeholder text is clearly marked with {curly braces}. The user writes the actual workflow — Scaffold only provides the structure.
• Validates names before generating. Rejects names that don't conform to the OpenClaw slug format (lowercase, hyphen-separated, no spaces or special characters).
• Self-consistent output. The frontmatter name always matches the directory name. The H1 title always matches the derived human-readable name. Version always starts at 1.0.0.

Why Free?

The hardest part of publishing a skill should be writing the logic, not remembering which sections go where. Scaffold removes the blank-page problem so more creators ship to Claw Mart.