openclaw-autoupdate

What This Skill Does

The openclaw-autoupdate skill provides a secure, automated mechanism to keep your OpenClaw Gateway instance running on the latest version. Designed to minimize downtime and eliminate the need for manual maintenance, this skill orchestrates the entire lifecycle of an update: it checks for updates, verifies the current system status, performs a graceful shutdown of the Gateway, executes the npm-based package update, restarts the service, and verifies the health of the system post-update. By centralizing this process within a dedicated skill, OpenClaw users can ensure their environment is always patched with the latest features and security fixes without needing to manually run CLI commands.

Installation

To integrate this skill into your environment, use the OpenClaw Hub command: clawhub install openclaw/skills/skills/jimmieting/openclaw-autoupdate Ensure your system has the necessary permissions to execute global npm installations, as the skill leverages the standard npm ecosystem to fetch and install the latest OpenClaw distribution package.

Use Cases

This skill is ideal for headless environments, edge computing nodes, or developers who prefer a hands-off approach to software maintenance. It is particularly useful for automated maintenance routines where you want to schedule weekly updates during low-traffic windows. It acts as a safety layer to prevent version drift across multiple OpenClaw agent deployments.

Example Prompts

1. "OpenClaw, please run the silent update script to ensure I'm on the latest version."
2. "Update my OpenClaw Gateway to the newest available release automatically."
3. "Check if there is an update for OpenClaw and perform the auto-update process if needed."

Tips & Limitations

• Verification: Always verify the script integrity using the provided SHA256 hash (eee24f574b4bf559e6e2c487f8bf180d2176c8c2e5f435b510b017415ee155c3) to ensure the source code has not been tampered with.
• Logs: If an update fails, check ~/.openclaw/logs/autoupdate.log for detailed error messages, as this file captures all stdout and stderr during the execution phase.
• False Positives: Note that security software might flag the npm installation process as suspicious. This is a known, safe behavioral characteristic of this skill; it only interacts with the official OpenClaw repository and does not download or execute untrusted third-party code. Ensure your system's network configuration allows outbound connections to the npm registry for updates to complete successfully.