Summary

Remove the entire OpenClaw skills system and ClawHub integration. RemoteClaw uses a Bring Your Own Agent model — users provide skills via their chosen CLI agent's native skill system (e.g., ~/.claude/, Gemini skills, etc.). The bundled skills system, skill installation pipeline, ClawHub registry, and all supporting infrastructure are dead code.

Context

The skills system is deeply integrated across the codebase: ~73 bundled skill files, ~16 skill engine files, ~30+ skill-related implementation files outside the main directories, and ~25 KEEP/MODIFY files with skill imports that need cleanup. This is one of the largest gutting operations in M3.

Why now: All M2 dispatch wiring is complete. The 4 dispatch sites (auto-reply, cron, CLI command, voice-call) now route through ChannelBridge → CLI runtime. The old pi-embedded execution path that consumed skills is bypassed. Skills are never loaded, never executed, never served — they're dead weight.

What to Remove

Phase 1: Delete skill directories (bulk removal)

Delete skills/ directory (~73 files, ~54 subdirectories):
All bundled skill implementations (1password, apple-notes, bear-notes, canvas, clawhub, discord, gemini, github, himalaya, imsg, model-usage, notion, obsidian, openai-image-gen, openai-whisper, etc.).

rm -rf skills/

Delete src/agents/skills/ directory (~16 files):
The skill engine — workspace loading, bundled-dir resolution, config, env-overrides, filtering, frontmatter parsing, plugin-skills, refresh/watch, serialization, tools-dir, types.

rm -rf src/agents/skills/

Phase 2: Delete skill implementation files outside core directories

These files exist under src/ but are entirely skill-specific:

Root-level skill files in src/agents/ (delete entirely):

• src/agents/skills.ts — re-export hub for skills API
• src/agents/skills-install.ts — skill installation orchestration
• src/agents/skills-install-download.ts — downloads skills from registries
• src/agents/skills-install-output.ts — formats install output
• src/agents/skills-install-download-test-utils.ts
• src/agents/skills-install-fallback.test.ts
• src/agents/skills-install.test.ts
• src/agents/skills-install.test-mocks.ts
• src/agents/skills-status.ts — skill workspace status reporting
• src/agents/skills-status.test.ts
• src/agents/skills.test-helpers.ts
• src/agents/skills.e2e-test-helpers.ts
• All src/agents/skills.*.test.ts files

CLI skills commands (delete entirely):

• src/cli/skills-cli.ts — skill status CLI command handler
• src/cli/skills-cli.format.ts — output formatting + ClawHub hints
• src/cli/skills-cli.formatting.test.ts
• src/cli/skills-cli.test.ts

Skill onboarding (delete entirely):

• src/commands/onboard-skills.ts
• src/commands/onboard-skills.test.ts
• src/commands/onboard-non-interactive/local/skills-config.ts

Gateway skills API (delete entirely):

• src/gateway/server-methods/skills.ts — entire API handler
• src/gateway/server-methods/skills.update.normalizes-api-key.test.ts
• src/gateway/server.skills-status.e2e.test.ts

Security scanner (delete entirely):

• src/security/skill-scanner.ts
• src/security/skill-scanner.test.ts

Cron skills snapshot (delete entirely):

• src/cron/isolated-agent/skills-snapshot.ts
• src/cron/isolated-agent/run.skill-filter.test.ts

Infrastructure (delete entirely):

• src/infra/skills-remote.ts

Config types (delete entirely):

• src/config/types.skills.ts
• src/config/config.skills-entries-config.test.ts

Discord skills deduplication (delete entirely):

• src/discord/monitor/provider.skill-dedupe.test.ts

Sandbox skills (delete entirely):

• src/agents/sandbox-skills.test.ts

Phase 3: Clean up KEEP/MODIFY files (import removal)

These files survive but need skill-related imports, types, and function calls removed:

CLI registration (remove skills subcommand entry):

• src/cli/program/register.subclis.ts — remove the skills entry from subcommand registration

Auto-reply system (remove skill type imports and function calls):

• src/auto-reply/commands-registry.ts — remove SkillCommandSpec type import
• src/auto-reply/reply/commands-system-prompt.ts — remove buildWorkspaceSkillSnapshot, getSkillsSnapshotVersion imports and calls
• src/auto-reply/reply/commands-types.ts — remove SkillCommandSpec type import
• src/auto-reply/reply/get-reply-directives.ts — remove SkillCommandSpec type import
• src/auto-reply/reply/get-reply-inline-actions.ts — remove SkillCommandSpec type import
• src/auto-reply/reply/queue/types.ts — remove SkillSnapshot type from queue payload
• src/auto-reply/reply/session-updates.ts — remove skill snapshot injection
• src/auto-reply/skill-commands.ts — remove or gut (builds command specs from skills)
• src/auto-reply/status.ts — remove SkillCommandSpec type import

Commands (remove skill references):

• src/commands/agent.ts — remove skill snapshot building import/call
• src/commands/docs.ts — remove hasBinary import (if only used for skills)
• src/commands/doctor-workspace-status.ts — remove skill status from diagnostics
• src/commands/status-all.ts — remove skill status from overall status

Gateway (remove skill listener):

• src/gateway/server.impl.ts — remove skills change listener registration

Hooks (check hasBinary usage):

• src/hooks/gmail-setup-utils.ts — uses hasBinary imported from skills; may need to inline or relocate the utility
• src/hooks/gmail-watcher.ts — same hasBinary dependency

Security (remove skill audit):

• src/security/audit-extra.async.ts — remove workspace skills audit call

System prompt (remove ClawHub reference):

• src/agents/system-prompt.ts — remove "Find new skills: https://clawhub.com" line

⚠️ DO NOT DELETE: src/gateway/protocol/schema/agents-models-skills.ts — disposition is KEEP (generic schema, no brand refs).

Phase 4: Verify clean build

pnpm build

Must pass with zero errors. Run a grep verification:

# Should return zero results in src/
grep -r "clawhub\|ClawHub" src/ 2>/dev/null
grep -r "from.*skills" src/ --include="*.ts" | grep -v node_modules | grep -v ".test." | grep -v "// "

Note on ClawHub in docs: ClawHub references exist in root markdown files (README.md, CONTRIBUTING.md, VISION.md, SECURITY.md, docs/help/faq.md). These are deferred to M4 rebrand — they don't affect build and are part of the broader namespace transition.

Key Decision: hasBinary utility

The hasBinary() function (checks if a binary exists on PATH) lives in the skills module but is used by src/hooks/gmail-setup-utils.ts and src/hooks/gmail-watcher.ts for non-skill purposes. Options:

1. Inline it — it's likely a simple which/command -v wrapper, 3-5 lines
2. Relocate to src/infra/ — if used by multiple files

Choose the simpler option. Do NOT create a new module for a 3-line utility if it's only used in 2 places.

Estimated Scale

Acceptance Criteria

Given all dispatch wiring is complete (WI-032 through WI-035) and the Bring Your Own Agent model means users provide skills via ~/.<agent>/
When the skills system and ClawHub are removed
Then skills/ directory (~73 files) is deleted
And src/agents/skills/ directory (~16 files) is deleted
And root-level skills files in src/agents/ are deleted (skills.ts, skills-install.ts, skills-install-download.ts, skills-install-output.ts, skills-status.ts + associated tests)
And skills CLI files are deleted (src/cli/skills-cli.ts, skills-cli.format.ts + tests)
And skills gateway handler is deleted (src/gateway/server-methods/skills.ts + tests)
And skills cron snapshot is deleted (src/cron/isolated-agent/skills-snapshot.ts + test)
And skills config type is deleted (src/config/types.skills.ts + test)
And skills onboarding command is deleted (src/commands/onboard-skills.ts + test)
And skills infrastructure file is deleted (src/infra/skills-remote.ts)
And skills entry is removed from src/cli/program/register.subclis.ts
And all skill-related imports in remaining KEEP/MODIFY files are removed or stubbed
And ClawHub references in source files are removed (system-prompt.ts, discord skill-dedupe test)
And pnpm build passes with zero skill/ClawHub references in src/
Note: ClawHub references in root docs (README.md, CONTRIBUTING.md, VISION.md, SECURITY.md, docs/help/faq.md) are deferred to M4 rebrand. protocol/schema/agents-models-skills.ts is KEEP (generic schema, no brand refs) — do NOT delete.