Customize Agent Skill

NanoClaw Customization

This skill helps users add capabilities or modify behavior. Use AskUserQuestion to understand what they want before making changes.

Workflow

• Understand the request — Ask clarifying questions.
• Prefer a dedicated skill — If a skill covers the request, invoke it instead of editing core by hand:
• Channels: /add-telegram, /add-slack, /add-discord, /add-whatsapp, /add-signal, /add-imessage, and the rest of the /add-<channel> family.
• Wiring channels to agents and isolation levels: /manage-channels.
• Container directory access: /manage-mounts.
• Agent providers (non-default): /add-opencode, /add-codex, /add-ollama-provider.
• Integrations as MCP tools: /add-gmail-tool, /add-gcal-tool, /add-ollama-tool, etc.
• Plan the changes — Identify the v2 surface the change belongs to (entity model in the central DB, per-agent-group container config, per-group CLAUDE.md, or core code).
• Implement — Make the change on the right surface.
• Test guidance — Tell the user how to verify.

Entity Model

Customizations route through the v2 entity model: users → messaging groups → agent groups → sessions. A messaging group is one chat/channel on one platform; an agent group holds the workspace, personality, and container config; a wiring links a messaging group to an agent group with a session mode and trigger rules. Inspect and edit all of this with the ncl admin CLI. See docs/isolation-model.md for the three isolation levels.

Key Files

| File | Purpose |

|------|---------|

| src/index.ts | Entry point: init DB, migrations, channel adapters, delivery polls, sweep, shutdown |

| src/router.ts | Inbound routing: messaging group → agent group → session → inbound.db → wake |

| src/delivery.ts | Polls outbound.db, delivers via adapter, handles system actions |

| src/session-manager.ts | Resolves sessions; opens inbound.db / outbound.db; heartbeat path |

| src/container-runner.ts | Spawns per-agent-group containers with session DB + outbox mounts, OneCLI ensureAgent |

| src/channels/ | Channel adapter infra (registry, Chat SDK bridge); specific adapters install from the channels branch |

| src/config.ts | Process-level config (assistant name, paths, timeouts) read from .env |

| data/v2.db | Central DB: users, roles, agent_groups, messaging_groups, wirings, container_configs |

| data/v2-sessions/<session>/ | Per-session inbound.db (host→container) + outbound.db (container→host) |

| groups/<folder>/CLAUDE.md | Per-agent-group memory/persona and instructions |

For ad-hoc DB queries, use pnpm exec tsx scripts/q.ts <db> "<sql>".

Common Customization Patterns

Adding a New Input Channel (e.g., Telegram, Slack, Email)

Questions to ask:

• Which channel? (Telegram, Slack, Discord, WhatsApp, Signal, email, etc.)
• Should this channel reach an existing agent group or a new one?
• What isolation level — share an agent group with other channels, or keep it separate?
• Same trigger rules as other channels on that agent group, or different?

Implementation:

• Run the matching install skill (/add-telegram, /add-slack, …). It fetches the adapter from the channels branch, wires the registration import, installs the pinned package, and builds.
• Run /manage-channels (or use ncl messaging-groups + ncl wirings) to create the messaging group, choose the isolation level, and wire it to an agent group with a session mode and trigger rules.

Adding a New MCP Integration

Questions to ask:

• What service? (Calendar, Notion, database, etc.)
• What operations are needed? (read, write, both)
• Which agent group should have access?

Implementation:

• If an /add-<service>-tool skill exists (e.g. /add-gmail-tool, /add-gcal-tool), run it — it wires the MCP server and routes credentials through OneCLI so no raw keys reach the container.
• Otherwise wire the MCP server into the agent group's container config: ncl groups config add-mcp-server --id <group-id> --name <name> --command <cmd> [--args <json-array>] [--env <json-object>], then ncl groups restart --id <group-id> to take effect. From inside a container the agent uses the add_mcp_server self-mod tool, which requires one admin approval.

Changing Assistant Behavior

Questions to ask:

• What aspect? (persona, response style, instructions)
• Apply to one agent group or several?

Implementation:

• Persona, instructions, and personality live per agent group in groups/<folder>/CLAUDE.md — edit that file for the target group.
• Container runtime behavior (provider, model, packages, MCP servers) lives in the container_configs table: ncl groups config get/update --id <group-id>.

Adding New Commands

Questions to ask:

• What should the command do?
• Which agent group(s)?
• Does it need new MCP tools?

Implementation:

• The agent interprets requests naturally — add instructions to the agent group's groups/<folder>/CLAUDE.md.
• For routing or trigger changes (which messages wake which agent group), update the wiring's trigger rules: ncl wirings update --id <wiring-id> ....

Changing Deployment

Questions to ask:

• Target platform? (Linux server, different Mac)
• Service manager? (launchd, systemd)

Implementation:

• Create the appropriate service files.
• Update paths in .env / config.
• Provide setup instructions.

After Changes

Always tell the user.

Run from your NanoClaw project root:

# Rebuild and restart
pnpm run build
source setup/lib/install-slug.sh
# macOS:
launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/$(launchd_label).plist
launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/$(launchd_label).plist
# Linux:
# systemctl --user restart $(systemd_unit)

Example Interaction

User: "Add Telegram as an input channel"

• Run /add-telegram to install the adapter, wire its registration, and build.
• Ask: "Should Telegram reach an existing agent group, or a new one?"
• Ask: "Share an agent group with your other channels, or keep Telegram separate?"
• Run /manage-channels (or ncl messaging-groups create + ncl wirings create) to create the messaging group and wire it to the chosen agent group with a session mode and trigger rules.
• Tell the user how to authenticate and test.