How to Install and Use GitHub API in OpenClaw

Open your terminal and run the ClawHub install command. The GitHub API skill downloads from the ClawHub registry and registers with your local OpenClaw instance. It requires one configuration variable: GITHUB_TOKEN. You will generate this in the next step. The skill installs successfully without the token but will return an authentication error if you attempt any operation before configuring it. The install output confirms the required variable name and suggests the appropriate GitHub token scope for common operations. If `clawhub` is not found, verify your OpenClaw PATH configuration. Reinstalling OpenClaw from openclaw.ai will restore a missing ClawHub binary.

1clawhub install github-api

Navigate to github.com/settings/tokens (you can also find this at GitHub → Settings → Developer settings → Personal access tokens). GitHub offers two token types: Fine-grained tokens (newer, more secure, per-repo scope) and Classic tokens (broader scope but easier to set up). For most OpenClaw use cases, a Fine-grained token is recommended. Click 'Generate new token' → 'Generate new token (fine-grained)'. Give it a name like 'OpenClaw Integration'. Set expiration (90 days or 1 year is typical — set a reminder to rotate it). Under 'Repository access', choose 'All repositories' or select specific repositories you want OpenClaw to access. For permissions, expand 'Repository permissions' and enable: - **Contents**: Read and Write (to read files and create files) - **Issues**: Read and Write (to list, create, comment on issues) - **Pull requests**: Read and Write (to read diffs, post reviews) - **Actions**: Read and Write (to check and trigger workflows) - **Metadata**: Read-only (required baseline) For 'Account permissions', enable Starring: Read and Write if you want OpenClaw to be able to star repositories. Click 'Generate token'. Copy the token immediately — GitHub only shows it once.

Add your GitHub personal access token to OpenClaw's configuration. Use the `clawhub config set` command or add it directly to your `~/.openclaw/.env` file. After setting the token, run `clawhub reload` to activate the skill. Verify the token is set correctly with `clawhub config get GITHUB_TOKEN` — the output should show a masked version of your token. After reloading, the skill is immediately ready to interact with GitHub. If you work with repositories across multiple GitHub organizations, the same token works for all organizations as long as the token's repository access is configured to include them. Fine-grained tokens may require explicit organization approval — check your GitHub organization settings if cross-org access fails.

1# Option A: Add to ~/.openclaw/.env
2GITHUB_TOKEN=github_pat_your-token-here
3
4# Option B: Set via clawhub config
5clawhub config set GITHUB_TOKEN github_pat_your-token-here
6
7# Verify the token is set
8clawhub config get GITHUB_TOKEN
9
10# Apply without restart
11clawhub reload

Open OpenClaw chat and test with a simple read operation — listing your repositories or checking open issues. Read operations confirm authentication is working without any side effects. The GitHub API skill understands GitHub concepts natively. You can refer to repositories as 'username/repo-name' or by name if it's unambiguous within your account. For issues and PRs, you can reference them by number or by description ('the issue about the mobile Safari button'). OpenClaw maps your natural language requests to GitHub API calls and formats the responses in a readable way. For PR lists, it shows title, author, age, review status, and CI state. For issues, it shows number, title, assignee, labels, and comment count. For commits, it shows hash, author, message, and date. If authentication fails, check that the token was set correctly and has the right scopes. A 403 on a specific operation means the token lacks that permission — return to the GitHub token settings and add the missing permission.

The GitHub API skill's most powerful use cases involve pull request workflows and CI/CD monitoring — the two GitHub surfaces where developer time is most commonly consumed. **Pull request review**: Ask OpenClaw to read a specific PR's diff, understand the changes, identify potential issues, and post review comments via the GitHub API. This is particularly effective for catching common problems — missing error handling, insecure patterns, lack of test coverage — before human reviewers spend time on them. **Actions monitoring**: Ask OpenClaw to check the status of recent GitHub Actions runs for a repository. It can identify failing workflows, read error messages from failed steps, and suggest fixes based on the error output. Combine this with OpenClaw's web search skills to look up unfamiliar error messages. **Issue automation**: Use OpenClaw to triage new issues by reading their content, applying appropriate labels, assigning to the right team member, and posting an acknowledgment comment — all in one prompt. RapidDev can help teams configure OpenClaw GitHub workflows for automated code review assistance, sprint planning support, and CI/CD monitoring that integrates with team communication tools like Slack or email.

1# Optional skill config
2# ~/.openclaw/skills/github-api.yaml
3github-api:
4  default_owner: myusername        # your GitHub username or org
5  default_repo: my-main-repo       # default repo for unqualified queries
6  pr_review_mode: comment_only     # comment_only or full_review
7  issue_page_size: 25              # issues returned per query
8  include_closed: false            # exclude closed issues/PRs by default