customize

name: customize description: Add new capabilities or modify NanoClaw behavior. Use when user wants to add channels (Telegram, Slack, email input), change triggers, add integrations, modify the router, or make any other customizations. This is an interactive skill that asks questions to understand what the user wants.

NanoClaw Customization

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

Workflow

1. Understand the request — Ask clarifying questions.
2. 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.
3. 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).
4. Implement — Make the change on the right surface.
5. 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

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:

1. 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.
2. 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:

1. Create the appropriate service files.
2. Update paths in .env / config.
3. 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"

1. Run /add-telegram to install the adapter, wire its registration, and build.
2. Ask: "Should Telegram reach an existing agent group, or a new one?"
3. Ask: "Share an agent group with your other channels, or keep Telegram separate?"
4. 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.
5. Tell the user how to authenticate and test.