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POST
/
v1
/
instances
/
{instance_id}
/
skills
/
install
curl -X POST https://api.chowder.dev/v1/instances/ins_abc123/skills/install \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "slug": "web-search",
    "env": {
      "SEARCH_API_KEY": "sk-..."
    }
  }'

{
  "skill": "web-search",
  "status": "installed",
  "output": "Successfully installed web-search@1.2.0",
  "env_applied": {
    "SEARCH_API_KEY": "sk-..."
  },
  "message": "Skill installed and ready to use."
}

{
  "skill": "image-gen",
  "status": "installed_missing_env",
  "output": "Successfully installed image-gen@0.9.1",
  "required_env": ["OPENAI_API_KEY"],
  "message": "Skill installed but requires environment variables to function."
}
Installs a skill from ClawHub onto the instance. Under the hood, this runs npx clawhub install with the given slug. If the skill requires environment variables, you can provide them upfront in the env field — or skip them and configure later via the update config endpoint.

​
Authentication

Requires an org-level API key or a scoped token with the configure permission.

​
Path Parameters

​
instance_id
string
required
The ID of the instance.

​
Body Parameters

​
slug
string
required
The ClawHub slug identifying the skill to install (e.g. web-search).
​
env
object
Optional environment variables required by the skill. Keys are variable names, values are strings.

​
Response

​
skill
string
The name of the installed skill.
​
status
string
Either "installed" (fully ready) or "installed_missing_env" (installed but needs env vars to function).
​
output
string
Raw output from the installation process.
​
env_applied
object
The environment variables that were successfully applied, if any.
​
required_env
array
A list of environment variable names that the skill still needs, if any.
​
message
string
A human-readable status message.
curl -X POST https://api.chowder.dev/v1/instances/ins_abc123/skills/install \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "slug": "web-search",
    "env": {
      "SEARCH_API_KEY": "sk-..."
    }
  }'

{
  "skill": "web-search",
  "status": "installed",
  "output": "Successfully installed web-search@1.2.0",
  "env_applied": {
    "SEARCH_API_KEY": "sk-..."
  },
  "message": "Skill installed and ready to use."
}

{
  "skill": "image-gen",
  "status": "installed_missing_env",
  "output": "Successfully installed image-gen@0.9.1",
  "required_env": ["OPENAI_API_KEY"],
  "message": "Skill installed but requires environment variables to function."
}