Skip to content

Plugin Runtime Helpers

Reference for the api.runtime object injected into every plugin during registration. Use these helpers instead of importing host internals directly.

register(api) {
const runtime = api.runtime;
}

Agent identity, directories, and session management.

// Resolve the agent's working directory
const agentDir = api.runtime.agent.resolveAgentDir(cfg);
// Resolve agent workspace
const workspaceDir = api.runtime.agent.resolveAgentWorkspaceDir(cfg);
// Get agent identity
const identity = api.runtime.agent.resolveAgentIdentity(cfg);
// Get default thinking level
const thinking = api.runtime.agent.resolveThinkingDefault(cfg, provider, model);
// Get agent timeout
const timeoutMs = api.runtime.agent.resolveAgentTimeoutMs(cfg);
// Ensure workspace exists
await api.runtime.agent.ensureAgentWorkspace(cfg);
// Run an embedded Pi agent
const agentDir = api.runtime.agent.resolveAgentDir(cfg);
const result = await api.runtime.agent.runEmbeddedPiAgent({
sessionId: "my-plugin:task-1",
runId: crypto.randomUUID(),
sessionFile: path.join(agentDir, "sessions", "my-plugin-task-1.jsonl"),
workspaceDir: api.runtime.agent.resolveAgentWorkspaceDir(cfg),
prompt: "Summarize the latest changes",
timeoutMs: api.runtime.agent.resolveAgentTimeoutMs(cfg),
});

Session store helpers are under api.runtime.agent.session:

const storePath = api.runtime.agent.session.resolveStorePath(cfg);
const store = api.runtime.agent.session.loadSessionStore(cfg);
await api.runtime.agent.session.saveSessionStore(cfg, store);
const filePath = api.runtime.agent.session.resolveSessionFilePath(cfg, sessionId);

Default model and provider constants:

const model = api.runtime.agent.defaults.model; // e.g. "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6"
const provider = api.runtime.agent.defaults.provider; // e.g. "anthropic"

Launch and manage background subagent runs.

// Start a subagent run
const { runId } = await api.runtime.subagent.run({
sessionKey: "agent:main:subagent:search-helper",
message: "Expand this query into focused follow-up searches.",
provider: "openai", // optional override
model: "gpt-4.1-mini", // optional override
deliver: false,
});
// Wait for completion
const result = await api.runtime.subagent.waitForRun({ runId, timeoutMs: 30000 });
// Read session messages
const { messages } = await api.runtime.subagent.getSessionMessages({
sessionKey: "agent:main:subagent:search-helper",
limit: 10,
});
// Delete a session
await api.runtime.subagent.deleteSession({
sessionKey: "agent:main:subagent:search-helper",
});

Text-to-speech synthesis.

// Standard TTS
const clip = await api.runtime.tts.textToSpeech({
text: "Hello from OpenClaw",
cfg: api.config,
});
// Telephony-optimized TTS
const telephonyClip = await api.runtime.tts.textToSpeechTelephony({
text: "Hello from OpenClaw",
cfg: api.config,
});
// List available voices
const voices = await api.runtime.tts.listVoices({
provider: "elevenlabs",
cfg: api.config,
});

Uses core messages.tts configuration and provider selection. Returns PCM audio buffer + sample rate.

Image, audio, and video analysis.

// Describe an image
const image = await api.runtime.mediaUnderstanding.describeImageFile({
filePath: "/tmp/inbound-photo.jpg",
cfg: api.config,
agentDir: "/tmp/agent",
});
// Transcribe audio
const { text } = await api.runtime.mediaUnderstanding.transcribeAudioFile({
filePath: "/tmp/inbound-audio.ogg",
cfg: api.config,
mime: "audio/ogg", // optional, for when MIME cannot be inferred
});
// Describe a video
const video = await api.runtime.mediaUnderstanding.describeVideoFile({
filePath: "/tmp/inbound-video.mp4",
cfg: api.config,
});
// Generic file analysis
const result = await api.runtime.mediaUnderstanding.runFile({
filePath: "/tmp/inbound-file.pdf",
cfg: api.config,
});

Returns { text: undefined } when no output is produced (e.g. skipped input).

Image generation.

const result = await api.runtime.imageGeneration.generate({
prompt: "A robot painting a sunset",
cfg: api.config,
});
const providers = api.runtime.imageGeneration.listProviders({ cfg: api.config });

Web search.

const providers = api.runtime.webSearch.listProviders({ config: api.config });
const result = await api.runtime.webSearch.search({
config: api.config,
args: { query: "OpenClaw plugin SDK", count: 5 },
});

Low-level media utilities.

const webMedia = await api.runtime.media.loadWebMedia(url);
const mime = await api.runtime.media.detectMime(buffer);
const kind = api.runtime.media.mediaKindFromMime("image/jpeg"); // "image"
const isVoice = api.runtime.media.isVoiceCompatibleAudio(filePath);
const metadata = await api.runtime.media.getImageMetadata(filePath);
const resized = await api.runtime.media.resizeToJpeg(buffer, { maxWidth: 800 });

Config load and write.

const cfg = await api.runtime.config.loadConfig();
await api.runtime.config.writeConfigFile(cfg);

System-level utilities.

await api.runtime.system.enqueueSystemEvent(event);
api.runtime.system.requestHeartbeatNow();
const output = await api.runtime.system.runCommandWithTimeout(cmd, args, opts);
const hint = api.runtime.system.formatNativeDependencyHint(pkg);

Event subscriptions.

api.runtime.events.onAgentEvent((event) => {
/* ... */
});
api.runtime.events.onSessionTranscriptUpdate((update) => {
/* ... */
});

Logging.

const verbose = api.runtime.logging.shouldLogVerbose();
const childLogger = api.runtime.logging.getChildLogger({ plugin: "my-plugin" }, { level: "debug" });

Model and provider auth resolution.

const auth = await api.runtime.modelAuth.getApiKeyForModel({ model, cfg });
const providerAuth = await api.runtime.modelAuth.resolveApiKeyForProvider({
provider: "openai",
cfg,
});

狀態目錄解析。

const stateDir = api.runtime.state.resolveStateDir();

記憶體工具工廠和 CLI。

const getTool = api.runtime.tools.createMemoryGetTool(/* ... */);
const searchTool = api.runtime.tools.createMemorySearchTool(/* ... */);
api.runtime.tools.registerMemoryCli(/* ... */);

特定通道的執行時輔助函數(載入通道外掛時可用)。

使用 createPluginRuntimeStore 儲存執行時參照,以便在 register 回呼之外使用:

import { createPluginRuntimeStore } from "openclaw/plugin-sdk/runtime-store";
import type { PluginRuntime } from "openclaw/plugin-sdk/runtime-store";
const store = createPluginRuntimeStore<PluginRuntime>("my-plugin runtime not initialized");
// In your entry point
export default defineChannelPluginEntry({
id: "my-plugin",
name: "My Plugin",
description: "Example",
plugin: myPlugin,
setRuntime: store.setRuntime,
});
// In other files
export function getRuntime() {
return store.getRuntime(); // throws if not initialized
}
export function tryGetRuntime() {
return store.tryGetRuntime(); // returns null if not initialized
}

除了 api.runtime,API 物件還提供:

欄位類型描述
api.idstring外掛 ID
api.namestring外掛顯示名稱
api.configOpenClawConfig目前的設定快照
api.pluginConfigRecord<string, unknown>來自 plugins.entries.<id>.config 的外掛特定設定
api.loggerPluginLogger作用域記錄器 (debuginfowarnerror)
api.registrationModePluginRegistrationMode"full""setup-only""setup-runtime""cli-metadata"
api.resolvePath(input)(string) => string解析相對於外掛根目錄的路徑