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[Feature]: Windows automation skills - bridging the platform gap #38799
Description
[Feature]: Windows automation skills - bridging the platform gap
Problem
OpenClaw ships 10+ macOS-specific skills (apple-notes, apple-reminders, things-mac, imsg, peekaboo) but has zero Windows-equivalent skills. Given that the recommended Windows setup is WSL2, there's a natural bridge available: WSL2 can call powershell.exe directly, enabling native Windows automation from the Linux gateway.
Several open issues highlight Windows pain points (#23178, #26160, #35807, #16821), but there's no coordinated effort to bring Windows-native capabilities to agents.
Context
I've published PowerSkills (MIT) - a PowerShell toolkit that gives agents structured access to:
- Outlook - inbox, search, send, calendar events (COM automation)
- Edge browser - tabs, navigation, screenshots, JS eval (CDP)
- Desktop - screenshots, window management, keystrokes (Win32 API)
- System - shell commands, processes, system info, clipboard
All commands return JSON with a consistent envelope (status, exit_code, data, timestamp), making them straightforward for agents to consume. It's also available on ClawHub (clawhub install powerskills).
How it works from WSL2
Since WSL2 has Windows interop, calling native PowerShell is a one-liner:
powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "/mnt/c/PowerSkills/powerskills.ps1" outlook inbox --limit 5This means a skill running inside the Linux gateway can automate Windows-native apps (Outlook, Edge, desktop) without leaving WSL2.
Questions for maintainers
- Is there interest in bundled Windows skills? Or should Windows automation stay on ClawHub only?
- Skill gating approach - for a bundled skill, would you prefer:
- Binary gate:
"requires": {"anyBins": ["powershell.exe", "pwsh"]}(activates wherever PowerShell exists) - OS gate:
"os": ["win32", "linux"]+ binary check - No gate (ClawHub-only, user installs intentionally)
- Binary gate:
- Would a "Windows skill pack" PR be welcome? Or would you prefer individual skill PRs (one for Outlook, one for browser, etc.)?
Why this matters
- Windows is the most common desktop OS, yet the skill ecosystem is macOS-heavy
- WSL2 is the recommended setup, and interop works out of the box
- Outlook/Edge/Desktop automation are high-value for knowledge workers
- The structured JSON output pattern could serve as a template for future platform skills
Happy to contribute a PR in whatever form makes sense.