Summary

When running in sandbox mode (agents.defaults.sandbox.mode: "non-main"), OpenClaw resolves skill paths to ~/.openclaw/skills/<name>/SKILL.md (the global location) instead of the sandbox-local copy. The sandbox boundary blocks reading the global path, causing the skill to fail.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Install a skill (e.g. smaug) at ~/.openclaw/skills/smaug/SKILL.md
2. Set agents.defaults.sandbox.mode: "non-main" in openclaw.json
3. Invoke the skill via cron or non-main session
4. Observe: sandbox blocks read of ~/.openclaw/skills/smaug/SKILL.md
5. Agent falls back to guessing smaug as a bare command (not found)

Expected Behavior

Skills should resolve paths relative to the sandbox root, or the sandbox should allowlist ~/.openclaw/skills/ for read access.

Actual Behavior

Error: sandbox blocked read of /Users/jasper/.openclaw/skills/smaug/SKILL.md

The agent then tries to run smaug as a shell command, which also fails.

Attempted Workarounds

• permissions.json in the skill directory — no effect
• sessionTarget configuration — no effect
• Copying SKILL.md into the sandbox — agent still reads from global path

Environment

• OpenClaw: latest (as of March 2026)
• macOS 15 (Tahoe), M3 Mac Mini
• Sandbox mode: non-main