Chapter 21: Built-in Tools

Every OpenClaw agent comes with a set of built-in tools that are always available — no skill installation required. These are the foundational capabilities that cover the most common tasks. This chapter is a complete reference of every built-in tool, what it does, and how to control it.

What Are Built-in Tools?

Built-in tools are core MCP tools bundled with OpenClaw itself. They differ from skills (Chapter 15) in that:

Skills are installed packages (from ClawHub or custom)
Built-in tools ship with every OpenClaw installation and require no additional setup

Built-in tools can be individually disabled in the config if you want to restrict the agent's capabilities.

Text Tools

`text-summarize`

Condenses long text into a shorter summary.

Input: [long article or document]
Output: A 3-paragraph summary covering the key points...

No configuration required. Always available.

`text-translate`

Translates text between languages using the agent's built-in multilingual capabilities. Does not require an external translation API.

`text-format`

Reformats text according to a specified style: bullet points, numbered list, table, JSON, XML, Markdown.

`text-extract`

Extracts specific information from text: dates, names, phone numbers, URLs, emails, prices.

Math Tools

`calculator`

Evaluates mathematical expressions accurately, bypassing the LLM's tendency to make arithmetic errors.

User: What is 2^32?
Tool result: 4,294,967,296

Supports: basic arithmetic, exponentiation, logarithms, trigonometry, statistical functions.

`unit-converter`

Converts between units of measurement.

User: Convert 100 miles to kilometers
Tool result: 160.934 km

Supports: length, weight, temperature, volume, speed, area, data sizes, currency (via live rates when available).

Date and Time Tools

`datetime-now`

Returns the current date and time in the agent's configured timezone.

{
  "timezone": "Asia/Karachi"
}

`datetime-calculate`

Calculates time differences, adds or subtracts durations, finds next occurrence of a day.

User: How many days until December 25?
User: What day of the week was July 4, 1776?
User: Add 3 weeks and 2 days to today's date

`datetime-parse`

Parses natural language date expressions into structured dates.

Code Tools

`code-run` (Sandboxed)

Executes small code snippets in a sandboxed environment. Available languages by default:

Language	Runtime
JavaScript	Node.js (sandboxed)
Python	Python 3 (sandboxed)
Shell	Bash (sandboxed, no network)

Unlike the bash skill (which runs on the host), code-run runs in an isolated container with no filesystem or network access.

{
  "builtins": {
    "code-run": {
      "enabled": true,
      "timeout": 10000,
      "memoryLimit": "128MB"
    }
  }
}

`code-format`

Formats and syntax-highlights code in any supported language. Returns formatted code as a code block.

`code-explain`

Explains what a piece of code does in plain language.

`code-review`

Reviews code for bugs, security issues, and style problems. Returns a structured report.

File Parsing Tools

`parse-csv`

Parses CSV data (from text or a file upload) and provides structured analysis: column names, row count, summary statistics.

`parse-json`

Validates and formats JSON. Extracts specific fields using JSONPath syntax.

`parse-pdf`

Extracts text content from PDF files uploaded by the user. Handles multi-page PDFs.

`parse-image`

Analyzes images uploaded by the user. Describes content, reads text (OCR), identifies objects.

Web Tools (No API Key)

`url-preview`

Fetches the title, description, and thumbnail for any URL without a full page fetch. Uses OpenGraph metadata.

`url-shorten`

Creates short links using OpenClaw's built-in URL shortener. Links are valid for 30 days.

Conversation Tools

`memory-recall`

The agent can look up facts from the user's memory (if the memory skill is enabled). This tool is how the agent retrieves previously stored information.

`conversation-summary`

Summarizes the current conversation for context management. Called automatically when conversations grow very long.

`user-preferences`

Stores and retrieves user preferences (language, tone, timezone, preferred response format) that persist across sessions.

Disabling Built-in Tools

Disable specific built-in tools per workspace:

{
  "workspaces": [
    {
      "id": "restricted",
      "agent": "fast",
      "disabledBuiltins": ["code-run", "parse-pdf", "url-preview"]
    }
  ]
}

Or disable globally:

{
  "builtins": {
    "code-run": { "enabled": false },
    "parse-image": { "enabled": false }
  }
}

Tool Usage Logging

See which tools the agent invoked and how long each took:

openclaw logs --tools-only

2026-04-30T12:01:22Z  user:123   calculator         12ms    success
2026-04-30T12:01:45Z  user:123   web-search         840ms   success
2026-04-30T12:03:11Z  user:456   parse-pdf          2,100ms success
2026-04-30T12:04:02Z  user:789   code-run           450ms   timeout

Next: Chapter 22 — Browser Automation — How to give your agent the ability to control a web browser, fill forms, and extract data from any website.

Chapter 21: Built-in Tools

What Are Built-in Tools?

Text Tools

text-summarize

text-translate

text-format

text-extract

Math Tools

calculator

unit-converter

Date and Time Tools

datetime-now

datetime-calculate

datetime-parse

Code Tools

code-run (Sandboxed)

code-format

code-explain

code-review