Tools Configuration

MalikClaw's tools configuration is located in the tools field of config.json.

Directory Structure

{
  "tools": {
    "web": {
      ...
    },
    "mcp": {
      ...
    },
    "exec": {
      ...
    },
    "cron": {
      ...
    },
    "skills": {
      ...
    }
  }
}

Web Tools

Web tools are used for web search and fetching.

Brave

| Config | Type | Default | Description | |---------------|--------|---------|---------------------------| | enabled | bool | false | Enable Brave search | | api_key | string | - | Brave Search API key | | max_results | int | 5 | Maximum number of results |

DuckDuckGo

| Config | Type | Default | Description | |---------------|------|---------|---------------------------| | enabled | bool | true | Enable DuckDuckGo search | | max_results | int | 5 | Maximum number of results |

Perplexity

| Config | Type | Default | Description | |---------------|--------|---------|---------------------------| | enabled | bool | false | Enable Perplexity search | | api_key | string | - | Perplexity API key | | max_results | int | 5 | Maximum number of results |

Exec Tool

The exec tool is used to execute shell commands.

| Config | Type | Default | Description | |------------------------|-------|---------|--------------------------------------------| | enable_deny_patterns | bool | true | Enable default dangerous command blocking | | custom_deny_patterns | array | [] | Custom deny patterns (regular expressions) |

Functionality

  • enable_deny_patterns: Set to false to completely disable the default dangerous command blocking patterns
  • custom_deny_patterns: Add custom deny regex patterns; commands matching these will be blocked

Default Blocked Command Patterns

By default, MalikClaw blocks the following dangerous commands:

  • Delete commands: rm -rf, del /f/q, rmdir /s
  • Disk operations: format, mkfs, diskpart, dd if=, writing to /dev/sd*
  • System operations: shutdown, reboot, poweroff
  • Command substitution: $(), ${}, backticks
  • Pipe to shell: | sh, | bash
  • Privilege escalation: sudo, chmod, chown
  • Process control: pkill, killall, kill -9
  • Remote operations: curl | sh, wget | sh, ssh
  • Package management: apt, yum, dnf, npm install -g, pip install --user
  • Containers: docker run, docker exec
  • Git: git push, git force
  • Other: eval, source *.sh

Configuration Example

{
  "tools": {
    "exec": {
      "enable_deny_patterns": true,
      "custom_deny_patterns": [
        "\\brm\\s+-r\\b",
        "\\bkillall\\s+python"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Cron Tool

The cron tool is used for scheduling periodic tasks.

| Config | Type | Default | Description | |------------------------|------|---------|------------------------------------------------| | exec_timeout_minutes | int | 5 | Execution timeout in minutes, 0 means no limit |

MCP Tool

The MCP tool enables integration with external Model Context Protocol servers.

Tool Discovery (Lazy Loading)

When connecting to multiple MCP servers, exposing hundreds of tools simultaneously can exhaust the LLM's context window and increase API costs. The Discovery feature solves this by keeping MCP tools hidden by default.

Instead of loading all tools, the LLM is provided with a lightweight search tool (using BM25 keyword matching or Regex). When the LLM needs a specific capability, it searches the hidden library. Matching tools are then temporarily "unlocked" and injected into the context for a configured number of turns (ttl).

Global Config

| Config | Type | Default | Description | |-------------|--------|---------|----------------------------------------------| | enabled | bool | false | Enable MCP integration globally | | discovery | object | {} | Configuration for Tool Discovery (see below) | | servers | object | {} | Map of server name to server config |

Discovery Config (discovery)

| Config | Type | Default | Description | |----------------------|------|---------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | enabled | bool | false | If true, MCP tools are hidden and loaded on-demand via search. If false, all tools are loaded | | ttl | int | 5 | Number of conversational turns a discovered tool remains unlocked | | max_search_results | int | 5 | Maximum number of tools returned per search query | | use_bm25 | bool | true | Enable the natural language/keyword search tool (tool_search_tool_bm25). Warning: consumes more resources than regex search | | use_regex | bool | false | Enable the regex pattern search tool (tool_search_tool_regex) |

Note: If discovery.enabled is true, you MUST enable at least one search engine (use_bm25 or use_regex), otherwise the application will fail to start.

Per-Server Config

| Config | Type | Required | Description | |------------|--------|----------|--------------------------------------------| | enabled | bool | yes | Enable this MCP server | | type | string | no | Transport type: stdio, sse, http | | command | string | stdio | Executable command for stdio transport | | args | array | no | Command arguments for stdio transport | | env | object | no | Environment variables for stdio process | | env_file | string | no | Path to environment file for stdio process | | url | string | sse/http | Endpoint URL for sse/http transport | | headers | object | no | HTTP headers for sse/http transport |

Transport Behavior

  • If type is omitted, transport is auto-detected:
    • url is set → sse
    • command is set → stdio
  • http and sse both use url + optional headers.
  • env and env_file are only applied to stdio servers.

Configuration Examples

1) Stdio MCP server

{
  "tools": {
    "mcp": {
      "enabled": true,
      "servers": {
        "filesystem": {
          "enabled": true,
          "command": "npx",
          "args": [
            "-y",
            "@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem",
            "/tmp"
          ]
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

2) Remote SSE/HTTP MCP server

{
  "tools": {
    "mcp": {
      "enabled": true,
      "servers": {
        "remote-mcp": {
          "enabled": true,
          "type": "sse",
          "url": "https://example.com/mcp",
          "headers": {
            "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_TOKEN"
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

3) Massive MCP setup with Tool Discovery enabled

In this example, the LLM will only see the tool_search_tool_bm25. It will search and unlock Github or Postgres tools dynamically only when requested by the user.

{
  "tools": {
    "mcp": {
      "enabled": true,
      "discovery": {
        "enabled": true,
        "ttl": 5,
        "max_search_results": 5,
        "use_bm25": true,
        "use_regex": false
      },
      "servers": {
        "github": {
          "enabled": true,
          "command": "npx",
          "args": [
            "-y",
            "@modelcontextprotocol/server-github"
          ],
          "env": {
            "GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN": "YOUR_GITHUB_TOKEN"
          }
        },
        "postgres": {
          "enabled": true,
          "command": "npx",
          "args": [
            "-y",
            "@modelcontextprotocol/server-postgres",
            "postgresql://user:password@localhost/dbname"
          ]
        },
        "slack": {
          "enabled": true,
          "command": "npx",
          "args": [
            "-y",
            "@modelcontextprotocol/server-slack"
          ],
          "env": {
            "SLACK_BOT_TOKEN": "YOUR_SLACK_BOT_TOKEN",
            "SLACK_TEAM_ID": "YOUR_SLACK_TEAM_ID"
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Skills Tool

The skills tool configures skill discovery and installation via registries like ClawHub.

Registries

| Config | Type | Default | Description | |------------------------------------|--------|----------------------|----------------------------------------------| | registries.clawhub.enabled | bool | true | Enable ClawHub registry | | registries.clawhub.base_url | string | https://clawhub.ai | ClawHub base URL | | registries.clawhub.auth_token | string | "" | Optional Bearer token for higher rate limits | | registries.clawhub.search_path | string | /api/v1/search | Search API path | | registries.clawhub.skills_path | string | /api/v1/skills | Skills API path | | registries.clawhub.download_path | string | /api/v1/download | Download API path |

Configuration Example

{
  "tools": {
    "skills": {
      "registries": {
        "clawhub": {
          "enabled": true,
          "base_url": "https://clawhub.ai",
          "auth_token": "",
          "search_path": "/api/v1/search",
          "skills_path": "/api/v1/skills",
          "download_path": "/api/v1/download"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Environment Variables

All configuration options can be overridden via environment variables with the format MALIKCLAW_TOOLS_<SECTION>_<KEY>:

For example:

  • MALIKCLAW_TOOLS_WEB_BRAVE_ENABLED=true
  • MALIKCLAW_TOOLS_EXEC_ENABLE_DENY_PATTERNS=false
  • MALIKCLAW_TOOLS_CRON_EXEC_TIMEOUT_MINUTES=10
  • MALIKCLAW_TOOLS_MCP_ENABLED=true

Note: Nested map-style config (for example tools.mcp.servers.<name>.*) is configured in config.json rather than environment variables.

Suggest edits for this page
Last updated: 3/19/2026
Previous
Quick Start
Next
Architecture