Is this how it should work?
CJ · 2026-07-02
I'm about to finally pull the trigger on using Paperclip, and I want to see if my mental model about the setup, including OpenClaw, is correct.
One of my "businesses" is a suite of apps on Google Play. In OpenClaw, I have an agent responsible for ASO tasks, and she has various related skills, workflows, guardrails, Google Play publishing access, etc. I also have an Obsidian vault where she saves ASO reports, app description drafts, etc. If I want to have Paperclip become the orchestration layer, I gather I would add/invite her as an agent in Paperclip. But if only she has the skill for understanding what the ASO workflow is, how would my PC CEO agent be able to orchestrate her work? Do I need to make sure Paperclip has the same skills installed that the OpenClaw agents are using? Or do I just give Paperclip my Obsidian vault and add some voodoo to the agents.md file so the PC orchestrator agent has the same knowledge as the OpenClaw agent?
Answers
Aron Prins · 2026-07-05
Good instinct to sanity-check this before you invite her in — the skill-sharing part trips people up.
What changed / why
Paperclip is the orchestration layer above whatever runtime runs the agent ([Key Concepts](https://docs.paperclip.ing/guides/welcome/key-concepts/)). OpenClaw connects through the openclawgateway adapter, registered with no listSkills/syncSkills and requiresMaterializedRuntimeSkills: false — [registry.ts:406-415](https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip/blob/master/server/src/adapters/registry.ts#L406-L415). Skill sync there is unsupported: Paperclip records the skills you want assigned but never pushes files into the remote runtime. See [Skills → Adapter sync preferences](https://docs.paperclip.ing/guides/org/skills/).
Fixes
1. Don't duplicate her ASO skill into Paperclip. It lives in OpenClaw and stays there. An equivalent skill in the Paperclip library would just be dead weight the adapter can't sync anyway.
2. Orchestration happens at the task level, not the knowledge level. Your CEO doesn't need to understand the ASO workflow — it needs enough context to write a good issue and assign it to her. She reads the issue, runs her own skills/workflows/guardrails inside OpenClaw, and reports back. That's the whole contract.
3. Leave the Obsidian vault wired into her existing OpenClaw tool access. Nothing to hand Paperclip. If the CEO itself needs to read her reports later, that's a tool/MCP connection on OpenClaw's side, not agents.md config in Paperclip.
Use the [OpenClaw invite flow](https://docs.paperclip.ing/how-to/bring-your-own-agent/#option-a-external-agent-invite-openclaw-and-friends) to bring her on, then assign a trivial ASO issue as a smoke test.
One thing that changes the answer: does your CEO need to review or verify her ASO output itself, or just delegate and trust the result?
Cheers, Aron