Tools Configuration

Configure web search, cron, file access, and other tools

Overview

The tools section configures various tools available to the PicoClaw agent:

• web - Web search providers (Brave, Tavily, DuckDuckGo)
• cron - Scheduled task settings
• exec - Command execution controls
• skills - Skill registry configuration
• mcp - Model Context Protocol servers
• media_cleanup - Automatic media file cleanup

Web Search Configuration

Structure

{
  "tools": {
    "web": {
      "brave": {
        "enabled": false,
        "api_key": "YOUR_BRAVE_API_KEY",
        "max_results": 5
      },
      "tavily": {
        "enabled": false,
        "api_key": "YOUR_TAVILY_API_KEY",
        "max_results": 5
      },
      "duckduckgo": {
        "enabled": true,
        "max_results": 5
      },
      "proxy": "",
      "fetch_limit_bytes": 10485760
    }
  }
}

Brave Search

Free Tier: 2,000 queries/month
Get API Key: brave.com/search/api

{
  "brave": {
    "enabled": true,
    "api_key": "BSA...",
    "max_results": 5
  }
}

Environment variables:

• PICOCLAW_TOOLS_WEB_BRAVE_ENABLED
• PICOCLAW_TOOLS_WEB_BRAVE_API_KEY
• PICOCLAW_TOOLS_WEB_BRAVE_MAX_RESULTS

Tavily Search

Free Tier: 1,000 queries/month
Get API Key: tavily.com

{
  "tavily": {
    "enabled": true,
    "api_key": "tvly-...",
    "base_url": "https://api.tavily.com",
    "max_results": 5
  }
}

Environment variables:

• PICOCLAW_TOOLS_WEB_TAVILY_ENABLED
• PICOCLAW_TOOLS_WEB_TAVILY_API_KEY
• PICOCLAW_TOOLS_WEB_TAVILY_BASE_URL
• PICOCLAW_TOOLS_WEB_TAVILY_MAX_RESULTS

DuckDuckGo Search

Free: No API key required
Limitations: Rate-limited, less reliable than paid options

{
  "duckduckgo": {
    "enabled": true,
    "max_results": 5
  }
}

Environment variables:

• PICOCLAW_TOOLS_WEB_DUCKDUCKGO_ENABLED
• PICOCLAW_TOOLS_WEB_DUCKDUCKGO_MAX_RESULTS

Web Tools Proxy

Configure proxy for all web tools:

{
  "web": {
    "proxy": "http://proxy.example.com:8080"
  }
}

Supports: http://, https://, socks5://, socks5h://

Environment: PICOCLAW_TOOLS_WEB_PROXY

Fetch Limit

Maximum bytes to fetch from web pages:

{
  "web": {
    "fetch_limit_bytes": 10485760  // 10 MB
  }
}

Environment: PICOCLAW_TOOLS_WEB_FETCH_LIMIT_BYTES

Cron Tool Configuration

Configure scheduled task execution:

{
  "tools": {
    "cron": {
      "exec_timeout_minutes": 5
    }
  }
}

exec_timeout_minutes

Type: integer
Default: 5
Environment: PICOCLAW_TOOLS_CRON_EXEC_TIMEOUT_MINUTES

Maximum execution time for cron tasks in minutes. Set to 0 for no timeout.

{
  "cron": {
    "exec_timeout_minutes": 10
  }
}

Long-running cron tasks can block other scheduled jobs. Set appropriate timeouts.

File Access Configuration

Control agent access to specific paths outside the workspace:

{
  "tools": {
    "allow_read_paths": [
      "/home/user/documents",
      "/var/log/app"
    ],
    "allow_write_paths": [
      "/home/user/output"
    ]
  }
}

allow_read_paths

Type: array of strings
Environment: PICOCLAW_TOOLS_ALLOW_READ_PATHS

Paths the agent can read even with restrict_to_workspace: true.

{
  "allow_read_paths": [
    "/etc/nginx/nginx.conf",
    "/var/log/app/*.log"
  ]
}

allow_write_paths

Type: array of strings
Environment: PICOCLAW_TOOLS_ALLOW_WRITE_PATHS

Paths the agent can write to even with restrict_to_workspace: true.

{
  "allow_write_paths": [
    "/var/www/html/uploads",
    "/tmp/picoclaw-output"
  ]
}

Be cautious with allow_write_paths. The agent can modify or delete files in these directories.

Exec Tool Configuration

Control command execution safety:

{
  "tools": {
    "exec": {
      "enable_deny_patterns": true,
      "custom_deny_patterns": [
        "rm -rf /",
        "dd if=/dev/zero"
      ],
      "custom_allow_patterns": [
        "git",
        "npm"
      ]
    }
  }
}

enable_deny_patterns

Type: boolean
Default: true
Environment: PICOCLAW_TOOLS_EXEC_ENABLE_DENY_PATTERNS

Enables built-in dangerous command patterns:

• rm -rf, del /f, rmdir /s - Bulk deletion
• format, mkfs, diskpart - Disk formatting
• dd if= - Disk imaging
• Writing to /dev/sd[a-z] - Direct disk writes
• shutdown, reboot, poweroff - System shutdown
• Fork bomb :(){ :|:& };:

custom_deny_patterns

Type: array of strings
Environment: PICOCLAW_TOOLS_EXEC_CUSTOM_DENY_PATTERNS

Additional command patterns to block:

{
  "custom_deny_patterns": [
    "curl.*sudo",
    "wget.*|bash"
  ]
}

custom_allow_patterns

Type: array of strings
Environment: PICOCLAW_TOOLS_EXEC_CUSTOM_ALLOW_PATTERNS

Command patterns to explicitly allow:

{
  "custom_allow_patterns": [
    "git",
    "npm",
    "docker",
    "kubectl"
  ]
}

Skills Registry Configuration

{
  "tools": {
    "skills": {
      "registries": {
        "clawhub": {
          "enabled": true,
          "base_url": "https://clawhub.ai",
          "auth_token": "",
          "timeout": 30,
          "max_zip_size": 10485760
        }
      },
      "max_concurrent_searches": 2,
      "search_cache": {
        "max_size": 50,
        "ttl_seconds": 300
      }
    }
  }
}

ClawHub Registry

Environment variables:

• PICOCLAW_SKILLS_REGISTRIES_CLAWHUB_ENABLED
• PICOCLAW_SKILLS_REGISTRIES_CLAWHUB_BASE_URL
• PICOCLAW_SKILLS_REGISTRIES_CLAWHUB_AUTH_TOKEN

MCP Configuration

Configure Model Context Protocol servers:

{
  "tools": {
    "mcp": {
      "enabled": true,
      "servers": {
        "filesystem": {
          "enabled": true,
          "command": "npx",
          "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem", "/home/user/data"],
          "env": {
            "NODE_ENV": "production"
          }
        },
        "github": {
          "enabled": true,
          "command": "npx",
          "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-github"],
          "env_file": "/home/user/.mcp/github.env"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Environment: PICOCLAW_TOOLS_MCP_ENABLED

Media Cleanup Configuration

Automatic cleanup of old media files:

{
  "tools": {
    "media_cleanup": {
      "enabled": true,
      "max_age_minutes": 30,
      "interval_minutes": 5
    }
  }
}

Environment variables:

• PICOCLAW_MEDIA_CLEANUP_ENABLED
• PICOCLAW_MEDIA_CLEANUP_MAX_AGE
• PICOCLAW_MEDIA_CLEANUP_INTERVAL

Complete Example

{
  "tools": {
    "allow_read_paths": ["/var/log"],
    "allow_write_paths": ["/tmp/output"],
    "web": {
      "brave": {
        "enabled": true,
        "api_key": "BSA...",
        "max_results": 5
      },
      "duckduckgo": {
        "enabled": true,
        "max_results": 5
      },
      "fetch_limit_bytes": 10485760
    },
    "cron": {
      "exec_timeout_minutes": 10
    },
    "exec": {
      "enable_deny_patterns": true,
      "custom_allow_patterns": ["git", "npm"]
    },
    "media_cleanup": {
      "enabled": true,
      "max_age_minutes": 30,
      "interval_minutes": 5
    }
  }
}

Next Steps

• Agent Configuration
• Workspace Setup
• Environment Variables