Make it a Plugin?

[steipete-oai]

I wonder what hooks/API-surfaces are needed to make this a plugin/extension on OpenClaw vs a fork! Wanna work with us to make that change happen?

[kumarabhirup]

Initially I tried making it a plugin here: #81

Things that could become a plugin:

• Custom tools (CRM database queries, file operations) -- if the plugin API supports api.registerTool() or similar
• The CRM / Browser / App Builder skills via before_prompt_build hook
• Model routing logic via before_model_resolve

However, everything else DenchClaw does couldn't become a plugin so had to detach it.

1. Full web application (Next.js on :3100) The plugin API has no concept of serving HTTP routes, static assets, or a frontend. DenchClaw's entire UI: workspace browser, object tables (kanban/calendar/gallery views), rich document editor (TipTap), Monaco code editor, diff viewer, reports with charts is a standalone Next.js 15 app. Plugins can't add pages or serve HTML.

2. Terminal emulation DenchClaw runs a WebSocket server on :3101 backed by node-pty, with an xterm.js frontend in a drawer. Plugins can register services with start/stop lifecycle, but can't open ports, serve WebSocket connections, or spawn PTY sessions.

3. Dench Apps runtime The .dench.app format is an entire sandboxed app platform with a bridge API (window.dench.db.query(), window.dench.files.read(), window.dench.agent.send()), permission model, and multiple build runtimes (static, esbuild). Plugins can't define new app formats or serve sandboxed iframes.

4. Chat orchestration and agent pool DenchClaw manages its own chat API (/api/chat with SSE streaming), agent pool (pre-created slots per workspace), session persistence (JSONL files), and subagent coordination. While plugins can observe agent events, they can't provide an alternative chat transport or manage agent lifecycle.

5. DenchClaw has a Workspaces feature (/workspace-** folders) that all sit inside openclaw --profile dench.

I don't know how I can replicate this with the current Plugin API.

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I opened this PR on OpenClaw long back: openclaw#12384

Pre PR #81 (when this was called Ironclaw), we had a patched OpenClaw shipped inside that support NDJSON streaming from terminal. So frontends can directly consume stream outputs of OpenClaw from outside the sandbox via simple stddir, and branch ironclaw was based on frontend consuming from that patch.

But we quickly moved away from it.