OpenClaw Direct Tools for ChatGPT

Give ChatGPT direct access to the tools available in your OpenClaw runtime.

Works with ChatGPT Free - no paid ChatGPT subscription or OpenClaw Main Agent required.

Platform status: Windows is the currently tested setup. Linux and macOS support has not yet been validated. Contributions and testing reports for additional platforms are welcome. See Contributing.

Use ChatGPT to work with your local environment: search files, understand and edit code, run commands and tests, automate Chrome, and interact with your Windows desktop. The bridge exposes these capabilities as MCP tools and can also discover other eligible tools in your current OpenClaw runtime.

Rather than routing every operation through the OpenClaw Main Agent, ChatGPT can call the bridge's tools directly. Native actions are forwarded through supported OpenClaw interfaces, so OpenClaw permissions, approvals, and policies remain authoritative.

<p><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Snoozemage/openclaw-direct-tools-for-chatgpt/main/docs/images/browser_use.gif" alt="Browser automation demo" width="100%"></p>

Browser automation through the bridge.

Capabilities

| Capability | Public tools | What ChatGPT can do | |---|---|---| | Conversation setup | start_here | Load tool-routing and safety instructions once at the start of a ChatGPT conversation. | | Browser automation | openclaw_browser | Work with Chrome tabs and pages, take screenshots, interact with page elements, manage downloads/uploads and inspect browser diagnostics. | | Desktop automation | openclaw_computer | Inspect the Windows screen, use the mouse and keyboard, operate windows/apps, and run bounded action batches. | | File operations | openclaw_ls, openclaw_read, openclaw_edit, openclaw_write, openclaw_apply_patch | List, read, edit, create/replace, and patch local files through OpenClaw's native file tools. Listing and reading support batches. | | Local project search | openclaw_glob, openclaw_grep | Find project paths and search file contents without using a shell for the search itself. | | Runtime operations | openclaw_exec, openclaw_process | Run commands and inspect or control processes started through the runtime wrapper. | | Screenshot presentation | openclaw_image_render | Display a recent desktop screenshot directly in the ChatGPT conversation using a short-lived reference. | | Dynamic tool discovery | openclaw_tool_search, openclaw_tool_describe, openclaw_dispatch_action | Find other eligible tools in the current OpenClaw runtime, inspect their actual schemas, and invoke them when no dedicated bridge wrapper exists. |

This is the bridge's public interface, not a promise that every native OpenClaw capability is available in every installation. Availability depends on the runtime version, installed plugins, node hardware, pairing approvals, Gateway policy, and operating-system permissions.

Quick Start

Note: The steps below are for Windows; Linux and macOS have not yet been validated.

The shortest path to trying the bridge:

1. Prepare OpenClaw and the tunnel. Make sure OpenClaw is installed and configured. Create an OpenAI Secure MCP Tunnel, associate it with your target ChatGPT workspace, and have a Platform API key with Tunnels Read + Use permission ready. See Prepare the OpenAI tunnel for details.

2. Clone and configure in Windows PowerShell:

   git clone https://github.com/Snoozemage/openclaw-direct-tools-for-chatgpt.git
   Set-Location openclaw-direct-tools-for-chatgpt
   npm run setup
   

   Follow the setup wizard to configure your local OpenClaw paths, ports, tunnel ID, and API key.

3. Start the bridge:

   npm start
   npm run status
   

4. Connect ChatGPT. Add a custom MCP server using the Tunnel connection, select the same tunnel, then open a conversation and select the plugin. The local call monitor is available at http://127.0.0.1:19002/monitor with the default port.

For the full setup flow, workspace requirements, troubleshooting notes, and lifecycle details, continue to Setup and operation.

Architecture

The bridge provides the MCP endpoint, routes calls to feature-specific handlers, and hosts a local call monitor. Depending on the capability, a handler uses an OpenClaw native tool, invokes a Gateway tool, or performs bridge-owned work.

ChatGPT custom MCP connector
          |
OpenAI Secure MCP Tunnel
          |
Local Node.js bridge
  ├── MCP endpoint (/mcp)
  │     └── Public tool registry and dispatcher
  │           ├── Browser wrapper ──────────> OpenClaw Gateway ──> Browser / Chrome extension
  │           ├── Desktop wrapper ──────────> OpenClaw Gateway / paired computer node
  │           ├── Files and runtime wrappers > OpenClaw native tools
  │           ├── Tool Discovery ───────────> Effective tool catalog / Gateway invocation
  │           └── Bridge-native utilities ──> glob, grep, screenshot rendering, session setup
  └── Local call monitor (/monitor)
        └── In-memory events and Server-Sent Events (/events)

Tool definitions are assembled in src/mcp/tool-definitions.mjs; src/mcp/tool-dispatcher.mjs routes public tool names to handlers. The local HTTP server exposes /mcp and /healthz as well as the monitor endpoints. Tool-call events are streamed to the monitor over Server-Sent Events (SSE).

Integration boundaries

• OpenClaw wrappers: Browser, Computer, Files, and runtime execution/process tools use OpenClaw's native behavior for the operation they wrap. The bridge may shape the public schema, prepare arguments, maintain interaction state, or format results, but it does not bypass OpenClaw policy.
• Bridge-native utilities: openclaw_glob and openclaw_grep search local files; openclaw_image_render presents a screenshot captured by the computer tool; start_here supplies conversation-specific routing instructions.
• Dynamic tool discovery: the discovery trio searches tools effectively available to the configured OpenClaw agent, returns runtime-provided schemas, and dispatches the exact selected tool through the supported Gateway invocation path. Tools already covered by direct wrappers are intentionally excluded so their bridge-specific behavior is retained.

For implementation guidance, see Tool Exposure Guide. For node command policy and discovery of capabilities such as camera, location, screen, device information, notifications, and plugin-provided actions, see Gateway Node Command Reference.

Setup and operation

Requirements

• Current setup and lifecycle scripts are written for Windows/PowerShell. The MCP server is built with Node.js, but setup and lifecycle support on other operating systems has not yet been validated.
• Node.js 22.17 or later and npm.
• rg.exe (ripgrep) on PATH, or set OPENCLAW_RIPGREP_PATH to its executable path.
• An installed and configured OpenClaw runtime and Gateway.
• An OpenAI Secure MCP Tunnel created in Platform and an OpenAI Platform API key for tunnel-client with Tunnels Read + Use permission. You also need a ChatGPT account/workspace that can add a custom MCP server. The project maintainer has verified that this bridge connects successfully on a ChatGPT Free account.

Prepare the OpenAI tunnel

1. Open OpenAI Platform Tunnels settings and create a Secure MCP Tunnel. Note its tunnel_id and associate the tunnel with the ChatGPT workspace where the connector will be created. A tunnel attached only to a Platform organization may not appear in a separate ChatGPT workspace.
2. Create or select an OpenAI Platform API key for the tunnel client. This key authenticates tunnel-client to OpenAI's tunnel control plane; it is required even though the MCP bridge itself runs locally. Grant it Tunnels Read + Use so it can run the tunnel and select it for the ChatGPT connection. Creating or editing the tunnel requires Tunnels Read + Manage for the account performing that operation.
3. The API key for tunnel-client is separate from your ChatGPT sign-in and from the authentication setting on the ChatGPT custom MCP plugin. The setup wizard prompts for the key using hidden input and stores it in Windows Credential Manager. It is not saved as a plaintext key file. Do not paste it into ChatGPT, put it in the repository, or commit it to Git.

See the official Secure MCP Tunnel guide for organization/workspace associations and permissions.

Configure the bridge

From the repository root, run the setup wizard in PowerShell:

npm run setup

Follow the prompts for the OpenClaw config and CLI paths, Node.js, bridge and Gateway ports, the tunnel_id, and runtime API-key material. Setup installs the locked npm dependencies, locates or downloads the official tunnel-client, creates a profile that forwards the tunnel to the bridge's local /mcp endpoint, validates the configuration, and stores generated settings outside the repository.

The default local application directory is:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\OpenClawChatGPTBridge\

It contains the generated configuration, tunnel profile, and runtime logs. The tunnel runtime API key is stored in Windows Credential Manager and is not written to a plaintext key file by the current setup flow. Keep generated configuration, profiles, and logs out of version control.

On existing installations, rerun npm run setup once to migrate the old key file. Setup verifies the Credential Manager entry before removing that file. Normal file deletion cannot guarantee secure erasure of historical disk copies; rotate the key if you suspect prior exposure.

Start, inspect, and stop

npm start
npm run status
npm stop

npm start starts the Gateway, MCP bridge, Secure MCP Tunnel, and tray. npm run status reports component health; npm stop stops the complete stack. The bridge normally listens on http://127.0.0.1:19002, with the local Monitor at http://127.0.0.1:19002/monitor; the Gateway defaults to port 19001. Configured ports may differ.

Automatic startup is opt-in: Run npm run autostart:install to add one OpenClaw Direct Tools entry to Windows Startup apps. Enable or disable it in Task Manager → Startup apps. Run npm run autostart:uninstall to remove it; add -- -StopService to stop the running stack as part of uninstall.

Windows lifecycle

A per-user service-supervisor.ps1 manages the Gateway, bridge, tunnel, and tray in the interactive Windows session; it is not a system-wide Windows Service. service-start.ps1 enforces a single