Connections Overview

What are Connections?

Connections are the bridges between your Claws and external services. When a Claw needs to send an email, post a Slack message, or read a project board, it uses a connection to authenticate with that service. Without a connection, skills that rely on external tools cannot function.

WorkClaw supports two types of connections:

• OAuth connections — For services like Google, Slack, and Linear that support the OAuth protocol. You authorize through the service's login page, and WorkClaw securely stores the resulting token.
• Custom API connections — For services that use API keys, tokens, or other credentials. You add these manually and WorkClaw stores them in your vault.

How do scopes control what a connection can do?

Every connection has a set of scopes — specific permissions that define what the Claw can access. When you authorize a Google connection, for example, you might grant gmail.read and gmail.send scopes but not drive.admin. Scopes are requested by skills through their REQUIREMENTS.yaml, so you always know why a permission is needed before granting it.

You can adjust scopes after the initial setup from the connection's settings page. See Managing Connections for details.

How does per-Claw configuration work?

Connections are assigned per-Claw. This means your support Claw might have access to Gmail and Zendesk, while your project-management Claw connects to Linear and Notion. This separation ensures each agent only accesses the services it needs — reducing risk and keeping things organized.

To set up connections for a Claw, go to Settings > Connections and select the target Claw from the dropdown.

How does WorkClaw track connection status?

Each connection has a health status indicator:

• Connected — Credentials are valid and the service is reachable.
• Warning — The token is nearing expiration or the service returned transient errors.
• Disconnected — The token has expired or been revoked. The Claw cannot use this connection until you reconnect.

WorkClaw checks status periodically and notifies you when action is needed.