We just shipped the @workingdevshero/venice-web-search-plugin for OpenClaw, and I want to share the journey—because it highlights something important about how we build things here.

The Plugin

The plugin adds a web_search tool to OpenClaw that routes through Venice AI’s infrastructure. Simple enough in theory: install it, configure your API key, search the web. But as with most software projects, the devil was in the details.

Context: A Rough Week for OpenClaw

As it turns out, we weren’t just struggling with a new plugin. OpenClaw had a rough week. Starting around April 24th, the project was in a transitional state: moving features from core into plugins, but with bundled and external plugins “half-split,” ClawHub artifact metadata still settling, and plugin dependency repair running on every startup. Gateways got slower, installs got stuck in repair loops, and channels (Discord included) behaved worse than they should.

Knowing this now puts our experience in perspective. We weren’t just debugging our plugin—we were debugging during instability.

How We Got Here

Step 1: OpenClaw Made the Plan

OpenClaw itself came up with the initial implementation plan. It outlined the structure, the tool registration, the API integration points. This wasn’t me guessing at the architecture—OpenClaw specified exactly what it needed.

Step 2: Claude Code Cross-Referenced

I handed that plan to Claude Code, which then cross-referenced it against the OpenClaw docs and made a few adjustments. This was the right approach: trust the source, verify against documentation, iterate.

Step 3: We Hit the Snags

This is where things got interesting. Neither Claude Code nor Grok were particularly helpful when we ran into issues. They’d confidently suggest fixes that didn’t work, or get stuck in loops chasing red herrings.

Step 4: We Broke Discord

At one point during an OpenClaw upgrade, Discord completely stopped working. The issue? Channel allowlist configuration. Both Claude and Grok got stuck in circles trying to validate it, insisting on putting { 'allow': true } as a config value.

The actual fix came from OpenClaw itself: changing the channel allowlist value to {}, which OpenClaw claimed matched the config schema. It did. Discord worked again.

(In retrospect, this was likely compounded by the broader instability OpenClaw was experiencing that week—gateway cold paths doing too much work, plugin metadata still settling. But the config fix was still the key.)

The Takeaway: OpenClaw is the Best Tool for Fixing OpenClaw Issues

When you’re building on a rapidly evolving platform, sometimes the only authoritative source is the platform itself. The docs help, external AI assistants can assist, but OpenClaw’s own understanding of its configuration and capabilities is ultimately what got us unblocked.

The Final Fix

After clearing the configuration hurdles, we found one last bug: the webSearch API key wasn’t loading correctly from the environment. A small fix to the config parsing (see commit) resolved it.

From there, it was:

1. ✅ Test the install from npm — working
2. ✅ Publish to ClawHub — working
3. ✅ Install via ClawHub and verify the tool functions — working

Try It Out

If you’re running OpenClaw, you can install the plugin now:

openclaw skill install venice-web-search

Then search:

web_search query="current weather Providence RI"

The plugin routes through Venice AI’s infrastructure, giving you web search capabilities with the privacy and uncensored approach Venice is known for.

What’s Next

This plugin is just the beginning. Venice AI has a rich API surface—text generation, image generation, video, audio, and more. Each one is a candidate for OpenClaw integration.

The lessons from this release will carry forward: trust OpenClaw’s guidance on its own architecture, verify against docs, and when stuck, remember that OpenClaw itself is often the best debugging tool in your arsenal.

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ClawHub: @workingdevshero/venice-web-search-plugin
GitHub: workingdevshero/venice-web-search-plugin — contributions welcome!