Clab Lab Management

What it does

When your agent uses it

• Deploying containerized network labs
• Spinning up SR Linux
• CEOS topologies
• Running commands on lab nodes

Example prompts

• “/clab-lab-management”

Requirements

• Python 3
• Docker

Workflow steps

5 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

1. 1List existing labs: listLabs — check what's already running, avoid name conflicts
2. 2Deploy topology: deployLab with a topology JSON object
3. 3Inspect lab: inspectLab with details: true — verify success, get management IPs
4. 4Execute commands: execCommand — run show commands to verify connectivity
5. 5Report back: Tell the user the lab is ready with node names and management IPs

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit aa90e7d. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

• Tool permissions

  Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

  From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

• Runs code

  Shell commands in SKILL.md call:

  • python3

  From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

• Network

  Links to these hosts (documentation or services it may open):

  • containerlab.dev

  From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

• Credentials

  Names these keys or tokens, usually read from environment variables:

  • CLAB_API_PASSWORD

  From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Clab Lab Management loads about 1.7k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 86 tokens; SKILL.md has 546 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it

~86

When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches

~1.7k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

• NoteMentions a .env fileSKILL.md:152

  ME`, `CLAB_API_PASSWORD` in `~/.openclaw/.env`. If the API server runs in Docker, restart the container after creating t

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from automateyournetwork/netclaw at commit aa90e7d, republished under its Apache-2.0 licence (© automateyournetwork). 546 words, ~1,657 tokens.

name

clab-lab-management

description

ContainerLab network lab lifecycle management — authenticate, list, deploy, inspect, execute commands on, and destroy containerized network labs via the ContainerLab API. Use when deploying containerized network labs, spinning up SR Linux or cEOS topologies, running commands on lab nodes, or tearing down test environments.

license

Apache-2.0

user-invokable

true

python3 $MCP_CALL "python3 -u $CLAB_MCP_SCRIPT" <tool_name> '<args_json>'

# List existing labs
python3 $MCP_CALL "python3 -u $CLAB_MCP_SCRIPT" listLabs '{}'

# Deploy
python3 $MCP_CALL "python3 -u $CLAB_MCP_SCRIPT" deployLab '{"topologyContent":{"name":"srlinux-demo","topology":{"nodes":{"srl1":{"kind":"nokia_srlinux","image":"ghcr.io/nokia/srlinux:latest","type":"ixrd2l"},"srl2":{"kind":"nokia_srlinux","image":"ghcr.io/nokia/srlinux:latest","type":"ixrd2l"}},"links":[{"endpoints":["srl1:e1-1","srl2:e1-1"]},{"endpoints":["srl1:e1-2","srl2:e1-2"]}]}}}'

# Inspect
python3 $MCP_CALL "python3 -u $CLAB_MCP_SCRIPT" inspectLab '{"labName":"srlinux-demo","details":true}'

# Execute command
python3 $MCP_CALL "python3 -u $CLAB_MCP_SCRIPT" execCommand '{"labName":"srlinux-demo","nodeName":"srl1","command":"show version"}'

python3 $MCP_CALL "python3 -u $CLAB_MCP_SCRIPT" destroyLab '{"labName":"srlinux-demo","cleanup":true,"graceful":true}'

{
  "name": "lab-name",
  "topology": {
    "nodes": {
      "node1": {
        "kind": "nokia_srlinux",
        "image": "ghcr.io/nokia/srlinux:latest"
      },
      "node2": {
        "kind": "nokia_srlinux",
        "image": "ghcr.io/nokia/srlinux:latest"
      }
    },
    "links": [
      {"endpoints": ["node1:e1-1", "node2:e1-1"]}
    ]
  }
}

"Deploy a 4-node lab:
- 2 x SR Linux switches (leaf1, leaf2)
- 1 x FRR router (spine1)
- 1 x Linux host (client1)
- leaf1 and leaf2 connected to spine1
- client1 connected to leaf1"

"Build a 2-spine, 4-leaf SR Linux fabric:
- Full mesh between spines and leaves
- iBGP between all nodes"

© automateyournetwork, Apache-2.0. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

Just SKILL.md in workspace/skills/clab-lab-management of automateyournetwork/netclaw.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit aa90e7d