SwitchBot Smart Home CLI

What it does

When your agent uses it

• Turning lights, plugs or curtains on and off through SwitchBot
• Checking the status of a lock or sensor
• Controlling a TV, air conditioner or fan through an IR remote device
• Drafting and linting an automation rule for a device

Example prompts

• “Turn off the living room lights with my SwitchBot setup.”
• “What is my SwitchBot sensor reading right now?”
• “Draft an automation rule that closes the bedroom curtains at sunset, and lint it.”

Requirements

• The switchbot CLI
• Outbound internet access to the npm registry and GitHub for switchbot codex setup

Workflow steps

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

1. 1alias — policy.yaml alias map → . Most reliable.
2. 2exact — device name == "bedroom light" (case-insensitive).
3. 3prefix — name starts with the phrase.
4. 4substring — name contains the phrase.
5. 5fuzzy — Levenshtein distance ≤ 2.
6. 6require-unique — multiple matches at same tier → stop and ask. Never pick silently.

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 45f9a95. 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:

  • npm

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

• Network

  No URLs in SKILL.md. Its commands use npm, which can reach the network depending on how they are called.

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

• Credentials

  Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

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

Context cost

SwitchBot Smart Home CLI loads about 2.2k tokens when it runs, and up to ~2.5k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 79 tokens; SKILL.md has 907 words of instructions outside code blocks.

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

~79

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

~2.2k

With references · SKILL.md plus every file in references/, read only if the agent opens them

~2.5k

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

• WarningContains instruction-override wording (e.g. “without asking the user”)SKILL.md:192

  - Suggest flags that bypass safety tiers (`--skip-confirmation`, `--force`) unless the user named them explicitly.

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 OpenWonderLabs/switchbot-openapi-cli at commit 45f9a95, republished under its MIT licence (© OpenWonderLabs). 907 words, ~2,156 tokens.

name

switchbot

description

Use when the user mentions SwitchBot devices, smart-home automation, or asks about controlling lights, locks, curtains, sensors, plugs, or IR appliances (TV/AC/fan). Teaches the agent how to drive the authoritative `switchbot` CLI safely, read user preferences from `policy.yaml`, and respect safety tiers.

switchbot agent-bootstrap --compact

cat ~/.config/openclaw/switchbot/policy.yaml 2>/dev/null

automation:
  enabled: true
  rules:
    - name: "hallway motion at night"
      when: { source: mqtt, event: motion.detected, device: "hallway sensor" }
      conditions:
        - time_between: ["22:00", "07:00"]
      then:
        - { command: "devices command <id> turnOn", device: "hallway lamp" }
      throttle: { max_per: "10m" }
      dry_run: true

switchbot policy validate
switchbot rules lint && switchbot rules reload

switchbot plan suggest --intent "turn off all lights" --device <id1> --device <id2>
# Review/edit the generated JSON
switchbot plan run plan.json --require-approval

{ "error": { "kind": "usage|auth|quota|network|upstream|internal", "message": "...", "hint": "..." } }

<!-- MAINTENANCE: Identical copy at plugins/switchbot/skills/switchbot/SKILL.md — keep both in sync. -->

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

Files

SKILL.md and 1 other file (references) in packages/codex-plugin/skills/switchbot of OpenWonderLabs/switchbot-openapi-cli.

• SKILL.md
• references/codex-network.md

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 45f9a95