Giphy Multi — Cross-platform GIF skill

Search Giphy and send animated GIFs optimized for your current messaging channel.

Initial setup

1. Get a Giphy API Key https://developers.giphy.com → "Create an App" → API (free, 1,000 req/day)

2. Configure it

• Via openclaw.json (recommended):

  { "skills": { "entries": { "giphy-multi": { "env": { "GIPHY_API_KEY": "your_key" } } } } }
  

• Or in ~/.openclaw/.env:

  echo 'GIPHY_API_KEY=your_key' >> ~/.openclaw/.env
  

3. Verify everything is ready

python3 {baseDir}/scripts/giphy_multi.py --check

Daily workflow

1. Detect channel from inbound metadata (channel field in session context).
2. Verify config: if missing or current channel not listed, run: python3 {baseDir}/scripts/giphy_multi.py --discover
   • First time ever (no config): after --discover, briefly tell the user the skill is ready (one sentence).
   • New channel detected: --discover adds it silently. Casually mention it works here too if natural.
   • Missing API key: --check shows setup instructions; relay them to the user.
3. Search and convert: python3 {baseDir}/scripts/giphy_multi.py "<query>" --channel <channel>
4. Send the output file with message(action=send, media=<path>).
5. Clean up: exec(rm <path>) after sending.

The --discover only runs once per new channel — after that, the channel stays in config and discovery is skipped.

Each search gets a unique timestamp, so concurrent channels, topics, or threads never collide. Orphan files >10 min are cleaned automatically.

Usage mode

The config's "mode" field controls when GIFs are sent:

• natural (default) — spontaneous, like emoji reactions. The agent uses its judgment to send GIFs when the conversation flows.
• on_request — only when the user explicitly asks ("send a gif of...", "reaction gif").

Change mode:

python3 {baseDir}/scripts/giphy_multi.py --mode natural
python3 {baseDir}/scripts/giphy_multi.py --mode on_request

The user can also say it in conversation: "stop sending GIFs without asking" → switches to on_request. "feel free to send GIFs naturally" → switches to natural.

Notes

• Output is JSON with path to the file in .giphy_cache/.
• Config is stored at <workspace>/giphy-multi-config.json (survives skill updates).
• Rating defaults to g; override with --rating pg|pg-13|r.
• Giphy free limit: 1,000 requests/day.
• If the API key is missing, the script returns instructions in the help field.