Skill Auditor in Sandbox

Skill Auditor in Sandbox

Test and audit Claude Code skills in an isolated NovitaClaw (OpenClaw) sandbox before installing them locally. The skill launches a sandbox, installs the target skill, runs a security scan, and generates a structured risk report.

Quick Reference

| Situation | Action | |-----------|--------| | Test a ClawHub skill | /skill-auditor-in-sandbox owner/skill-name | | Test a GitHub skill | /skill-auditor-in-sandbox owner/repo-name | | Review the report | Check risk level, suspicious patterns, URLs, external paths | | After review | Pause or stop the sandbox to save costs |

Prerequisites

Usage

You are given a skill name (or identifier) as $ARGUMENTS. Your job is to launch a sandbox, install the skill, run a security audit, and generate a report.

Step 1: Launch Sandbox

novitaclaw launch --json

Parse the JSON output and extract sandbox_id and webui. Save these for the report.

If launch fails, check error_code and remediation fields:

Step 2: Install Skill

Run the install script from the project root:

SANDBOX_ID= SKILL_NAME="$ARGUMENTS" node scripts/install-skill.mjs

The script outputs JSON: { success, method, skillDir, files, error? }.

Step 3: Security Audit

Run the audit script:

SANDBOX_ID= SKILL_NAME="$ARGUMENTS" node scripts/audit-skill.mjs

The script outputs JSON:

Step 4: Assess Risk

Based on audit results, assign a risk level:

| Risk Level | Criteria | |------------|----------| | LOW | No suspicious patterns, URLs are legitimate (GitHub, docs), no external paths | | MEDIUM | Some suspicious patterns but explainable (e.g., fetch() for legitimate API calls) | | HIGH | Unexplained network calls, access to sensitive paths, obfuscated code | | CRITICAL | Credential harvesting, mining indicators, command injection patterns |

Step 5: Generate Report

Output a structured report:

## Skill Installation Report
Skill: 
Sandbox ID: 
Web UI: 
Timestamp: 
Installation Status
Result: SUCCESS / FAILED
Method: 
Files Installed:  files
Installed Files
Security Analysis
Risk Level: LOW / MEDIUM / HIGH / CRITICAL
Suspicious Patterns Found
| File | Line | Pattern | Severity |
|------|------|---------|----------|
(or "None found")
URL References
| File | URL | Context |
|------|-----|---------|
(list all URLs and whether they look legitimate)
External Path References
(list any, or "None found")
Dependencies
(list any, or "No external dependencies")
Recommendations
Sandbox Management
To access: 
To pause (save costs): novitaclaw pause 
To stop (permanent): novitaclaw stop 
After generating the report, automatically pause the sandbox to save costs:
novitaclaw pause  --json
Then inform the user that the sandbox has been paused and can be resumed or stopped:
To resume: novitaclaw resume 
To stop (permanent): novitaclaw stop 
What Gets Scanned
| Category | Patterns |
|----------|----------|
| Suspicious code | Shell spawning, dynamic code execution, encoding functions, mining indicators |
| Network calls | All URL references found in skill files |
| External paths | System directories, user home dotfiles, temp directories |
| Dependencies | requirements.txt, package.json |
| File contents | Full text of all .md, .txt, .json, .py, .js, .ts, .sh, .yaml, .yml files |
Important Notes
Always use --json flag with novitaclaw commands.
The sandbox auto-terminates based on keep_alive. Suggest pause to save costs.
Prefer pause over stop — stop is irreversible. Confirm before stopping.
Attribution
Source: https://github.com/freecodewu/skill-auditor-in-sandbox
Powered by NovitaClaw sandbox infrastructure
💡 Examples
You are given a skill name (or identifier) as $ARGUMENTS. Your job is to launch a sandbox, install the skill, run a security audit, and generate a report.
Step 1: Launch Sandbox
novitaclaw launch --json
Parse the JSON output and extract sandbox_id and webui. Save these for the report.
If launch fails, check error_code and remediation fields:
MISSING_API_KEY → ask user for API key
SANDBOX_TIMEOUT → retry with --timeout 300
Step 2: Install Skill
Run the install script from the project root:
SANDBOX_ID= SKILL_NAME="$ARGUMENTS" node scripts/install-skill.mjs
The script outputs JSON: { success, method, skillDir, files, error? }.
If success is false, show the error and stop.
Note the method used (clawhub / git-github / git-clawhub) for the report.
Step 3: Security Audit
Run the audit script:
SANDBOX_ID= SKILL_NAME="$ARGUMENTS" node scripts/audit-skill.mjs
The script outputs JSON:
suspicious[] — lines matching risky code patterns (dynamic execution, shell spawning, encoding, etc.)
urls[] — all URL references found in skill files
externalPaths[] — references to paths outside the skill directory (system dirs, dotfiles, temp dirs)
dependencies — contents of requirements.txt or package.json if present
fileContents[] — full contents of all text files for manual review
Step 4: Assess Risk
Based on audit results, assign a risk level:
| Risk Level | Criteria |
|------------|----------|
| LOW | No suspicious patterns, URLs are legitimate (GitHub, docs), no external paths |
| MEDIUM | Some suspicious patterns but explainable (e.g., fetch() for legitimate API calls) |
| HIGH | Unexplained network calls, access to sensitive paths, obfuscated code |
| CRITICAL | Credential harvesting, mining indicators, command injection patterns |
Step 5: Generate Report
Output a structured report:
```
⚙️ Configuration
NOVITA_API_KEY must be set. If not, ask the user to register at https://novita.ai/?utm_source=OpenClaw&utm_medium=Dev_Rel&utm_campaign=Claw-30 and get an API key from https://novita.ai/settings/key-management, then:
  export NOVITA_API_KEY=
novitaclaw CLI must be installed. If not found:
  curl -fsSL https://novitaclaw.novita.ai/install.sh | bash
novita-sandbox npm package must be available. If not:
  npm install novita-sandbox
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