Best tools to install on an OpenClaw agent

The short list

1. 1

   Locus Pro

   One connection for thousands of paid APIs — search, enrichment, finance, voice, verification — billed per call from one balance.

   openclaw mcp set locus '{"url":"https://api.paywithlocus.com/api/credits/mcp","transport":"streamable-http","auth":"oauth"}'

2. 2

   Brave Search

   General web search with grounding-grade results for research tasks.

   openclaw mcp add brave-search --command npx --arg -y @brave/brave-search-mcp-server

3. 3

   Playwright

   Real browser automation: open pages, click, screenshot, and scrape JavaScript-heavy sites.

   openclaw mcp add playwright --command npx --arg -y @playwright/mcp@latest

4. 4

   GitHub

   Read and manage repos, issues, and pull requests without leaving the agent.

   openclaw mcp add github --url https://api.githubcopilot.com/mcp --transport streamable-http

5. 5

   Filesystem scope

   Keep file access scoped to project directories instead of the whole machine.

   Scope file tools to the workspace directory in the Control UI under Settings and MCP.

6. 6

   Fetch

   Pull a URL into context as markdown for quick reads without a full browser.

   openclaw mcp add fetch --command uvx --arg mcp-server-fetch

After registering an OAuth server, run openclaw mcp login locus (replace locus with the server name), then openclaw mcp list to confirm it is registered. For the full walkthrough, see how to set up OpenClaw.

Why Locus Pro belongs on the list

Free servers cover search, browsing, and files. The moment the agent needs specialist data — company enrichment, verified contacts, market filings, transcripts, threat lookups — each provider normally means another account, another key, another subscription. Locus Pro replaces all of that with one MCP connection and one prepaid balance: the agent searches the agent tool catalog, sees the price before each call, and spends only what permitted calls cost.

Keep going

• How to set up OpenClaw, with Locus Pro included →
• Paid MCP tools over one connection →
• Best tools for a Hermes agent →