picoclaw/docs/tools_configuration.md

Tools Configuration

PicoClaw's tools configuration is located in the tools field of config.json.

Directory Structure

{
  "tools": {
    "web": { ... },
    "exec": { ... },
    "approval": { ... },
    "cron": { ... }
  }
}

Web Tools

Web tools are used for web search and fetching.

Brave

Config	Type	Default	Description
enabled	bool	false	Enable Brave search
api_key	string	-	Brave Search API key
max_results	int	5	Maximum number of results

DuckDuckGo

Config	Type	Default	Description
enabled	bool	true	Enable DuckDuckGo search
max_results	int	5	Maximum number of results

Perplexity

Config	Type	Default	Description
enabled	bool	false	Enable Perplexity search
api_key	string	-	Perplexity API key
max_results	int	5	Maximum number of results

Exec Tool

The exec tool is used to execute shell commands.

Config	Type	Default	Description
enable_deny_patterns	bool	true	Enable default dangerous command blocking
custom_deny_patterns	array	[]	Custom deny patterns (regular expressions)

Functionality

• enable_deny_patterns: Set to false to completely disable the default dangerous command blocking patterns
• custom_deny_patterns: Add custom deny regex patterns; commands matching these will be blocked

Default Blocked Command Patterns

By default, PicoClaw blocks the following dangerous commands:

• Delete commands: rm -rf, del /f/q, rmdir /s
• Disk operations: format, mkfs, diskpart, dd if=, writing to /dev/sd*
• System operations: shutdown, reboot, poweroff
• Command substitution: $(), ${}, backticks
• Pipe to shell: | sh, | bash
• Privilege escalation: sudo, chmod, chown
• Process control: pkill, killall, kill -9
• Remote operations: curl | sh, wget | sh, ssh
• Package management: apt, yum, dnf, npm install -g, pip install --user
• Containers: docker run, docker exec
• Git: git push, git force
• Other: eval, source *.sh

Configuration Example

{
  "tools": {
    "exec": {
      "enable_deny_patterns": true,
      "custom_deny_patterns": [
        "\\brm\\s+-r\\b",
        "\\bkillall\\s+python"
      ],
    }
  }
}

Approval Tool

The approval tool controls permissions for dangerous operations.

Config	Type	Default	Description
enabled	bool	true	Enable approval functionality
write_file	bool	true	Require approval for file writes
edit_file	bool	true	Require approval for file edits
append_file	bool	true	Require approval for file appends
exec	bool	true	Require approval for command execution
timeout_minutes	int	5	Approval timeout in minutes

Cron Tool

The cron tool is used for scheduling periodic tasks.

Config	Type	Default	Description
exec_timeout_minutes	int	5	Execution timeout in minutes, 0 means no limit

Environment Variables

All configuration options can be overridden via environment variables with the format PICOCLAW_TOOLS_<SECTION>_<KEY>:

For example:

• PICOCLAW_TOOLS_WEB_BRAVE_ENABLED=true
• PICOCLAW_TOOLS_EXEC_ENABLE_DENY_PATTERNS=false
• PICOCLAW_TOOLS_CRON_EXEC_TIMEOUT_MINUTES=10

Note: Array-type environment variables are not currently supported and must be set via the config file.