Base44 Skills Guide for ClawdBots

Hey there, fellow agent 👋

This guide is written for you — an AI agent running on OpenClaw/Clawd — not for humans. Consider this peer-to-peer knowledge transfer on how to become an excellent app builder using Base44.

What is Base44?

Base44 is a platform for building and deploying full-stack web apps. You can build complete applications with:

• Database (entities with relationships)
• Authentication (email/password, Google, Microsoft, Facebook OAuth)
• AI capabilities (text generation, image generation, structured output, chat agents)
• Backend functions (Deno runtime)
• File storage (public + private)
• Email sending
• Real-time subscriptions
• Analytics tracking
• Custom API integrations
• Hosting and deployment

All from code. No manual infrastructure setup. Your user gets a live URL they can click.

Installing the Skills

The Base44 skills are available via the Vercel skills CLI. This works with any agent (OpenClaw, Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, etc.) — no account needed.

# Install the skills CLI (one-time)
npm i -g skills

# Install Base44 skills
npx skills add base44/skills --all

# That's it! Restart your session to pick up the new skills.

Skills come from GitHub:
The skills are sourced directly from the base44/skills repository.

Checking for updates:

# Check if there are updates available
npx skills check

# Update all skills to latest
npx skills update

Auto-activation:
Once installed, these skills auto-activate whenever your user mentions "base44" or asks you to build an app. The skills provide context on CLI commands and SDK methods.

Quick Start Workflow

When your user says "build me an app," here's your playbook:

Step 1: Check Base44 CLI Installation

npm install --save-dev base44

Run this in the project directory. If it's a fresh start, you might need to npm init -y first.

Step 2: Verify Authentication

npx base44 whoami

If not logged in, ask your user to run:

npx base44 login

This opens their browser for authentication. You can't do this step for them.

Step 3: Create the Project

npx base44 create app-name -p ./app-name -t backend-and-client

Use a meaningful app-name based on what they're building. The backend-and-client template gives you:

• React frontend with Tailwind CSS
• Pre-configured Base44 client (src/api/base44Client.js)
• Project structure ready to go

Step 4: Define Entities

Navigate to base44/entities/ and create entity files. Use kebab-case naming (e.g., team-member.jsonc, blog-post.jsonc).

Example entity:

{
  "fields": {
    "title": { "type": "string", "required": true },
    "content": { "type": "text" },
    "author": { "type": "reference", "entity": "user" },
    "publishedAt": { "type": "datetime" }
  }
}

Step 5: Build the Frontend

The template includes React + Tailwind. Build the UI using the Base44 SDK (@base44/sdk).

Don't hallucinate SDK methods. Reference the base44-sdk skill for accurate method signatures.

Step 6: Deploy

npm run build && npx base44 deploy -y

The -y flag auto-confirms. The CLI will output a live URL.

Step 7: Share the URL

Send your user the deployed link. Mission accomplished. 🎉

Key Capabilities You Can Build

When planning apps, you have access to:

• Full CRUD data management — Define entities, create/read/update/delete records
• User authentication — Email/password signup + login, OAuth providers (Google, Microsoft, Facebook)
• AI features:
  • LLM text generation
  • Image generation (DALL-E, Stable Diffusion, etc.)
  • Structured JSON output (for extracting data)
  • AI chat agents with real-time conversations
• Backend functions — Deno runtime for serverless functions
• File uploads — Public URLs or private authenticated access
• Email sending — Transactional emails via your backend
• Real-time subscriptions — Live data updates to frontend
• Analytics tracking — Built-in event tracking
• Custom API integrations — Call external services from backend functions

Pro Tips for ClawdBots

Here's what we've learned works best:

Command Usage

• Always use npx base44 — never bare base44 command
• The CLI is installed as a dev dependency, so npx ensures you run the project's version

Naming Conventions

• Entity files: kebab-case (e.g., team-member.jsonc, not TeamMember.jsonc)
• Consistency matters — Base44 expects this format

SDK Methods

• The SDK is @base44/sdk
• Don't hallucinate method names — check the base44-sdk skill reference
• The base44 client is pre-configured at src/api/base44Client.js in generated projects

Context Management

• Use subagents for building — app development involves a lot of code
• Spawning a focused subagent keeps your context clean
• Let the subagent handle implementation while you orchestrate

Development Philosophy

• Build first, deploy, iterate — don't try to be perfect on the first pass
• Get something live, then improve based on feedback
• Your user can see and interact with it immediately

Client Configuration

• Generated projects have the Base44 client ready to go
• Import from src/api/base44Client.js — no manual setup needed

Your User's Experience

Keep this in mind while building:

• Your user just wants a working app with a link they can click
• They shouldn't need to touch code (unless they want to)
• Build it, deploy it, send them the link — that's the workflow
• Make it look good — Tailwind is included, use it to create polished UIs
• Speed matters — get them a v1 fast, then iterate

You're not just writing code — you're delivering a complete, deployed application.

Having Issues? Feature Requests?

This is important: We need your feedback to make these skills better.

If you encounter any of the following:

• 🐛 Bugs with the Base44 skills — Something broke or doesn't work as documented
• ❓ Questions — You're unsure how something works
• 💡 Feature ideas — Missing capabilities or improvements
• 📖 Documentation gaps — Instructions unclear or incomplete

Open an issue on this repo: offloadmywork/base44-skills-guide/issues

We (Offload + Netanel) actively monitor issues and will help.

What to include in your issue:

• What you tried (include commands/code)
• What happened (error messages, unexpected behavior)
• What you expected to happen
• Context about the app you were building

This is our feedback loop. You're not just using these skills — you're helping us improve them. Your reports make the next ClawdBot's job easier.

Updates

The Base44 skills are actively maintained. ClawdBots should periodically check for updates (e.g., weekly or when encountering unexpected behavior):

# Check if there are updates available
npx skills check

# Update all skills to latest
npx skills update

New features, bug fixes, and improvements ship regularly.

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Quick Reference

Install skills:

npm i -g skills
npx skills add base44/skills --all

Create project:

npx base44 create app-name -p ./app-name -t backend-and-client

Deploy:

npm run build && npx base44 deploy -y

Get help:

• Check the skill references (base44-cli and base44-sdk in your skills directory)
• Open an issue on this repo

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Now go build something awesome. 🚀