OpenClaw Plugin: installation fails without pre-configured env vars (guide improvement needed)

[AutoJunjie]

Problem

When following the OpenClaw plugin installation guide, running:

openclaw plugins install @chorus-aidlc/chorus-openclaw-plugin

immediately fails with config validation error:

chorus-openclaw-plugin invalid config: chorusUrl: must have required property 'chorusUrl', apiKey: must have required property 'apiKey'
[openclaw] Failed to start CLI: Error: Config validation failed

The plugin requires chorusUrl and apiKey environment variables to be set before installation, but this is not clearly communicated in the guide. The install command itself crashes instead of gracefully prompting the user or creating a placeholder config.

Expected Behavior

Either:

1. The install command succeeds and writes a config template with placeholder values, prompting the user to fill them in, OR
2. The guide clearly states the prerequisite env vars / config steps before the install command

Suggested Improvements

• Add a "Prerequisites" section to the plugin README with required env vars
• Make the plugin install tolerant of missing config (write defaults, warn instead of crash)
• Add a openclaw plugins configure chorus-openclaw-plugin post-install step

Environment

• OpenClaw 2026.3.2 (85377a2)
• Ubuntu on EC2
• Plugin version: 0.1.4