1688 Skill Usage Tutorial

3ChatClaw Skill Center
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1688 Skill Usage Tutorial

I. Skill Overview

1688 Skills are a set of business assistants provided officially by 1688, designed for 1688 merchants, buyers, and distribution users. They cover common scenarios such as sourcing products, finding suppliers, procurement inquiries, distribution listing, marketing registration, tax and financial calculations, offline transactions, and new user guidance. Users simply need to select the corresponding skill based on their business questions or directly describe their needs; 3ChatClaw will invoke the relevant capability and return the results.

Currently, there are 8 official skills included:

Skill Name Suitable Problems to Solve
1688-shopkeeper Search for products, select items, check bound stores, list to downstream platforms
1688 Find Suppliers Check suppliers, find factories, query industrial cluster information
1688 Procurement Inquiry Sourcing Publish procurement inquiries to let the platform match suppliers and quotation plans
1688 Distribution Distribution product selection and listing, order management, store binding, distribution knowledge queries
1688 Distribution New User Guide Assistant Guidance for new distributors on store opening, binding, product selection, listing, after-sales, etc.
1688 Marketing Promotion Merchant recruitment activity queries, product suggested price queries, activity registration, business opportunity recommendations
1688-AI Finance & Tax Product tax-inclusive pricing, four-tax joint calculation, overall tax burden estimation
88 Business Link-1688 Offline Transaction Tool 88 Business Link purchase order creation, signing, querying, receipt confirmation, refunds

II. Prerequisites

Before using the official 1688 skills, please prepare the following information in advance:

  1. 1688 AK
    The official 1688 skills uniformly use the ALI_1688_AK environment variable for identity authentication. Once configured, all 8 official skills can read this environment variable.

How to Obtain 1688 AK

  1. Open https://clawhub.1688.com/.
  2. Log in with your 1688 account.
  3. Click the key icon in the top right corner of the page.
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  4. Copy the AK displayed on the page.
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    Please note: Do not send the AK directly to the chat window, nor write it into documents, code, logs, or screenshots.

III. Configure Environment Variables

After obtaining the AK, you need to configure it into the 3ChatClaw environment variables.

Environment Variables Required for This Set of Official 1688 Skills

key value
ALI_1688_AK The AK copied from the official 1688 page

Only this one environment variable needs to be configured. Once configured, 1688-shopkeeper, 1688 Find Suppliers, 1688 Procurement Inquiry Sourcing, 1688 Distribution, 1688 Distribution New User Guide Assistant, 1688 Marketing Promotion, 1688-AI Finance & Tax, and 88 Business Link-1688 Offline Transaction Tool will all use it.

How to Configure Environment Variables in 3ChatClaw

  1. Click Environment Variables in the left sidebar.
  2. Click Add Variable.
  3. In the left key field, enter: ALI_1688_AK.
  4. In the right value field, enter the AK you just copied from the official 1688 page.
  5. Click Save in the top right corner.
  6. After saving, re-execute the previous 1688 skill request.

IV. Skill Installation

Users can download and install the official 1688 skills from the Skill Marketplace.

  1. Click Skill Marketplace in the left sidebar to enter the Skill Marketplace page.
  2. Search or browse for official 1688 skills.
  3. Find the skill you need to use, such as 1688 Distribution, 1688 Procurement Inquiry Sourcing, or Tax Burden Calculation.
  4. Click the skill card.
  5. Click One-Click Install to complete the installation.
  6. After installation, click Installed Skills in the left sidebar to view the installed skills.

It is recommended to install all 8 official 1688 skills. This way, users only need to describe their business needs later, and 3ChatClaw can switch more naturally between the corresponding skills.

V. How to Choose the Skill to Use

If you are unsure which skill to use, you can first refer to the scenario table below.

What the User Wants to Do Recommended Skill Example Phrasing
Search for products, find goods, select items on 1688 1688-shopkeeper “Help me find thermos cups suitable for selling on Douyin on 1688”
Check a specific type of supplier or factory 1688 Find Suppliers “Help me find small commodity suppliers in Yiwu”
Haven’t selected products yet, want to publish procurement needs 1688 Procurement Inquiry Sourcing “I want to purchase 500 canvas bags, help me send an inquiry to get quotes”
Do dropshipping, listing, check distribution orders 1688 Distribution “Help me find a few storage boxes suitable for listing on Pinduoduo”
New users don’t know how to start distribution 1688 Distribution New User Guide Assistant “I want to do dropshipping, what’s the first step?”
Check merchant recruitment activities, register for activities, view business opportunities 1688 Marketing Promotion “Help me see what activities are available for registration recently”
Calculate tax-inclusive prices, VAT, profit tax burden 1688-AI Finance & Tax “Purchase price 60, want to earn 20, how to set the tax-inclusive selling price?”
Handle 88 Business Link purchase orders 88 Business Link-1688 Offline Transaction Tool “Help me check the purchase order status”

VI. Launching Skills

Official 1688 skills support two common launch methods:

  • Launch via sending a Prompt in conversation;
  • Launch via the Task function.

Note: Before launching a skill, it is recommended to complete the ALI_1688_AK environment variable configuration first. If not configured, the skill will prompt the user to obtain the AK and configure the environment variable.

Launching Skills via Conversation

1. Obtain the Launch Prompt

  1. Click Skill Marketplace in the left sidebar.
  2. Find the official 1688 skill you need to use and click on it.
  3. Copy the Prompt from the pop-up skill card.

Users can also write their own Prompts based on their actual needs.

Example:

Use the 1688-source-suppliers skill to query 1688 suppliers, factories, and industrial cluster information.
Help me find suppliers in Yiwu that make hair accessories.

Use the 1688-finance-tax skill to perform 1688 product tax-inclusive pricing, four-tax joint calculation, and overall tax burden estimation.
I am a small-scale taxpayer, with a procurement cost of 60 yuan and a desired profit of 20 yuan. Help me calculate the tax-inclusive selling price.

Use the 1688-marketing skill to query 1688 merchant recruitment activities, product suggested prices, submit activity registrations, and view business opportunity recommendations.
Help me see what merchant recruitment activities are suitable for home and daily necessities recently.
#### 2. Launch the Skill
  1. Paste the Prompt you just copied into the chat box.
  2. Add your specific business needs after the Prompt.
  3. Click Send.
  4. Wait for 3ChatClaw to return the results.

Launching Skills via Tasks

If you wish to fix a specific official 1688 skill as a task entry point, you can create a task via the Task function.

Operation Steps

  1. Click Tasks in the left sidebar to enter the Task Center.
  2. Click Create Task.
  3. Select the official 1688 skill you need to use.
  4. Fill in the task name, such as “1688 Distribution Product Selection Task” or “1688 Tax Calculation Task”.
  5. Fill in or confirm information according to the task page prompts.
  6. Click Create Task.
  7. After the task is created, you can view it in the Task Center.
  8. Click Run Now to execute the task.
  9. The task execution process will be displayed via a pop-up in the top right corner or as a chat result.
  10. To view the execution results, click Chat in the left sidebar.

Most official 1688 skills are better suited for on-demand queries and execution, such as checking suppliers, checking activities, sending inquiries, or calculating tax burdens. For such skills, initiating requests directly in the chat is usually more convenient.

IX. Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why does it say AK is not configured?

This indicates that 3ChatClaw currently cannot read the ALI_1688_AK environment variable.

Please follow these steps to resolve it:

  1. Open https://clawhub.1688.com/.
  2. Log in with your 1688 account.
  3. Click the key icon in the top right corner to copy the AK.
  4. Return to the left sidebar of 3ChatClaw and click Environment Variables.
  5. Add or update ALI_1688_AK.
  6. After saving, re-execute the previous request.

2. Why does it still fail after configuring the AK?

Possible reasons include:

  • The environment variable was not clicked to save;
  • The key was typed incorrectly; it must be ALI_1688_AK;
  • The AK was not copied completely;
  • The current 1688 account does not have the corresponding business permissions;
  • The business interface called by the skill is temporarily unavailable;
  • You need to re-open the task or re-send the request to make the new environment variable take effect.

3. What if the query results differ from the 1688 page?

Please refer to the official 1688 page display as the standard. Skill return results rely on interface data and may be affected by factors such as account permissions, interface refresh rates, product status, and activity status.