OpenClaw v2026.10.6 requires a patched Node and stops losing replies across restarts

OpenClaw now requires a patched Node 24 or Node 26. Those October Node.js security releases reject TLS chains signed with compromised certificate keys. Everything else in this release is a reliability fix.

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01 02 03 04 Node and updates

openclaw/openclaw · CHANGELOG/2026.10.6.md

OpenClaw v2026.10.6 requires a patched Node and stops losing replies across restarts

Patched Node 24 or 26 Rejects compromised certificate keys Reliability fixes only

On an older Node, the OpenClaw update command now refuses before it installs anything and explains how to recover, so your running install keeps working. Docker images and installers already ship the patched runtimes.

Updates through Windows and macOS package managers now recover from platform-specific failures. A package swap refuses to run while the service is in an unsafe state, and a frozen Gateway startup can be retired cleanly.

OpenClaw Doctor and migrations now refuse a workspace import that is malformed or would lose data. Malformed Notes bytes are preserved, deeply nested SQLite backups are kept, and a failed restore check keeps its staging files.

What happens to your messages when the Gateway restarts.

Queued turns, watched child results, dead-lettered deliveries and streamed replies now survive a Gateway recovery. They no longer vanish or arrive twice, and the missing-answer notice appears only when an answer is missing.

Four chat channels stop losing or duplicating messages. The fixes cover WhatsApp retries and stickers, Telegram albums and dual-stack replies, Slack relay recovery, and replies during Discord voice calls.

After a reboot, OpenClaw worker hosts now reclaim their capacity. Worktrees made from a partial git clone repair their missing objects, and child results and exec wake-ups survive a Gateway restart.

How agents, tools and models handle failure.

Tool calls now behave consistently across providers, including GPT-5.6 tool turns and DeepSeek tool calls through OpenRouter. LM Studio recovers from context overflow, and model retry and fallback budgets work the same everywhere.

An unfinished tool call now times out visibly. Large patch hunks stop crashing on argument limits, context overflow compacts after steered tool results, and a yielded task you stop stays stopped.

A follow-up scheduled from an authorized operator's turn now runs with that operator's current authority. And a one-shot continuation can call the next_check tool to check back later.

Codex and native sessions now keep their conversations across a runtime restart. Workspace bindings survive a reply reset, and a stalled startup or a finished subagent is released after a cancellation or a failed cleanup.

Windows, iOS, and who has to wait.

On Windows, a fresh state store, a Proxy-backed environment or a stored Anthropic credential no longer stops OpenClaw from starting. On iOS, Talk and chat recover from first-reply and timeout failures.

Android users have to wait. This release ships without a new Android APK, so the OpenClaw Android app stays on its August build.

The supported Node versions and the upgrade steps are in OpenClaw's Node.js guide and Updating guide. Which Node version does your OpenClaw Gateway run on today?