OpenClaw v2026.9.8: safer updates, steadier Gateways and Windows fixes

OpenClaw 2026.9.8 is a reliability hotfix, and update recovery now keeps your plugin settings. An incompatible local plugin stays blocked but keeps its settings, so once it's fixed, repair restores it in the same run.

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01 02 03 04 Updates and Doctor

openclaw/openclaw · CHANGELOG/2026.9.8.md

OpenClaw 2026.9.8 keeps your plugin settings through update recovery

Blocked plugins keep their settings Restored in the same repair run

Plugin updates and Doctor maintenance could fail when another writer briefly held the SQLite state database. They now wait through that contention and retry, and keep their maintenance lease.

On Windows, the 2026.9.4 updater could migrate shared state and then fail to read it. OpenClaw now refuses that unsafe schema transition before the new package activates.

Upgrades from 2026.9.6 could stop on an empty, retired Telegram thread-bindings file. Doctor now archives it once it's verified empty. A file that may still hold your data keeps blocking, untouched.

Doctor also holds up on large installs. A long chain of session owners no longer overflows the stack, and a big agent fleet no longer exhausts memory during its tool checks.

The Gateway.

Container onboarding could start two Gateways sharing one state directory. Every start now goes through single-owner admission, so a second starter is refused and the first Gateway keeps running.

With a managed HTTP proxy turned on, health checks against a local TLS Gateway used to crash. Doctor and restart checks now reach it with your proxy still enabled.

On Windows, a deep temporary directory could make Node's compile-cache path too long, and the command line hung at full CPU. Past 200 characters, OpenClaw now skips that cache and logs a warning.

Agents and sessions.

When a Bash command moved into the background, an Anthropic turn could stay open until the watchdog killed it. Those turns now finish normally, and your later messages go through.

Codex Computer Use now checks native app control without going through browser authentication. And on large agent fleets, Codex session discovery no longer runs the Gateway out of memory.

On Windows, cron agent turns and session admission could fail before they started, with a data clone error. Both work again, and the fix needs no configuration changes.

If your Gateway runs from a read-only install, a skills refresh could make every sandboxed turn fail with a permission error. Those sessions now keep working when skills change or the Gateway restarts.

In Telegram, a queued preview edit could still be sent after its writer lost authority, landing over the new writer's message. OpenClaw now rechecks writer authority before each queued edit.

Before you upgrade.

If you run OpenClaw on Android, the APK was skipped for this release, so the Android app stays at 2026.8.2.

Telegram users should know that the release owner waived the Telegram integration checks, so they didn't run on this build. The full list of fixes is in the 2026.9.8 changelog.