OpenClaw New Features: What's New in 2026

OpenClaw's 2026 changes are best read as a sequence of dated releases. The project's release index links the notes for each version, so a reader can tell whether a behavior belongs to the installation they run.

The themes that recur

• Onboarding and the Control UI make setup, sessions, approvals, and Gateway health easier to inspect.
• Memory and skills gain provenance, ownership, and review paths.
• Channels and native apps preserve replies, attachments, reconnects, and identity more reliably.
• Cloud and paired-device sessions make placement visible, with explicit cleanup and billing boundaries.
• Updates add candidate checks, Doctor diagnostics, backups, and bounded rollback recovery.

How to check a feature

openclaw --version
openclaw doctor
openclaw gateway status

Match the installed version to its GitHub release, then read the migration notes. A feature article should link to that source and state whether a command was tested. For setup, start with the official getting-started guide; for access decisions, use the security guide.