OpenClaw v2026.3.8-beta.1: Backup, delivery notes

v2026.3.8-beta.1 is a channel and session story. The official source describes a channel, client, interface, or browser change, and the important question is what survives the handoff between a Gateway, a conversation, and a reconnect.

The tag is pre-release: keep it isolated from a production Gateway and compare it with the stable line before making it a default. Support still depends on the provider, channel, platform, and account behind the installation, so check those boundaries before extrapolating from the tag.

Follow the message path

CLI/backup

What changed. add openclaw backup create and openclaw backup verify for local state archives, including --only-config, --no-include-workspace, manifest/payload validation, and backup guidance in destructive flows.

Check it with. For CLI/backup, inspect state rather than only the new control. Repeat the flow after reload and reconnect, and note the session, pending action, URL, and visible error.

macOS/onboarding

What changed. add a remote gateway token field for remote mode, preserve existing non-plaintext gateway.remote.token config values until explicitly replaced, and warn when the loaded token shape cannot be used directly from the macOS app.

Check it with. For macOS/onboarding, inspect state rather than only the new control. Repeat the flow after reload and reconnect, and note the session, pending action, URL, and visible error.

Talk mode

What changed. add top-level talk.silenceTimeoutMs config so Talk waits a configurable amount of silence before auto-sending the current transcript, while keeping each platform's existing default pause window when unset.

Check it with. Measure Talk mode after a fresh session and after a reconnect. The record should say what was retained, what was intentionally absent, and which identity requested the recall.

macOS app/chat UI

What changed. route browser proxy through the local node browser service, preserve plain-text paste semantics, strip completed assistant trace/debug wrapper noise from transcripts, refresh permission state after returning from System Settings, and tolerate malformed cron rows in the macOS tab.

Check it with. Before widening access for macOS app/chat UI, replay a narrow allow and deny case. A readable denial and a revoked test credential are part of the acceptance record.

The less visible details

Android/Play distribution

remove self-update, background location, screen.record, and background mic capture from the Android app, narrow the foreground service to dataSync only, and clean up the legacy location.enabledMode=always preference migration.

For Android/Play distribution, inspect state rather than only the new control. Repeat the flow after reload and reconnect, and note the session, pending action, URL, and visible error.

Test this release without widening the boundary

1. Note the current version, host, provider, and workspace before exercising CLI/backup.
2. Keep a tested backup beside the release record if the update can touch configuration, sessions, or a database.
3. Repeat the named interaction in a clean session, after a reload and after a reconnect, using non-sensitive data.
4. Repeat the check on the supported client named by the release and record any platform-specific difference.
5. Stop if the observed behavior falls outside the official note, and link the log or screenshot to the version record.

openclaw --version
openclaw gateway status
openclaw security audit

Record what the release actually changed

Keep the version, source URL, test identity, and rollback decision together. If this tag is pre-release, leave it isolated; if it is stable, record the migration and rollback result before reconnecting every channel.

Corrections worth replaying

macOS app/chat UI. route browser proxy through the local node browser service, preserve plain-text paste semantics, strip completed assistant trace/debug wrapper noise from transcripts, refresh permission state after returning from System Settings, and tolerate malformed cron rows in the macOS tab. Keep the reproduction and the post-fix result together in the acceptance record.

Android/Play distribution. remove self-update, background location, screen.record, and background mic capture from the Android app, narrow the foreground service to dataSync only, and clean up the legacy location.enabledMode=always preference migration. Record the failure that this correction addresses before declaring the upgrade complete.

Use the complete OpenClaw v2026.3.8-beta.1 release notes for the exact change list, then cross-check the official release index and the channel routing guide before acting.