OpenClaw v2026.4.21: OpenAI/images, upgrade notes

v2026.4.21 arrived on 2026-04-22 with a change that matters during maintenance: openai/images. The page is a researched reading note from the official release record, with a test path for a real Gateway.

The tag is stable, but the direct notes still define its migrations, corrections, and package-specific limits. Support still depends on the provider, channel, platform, and account behind the installation, so check those boundaries before extrapolating from the tag.

Before the package changes

Details behind the headline

Read the narrow change in context

v2026.4.21 is a stable checkpoint with a deliberately small surface. The source names OpenAI/images: default the bundled image-generation provider and live media smoke tests to gpt-image-2, and advertise the newer 2K/4K OpenAI size hints in image-generation docs and tool metadata. A narrow patch still has a clear job: it should remove one failure or preserve one compatibility promise without changing unrelated configuration.

Keep this patch beside the upgrade and rollback record. Compare the installed tag, package version, and service owner before applying it. If this entry is a correction release, record the broken behavior that led you here, then repeat that exact scenario after the update. That evidence is more useful than a general claim that the package installed successfully.

The adjacent source detail is Plugins/doctor: repair bundled plugin runtime dependencies from doctor paths so packaged installs can recover missing channel/provider dependencies without broad core dependency installs. Read both signals together, because a hotfix can alter the boundary around a plugin, channel, session, or installer even when the version number looks like a minor suffix.

A small worksheet for this version

• Write the old version, the new version, and the package or tag that actually changed.
• Capture one reproduction before the update and the same reproduction after it.
• Record the first useful log line, the final user-visible result, and any rollback command that was tested.
• Leave unrelated channels, skills, and provider defaults untouched until the correction is understood.

Test this release without widening the boundary

1. Note the current version, host, provider, and workspace before exercising OpenAI/images.
2. Keep a tested backup beside the release record if the update can touch configuration, sessions, or a database.
3. Send one harmless message through the named account and save the account, thread, and sender identifiers.
4. Compare the transcript before and after reconnect, including delivery state and any visible error.
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 models

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

Plugins/doctor. repair bundled plugin runtime dependencies from doctor paths so packaged installs can recover missing channel/provider dependencies without broad core dependency installs. Keep the reproduction and the post-fix result together in the acceptance record.

Image generation. log failed provider/model candidates at warn level before automatic provider fallback, so OpenAI image failures are visible in the gateway log even when a later provider succeeds. Record the failure that this correction addresses before declaring the upgrade complete.

Use the complete OpenClaw v2026.4.21 release notes for the exact change list, then cross-check the official release index and the model provider reference before acting.