OpenClaw v2026.4.25-beta.1: Voice replies get a full TTS upgrade, upgrade notes

v2026.4.25-beta.1 arrived on 2026-04-26 with a change that matters during maintenance: voice replies get a full tts upgrade. The page is a researched reading note from the official release record, with a test path for a real Gateway.

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.

Before the package changes

Voice replies get a full TTS upgrade

What changed. /tts latest, chat-scoped auto-TTS controls, personas, per-agent/per-account overrides, and new Azure Speech, Xiaomi, Local CLI, Inworld, Volcengine, and ElevenLabs v3 provider coverage.

Check it with. The safe reading of Voice replies get a full TTS upgrade is operational: prove the model can answer the intended task, then force a bounded failure and verify that no side effect is repeated.

Plugin startup and install paths move to the cold

What changed. Plugin startup and install paths move to the cold persisted registry, cutting broad manifest scans while making plugin update, repair, provider discovery, and install metadata more deterministic.

Check it with. Check Plugin startup and install paths move to the cold with a known prompt and a disposable account. Save the selected route, reasoning setting, latency, and refusal or fallback result so another operator can reproduce it.

OpenTelemetry coverage expands across model calls, token

What changed. OpenTelemetry coverage expands across model calls, token usage, tool loops, harness runs, exec processes, outbound delivery, context assembly, and memory pressure with bounded low-cardinality attributes.

Check it with. Use OpenTelemetry coverage expands across model calls, token as a routing test: capture the destination before the send, interrupt the transport, and verify that retry logic did not duplicate or redirect the response.

Browser automation gets safer tab URLs, iframe-aware

What changed. Browser automation gets safer tab URLs, iframe-aware role snapshots, CDP readiness tuning, headless one-shot launch, and deeper browser doctor probes for slow hosts.

Check it with. The visible promise in Browser automation gets safer tab URLs, iframe-aware needs a continuity check. Use non-sensitive data, refresh midway, and confirm that the same work remains attached to the right session.

Details behind the headline

Control UI and setup flows add PWA/Web Push support

Control UI and setup flows add PWA/Web Push support, Crestodian first-run repair, TUI setup, context mode selection, and a shorter startup greeting.

Test Control UI and setup flows add PWA/Web Push support at the edges of the interface: clean start, reload, reconnect, and a refused or unavailable action. Keep the final screen and error message with the release note.

TTS/WhatsApp

add /tts latest read-aloud support with duplicate suppression and /tts chat on|off|default session-scoped auto-TTS overrides, completing the on-demand voice-note UX for current-chat replies. Fixes #66032.

TTS/WhatsApp lives at the handoff between the Gateway and a conversation. Send one harmless message, reconnect once, and compare the account, thread, sender, and final transcript.

TTS/channels

resolve channel and account TTS overrides generically, enabling Feishu and QQBot accounts to deep-merge channels.<channel>.accounts.<id>.tts over global and per-agent TTS config.

TTS/channels lives at the handoff between the Gateway and a conversation. Send one harmless message, reconnect once, and compare the account, thread, sender, and final transcript.

Test this release without widening the boundary

1. Note the current version, host, provider, and workspace before exercising Voice replies get a full TTS upgrade.
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/startup. load the default memory-core slot during Gateway startup when permitted so active-memory recall can call memory_search and memory_get without requiring an explicit plugins.slots.memory entry, while preserving plugins.slots.memory: "none". Keep the reproduction and the post-fix result together in the acceptance record.

Plugins/CLI. prefer native require for compiled bundled plugin JavaScript before jiti so read-only config, status, device, and node commands avoid unnecessary transform overhead on slow hosts. Fixes #62842. Record the failure that this correction addresses before declaring the upgrade complete.

Use the complete OpenClaw v2026.4.25-beta.1 release notes for the exact change list, then cross-check the official release index and the model provider reference before acting.