OpenClaw v2026.5.16-beta.2: Cron, upgrade notes

v2026.5.16-beta.2 arrived on 2026-05-16 with a change that matters during maintenance: cron. 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

Providers/xAI

What changed. add xAI Grok OAuth login for SuperGrok subscribers, letting xai/* models and xAI media/tool providers authenticate without XAI_API_KEY.

Check it with. Read Providers/xAI as an authorization checkpoint: prove who may act, what the action can reach, and how the rejected attempt is surfaced to the operator.

CLI/cron

What changed. add openclaw cron run --wait with timeout and poll interval controls, plus exact cron.runs --run-id filtering so automation can block on one queued manual run.

Check it with. For CLI/cron, write down the owner and retry boundary before running anything. Repeat the trigger and check that recovery does not create a second message, job, or file.

Maintainer tooling

What changed. route Crabbox skill defaults through the repo brokered AWS config, leaving Blacksmith Testbox as an explicit opt-in instead of the broad-proof default.

Check it with. Keep discovery separate from permission for Maintainer tooling. Review the manifest, source, dependencies, and removal path in a disposable workspace before enabling it.

Telegram

What changed. persist polling updates through restart replay so queued same-topic messages resume in order instead of losing context after a gateway restart.

Check it with. Use Telegram 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.

Details behind the headline

Gateway/Gmail

abort in-flight Gmail watcher startup and hot-reload restarts before shutdown so reloads cannot spawn gog serve after the Gateway is closing.

The best check for Gateway/Gmail is deliberately narrow. Run one normal case and one boundary case, then compare the result with the previous release.

Test this release without widening the boundary

1. Note the current version, host, provider, and workspace before exercising Providers/xAI.
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 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

Telegram. persist polling updates through restart replay so queued same-topic messages resume in order instead of losing context after a gateway restart. Keep the reproduction and the post-fix result together in the acceptance record.

Gateway/Gmail. abort in-flight Gmail watcher startup and hot-reload restarts before shutdown so reloads cannot spawn gog serve after the Gateway is closing. Record the failure that this correction addresses before declaring the upgrade complete.

Use the complete OpenClaw v2026.5.16-beta.2 release notes for the exact change list, then cross-check the official release index and the model provider reference before acting.