OpenClaw v2026.9.3: Safer updates, provider notes

v2026.9.3 changes how an agent selects, calls, or remembers a provider. The official record describes a health, liveness, or runtime-observability change; the useful test is a small request with the provider boundary recorded.

This is a stable release line; read the exact record for migrations and fixes before applying it to a live Gateway. The release body cannot certify every local combination of provider, channel, platform, and account; use the bounded test below for the path you actually run.

Provider and model consequences

01 / Safer updates

Source signal. rehearse core and plugin changes in isolated candidate state before activation, support eligible 2026.9.2 migrations, and recover abandoned update records without stopping a healthy matching Gateway.

The maintainer check for Safer updates is a complete package review: identify the entry point, requested access, dependency tree, and uninstall behavior before publishing or upgrading.

02 / Performance

Source signal. preserve warm prompt caches, reduce unnecessary work during cold session updates and memory search, and reuse worker builds between sessions.

The visible promise in Performance needs a continuity check. Use non-sensitive data, refresh midway, and confirm that the same work remains attached to the right session.

03 / Skill Workshop

Source signal. keep skills in one persistent agent-owned collection across workspaces, compare complete skill instructions, and retire missing-draft suggestions safely through Doctor.

Keep discovery separate from permission for Skill Workshop. Review the manifest, source, dependencies, and removal path in a disposable workspace before enabling it.

04 / Browser tabs, live and native

Source signal. watch agent pages repaint and open external links in native Mac tabs that remain with their window across chat switches.

The visible promise in Browser tabs, live and native needs a continuity check. Use non-sensitive data, refresh midway, and confirm that the same work remains attached to the right session.

What changes outside the chat box

Your provider accounts, together

manage connected accounts and supported account priority directly in Models settings.

The safe reading of Your provider accounts, together is operational: prove the model can answer the intended task, then force a bounded failure and verify that no side effect is repeated.

Node runtime

require Node 24.16.0 or newer on 24.x, or Node 26.1.0 or newer; Node 26 is recommended. Upgrade Node before OpenClaw to prevent SQLite text truncation: Node 22, Node 25, and earlier 24.x/26.x builds are no longer supported. Node-based CLI/Gateway installs on macOS 11-13.4 or official Linux ARMv7 provisioning need a supported host; see Node requirements.

Test Node runtime 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.

Execution-policy SDK

move the retired exec-mode and comparator helpers from infra-runtime to execPolicy on openclaw/plugin-sdk/agent-harness-runtime; use resolveExecModePolicy and select the returned fields needed by the caller. See runtime utility migration.

Keep discovery separate from permission for Execution-policy SDK. Review the manifest, source, dependencies, and removal path in a disposable workspace before enabling it.

A bounded check for this version

1. Start with a disposable checkpoint: record the version, host, provider, and workspace tied to Safer updates.
2. Check the release's migration notes and make a restorable backup before changing persistent state.
3. Use a disposable conversation for one send, one reconnect, and one retry; keep the destination identifiers with the result.
4. Leave the channel disabled after the test if its credentials or pairing were created only for this rehearsal.
5. If the result differs from the release body, stop the rollout and attach the log, screenshot, or transcript to the version record.

openclaw --version
openclaw gateway status
openclaw security audit

Close the loop with evidence

A useful maintenance record names the changed behavior, the behavior that stayed stable, the identity that approved the test, and the step that would undo it. Preserve that record beside the release tag.

Edge cases in this tag

Stale update recovery. recover abandoned update records without stopping a healthy, matching Gateway when no post-update work remains; retain live-driver protection and require explicit recovery for stale legacy records without driver identity. Record the failure that this correction addresses before declaring the upgrade complete.

Update admission and rehearsal. rehearse core and plugin changes in isolated candidate copies, including linked and workspace-hoisted dependencies. Check configured plugin targets against the selected or staged core version and reject incompatible agent stores before activation; bound finalization and verify restored package contents before reporting rollback success. This is the edge case to include in a regression check, especially when the release is pre-release.

The authoritative record is the v2026.9.3 GitHub release. The release index gives the surrounding sequence, while the Gateway health guide supplies the operational background.