openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix [Bug]: browser open and browser tabs ignore --json flag in 2026.4.26 (output goes to stderr as plain text) [1 comments, 2 participants]

Bug type

Regression (worked before, now fails)

Beta release blocker

No

Summary

In openclaw 2026.4.26, the global --json flag is silently ignored by browser open and browser tabs. Both subcommands now emit human-readable plain text on stderr instead of JSON on stdout, regardless of the flag.

browser evaluate still emits proper JSON on stdout, which suggests this is specific to the open/tabs handlers, not the --json flag plumbing itself.

This silently broke automation scripts that captured the output for parsing (OUT=$(openclaw browser --json open URL 2>/dev/null); jq -r .targetId <<< "$OUT") because the data is on stderr (discarded by 2>/dev/null) and is no longer JSON anyway.

Steps to reproduce

openclaw browser --json open about:blank 1>/tmp/stdout 2>/tmp/stderr echo "--- stdout ---"; cat /tmp/stdout echo "--- stderr ---"; cat /tmp/stderr

Expected behavior

A JSON object on stdout, e.g. {"targetId":"…","tabId":"…","url":"about:blank"}.

Actual behavior

• stdout: empty

  • stderr: opened: about:blank tab: t1 id: 81AF8581814B20E48D8266B7035FCA83

  Same behavior with openclaw browser --json tabs — plain text list on stderr, nothing on stdout.

OpenClaw version

2026.4.26 (be8c246)

Operating system

Ubuntu 22.04 (kernel 5.15.0-176)

Install method

npm global

Model

openAI codex 5.5

Provider / routing chain

openAI codex

Additional provider/model setup details

No response

Logs, screenshots, and evidence

Line 351 of dist/browser-cli-manage-DRvjKLfj.js (after npm install):

  defaultRuntime.log(`opened: ${tab.url}\n${tab.tabId ? `tab: ${tab.tabId}\n` : ""}${tab.label ? `label: ${tab.label}\n` : ""}id: ${tab.targetId}`);

  This is an unconditional plain-text emit. The file contains zero references
  to --json, isJson, outputJson, or any conditional formatting — looks
  like the JSON branch was either lost in a refactor or never implemented for
  these two handlers.

Impact and severity

Severity: High blocks automation

Additional information

2026.4.15