openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix [Bug] doctor --fix installs stable plugin version on beta host, ignoring matching pre-release in same channel [2 comments, 3 participants]

Bug type

Regression (worked before, now fails)

Beta release blocker

No

Summary

On a host running [email protected], openclaw doctor --fix resolves @openclaw/brave-plugin to the latest stable (2026.5.2) instead of the latest pre-release matching the host channel (2026.5.3-beta.2). When stable happens to be a broken release (see #77083 for the brave-plugin packaging bug), this leaves the host stuck — every subsequent doctor --fix reinstalls the same broken stable.

Steps to reproduce

1. Install [email protected] (npm global).
2. Have plugins.entries.brave.enabled: true in config (clean install or carry-over).
3. Run openclaw doctor --fix --non-interactive.
4. Inspect ~/.openclaw/plugins/installs.json → installRecords.brave.version shows "2026.5.2", not "2026.5.3-beta.2".

Expected behavior

When the host is on a pre-release channel (-beta.N), doctor's plugin resolver should prefer the latest pre-release version of the plugin from the same channel (newest 2026.5.3-beta.* here), falling back to stable only when no compatible pre-release exists. This matches how npm install <pkg>@<host-version-tag> would behave.

Actual behavior

Doctor always picks the latest stable matching minHostVersion, ignoring the host's own beta channel, so even when 2026.5.3-beta.2 is published and would work, doctor installs the broken 2026.5.2 stable.

OpenClaw version

2026.5.3-beta.3

Operating system

macOS 26.4.1 (arm64)

Install method

npm global

Model

openai-codex/gpt-5.5

Provider / routing chain

openclaw -> openai-codex

Logs, screenshots, and evidence

Available plugin versions on npm:

$ npm view @openclaw/brave-plugin versions --json
[
  "2026.5.1-beta.1",
  "2026.5.2-beta.1",
  "2026.5.2-beta.2",
  "2026.5.2",
  "2026.5.3-beta.1",
  "2026.5.3-beta.2"
]

What doctor picked (excerpt from ~/.openclaw/plugins/installs.json):

{
  "hostContractVersion": "2026.5.3-beta.3",
  "installRecords": {
    "brave": {
      "source": "npm",
      "spec": "@openclaw/brave-plugin",
      "installPath": "~/.openclaw/npm/node_modules/@openclaw/brave-plugin",
      "version": "2026.5.2",
      "resolvedSpec": "@openclaw/[email protected]",
      "integrity": "sha512-NF+v2ox7/...",
      ...
    }
  }
}

(Comment: doctor picked stable instead of the available 2026.5.3-beta.2 pre-release matching the host channel.)

Impact and severity

• Affected: anyone on a beta channel host using externalized plugins where the stable release is broken (currently anyone running 2026.5.3-beta.* with brave).
• Severity: high when combined with #77083 — recovery becomes impossible without manual npm install and installs.json edits, because every doctor --fix reinstalls the broken stable.
• Frequency: deterministic.

Additional information

Workaround: manually run cd ~/.openclaw/npm && npm install '@openclaw/[email protected]' and edit ~/.openclaw/plugins/installs.json to remove the brave entry. Subsequent doctor --fix runs will undo this.

The desired resolver behavior is similar to npm's own dist-tag handling: a beta.N host should pull the matching beta.* plugin tag if available.