openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix [Bug]: ERR_UNSUPPORTED_ESM_URL_SCHEME on Windows with Node v22/v24 [1 comments, 2 participants]

The error occurs during dynamic plugin/channel loading or configuration.

Log Output:
text
Error [ERR_UNSUPPORTED_ESM_URL_SCHEME]: Only URLs with a scheme in: file, data, and node are supported by the default ESM loader.
On Windows, absolute paths must be valid file:// URLs. Received protocol 'c:'
    at throwIfUnsupportedURLScheme (node:internal/modules/esm/load:195:11)
    at defaultLoadSync (node:internal/modules/esm/load:142:3)
    at ModuleLoader.load (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:781:26)
    ...


Environment:
- OS: Windows 10/11
- Node.js Version: v24.14.1 (and v22.22.2)
- OpenClaw Version: 2026.4.24 (cbcfdf6)

Technical Analysis:
The issue is that OpenClaw is passing raw Windows absolute paths to dynamic import() calls or internal module loaders. Modern Node.js versions strictly require that these paths be formatted as file:/// URLs on Windows.

Suggested Fix:
Wrap local file paths in url.pathToFileURL() before passing them to the ESM loader.

Example change in the plugin/subsystem loader:
javascript
import { pathToFileURL } from 'node:url';

// Instead of:
// await import(absolutePath);

// Use:
await import(pathToFileURL(absolutePath).href);