openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix [Bug]: 2026.4.25 gateway becomes unresponsive and configured Telegram disappears from channels list [2 comments, 3 participants]

Bug type

Regression (worked before, now fails)

Beta release blocker

No

Bug type

Regression (worked before, now fails)

Beta release blocker

No

Summary

After upgrading OpenClaw from 2026.4.24 to 2026.4.25, the gateway became unresponsive to local WebSocket probes and openclaw channels list --json --no-usage returned an empty chat object even though Telegram was configured and the gateway runtime could start the Telegram provider.

Steps to reproduce

1. Install/run OpenClaw 2026.4.25 via global npm package on Ubuntu 24.04.
2. Use an existing config with Telegram enabled under channels.telegram.enabled=true.
3. Start or restart the gateway service:

   openclaw gateway restart

4. Check gateway/channel status:

   openclaw gateway status
   openclaw channels status --json --timeout 10000
   openclaw channels list --json --no-usage

5. Observe gateway timeout behavior and empty channel list.
6. Downgrade the same machine/config to [email protected], restart the gateway, and run the same checks.

Expected behavior

As observed on 2026.4.24, the gateway should respond to local status probes and configured Telegram should appear in channel listing/status output:

{
  "chat": {
    "telegram": ["default"]
  }
}

With the same plugins enabled on 2026.4.24 (browser, memory-core, memory-wiki), openclaw gateway status reported Connectivity probe: ok and openclaw channels status --json reported Telegram as running and connected.

Actual behavior

On 2026.4.25, local gateway probes timed out after the gateway reported startup readiness. openclaw channels list --json --no-usage returned:

{
  "chat": {}
}

openclaw channels status --json --timeout 20000 returned a timeout/error in the affected state:

Gateway not reachable: gateway timeout after 20000ms
Gateway target: ws://127.0.0.1:18789
Source: local loopback
Config: /root/.openclaw/openclaw.json
Bind: loopback

The gateway process also appeared CPU-bound during the bad state, and WebSocket handshakes timed out.

OpenClaw version

First known bad: OpenClaw 2026.4.25 (aa36ee6)

Last known good: OpenClaw 2026.4.24 (cbcfdf6)

Operating system

Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS (Noble), Linux 6.8.0-90-generic, x64

Install method

Global npm package:

npm install -g [email protected]
npm install -g [email protected]

Gateway managed by systemd user service:

/usr/bin/node /usr/lib/node_modules/openclaw/dist/index.js gateway --port 18789

Model

openai-codex/gpt-5.5

Provider / routing chain

OpenClaw gateway using openai-codex/gpt-5.5; Telegram bot channel configured for inbound/outbound channel operation.

Additional provider/model setup details

Relevant non-secret config facts:

• channels.telegram.enabled=true
• plugins.entries.telegram.enabled=true
• plugins.entries.browser.enabled=true
• plugins.entries.memory-core.enabled=true
• plugins.entries.memory-wiki.enabled=true
• agents.defaults.model.primary=openai-codex/gpt-5.5

To isolate whether plugins were the cause, the optional plugins were re-enabled on 2026.4.24; the gateway still responded and Telegram was listed/running. This points to a 2026.4.25 regression rather than the plugin configuration itself.

Logs, screenshots, and evidence

Observed on 2026.4.25:

Gateway not reachable: gateway timeout after 20000ms
Gateway target: ws://127.0.0.1:18789
Source: local loopback
Config: /root/.openclaw/openclaw.json
Bind: loopback

Gateway log excerpts from the affected 2026.4.25 run:

ready (4 plugins: browser, memory-core, memory-wiki, telegram; 10.8s)
starting channels and sidecars...
loaded 4 internal hook handlers
handshake timeout conn=... peer=127.0.0.1:...->127.0.0.1:18789 remote=127.0.0.1

The channel status command in a reachable 2026.4.25 moment showed Telegram was configured/running:

{
  "channelOrder": ["telegram"],
  "channels": {
    "telegram": {
      "configured": true,
      "running": true,
      "lastError": null,
      "tokenSource": "config",
      "mode": "polling"
    }
  }
}

But the channel list command on 2026.4.25 returned no chat channels:

{
  "chat": {}
}

After downgrading to 2026.4.24 and re-enabling the same optional plugins, observed:

Connectivity probe: ok
Capability: read-only
Listening: 127.0.0.1:18789

And:

{
  "chat": {
    "telegram": ["default"]
  }
}

And Telegram channel status:

{
  "running": true,
  "connected": true,
  "lastError": null
}

Impact and severity

Affected: local gateway operation and Telegram channel users on 2026.4.25.

Severity: High. The gateway becomes unreachable through normal local CLI probes, and configured Telegram may appear absent from channels list, which blocks normal troubleshooting and channel management.

Frequency: Reproduced during the 2026.4.25 upgrade session. Downgrading to 2026.4.24 restored gateway responsiveness and Telegram channel visibility.

Consequence: Gateway status checks and channel status checks time out; Telegram configuration appears missing from channel listing despite being configured.

Additional information

Temporary workaround: downgrade to [email protected].

Regression bounds from observed testing:

• Last known good: 2026.4.24
• First known bad: 2026.4.25

The optional plugins (browser, memory-core, memory-wiki) were re-enabled after rollback to 2026.4.24, and the gateway still responded. That makes the version upgrade itself the currently isolated regression trigger.