openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix [Bug]: `openclaw update --tag 2026.4.25` can leave the old Gateway running against replaced package files, causing mixed-version runtime/import failures [1 participants]

Summary

Updating from OpenClaw 2026.4.24 to 2026.4.25 with the documented CLI update path completed at the package level, but the updater exited with code 1 and no stdout/stderr. Afterward, openclaw --version reported 2026.4.25, while the already-running Gateway process still reported runtime 2026.4.24.

That old Gateway process then ran against the replaced 2026.4.25 global package tree and started failing dynamic imports for old hashed dist chunks. A manual Gateway restart brought the runtime to 2026.4.25. Running openclaw doctor --fix --non-interactive --yes then migrated legacy embeddedHarness config keys to agentRuntime, after which probe/status/health/cron checks recovered.

Environment

• OS: macOS 26.4.1
• Install kind: global package install
• Package manager reported by openclaw update status: pnpm
• Regression window: 2026.4.24 -> 2026.4.25
• Update command:

openclaw update --tag 2026.4.25 --yes --json --timeout 1200

Baseline Before Update

On 2026.4.24:

• openclaw --version: OpenClaw 2026.4.24 (...)
• openclaw config validate --json: valid
• openclaw gateway probe/status/health: OK
• openclaw cron status: enabled, 11 jobs
• openclaw cron list --all: returned successfully
• Agent routing/config shape:
  • Default Claude-backed agent: agentRuntime equivalent was claude-cli, model anthropic/claude-opus-4-7, fallback none, thinking high
  • Secondary Claude-backed agent: claude-cli, model anthropic/claude-opus-4-7, fallback none, thinking high
  • Codex-backed agent: pi, model openai-codex/gpt-5.5, fallback none, thinking high

Actual Result

The update command exited 1 and produced an empty log:

exit code: 1
stdout/stderr: <empty>

Package-level version changed:

OpenClaw 2026.4.25 (...)

But Gateway was still the old running process:

{
  "cliVersion": "2026.4.25",
  "gatewayRuntimeVersion": "2026.4.24",
  "sameGatewayPidAsBeforeUpdate": true
}

The old Gateway process then tried importing old hashed chunks that no longer existed after the package replacement. Minimal sanitized example:

Error [ERR_MODULE_NOT_FOUND]: Cannot find module '<global-openclaw-install>/dist/run-model-catalog.runtime-<old-hash>.js'
imported from <global-openclaw-install>/dist/server.impl-<old-hash>.js

Another cron-triggered path showed the same class of failure:

Error [ERR_MODULE_NOT_FOUND]: Cannot find module '<global-openclaw-install>/dist/heartbeat-runner.runtime-<old-hash>.js'

While in this mixed state, the old Gateway also evaluated new plugin metadata as invalid because some plugins required >=2026.4.25 while the live Gateway still reported 2026.4.24.

Expected Result

The updater should not leave a successfully replaced package tree with the old Gateway process still running. Expected behavior would be one of:

• restart/stop the old Gateway before replacing the dist tree,
• keep the old dist files available until the old Gateway has exited,
• fail before changing the package tree if Gateway restart verification cannot complete,
• or surface the restart failure and exact diagnostics instead of exiting 1 with no output.

Recovery / Workaround

Manual restart:

openclaw gateway restart

After the restart, Gateway reported runtime 2026.4.25, but config validation surfaced legacy config keys:

agents.defaults.embeddedHarness -> agents.defaults.agentRuntime
agents.list[].embeddedHarness -> agents.list[].agentRuntime

Approved migration command:

openclaw doctor --fix --non-interactive --yes

After that migration:

• openclaw config validate --json: valid
• openclaw gateway probe: OK, runtime 2026.4.25, no legacy config issues
• openclaw gateway status: OK
• openclaw health: OK
• openclaw cron status: enabled, 11 jobs
• openclaw cron list --all: returned successfully
• Agent routing still matched expected runtimes/models/fallbacks/thinking levels

Notes

This looks like an updater lifecycle/regression issue rather than a model routing problem. The config migration from embeddedHarness to agentRuntime appears to be an expected 2026.4.25 change and was resolved by doctor --fix.

The most important maintainer-facing failure is the mixed-version state: package files became 2026.4.25, the Gateway process remained 2026.4.24, and the old process attempted to import old hashed dist chunks after those files had been removed.