openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix [Bug]: package candidate resolver spawns npm directly on Windows and fails with ENOENT [2 pull requests]

Bug type

Behavior bug (incorrect output/state without crash)

Beta release blocker

No

Summary

While validating the [email protected] npm beta on Windows, scripts/resolve-openclaw-package-candidate.mjs --source npm failed before resolving the package because it spawned npm directly and Windows could not resolve that executable name.

Steps to reproduce

1. On Windows PowerShell, from an OpenClaw checkout, run the package candidate resolver against the beta npm package:

node scripts/resolve-openclaw-package-candidate.mjs `
  --source npm `
  --package-spec openclaw@2026.5.26-beta.1 `
  --output-dir .artifacts/docker-e2e-package `
  --metadata .artifacts/docker-e2e-package/package-candidate.json

1. Observe that the resolver fails before producing the package candidate metadata.

Expected behavior

The resolver should invoke npm successfully on Windows and resolve/download the [email protected] package candidate, the same as it does on platforms where npm is directly spawnable.

Actual behavior

The resolver failed with a Windows process-spawn error:

spawn npm ENOENT

The failure happened before package resolution completed. In this Windows shell, npm is available through the normal Windows command shim path (npm.cmd), but the resolver appears to spawn npm directly.

OpenClaw version

2026.5.26-beta.1

Operating system

Windows, PowerShell (exact Windows release: NOT_ENOUGH_INFO)

Install method

Source checkout / release-validation script, resolving npm package candidate [email protected]

Model

None; package resolver tooling only

Provider / routing chain

None; no model/provider request involved

Additional provider/model setup details

Not applicable.

Logs, screenshots, and evidence

node scripts/resolve-openclaw-package-candidate.mjs --source npm --package-spec [email protected] --output-dir .artifacts/docker-e2e-package --metadata .artifacts/docker-e2e-package/package-candidate.json

# observed failure
spawn npm ENOENT

Impact and severity

Affected: Windows users or maintainers running package acceptance / release-validation tooling against npm package candidates.

Severity: Low-to-medium. This does not appear to affect the installed OpenClaw runtime, but it blocks this resolver path on Windows.

Frequency: Reproduced during beta 2026.5.26-beta.1 validation on Windows.

Consequence: Windows package-candidate validation fails early unless the resolver uses the Windows npm command shim, such as npm.cmd, or another cross-platform npm command resolver.

Additional information

This was found during beta validation for [email protected]; it is not being reported as a beta release blocker.

Suggested fix direction: use the existing project command-resolution helper if one exists, or choose npm.cmd on Windows when spawning npm from scripts/resolve-openclaw-package-candidate.mjs.