openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix [Bug] 2026.4.25 regression: bundled plugin deps missing after global npm update; doctor --fix fails; gateway 6min startup; Telegram channel non-functional (works fine on 2026.4.22) [2 comments, 2 participants]

Bug type

Regression (worked before, now fails)

Beta release blocker

No

Summary

After updating OpenClaw from 2026.4.22 to 2026.4.25 via npm i -g openclaw@latest on Windows 11, the installation leaves bundled plugin runtime dependencies missing. openclaw doctor --fix does not install them. The gateway startup time degrades from ~1 minute to 5-6 minutes. The Telegram channel becomes completely non-functional (polling stalls, all API calls fail). Rolling back to 2026.4.22 immediately restores full functionality with ~1 minute startup and working Telegram.

Steps to reproduce

1. Start from a working OpenClaw 2026.4.22 installation on Windows 11 (global npm, Telegram channel configured and functional)
2. Stop the gateway: openclaw gateway stop
3. Update: npm i -g openclaw@latest (installs 2026.4.25)
4. Run openclaw doctor --non-interactive → reports bundled plugin runtime deps missing: grammy, @grammyjs/runner, @grammyjs/transformer-throttler, @modelcontextprotocol/sdk, commander, express, playwright-core, typebox, undici, ws
5. Run openclaw doctor --fix → completes without error, but deps are still not installed
6. Start gateway: openclaw gateway start → gateway attempts to install bundled deps internally but fails silently
7. Gateway takes 5-6 minutes to reach ready state
8. [model-pricing] OpenRouter and LiteLLM pricing fetches both timeout (60s each)
9. Telegram provider starts ([telegram] starting provider) but polling immediately stalls: getUpdates stuck for 129s, then Network request for 'getUpdates' failed!
10. sendMessage and sendChatAction also fail with network errors
11. Webchat UI takes ~23 minutes to respond
12. Embedded agent fails with Moonshot/Kimi: 400 Invalid request: text content is empty
13. ENOENT: no such file or directory for BOOTSTRAP.md in workspace

Workaround that partially resolves dep issue:

cd "C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\openclaw"
npm install --save-optional --no-save --legacy-peer-deps

This installs the missing bundled deps but does NOT fix gateway slowness or Telegram polling failures.

Rollback to 2026.4.22 fully restores functionality:

openclaw gateway stop
npm i -g openclaw@2026.4.22
openclaw gateway start

Result: ~1 minute startup, Telegram working, webchat responsive within seconds.

Expected behavior

• Global npm update preserves or restores bundled plugin runtime dependencies automatically
• openclaw doctor --fix actually installs reported missing bundled plugin deps
• Gateway starts in ~1 minute (same as 2026.4.22)
• Telegram channel connects and responds normally after update
• Webchat UI responds within seconds

Actual behavior

• openclaw doctor reports bundled plugin runtime deps missing after update (grammy, playwright-core, express, undici, ws, typebox, @modelcontextprotocol/sdk, commander, @grammyjs/runner, @grammyjs/transformer-throttler)
• openclaw doctor --fix runs and exits cleanly but does NOT install the missing deps
• Gateway startup takes 5-6 minutes (vs ~1 min on 2026.4.22)
• [model-pricing] OpenRouter and LiteLLM pricing fetches both timeout after 60s
• WebSocket handshake timeouts during startup
• Telegram getUpdates polling stalls for 129s then fails: Network request for 'getUpdates' failed!
• sendMessage and sendChatAction both fail with network errors
• Stuck sessions with age=200+ seconds
• Webchat UI unresponsive for ~23 minutes
• Embedded agent fails with 400 Invalid request: text content is empty from Moonshot/Kimi provider
• ENOENT: no such file or directory for BOOTSTRAP.md in workspace

Key log excerpts:

[model-pricing] OpenRouter pricing fetch failed (timeout 60s): TimeoutError: The operation was aborted due to timeout
[model-pricing] LiteLLM pricing fetch failed (timeout 60s): TimeoutError: The operation was aborted due to timeout
[telegram] Polling stall detected (active getUpdates stuck for 128.13s); forcing restart.
[telegram] polling cycle finished ... error=Network request for 'getUpdates' failed!
[telegram] sendMessage failed: Network request for 'sendMessage' failed!
[telegram] sendChatAction failed: Network request for 'sendChatAction' failed!
[agent/embedded] isError=true model=kimi-k2.6 error=LLM request failed: ... rawError=400 Invalid request: text content is empty
[tools] read failed: ENOENT: no such file or directory, access '.../.openclaw/workspace/BOOTSTRAP.md'

OpenClaw version

2026.4.25 (aa36ee6) — regression from 2026.4.22 (00bd2cf)

Operating system

Windows 11

Install method

npm global (npm i -g openclaw@latest)

Model

moonshot/kimi-k2.6

Provider / routing chain

openclaw gateway -> moonshot API (direct)

Additional provider/model setup details

Node.js v25.9.0, Telegram channel configured with working bot token (functional on 2026.4.22)

Logs, screenshots, and evidence

Impact and severity

• Affected: any Windows user who updates via global npm
• Severity: complete loss of Telegram channel functionality; gateway effectively unusable (5-6 min startup, ~23 min webchat response)
• Frequency: 4/4 update attempts failed the same way
• Consequence: forced rollback to 2026.4.22 to restore functionality; 2026.4.25 is unusable on this setup

Additional information

Last known good version: 2026.4.22 (00bd2cf) — 1 min startup, Telegram fully functional, webchat responds in seconds. First known bad version: 2026.4.25 (aa36ee6)

This is a clear regression. Rolling back to 2026.4.22 immediately and fully resolves all issues without any config changes. The 2026.4.25 release appears to have broken the bundled plugin dependency install flow on Windows global npm, which then cascades into severe gateway performance degradation and complete Telegram channel failure.

Manual workaround (user-discovered, not documented anywhere): After the failed doctor --fix, the only way to install the missing bundled plugin deps was to manually run the following inside the OpenClaw install directory:

cd "C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\openclaw"
npm install --save-optional --no-save --legacy-peer-deps

This installs the missing deps (364 packages added) but does NOT fix the gateway startup slowness or Telegram polling failures. The openclaw doctor --fix command should handle this automatically but does not.