openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix [Bug] Slack inbound images broken in 2026.4.5 — speech-core/runtime-api.js resolution failure [1 participants]

Bug type

Regression (worked before, now fails)

Beta release blocker

No

Summary

OpenClaw version: 2026.4.5 (3e72c03) Channel: Slack (socket mode) OS: Ubuntu 24 on AWS EC2 Node: 22.22.1

What happened: Slack images stopped being forwarded to the model. The agent receives the message but the image is never downloaded from Slack. The model either hallucinates a description or says it can't access the file.

Logs show:

• Unable to resolve bundled plugin public surface speech-core/runtime-api.js
• slack inbound debounce flush failed
• [tools] image failed: Local media file not found
• No download/fetch attempts visible in logs for inbound Slack files

What I tried:

• Confirmed files:read scope and file_shared event subscription
• Rolled back Node.js 22.22.2 → 22.22.1
• Rolled back ffmpeg/libav packages to pre-upgrade versions
• Reinstalled OpenClaw 2026.4.5 via npm (fixed speech-core crash but images still not downloaded)

What fixed it: Downgrading to OpenClaw 2026.3.28. Images work perfectly on that version.

Previous working version: 2026.3.28 Broken version: 2026.4.5

Steps to reproduce

Steps to reproduce:

1. Install OpenClaw 2026.4.5 via npm
2. Configure Slack channel in socket mode with bot token
3. Confirm files:read scope and file_shared bot event are set
4. Send any image (PNG, JPG) to the bot via Slack DM
5. Observe: agent responds but image is never downloaded — model hallucinates or says it can't access the file
6. Check logs: no download/fetch attempt, speech-core/runtime-api.js resolution error on first attempt
7. Downgrade to 2026.3.28 — images work immediately

Expected behavior

Expected behavior: When a user sends an image via Slack DM, the gateway should download the file from Slack's API using the bot token, encode it as base64, and pass it to the vision-capable model as part of the message context — as it does in version 2026.3.28.

Actual behavior

Actual behavior: The gateway receives the Slack message event but never downloads the attached file. The model is told an image exists but receives no image data. It either hallucinates a description of the image or responds saying it cannot access the file. Logs show zero download/fetch attempts for the Slack file URL.

OpenClaw version

2026.4.5 (3e72c03)

Operating system

2026.4.5 (3e72c03)

Install method

npm (global): npm install -g openclaw

Model

anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-20250514 (also tested with google/gemini-2.5-flash — same issue)

Provider / routing chain

Direct API (Anthropic + Google). No router. Primary: anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-20250514, fallbacks: google/gemini-2.5-flash, google/gemini-2.5-pro, google/gemini-3.1-flash

Additional provider/model setup details

No response

Logs, screenshots, and evidence

Impact and severity

No response

Additional information

No response