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openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix [Bug]: Telegram and WhatsApp channels fail on native Windows after update to 2026.4.24; rollback to 2026.4.22 fixes Telegram [1 comments, 2 participants]

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openclaw/openclaw#72204•Fetched 2026-04-27 05:33:20
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tamerinaltamerinal
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After updating to OpenClaw 2026.4.24 (cbcfdf6) on a native Windows installation, the Telegram channel stopped working. Telegram was working on the same machine before the update.

I also tried configuring WhatsApp after the update, and WhatsApp fails with the same Windows ESM loader error pattern.

I then rolled back to 2026.4.22 using global npm install, and Telegram started working again on the same machine. This strongly suggests a regression introduced after 2026.4.22 and present in 2026.4.24.

This issue is focused only on channel startup/runtime behavior. It does not cover MCP server startup issues.

The clearest reproducible errors point to a Windows ESM path handling problem: a raw Windows path appears to be passed to dynamic import() instead of a valid file:// URL.

Error Message

[ws] ⇄ res ✗ health 1711ms errorCode=UNAVAILABLE errorMessage=Error: Only URLs with a scheme in: file, data, and node are supported by the default ESM loader. On Windows, absolute paths must be valid file:// URLs. Received protocol 'c:': code=ERR_UNSUPPORTED_ESM_URL_SCHEME

Root Cause

Before rollback, openclaw was not recognized because the previous install had been removed:

Code Example

openclaw:
C:\Users\<redacted>\AppData\Roaming\npm\openclaw
C:\Users\<redacted>\AppData\Roaming\npm\openclaw.cmd

node:
C:\Program Files\nodejs\node.exe

npm:
C:\Program Files\nodejs\npm
C:\Program Files\nodejs\npm.cmd
C:\Users\<redacted>\AppData\Roaming\npm\npm
C:\Users\<redacted>\AppData\Roaming\npm\npm.cmd

npx:
C:\Program Files\nodejs\npx
C:\Program Files\nodejs\npx.cmd
C:\Users\<redacted>\AppData\Roaming\npm\npx
C:\Users\<redacted>\AppData\Roaming\npm\npx.cmd

---

Edition: Windows 11 Pro
Version: 25H2
Installed on: 12/17/2025
OS build: 26200.8246
Windows Feature Experience Pack: 1000.26100.297.0

---

[System.Environment]::OSVersion.VersionString
Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.26200.0

Get-ComputerInfo | Select-Object WindowsProductName, WindowsVersion, OsBuildNumber, OsArchitecture
WindowsProductName WindowsVersion OsBuildNumber OsArchitecture
------------------ -------------- ------------- --------------
Windows 10 Pro     2009           26200         64-bit

---

npm install -g openclaw@2026.4.22 --force

---

Only URLs with a scheme in: file, data, and node are supported by the default ESM loader.
On Windows, absolute paths must be valid file:// URLs.
Received protocol 'c:'

---

14:51:50 [telegram] [main] channel exited: Only URLs with a scheme in: file, data, and node are supported by the default ESM loader. On Windows, absolute paths must be valid file:// URLs. Received protocol 'c:'
14:51:50 [telegram] [main] auto-restart attempt 1/10 in 5s
14:51:54 [health-monitor] [telegram:main] health-monitor: restarting (reason: stopped)
14:51:57 [telegram] [main] starting provider (@Tamerasistantbot)
14:51:57 [telegram] [main] channel exited: Only URLs with a scheme in: file, data, and node are supported by the default ESM loader. On Windows, absolute paths must be valid file:// URLs. Received protocol 'c:'
14:51:57 [telegram] [main] auto-restart attempt 1/10 in 5s
14:52:03 [telegram] [main] starting provider (@Tamerasistantbot)
14:52:03 [telegram] [main] channel exited: Only URLs with a scheme in: file, data, and node are supported by the default ESM loader. On Windows, absolute paths must be valid file:// URLs. Received protocol 'c:'
14:52:03 [telegram] [main] auto-restart attempt 2/10 in 11s
14:52:15 [telegram] [main] starting provider (@Tamerasistantbot)
14:52:15 [telegram] [main] channel exited: Only URLs with a scheme in: file, data, and node are supported by the default ESM loader. On Windows, absolute paths must be valid file:// URLs. Received protocol 'c:'
14:52:15 [telegram] [main] auto-restart attempt 3/10 in 21s
14:52:36 [telegram] [main] starting provider (@Tamerasistantbot)
14:52:36 [telegram] [main] channel exited: Only URLs with a scheme in: file, data, and node are supported by the default ESM loader. On Windows, absolute paths must be valid file:// URLs. Received protocol 'c:'
14:52:36 [telegram] [main] auto-restart attempt 4/10 in 40s
14:54:09 [telegram] [main] starting provider (@Tamerasistantbot)
14:54:09 [telegram] [main] channel exited: Only URLs with a scheme in: file, data, and node are supported by the default ESM loader. On Windows, absolute paths must be valid file:// URLs. Received protocol 'c:'
14:54:09 [telegram] [main] auto-restart attempt 5/10 in 87s
14:55:36 [telegram] [main] starting provider (@Tamerasistantbot)
14:55:36 [telegram] [main] channel exited: Only URLs with a scheme in: file, data, and node are supported by the default ESM loader. On Windows, absolute paths must be valid file:// URLs. Received protocol 'c:'
14:55:36 [telegram] [main] auto-restart attempt 6/10 in 168s

---

OpenClaw 2026.4.24 (cbcfdf6)
[gateway] loading configuration…
[gateway] resolving authentication…
[gateway] starting...
Config overwrite: C:\Users\<redacted>\.openclaw\openclaw.json (... backup=C:\Users\<redacted>\.openclaw\openclaw.json.bak)
[gateway] auto-enabled plugins:
- WhatsApp configured, enabled automatically.
[gateway] starting HTTP server...
[canvas] host mounted at http://127.0.0.1:18789/__openclaw__/canvas/ (root C:\Users\<redacted>\.openclaw\canvas)
[health-monitor] started (interval: 300s, startup-grace: 60s, channel-connect-grace: 120s)
[gateway] agent model: openai-codex/gpt-5.5
[gateway] ready (3 plugins: browser, openclaw-web-search, whatsapp; 20.8s)

---

[health] initial refresh failed: Only URLs with a scheme in: file, data, and node are supported by the default ESM loader. On Windows, absolute paths must be valid file:// URLs. Received protocol 'c:'

---

[whatsapp] channel startup failed: Only URLs with a scheme in: file, data, and node are supported by the default ESM loader. On Windows, absolute paths must be valid file:// URLs. Received protocol 'c:'

---

[ws] ⇄ res ✗ health 1711ms errorCode=UNAVAILABLE errorMessage=Error: Only URLs with a scheme in: file, data, and node are supported by the default ESM loader. On Windows, absolute paths must be valid file:// URLs. Received protocol 'c:': code=ERR_UNSUPPORTED_ESM_URL_SCHEME

---

[health-monitor] [whatsapp:default] health-monitor: restarting (reason: stopped)
[health-monitor] [whatsapp:default] health-monitor: restart failed: Error [ERR_UNSUPPORTED_ESM_URL_SCHEME]: Only URLs with a scheme in: file, data, and node are supported by the default ESM loader. On Windows, absolute paths must be valid file:// URLs. Received protocol 'c:'

---

PS C:\Windows\System32> openclaw --version
openclaw : The term 'openclaw' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program.

---

npm install -g openclaw@2026.4.22 --force

---

failed to load bundled channel telegram: ENOTEMPTY ... plugin-runtime-deps ... plugin-sdk

---

file:///C:/Users/...

---

C:\Users\...

---

import { pathToFileURL } from 'node:url';

await import(pathToFileURL(modulePath).href);
RAW_BUFFERClick to expand / collapse

Summary

After updating to OpenClaw 2026.4.24 (cbcfdf6) on a native Windows installation, the Telegram channel stopped working. Telegram was working on the same machine before the update.

I also tried configuring WhatsApp after the update, and WhatsApp fails with the same Windows ESM loader error pattern.

I then rolled back to 2026.4.22 using global npm install, and Telegram started working again on the same machine. This strongly suggests a regression introduced after 2026.4.22 and present in 2026.4.24.

This issue is focused only on channel startup/runtime behavior. It does not cover MCP server startup issues.

The clearest reproducible errors point to a Windows ESM path handling problem: a raw Windows path appears to be passed to dynamic import() instead of a valid file:// URL.

Environment

  • Broken OpenClaw version: 2026.4.24 (cbcfdf6)
  • Working rollback version: 2026.4.22
  • Node.js: v24.14.0
  • npm: 11.12.1
  • npx: 11.12.1
  • OS: Windows 11 Pro 25H2
  • OS build: 26200.8246
  • Shell: PowerShell
  • Install method: global npm install

Executable paths while testing 2026.4.24

openclaw:
C:\Users\<redacted>\AppData\Roaming\npm\openclaw
C:\Users\<redacted>\AppData\Roaming\npm\openclaw.cmd

node:
C:\Program Files\nodejs\node.exe

npm:
C:\Program Files\nodejs\npm
C:\Program Files\nodejs\npm.cmd
C:\Users\<redacted>\AppData\Roaming\npm\npm
C:\Users\<redacted>\AppData\Roaming\npm\npm.cmd

npx:
C:\Program Files\nodejs\npx
C:\Program Files\nodejs\npx.cmd
C:\Users\<redacted>\AppData\Roaming\npm\npx
C:\Users\<redacted>\AppData\Roaming\npm\npx.cmd

Windows version

Windows Settings shows:

Edition: Windows 11 Pro
Version: 25H2
Installed on: 12/17/2025
OS build: 26200.8246
Windows Feature Experience Pack: 1000.26100.297.0

PowerShell reports:

[System.Environment]::OSVersion.VersionString
Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.26200.0

Get-ComputerInfo | Select-Object WindowsProductName, WindowsVersion, OsBuildNumber, OsArchitecture
WindowsProductName WindowsVersion OsBuildNumber OsArchitecture
------------------ -------------- ------------- --------------
Windows 10 Pro     2009           26200         64-bit

Note: Windows Settings identifies the machine as Windows 11 Pro 25H2, while Get-ComputerInfo reports Windows 10 Pro / 2009, which appears to be the usual Windows 11 compatibility/reporting behavior.

Context

  • Telegram was working before the update on this same machine.
  • After updating to 2026.4.24, Telegram no longer starts successfully.
  • npm install -g openclaw@latest --force keeps the installation at 2026.4.24, so updating again does not resolve the problem.
  • Telegram token/config appears to be present. The bot name appears in the logs as @Tamerasistantbot.
  • A clean reinstall was also attempted:
    • removed OpenClaw channel/config state
    • uninstalled OpenClaw
    • cleared cache/runtime folders
    • reinstalled the latest OpenClaw version, still 2026.4.24
  • After that, WhatsApp was configured as well and failed with the same ESM loader error pattern.
  • Rolling back to 2026.4.22 on the same machine makes Telegram work again.

Steps to reproduce

  1. Use a native Windows 11 installation.
  2. Install/update OpenClaw to 2026.4.24 using global npm install.
  3. Configure Telegram channel.
  4. Start the gateway.
  5. Observe Telegram restart loop with ERR_UNSUPPORTED_ESM_URL_SCHEME / Received protocol 'c:'.
  6. Configure WhatsApp channel.
  7. Start the gateway again.
  8. Observe WhatsApp startup failure and health refresh failures with the same error pattern.
  9. Roll back to 2026.4.22:
npm install -g openclaw@2026.4.22 --force
  1. Start the gateway and observe that Telegram works again.

Expected behavior

  • Telegram should continue working after updating OpenClaw on the same Windows machine.
  • WhatsApp should start successfully after configuration.
  • Health refresh should complete successfully.
  • Windows absolute paths should be converted to file:// URLs before being used in ESM dynamic imports.

Actual behavior

  • Telegram no longer works after the update, despite working before.
  • Telegram enters a repeated restart loop.
  • WhatsApp is configured and auto-enabled, but fails on startup.
  • Health refresh fails repeatedly.
  • Health monitor attempts to restart the channel, but restart fails with the same root error.
  • Rolling back to 2026.4.22 restores Telegram functionality on the same machine.

Common error pattern:

Only URLs with a scheme in: file, data, and node are supported by the default ESM loader.
On Windows, absolute paths must be valid file:// URLs.
Received protocol 'c:'

Gateway log excerpts

Telegram restart loop on 2026.4.24

14:51:50 [telegram] [main] channel exited: Only URLs with a scheme in: file, data, and node are supported by the default ESM loader. On Windows, absolute paths must be valid file:// URLs. Received protocol 'c:'
14:51:50 [telegram] [main] auto-restart attempt 1/10 in 5s
14:51:54 [health-monitor] [telegram:main] health-monitor: restarting (reason: stopped)
14:51:57 [telegram] [main] starting provider (@Tamerasistantbot)
14:51:57 [telegram] [main] channel exited: Only URLs with a scheme in: file, data, and node are supported by the default ESM loader. On Windows, absolute paths must be valid file:// URLs. Received protocol 'c:'
14:51:57 [telegram] [main] auto-restart attempt 1/10 in 5s
14:52:03 [telegram] [main] starting provider (@Tamerasistantbot)
14:52:03 [telegram] [main] channel exited: Only URLs with a scheme in: file, data, and node are supported by the default ESM loader. On Windows, absolute paths must be valid file:// URLs. Received protocol 'c:'
14:52:03 [telegram] [main] auto-restart attempt 2/10 in 11s
14:52:15 [telegram] [main] starting provider (@Tamerasistantbot)
14:52:15 [telegram] [main] channel exited: Only URLs with a scheme in: file, data, and node are supported by the default ESM loader. On Windows, absolute paths must be valid file:// URLs. Received protocol 'c:'
14:52:15 [telegram] [main] auto-restart attempt 3/10 in 21s
14:52:36 [telegram] [main] starting provider (@Tamerasistantbot)
14:52:36 [telegram] [main] channel exited: Only URLs with a scheme in: file, data, and node are supported by the default ESM loader. On Windows, absolute paths must be valid file:// URLs. Received protocol 'c:'
14:52:36 [telegram] [main] auto-restart attempt 4/10 in 40s
14:54:09 [telegram] [main] starting provider (@Tamerasistantbot)
14:54:09 [telegram] [main] channel exited: Only URLs with a scheme in: file, data, and node are supported by the default ESM loader. On Windows, absolute paths must be valid file:// URLs. Received protocol 'c:'
14:54:09 [telegram] [main] auto-restart attempt 5/10 in 87s
14:55:36 [telegram] [main] starting provider (@Tamerasistantbot)
14:55:36 [telegram] [main] channel exited: Only URLs with a scheme in: file, data, and node are supported by the default ESM loader. On Windows, absolute paths must be valid file:// URLs. Received protocol 'c:'
14:55:36 [telegram] [main] auto-restart attempt 6/10 in 168s

WhatsApp auto-enable and gateway startup on 2026.4.24

OpenClaw 2026.4.24 (cbcfdf6)
[gateway] loading configuration…
[gateway] resolving authentication…
[gateway] starting...
Config overwrite: C:\Users\<redacted>\.openclaw\openclaw.json (... backup=C:\Users\<redacted>\.openclaw\openclaw.json.bak)
[gateway] auto-enabled plugins:
- WhatsApp configured, enabled automatically.
[gateway] starting HTTP server...
[canvas] host mounted at http://127.0.0.1:18789/__openclaw__/canvas/ (root C:\Users\<redacted>\.openclaw\canvas)
[health-monitor] started (interval: 300s, startup-grace: 60s, channel-connect-grace: 120s)
[gateway] agent model: openai-codex/gpt-5.5
[gateway] ready (3 plugins: browser, openclaw-web-search, whatsapp; 20.8s)

Initial health refresh failure on 2026.4.24

[health] initial refresh failed: Only URLs with a scheme in: file, data, and node are supported by the default ESM loader. On Windows, absolute paths must be valid file:// URLs. Received protocol 'c:'

WhatsApp channel startup failure on 2026.4.24

[whatsapp] channel startup failed: Only URLs with a scheme in: file, data, and node are supported by the default ESM loader. On Windows, absolute paths must be valid file:// URLs. Received protocol 'c:'

Health API failure from Control UI on 2026.4.24

[ws] ⇄ res ✗ health 1711ms errorCode=UNAVAILABLE errorMessage=Error: Only URLs with a scheme in: file, data, and node are supported by the default ESM loader. On Windows, absolute paths must be valid file:// URLs. Received protocol 'c:': code=ERR_UNSUPPORTED_ESM_URL_SCHEME

Health monitor restart failure on 2026.4.24

[health-monitor] [whatsapp:default] health-monitor: restarting (reason: stopped)
[health-monitor] [whatsapp:default] health-monitor: restart failed: Error [ERR_UNSUPPORTED_ESM_URL_SCHEME]: Only URLs with a scheme in: file, data, and node are supported by the default ESM loader. On Windows, absolute paths must be valid file:// URLs. Received protocol 'c:'

Rollback result

Before rollback, openclaw was not recognized because the previous install had been removed:

PS C:\Windows\System32> openclaw --version
openclaw : The term 'openclaw' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program.

Then 2026.4.22 was installed:

npm install -g openclaw@2026.4.22 --force

After installing 2026.4.22, Telegram started working again on the same Windows machine.

Additional channel/runtime cache observation

Earlier logs also showed a bundled channel/runtime dependency cache issue:

failed to load bundled channel telegram: ENOTEMPTY ... plugin-runtime-deps ... plugin-sdk

This may indicate a secondary issue with runtime dependency extraction or stale/partial cache cleanup on Windows, but the repeated Received protocol 'c:' error looks like the more fundamental failure.

Additional observations

  • Gmail watcher later started successfully after reinstall, so this does not look like a general gateway startup failure.
  • The issue appears focused on channel startup / health dynamic loading on Windows.
  • The recurring Received protocol 'c:' error suggests a Windows filesystem path such as C:\Users\... is being used directly as an ESM import specifier.

Suspected root cause

This looks like a Windows-specific ESM path handling regression.

A Windows absolute path may be passed directly to dynamic import() instead of being converted through pathToFileURL(...) first.

For example, Node ESM dynamic import on Windows generally expects:

file:///C:/Users/...

not:

C:\Users\...

Likely fix direction:

import { pathToFileURL } from 'node:url';

await import(pathToFileURL(modulePath).href);

Potentially affected area:

  • bundled channel/provider loader
  • plugin runtime dependency extraction/load path
  • health dynamic loading path

Impact

This blocks Telegram and WhatsApp channel usage on native Windows npm global installs after updating to 2026.4.24.

Telegram was working before the update, and rollback to 2026.4.22 fixes Telegram on the same machine, so this appears to be a regression.

Related issues

This appears related to the existing Windows Telegram ESM path reports, especially:

  • #72040
  • #72142
  • #71749

This report adds confirmation from another native Windows environment and also confirms that rollback to 2026.4.22 restores Telegram functionality on the same machine.

extent analysis

TL;DR

The issue can be resolved by rolling back to OpenClaw version 2026.4.22 or by ensuring that Windows absolute paths are converted to valid file:// URLs before being used in ESM dynamic imports.

Guidance

  • Verify that the issue is indeed caused by the regression introduced in OpenClaw version 2026.4.24 by checking the error messages and the behavior of the Telegram and WhatsApp channels.
  • Roll back to OpenClaw version 2026.4.22 using the command npm install -g [email protected] --force to confirm that the issue is resolved.
  • If the issue is confirmed to be caused by the regression, consider using a temporary workaround, such as modifying the code to convert Windows absolute paths to valid file:// URLs before passing them to dynamic import().
  • Investigate the suspected root cause of the issue, which is the Windows-specific ESM path handling regression, and consider implementing a fix, such as using pathToFileURL to convert module paths to valid URLs.

Example

import { pathToFileURL } from 'node:url';

const modulePath = 'C:\\\\Users\\\\...';
const url = pathToFileURL(modulePath).href;
await import(url);

Notes

  • The issue appears to be specific to Windows and is caused by the regression introduced in OpenClaw version 2026.4.24.
  • The rollback to version 2026.4.22 is a temporary solution, and a permanent fix should be implemented to resolve the issue.
  • The suspected root cause of the issue is the Windows-specific ESM path handling regression, and further investigation is needed to confirm this.

Recommendation

Apply the workaround of rolling back to OpenClaw version 2026.4.22 until a permanent fix is implemented to resolve the Windows-specific ESM path handling

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FAQ

Expected behavior

  • Telegram should continue working after updating OpenClaw on the same Windows machine.
  • WhatsApp should start successfully after configuration.
  • Health refresh should complete successfully.
  • Windows absolute paths should be converted to file:// URLs before being used in ESM dynamic imports.
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openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix [Bug]: Telegram and WhatsApp channels fail on native Windows after update to 2026.4.24; rollback to 2026.4.22 fixes Telegram [1 comments, 2 participants]