openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix [Bug] Telegram plugin crashes on Windows with ESM file:// URL error [2 comments, 3 participants]

Telegram plugin fails to start on Windows with the following error: 2026-04-26T11:37:18.756Z error gateway/channels/telegram [default] 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:'

TL;DR

The Telegram plugin fails to start on Windows due to an issue with absolute paths not being converted to valid file:// URLs, and a workaround is to disable the Telegram channel in the config.

Guidance

• The error message indicates that the ESM loader only supports URLs with schemes file, data, and node, and absolute paths on Windows must be valid file:// URLs.
• To fix the issue, Windows paths need to be converted to the file:///C:/... format for ESM imports.
• Disabling the Telegram channel in the config by setting channels.telegram.enabled to false can serve as a temporary workaround.
• Verify the fix by checking if the Telegram plugin starts successfully after applying the conversion or workaround.

Example

No code snippet is provided as the issue does not imply a specific code change, but rather a configuration or conversion issue.

Notes

The issue seems to be specific to the OpenClaw version 2026.4.24 and Node version v24.13.0 on Windows 10.0.26200 (x64), and the provided workaround may not be applicable to other environments or versions.

Recommendation

Apply the workaround by disabling the Telegram channel in the config until a proper fix is available, as it allows the system to function without the Telegram plugin entering a crash-restart loop.