openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix [Bug]: Upgrade to 2026.5.2 silently breaks Discord routing — installs.json records plugins as installed without fetching, and migration doesn't populate plugins.allow [3 comments, 3 participants]

Bug type

Regression (worked before, now fails)

Beta release blocker

No

Summary

After upgrading from 2026.4.29 to 2026.5.2, the Discord channel plugin stopped loading; reproduced and confirmed by gateway logs showing the plugin missing from the active list and a plugins.allow is empty warning.

Steps to reproduce

1. On an existing 2026.4.29 install with Discord channels working, run openclaw update --yes. ▎ 2. After the package update completes, run openclaw gateway restart.
   ▎ 3. Observe the gateway log line http server listening (8 plugins: bonjour, browser, device-pair, file-transfer, memory-core, phone-control, talk-voice, webhooks; 2.5s) — discord is absent.
   ▎ 4. Try to message a Discord-bound agent — no reply.

Expected behavior

In 2026.4.29, the Discord plugin loaded automatically based on channels.discord.enabled: true and bot account tokens, and agents replied on all configured Discord accounts.

Actual behavior

Discord plugin is not loaded after the upgrade. Three Discord bot identities (default/sales/sandy) fail to start. Gateway log emits: plugins.allow is empty; discovered non-bundled plugins may auto-load: brave, codex, discord. Set plugins.allow to explicit trusted ids. Additionally, openclaw doctor fails with tools.web.search.provider: web_search provider is not available: brave (install or enable plugin "brave", then run openclaw doctor --fix), and openclaw plugins install is itself blocked by the same config-validation error.

OpenClaw version

026.5.2 (8b2a6e5)

Operating system

macOS 26.2 (arm64)

Install method

pnpm (global)

Model

openai-codex/gpt-5.5

Provider / routing chain

openclaw → discord channel plugin → agent

Additional provider/model setup details

Pre-upgrade ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json had plugins.entries.brave and channels.discord.enabled: true with three account tokens (default/sales/sandy). No plugins.allow field existed. After upgrade, ~/.openclaw/plugins/installs.json listed @openclaw/[email protected], @openclaw/[email protected], @openclaw/[email protected] with installedAt timestamps and integrity hashes, but ~/.openclaw/npm/node_modules/@openclaw/ contained only discord/.

Logs, screenshots, and evidence

Doctor output:                                                          
  ▎ Config invalid                                                
  ▎ File: ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json      
  ▎ Problem:                                                                
  ▎   - tools.web.search.provider: web_search provider is not available: 
  ▎ brave                                                                   
  ▎     (install or enable plugin "brave", then run openclaw doctor --fix)
  ▎ Gateway log after upgrade restart:                                      
  ▎ http server listening (8 plugins: bonjour, browser, device-pair, 
  ▎ file-transfer,                                                          
  ▎   memory-core, phone-control, talk-voice, webhooks; 2.5s)               
  ▎ plugins.allow is empty; discovered non-bundled plugins may auto-load: 
  ▎ brave, codex,                                                           
  ▎   discord. Set plugins.allow to explicit trusted ids.         
  ▎ installs.json (excerpt):                                                
  ▎ "discord": { "spec": "@openclaw/discord", "installPath":                
  ▎   "/Users/.../npm/node_modules/@openclaw/discord", "version": 
  ▎ "2026.5.2",                                                             
  ▎   "installedAt": "2026-05-04T02:27:32.442Z" }                 
  ▎ Filesystem at same time:                                                
  ▎ $ ls ~/.openclaw/npm/node_modules/@openclaw/                            
  ▎ discord                                                                 
  ▎ $ ls ~/.openclaw/npm/node_modules/@openclaw/brave-plugin                
  ▎ ls: ... No such file or directory

Impact and severity

Affected: any user upgrading to 2026.5.2 with Discord channels (and
▎ likely any non-bundled channel plugin) configured, plus anyone with ▎ tools.web.search.provider: brave.
▎ Severity: High — silently breaks chat routing on a daily-driver, with no ▎ clear error message pointing at the cause.
▎ Frequency: 1/1 observed upgrade. ▎ Consequence: All Discord-routed agents (3 in my case) stop responding.
▎ Recovery required ~30 minutes of manual diagnosis and an undocumented
▎ npm install --prefix ... --no-save --no-package-lock invocation, plus
▎ hand-editing plugins.allow.

Additional information

▎ Last known good: 2026.4.29. First known bad: 2026.5.2.
▎ Workaround sequence: ▎ 1. npm install --prefix ~/.openclaw/npm @openclaw/[email protected] ▎ @openclaw/[email protected] @openclaw/[email protected] --no-save
▎ --no-package-lock (the --no-save is critical — without listing every ▎ plugin, siblings are purged).
▎ 2. Add plugins.allow: ["brave","discord","openai","webhooks"] to config. ▎ 3. Restart gateway.