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openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix [Bug]: [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:' [1 comments, 2 participants]

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openclaw/openclaw#73541•Fetched 2026-04-29 06:18:32
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mostafaelgebalymostafaelgebaly
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After I updated the last update 2026.4.24, Whatsapp channel started bugging.

Error Message

14:39:16 [health-monitor] [whatsapp: real number] 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:'

Root Cause

After I updated the last update 2026.4.24, Whatsapp channel started bugging.

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Bug type

Regression (worked before, now fails)

Beta release blocker

No

Summary

After I updated the last update 2026.4.24, Whatsapp channel started bugging.

Steps to reproduce

🦞 OpenClaw 2026.4.24 (cbcfdf6) — Greetings, Professor Falken

| o 14:34:12 [gateway] loading configuration… 14:34:13 [gateway] resolving authentication… 14:34:13 [gateway] starting... 14:34:16 [gateway] starting HTTP server... 14:34:16 [canvas] host mounted at http://127.0.0.1:18789/__openclaw__/canvas/ (root C:\Users\username.openclaw\canvas) 14:34:16 [health-monitor] started (interval: 300s, startup-grace: 60s, channel-connect-grace: 120s) 14:34:16 [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:' 14:34:16 [gateway] agent model: ollama/gemma4:e2b 14:34:16 [gateway] ready (1 plugin: whatsapp; 3.6s) 14:34:16 [gateway] log file: C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\Temp\openclaw\openclaw-2026-04-28.log 14:34:16 [gateway] starting channels and sidecars... 14:34:49 [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:' 14:34:49 [model-pricing] OpenRouter pricing fetch failed (timeout 30s): TimeoutError: The operation was aborted due to timeout 14:34:49 [model-pricing] LiteLLM pricing fetch failed (timeout 30s): TimeoutError: The operation was aborted due to timeout 14:34:49 [heartbeat] started 14:34:49 [health] post-connect health 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:' 14:35:16 [health] 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:' 14:36:16 [health] 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:' 14:37:16 [health] 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:' 14:38:16 [health] 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:' 14:39:16 [health-monitor] [whatsapp: real number] health-monitor: restarting (reason: stopped) 14:39:16 [health-monitor] [whatsapp: real number] 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:' 14:39:16 [health] 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:' 14:40:17 [health] 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:' 14:41:17 [health] 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:'

Expected behavior

asd

Actual behavior

asd

OpenClaw version

2026.4.24

Operating system

windows 11

Install method

ollama launch

Model

ollama/gemma4:e2b

Provider / routing chain

local ollama

Additional provider/model setup details

No response

Logs, screenshots, and evidence

Impact and severity

No response

Additional information

No response

extent analysis

TL;DR

The issue is likely due to an unsupported URL scheme in the ESM loader, and a potential fix is to update the configuration to use a valid file:// URL.

Guidance

  • The error message indicates that the default ESM loader only supports URLs with schemes in: file, data, and node, and absolute paths on Windows must be valid file:// URLs.
  • The received protocol 'c:' is not supported, suggesting that the configuration may be using an absolute path without a valid scheme.
  • To mitigate this issue, try updating the configuration to use a valid file:// URL for any absolute paths.
  • Verify that the configuration is correct by checking the logs for any further errors related to the ESM loader.

Example

No code snippet is provided as the issue is related to configuration and not code.

Notes

The issue seems to be specific to the Windows operating system and the OpenClaw version 2026.4.24. The exact configuration changes required are not specified, and further investigation may be needed to determine the root cause.

Recommendation

Apply a workaround by updating the configuration to use valid file:// URLs for any absolute paths, as this is the most likely cause of the issue.

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FAQ

Expected behavior

asd

#network issue#logging issue#authentication issue#prompt issue#agent setup

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openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix [Bug]: [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:' [1 comments, 2 participants]