openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix Bundled channel runtime deps not installed on default install (silent loss of Telegram/Discord/Slack/Nostr) [1 comments, 2 participants]

Summary

After a clean global npm install or openclaw update.run self-update, OpenClaw's bundled channel extensions (Telegram, Discord, Slack, Nostr) cannot resolve their runtime dependencies (grammy, discord-api-types/v10, @slack/web-api, nostr-tools). The CLI prints Cannot find module warnings during status/doctor, channels disappear from the channels table, and outbound delivery on those channels silently fails. (Telegram inbound polling kept working in our case, which masked the failure further.)

Confirmed on macOS 26.4.1 / Node 25.5.0 / OpenClaw 2026.4.29 installed via global npm to /opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/openclaw.

Reproducer

npm install -g openclaw@latest
openclaw status
# observe "Cannot find module grammy" / "discord-api-types/v10" / "@slack/web-api" / "nostr-tools"
# channels table is empty

openclaw doctor --non-interactive reports the same missing-dep warnings.

Root cause

scripts/postinstall-bundled-plugins.mjs discovers per-extension runtime dependencies from each dist/extensions/<plugin>/package.json and the extensions declare openclaw.bundle.stageRuntimeDependencies: true. However, the postinstall skips eager install of those deps unless OPENCLAW_EAGER_BUNDLED_PLUGIN_DEPS=1 is set in the environment. After a fresh install, the bundled channel loaders silently fail at import time because the modules they require never landed under root node_modules.

Local workaround

OPENCLAW_EAGER_BUNDLED_PLUGIN_DEPS=1 \
  node /opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/openclaw/scripts/postinstall-bundled-plugins.mjs

This installs the ~65 missing runtime packages, applies the Baileys runtime hotfix, and channels recover after a gateway restart. Required env flag should not be necessary on a default install.

Suggested fixes (any one)

1. Default OPENCLAW_EAGER_BUNDLED_PLUGIN_DEPS=1 so postinstall installs channel deps by default. Keep an opt-out for low-disk / embedded scenarios.
2. Move the per-extension runtime deps into the root package.json dependencies so npm handles them natively at install.
3. Bundle channel deps under dist/extensions/<plugin>/node_modules directly in the published tarball (via files allowlist) so nothing has to run at install time.
4. Make openclaw status / doctor exit non-zero when a bundled channel cannot resolve its declared runtime deps, so failures surface immediately instead of silently after restart.

Why this matters

• The failure mode is silent loss of outbound channel delivery.
• openclaw update.run re-installing the same version (2026.4.29 → 2026.4.29) does not re-run postinstall side effects on a clean tree, so it cannot self-heal once the deps are missing.
• Telegram inbound polling continued working in our setup, hiding the regression from casual liveness checks.

Environment

• macOS 26.4.1 (arm64)
• Node v25.5.0
• OpenClaw 2026.4.29 (commit a448042), stable channel, npm install path
• Install root: /opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/openclaw
• 4 affected channels confirmed: Telegram, Discord, Slack, Nostr

Status output before workaround

Cannot find module 'grammy', Cannot find module 'discord-api-types/v10', Cannot find module '@slack/web-api', Cannot find module 'nostr-tools' — channels table empty.

After running the postinstall with OPENCLAW_EAGER_BUNDLED_PLUGIN_DEPS=1, all four channels resolve and load normally; gateway came back clean.