openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix [2026.4.29] Channel plugins crash with "Cannot find package 'json5'" — missing from plugin-runtime-deps install [1 comments, 2 participants]

After upgrading to 2026.4.29, the Telegram channel (and any plugin path that hits dist/frontmatter-Cc-V8aI2.js) enters an exponential-backoff crashloop:

[default] channel exited: Cannot find package 'json5' imported from
  /Users/<user>/.openclaw/plugin-runtime-deps/openclaw-2026.4.29-da6bdffc3d96/dist/frontmatter-Cc-V8aI2.js
Did you mean to import "json5/lib/index.js"?
[default] auto-restart attempt N/10 in Xs

Several dist files import json5 as a bare specifier:

• dist/frontmatter-Cc-V8aI2.js:5 → import JSON5 from "json5";
• dist/bundle-manifest-CcRc3pxB.js
• dist/config-cli-CJmqioRD.js
• dist/exec-approvals-cli-CWPtNC6Z.js
• (12+ files total, grep -l '"json5"' dist/*.js)

The global package's package.json correctly declares "json5": "^2.2.3", but the plugin-runtime-deps install root's manifest (built from installSpecs in bundled-runtime-deps-Dj2QXhNg.js) installs json5 only as a transitive of other deps. Under pnpm install --config.node-linker=hoisted, it lands in .pnpm/[email protected]/... and is not hoisted to node_modules/json5, so ESM resolution from the dist scope fails.

Workaround: add json5 directly to the runtime-deps package.json, then bootout + rm -rf the install root + bootstrap (kickstart alone won't trigger a fresh install). Persists until the next hash-based redeploy.

Suggested fix: ensure json5 is in the explicit dep list of the install manifest (and any other deps imported as bare specifiers from dist/), or switch to relative paths in the bundled output.

Environment: macOS 25.4.0 (darwin arm64), Node v25.5.0, openclaw 2026.4.29 via Homebrew global npm.