openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix ERR_UNSUPPORTED_ESM_URL_SCHEME on Windows: jiti tryNative passes bare paths to import() [4 comments, 4 participants]

Bug

openclaw onboard --install-daemon crashes on Windows after the "Default model" configuration step with:

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:'

Environment

• Windows 11 Pro
• Node.js v22.22.2 (also reproduces on v24.14.1)
• OpenClaw 2026.4.5

Root cause

buildPluginLoaderJitiOptions() in sdk-alias hardcodes tryNative: true. On Windows, when jiti uses its native import path, it passes raw filesystem paths (e.g., C:\Users\...\setup-api.js) directly to import(), which requires file:/// URLs on Windows.

Most jiti loader sites in the codebase correctly override this with shouldPreferNativeJiti(modulePath) (which returns false on Windows), but at least two do not:

1. setup-registry getJiti() — uses buildPluginLoaderJitiOptions(aliasMap) without tryNative override (the cache key on the line above does use shouldPreferNativeJiti, but the actual jiti options do not)
2. io getJiti() (doctor contracts) — same pattern

The crash happens during onboarding because resolvePluginSetupProvider → resolvePluginSetupRegistry iterates discovered plugins and loads their setup-api modules through this code path.

Suggested fix

In setup-registry and io, change:

const loader = createJiti(modulePath, buildPluginLoaderJitiOptions(aliasMap));

to:

const loader = createJiti(modulePath, {
    ...buildPluginLoaderJitiOptions(aliasMap),
    tryNative: shouldPreferNativeJiti(modulePath)
});

This matches the pattern already used correctly in loader, bootstrap-registry, channel-entry-contract, config-presence, facade-runtime, and other jiti instantiation sites.

Alternatively, buildPluginLoaderJitiOptions() itself could default tryNative based on platform instead of hardcoding true.

Workaround

Register a custom ESM loader hook via --import that converts bare Windows paths to file:// URLs before they reach Node's ESM loader:

// win-esm-fix.mjs
import { pathToFileURL } from "node:url";
const WINDOWS_ABS_PATH = /^[a-zA-Z]:[/\]/;

export function resolve(specifier, context, nextResolve) {
  if (WINDOWS_ABS_PATH.test(specifier)) {
    return nextResolve(pathToFileURL(specifier).href, context);
  }
  return nextResolve(specifier, context);
}

Then launch with: node --import ./win-esm-register.mjs openclaw.mjs