openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix macOS app 2026.5.26 shows duplicate node approval prompts for already-paired node

Summary

After upgrading/restarting the macOS app to 2026.5.26, the app repeatedly shows the same Allow node to connect? approval prompt for an already-paired node.

In one observed restart/reconnect cycle, the same laptop node prompt appeared twice immediately after restart, then a third time shortly after.

Environment

• OpenClaw gateway: 2026.5.26 (10ad3aa)
• macOS app showing prompt: 2026.5.26
• Node shown in prompt:
  • Name: Richard's MacBook Pro M4 Max
  • Node ID: cc29297fbca0-cace5aa858d634196188b6b-b58ae644a8d4a74361a7116fee0a0
  • Platform: macOS 26.5
  • App: 2026.5.26
  • IP: 100.91.254.107
• Account setup includes other paired nodes, but this prompt was for the same laptop node each time.

What happened

1. Upgrade completed to OpenClaw 2026.5.26.
2. The laptop macOS app/node was restarted/reconnected.
3. The macOS app displayed Allow node to connect? for Richard's MacBook Pro M4 Max.
4. The same approval prompt appeared multiple times for the same node:
   • twice immediately after restart
   • a third time shortly after

The prompt had the expected buttons: Approve Node, Not Now, and Reject.

Expected behavior

An already-paired node should reconnect without repeatedly asking for node-pair approval.

If approval is truly required again after an upgrade/restart, the UI should show at most one active approval prompt for the node and should retire/deduplicate stale requests once the node is approved.

Observed state/checks

Before seeing the duplicate/triplicate prompt:

• openclaw nodes describe --node ace worked.
• openclaw nodes list eventually returned normally after earlier reconnect churn.
• Pending node pairings were reported as 0.
• Paired nodes were reported as 3.
• The laptop node was shown as paired/connected.

Gateway logs around the upgrade/reconnect showed node pairing approval activity and reconnect churn. There was also an earlier stale control UI on 2026.5.20 repeatedly sending approvals for unknown request IDs before the 2026.5.26 upgrade completed, but the duplicate prompt reproduced after the app restart on 2026.5.26.

This appears to be duplicate/stale node-pair approval presentation for the same already-known node, not exec approval prompts and not multiple devices.

Impact

The user is asked to repeatedly approve a node that should already be trusted, which makes normal macOS app restart/reconnect feel like a new-device/security event and erodes confidence in the pairing state.