openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix Matrix config invalid after update: flat dmPolicy/allowFrom reintroduced in 2026.5.19

Summary

On OpenClaw 2026.5.19, running openclaw update can leave Matrix channel config invalid by reintroducing flat DM fields that the external Matrix plugin schema rejects.

This appears related to the previously reported doctor metadata packaging issue in #71757, but the trigger here is the normal update flow on the released npm/global install, not an explicit openclaw doctor --fix run.

Environment

• OpenClaw: 2026.5.19
• Matrix plugin: @openclaw/matrix 2026.5.19
• Install style: npm/global host install
• Platform: macOS

What happened

After running:

openclaw update

OpenClaw reported:

OpenClaw config is invalid
Problem:
  - channels.matrix: invalid config: must NOT have additional properties
  - channels.matrix: invalid config: must NOT have additional properties

Inspecting the Matrix channel config showed that these two flat top-level properties had been written under channels.matrix:

{
  "channels": {
    "matrix": {
      "dmPolicy": "allowlist",
      "allowFrom": ["..."]
    }
  }
}

But the installed Matrix plugin schema accepts the nested form:

{
  "channels": {
    "matrix": {
      "dm": {
        "policy": "allowlist",
        "allowFrom": ["..."]
      }
    }
  }
}

Manually moving the values from:

• channels.matrix.dmPolicy to channels.matrix.dm.policy
• channels.matrix.allowFrom to channels.matrix.dm.allowFrom

and removing the flat keys made openclaw config validate pass again.

Evidence from installed package

The Matrix plugin setup surface uses nested config paths:

channels.matrix.dm.policy
channels.matrix.dm.allowFrom

The Matrix plugin schema is strict and exposes dm: buildNestedDmConfigSchema(...), so the flat top-level dmPolicy and allowFrom keys are rejected as additional properties.

Expected behavior

openclaw update should not rewrite Matrix DM policy/allowlist into flat top-level keys that are invalid for the installed @openclaw/matrix plugin schema.

If a config migration is needed, it should preserve or migrate to the nested Matrix shape.

Notes

This looks very close to #71757, where a maintainer explained that packaged doctor metadata could miss Matrix's nested-only mode and fall back to flat repair mode. This issue is to report that the same effective failure is still observable in the 2026.5.19 release after openclaw update.