Summary

After upgrading to 2026.4.27, openclaw status (and any CLI command) fails immediately with:

[openclaw] Failed to start CLI: Error: Could not load plugin runtime loader for channel setup fallback.
    at loadPluginLoaderModule (file:///...openclaw/dist/read-only-B4EkEtUx.js:32:8)
    at resolveReadOnlyChannelPluginsForConfig (...)
    at listReadOnlyChannelPluginsForConfig (...)
    at buildChannelsTable (...)

Root Cause

dist/read-only-B4EkEtUx.js (new in 2026.4.27) looks for a plugin runtime loader at:

const LOADER_MODULE_CANDIDATES = [
  new URL("../../plugins/loader.js", import.meta.url),
  new URL("../../plugins/loader.ts", import.meta.url)
];

From dist/read-only-B4EkEtUx.js, ../../ resolves two levels up from the dist/ directory — landing at node_modules/plugins/loader.js, not openclaw/plugins/loader.js. This file is not created by the installer/postinstall script, so the loader always fails.

This code path is triggered for any user with an externally-installed channel plugin (e.g. openclaw-channel-zulip installed via npm). The previous version (2026.4.26, read-only-CJhnSL6J.js) did not have this code path.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Install openclaw-channel-zulip (or any external channel plugin) via openclaw install
2. Upgrade openclaw to 2026.4.27
3. Run openclaw status

Workaround

Create the missing shim manually:

mkdir -p ~/.nvm/versions/node/v22.22.2/lib/node_modules/plugins
echo 'export { r as loadOpenClawPlugins } from "../openclaw/dist/loader-CPsG_3Jg.js";' \
  > ~/.nvm/versions/node/v22.22.2/lib/node_modules/plugins/loader.js

(Adjust the node path and the hash suffix on loader-CPsG_3Jg.js to match your installation.)

This workaround is fragile — the file is wiped on reinstall/upgrade and the hash suffix on the loader filename will change with each release.

Expected Behavior

The postinstall script (or the package itself) should create node_modules/plugins/loader.js pointing at the correct bundled loader, or the URL path in read-only-B4EkEtUx.js should be corrected so it resolves within the openclaw package rather than two levels above it.

Environment

• openclaw: 2026.4.27 (cbc2ba0)
• Node: v22.22.2
• OS: Linux 6.17.0-22-generic x64
• Install method: npm global (npm install -g openclaw)