openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix [email protected]: bundled plugin manifests require >=2026.4.8, causing gateway to fail version self-check on startup [3 comments, 4 participants]

Misleading error

The error message points at the user's openclaw.json as the source of the invalid config. However, none of the 22 failing plugins are present in the user config — they come from the package's own bundled registry. Users are sent on a wild goose chase editing their config when the root cause is a version mismatch baked into the package itself. Gateway is completely non-functional on a fresh install of 2026.4.7-1. Crash loop requires manual intervention to diagnose since the error message misdirects users to their own config file.

TL;DR

Upgrade to [email protected] or later to resolve the version mismatch issue causing the gateway crash loop.

Guidance

• Verify the issue by checking the version of openclaw installed and the version specified in the plugin manifests.
• To mitigate the issue, remove the 22 affected plugin entries from the bundled registry or relax the engine constraint in the manifests to >= 2026.4.7 as a temporary workaround.
• Check the openclaw.json file to ensure it does not contain any of the 22 failing plugins, as the error message may misdirect users to edit this file.
• Consider reporting the issue to the package maintainers to ensure the version mismatch is addressed in future releases.

Example

No code snippet is provided as the issue is related to version mismatch and package configuration.

Notes

The provided fix assumes that [email protected] or later is available and compatible with the existing setup. If this is not the case, the workaround of removing or relaxing the engine constraint may be necessary.

Recommendation

Upgrade to [email protected] or later, as this is the most straightforward solution to resolve the version mismatch issue and prevent the gateway crash loop.