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openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix plugin-runtime-deps directory uses stale OpenClaw version after gateway upgrade — non-bundled plugins get version-mismatched dependency tree [1 comments, 2 participants]

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openclaw/openclaw#76972•Fetched 2026-05-04 04:59:53
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inxaosinxaos
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clawsweeper[bot]clawsweeper[bot]inxaosinxaos
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Fix Action

Fix / Workaround

Probably low in practice (interfaces are stable across patch versions) but it's the kind of bug that becomes a critical infra-debugging mystery when the SDK does break compat at some future minor bump.

Code Example

$ ls /home/node/.openclaw/plugin-runtime-deps/
openclaw-2026.4.29-f53b52ad6d21
RAW_BUFFERClick to expand / collapse

After upgrading the gateway from OpenClaw 2026.4.29 → 2026.5.2, the plugin-runtime-deps directory inside the state-dir still contains only openclaw-2026.4.29-<hash>/. No 2026.5.2 directory is created automatically.

$ ls /home/node/.openclaw/plugin-runtime-deps/
openclaw-2026.4.29-f53b52ad6d21

This causes non-bundled plugins (origin: global, installed via openclaw plugins install --link) to import dependencies from a version tree that doesn't match the running gateway. In our case bob-wiki-memory imports openclaw/plugin-sdk/plugin-entry, and the SDK exports may differ between the version the plugin expects and what's resolvable.

We didn't observe immediate breakage (the SDK has stable interfaces), but the divergence is a footgun. Tracking issue:

What I'd expect

On gateway startup, if a) the gateway version differs from any cached plugin-runtime-deps version AND b) any non-bundled plugins are configured, OpenClaw should:

  • Build a new plugin-runtime-deps/openclaw-<new-version>-<hash>/, OR
  • Log a clear warning that there's a version mismatch.

What actually happens

Old plugin-runtime-deps directories are silently retained. There's no warning at startup. Non-bundled plugins keep resolving against the old SDK tree. Cleanup is manual.

Repro

  1. Install OpenClaw 2026.4.x. Install a non-bundled plugin via openclaw plugins install --link <path>.
  2. Note the ~/.openclaw/plugin-runtime-deps/openclaw-2026.4.x-<hash>/ directory is created.
  3. Upgrade gateway to 2026.5.x. Restart.
  4. Note plugin-runtime-deps/ still only has the 2026.4.x dir.

Severity

Probably low in practice (interfaces are stable across patch versions) but it's the kind of bug that becomes a critical infra-debugging mystery when the SDK does break compat at some future minor bump.

Discovery

Spotted during the bob-wiki-memory v0.1.7 → v0.1.8 debug session on 2026-05-03 while tracing why register() wasn't firing. Documented in detail at inxaos-repo/homelab-infra/blob/main/docs/openclaw/plugin-runtime.md (Bob's homelab knowledge base).

extent analysis

TL;DR

The issue can be mitigated by manually cleaning up the old plugin-runtime-deps directory and letting the gateway recreate it on startup.

Guidance

  • Verify the gateway version and the version of the cached plugin-runtime-deps directory to confirm the mismatch.
  • Manually delete the old plugin-runtime-deps directory to force the gateway to recreate it with the correct version.
  • Consider adding a warning or logging mechanism to the gateway startup process to detect version mismatches in the future.
  • Test non-bundled plugins to ensure they are resolving against the correct SDK tree after the fix.

Example

No code snippet is provided as it is not necessary for this issue.

Notes

This fix assumes that the gateway will correctly recreate the plugin-runtime-deps directory with the correct version after a manual cleanup. If the issue persists, further investigation into the gateway's version management and plugin resolution mechanisms may be necessary.

Recommendation

Apply workaround: Manually clean up the old plugin-runtime-deps directory and let the gateway recreate it on startup, as this is a low-severity issue and the interfaces are currently stable across patch versions.

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