openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix v2026.5.16-beta.5 audit: migrated openai/gpt-5.5 route still looks up openai-codex auth before fallback

Scope

One macOS LaunchAgent-backed OpenClaw instance was updated from 2026.5.12 to the latest beta available from upstream tags at audit time: v2026.5.16-beta.5.

This report is sanitized. The host is referred to as Host S. Private hostnames, local usernames, IPs, channel IDs, token values, and local prompt contents are omitted.

Update command

openclaw update --tag 2026.5.16-beta.5 --yes --timeout 1800

The update was run from an outside SSH shell, not through the OpenClaw agent self-update path.

Pre-update state

OpenClaw 2026.5.12 (f066dd2)
Update available: npm beta update 2026.5.16-beta.5
Service: LaunchAgent (loaded)
Gateway version: 2026.5.12
Connectivity probe: ok
Discord: connected
Telegram: connected
Tasks audit: 0 findings
Plugin doctor: no plugin issues detected

Pre-existing warnings included:

• multiple Discord-routed agents lacked the message tool for explicit messaging actions
• channels.discord token was not visible in the doctor shell environment even though the managed service channel was connected via env token
• legacy openai-codex/* model refs needed rewrite to openai/*
• Telegram was in first-time setup mode
• broad safeBins warnings for awk, jq, and sed
• OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_TOKEN conflicted with gateway.auth.token
• workspace bootstrap files were near configured size limits
• Lossless Claw used deprecated config.loadConfig()

Update result

Update Result: OK
Before: 2026.5.12
After: 2026.5.16-beta.5
global update: ok
global install swap: ok
openclaw doctor: ok

External plugins updated:

@openclaw/brave-plugin -> 2026.5.16-beta.5
@openclaw/codex -> 2026.5.16-beta.5
@openclaw/discord -> 2026.5.16-beta.5
npm plugins: 3 updated, 1 unchanged

Service restart handoff:

Stopped LaunchAgent
Gateway already reports the updated version after service refresh; skipped redundant restart.

Post-update state

OpenClaw 2026.5.16-beta.5 (5dab5ce)
Update status: up to date, npm beta 2026.5.16-beta.5
Service: LaunchAgent (loaded)
CLI version: 2026.5.16-beta.5
Gateway version: 2026.5.16-beta.5
Runtime: running
Connectivity probe: ok
Capability: admin-capable
Discord: connected
Tasks audit: 0 findings
Plugin doctor: no plugin issues detected

Loaded plugin versions of interest:

telegram: 2026.5.16-beta.5
brave: 2026.5.16-beta.5
codex: 2026.5.16-beta.5
discord: 2026.5.16-beta.5
lossless-claw: 0.9.4

Finding 1: direct smoke succeeded only after primary route/auth mismatch

A direct main agent smoke test returned OK, but the metadata showed the configured primary route did not complete:

requested/default route: openai/gpt-5.5
failure: No API key found for provider "openai-codex"
winner provider/model: anthropic/claude-opus-4-7
agentHarnessId: pi
visible result: OK

This is the main audit finding. The doctor warnings moved away from legacy openai-codex/* model refs after the update, but the runtime/auth path still looked for openai-codex credentials while attempting openai/gpt-5.5. The user-visible run succeeded through Anthropic/PI fallback, so a simple green result hides that the intended OpenAI route was not actually proven.

Suggested maintainer angle:

• verify the migration from openai-codex/* to openai/* also migrates or resolves auth profiles consistently
• make direct agent metadata and/or doctor surface "configured primary failed, fallback won" more prominently
• confirm whether openai/gpt-5.5 should ever use an auth profile/provider lookup named openai-codex

Finding 2: Telegram briefly reported disconnected immediately after restart, then recovered

Immediately after update:

Telegram: running, disconnected, mode=polling

After a short recheck:

Telegram: running, connected, mode=polling
Gateway event loop degraded: eventLoopDelayMaxMs=1232

Logs showed the Telegram plugin starting and isolated polling ingress coming up. This looks like a transient post-restart reconnect window rather than a persistent channel outage. It is worth noting because update audits that run channels status immediately after restart may report a false Telegram failure before polling settles.

Finding 3: pre-existing config hygiene warnings remain

The update preserved several pre-existing warnings:

• Discord-routed agents without explicit message tool access
• OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_TOKEN conflict with gateway.auth.token
• Telegram first-time setup/group policy warnings
• safeBins warnings for shell interpreters
• legacy sidecar-backed Codex OAuth auth profiles
• 72 cron jobs have explicit payload.model; two differ from the default model
• workspace bootstrap files are near configured limits
• Lossless Claw deprecated config.loadConfig()

These do not appear to block the update, but they explain why doctor is not clean after a successful package upgrade.

Operator status

The update itself succeeded and Host S is online:

OpenClaw 2026.5.16-beta.5
LaunchAgent loaded
Gateway reachable
Discord connected
Telegram connected after retry
Tasks audit clean
Plugin doctor clean except deprecated API notice

The main unresolved item is runtime routing/auth correctness for the intended openai/gpt-5.5 route.

Suggested maintainer fixes

1. Add a regression test for migrated openai-codex/* configs/auth profiles where the configured model becomes openai/gpt-5.5, and verify auth lookup no longer requests openai-codex unless that is explicitly intended.
2. Improve smoke/audit visibility when a direct agent run succeeds through fallback after the configured primary provider fails.
3. Consider making channels status --deep distinguish "post-restart warming/reconnecting" from durable disconnected state, especially for Telegram polling.