Bug Report: v2026.3.28 Discord channels silently fail to load on macOS

Title

v2026.3.28: Discord extension silently skipped during gateway startup — zero channels load despite valid config

Environment

• OpenClaw: v2026.3.28 (f9b1079)
• OS: macOS (Darwin 25.2.0, arm64, Mac Mini)
• Node: v25.8.2
• Install: Homebrew (/opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/openclaw/)

Description

After updating from v2026.3.24 to v2026.3.28, all Discord channels stopped loading. The gateway starts, validates config, but silently skips all channel initialization. No Discord client startup messages appear in logs. openclaw channels list and openclaw status both show zero channels.

This matches the regression described in #57188 (Linux/systemd) but affects macOS/LaunchAgent as well.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Have working v2026.3.24 install with Discord (6 accounts, guild routing, multi-agent setup)
2. Update to v2026.3.28
3. Gateway restarts
4. All Discord channels go dark

Expected Behavior

Discord bots connect and appear in openclaw status Channels table.

Actual Behavior

• Channels table completely empty
• openclaw channels list shows "Chat channels:" with nothing listed
• Gateway logs show zero Discord initialization (no "discord client initialized" messages)
• Config validates successfully (openclaw config validate passes)
• openclaw channels add --channel discord --token <token> writes config but doesn't fix loading
• Extension files exist in /opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/openclaw/dist/extensions/discord/

Troubleshooting Attempted

1. Config rebuild from scratch — preserved tokens/agents, rebuilt clean config manually. No effect.
2. Downgrade to v2026.3.24 — caused AJV schema crash (Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'type')) because config had been modified by v2026.3.28 doctor. Upgraded back.
3. Restored config from pre-update backup — no effect.
4. openclaw channels add — writes top-level token instead of accounts structure, still no channel loading.
5. Multiple gateway restarts (launchctl kickstart, gateway restart command) — no effect.
6. Disabled lossless-claw plugin — caused crash loop (context engine dependency) but Discord still didn't load during the brief moments gateway was up.

Key Evidence from Logs

Full startup sequence from /tmp/openclaw/openclaw-2026-03-30.log:

gateway: [lcm] Plugin loaded
gateway: canvas host mounted
gateway/heartbeat: started
gateway/health-monitor: started
gateway: agent model: anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-20250514
gateway: listening on ws://127.0.0.1:18789
cron: started
bonjour: advertised gateway

Note the complete absence of any Discord-related lines between plugin loading and "listening on." Compare with working v2026.3.28 boot from March 28:

gateway/channels/discord: discord client initialized as 1486577378200391861 (Felicity)
gateway/channels/discord: discord client initialized as 1486590085708386487 (Tessa)
gateway/channels/discord: logged in to discord as 1486586180618158131 (Sarah)
gateway/channels/discord: discord client initialized as 1486519944211464323 (Samantha)
gateway/channels/discord: logged in to discord as 1486780930449346691 (Ivy)
gateway/channels/discord: logged in to discord as 1486589991063781416 (Joni)

Theory

Per #57188, openclaw doctor (run during update) injects Zod defaults into config. The channel extension loader then silently rejects the modified config structure. Config appears valid to config validate but the runtime channel loader disagrees.

Impact

• All 6 Discord bots offline for 48+ hours
• No workaround found short of full reset
• Only webchat (direct WebSocket) functional