OpenClaw 2026.1.11 — What Shipped (Operator Guide)

This post covers what shipped in v2026.1.11 and what it means for OpenClaw VPS operators.

What shipped

Highlights

• Plugins are now first-class: loader + CLI management, plus the new Voice Call plugin.
• Config: modular $include support for split config files. (#731) — thanks @pasogott.
• Agents/Pi: reserve compaction headroom so pre-compaction memory writes can run before auto-compaction.
• Agents: automatic pre-compaction memory flush turn to store durable memories before compaction.

Changes

• Deps: update pi-agent-core/pi-ai/pi-coding-agent/pi-tui and refresh the pi-ai patch.
• Dev: bump @types/node.
• macOS: add wizard debug CLI and share wizard parsing helpers.
• CLI/Onboarding: simplify MiniMax auth choice to a single M2.1 option.
• CLI: configure section selection now loops until Continue.
• Docs: explain MiniMax vs MiniMax Lightning (speed vs cost) and restore LM Studio example.
• Docs: add Cerebras GLM 4.6/4.7 config example (OpenAI-compatible endpoint).
• Onboarding/CLI: group model/auth choice by provider and label Z.AI as GLM 4.7.
• Onboarding/Docs: add Moonshot AI (Kimi K2) auth choice + config example.
• CLI/Onboarding: prompt to reuse detected API keys for Moonshot/MiniMax/Z.AI/Gemini/Anthropic/OpenCode.
• CLI/Onboarding: move MiniMax to the top of the provider list.
• CLI/Onboarding: add MiniMax M2.1 Lightning auth choice.
• CLI/Onboarding: show key previews when reusing detected API keys.
• Auto-reply: add compact /model picker (models + available providers) and show provider endpoints in /model status.
• Control UI: add Config tab model presets (MiniMax M2.1, GLM 4.7, Kimi) for one-click setup.
• Plugins: add extension loader (tools/RPC/CLI/services), discovery paths, and config schema + Control UI labels (uiHints).
• Plugins: add clawdbot plugins install (path/tgz/npm), plus list|info|enable|disable|doctor UX.
• Plugins: voice-call plugin now real (Twilio/log), adds start/status RPC/CLI/tool + tests.
• Docs: add plugins doc + cross-links from tools/skills/gateway config.
• Docs: clarify memory flush behavior + writable workspace requirement in Memory/Session/FAQ.
• Docs: add beginner-friendly plugin quick start + expand Voice Call plugin docs.
• Tests: add Docker plugin loader + tgz-install smoke test.
• Tests: extend Docker plugin E2E to cover installing from local folders (plugins.load.paths) and file: npm specs.
• Tests: add coverage for pre-compaction memory flush settings (including read-only/CLI skips).
• Tests: modernize live model smoke selection for current releases and enforce tools/images/thinking-high coverage. (#769) — thanks @steipete.
• Agents/Tools: add apply_patch tool for multi-file edits (experimental; gated by tools.exec.applyPatch; OpenAI-only).
• Agents/Tools: rename the bash tool to exec (config alias maintained). (#748) — thanks @myfunc.
• Agents: add pre-compaction memory flush config (agents.defaults.compaction.*) with a soft threshold + system prompt.
• Config: add $include directive for modular config files. (#731) — thanks @pasogott.
• Build: set pnpm minimum release age to 2880 minutes (2 days). (#718) — thanks @dan-dr.
• macOS: prompt to install the global clawdbot CLI when missing in local mode; install via clawd.bot/install-cli.sh (no onboarding) and use external launchd/CLI instead of the embedded gateway runtime.
• Docs: add gog calendar event color IDs from gog calendar colors. (#715) — thanks @mjrussell.
• Cron/CLI: add --model flag to cron add/edit commands. (#711) — thanks @mjrussell.
• Cron/CLI: trim model overrides on cron edits and document main-session guidance. (#711) — thanks @mjrussell.
• Skills: bundle skill-creator to guide creating and packaging skills.
• Providers: add per-DM history limit overrides (dmHistoryLimit) with provider-level config. (#728) — thanks @pkrmf.
• Discord: expose channel/category management actions in the message tool. (#730) — thanks @NicholasSpisak.
• Docs: rename README “macOS app” section to “Apps”. (#733) — thanks @AbhisekBasu1.
• Gateway: require client.id in WebSocket connect params; use client.instanceId for presence de-dupe; update docs/tests.
• macOS: remove the attach-only gateway setting; local mode now always manages launchd while still attaching to an existing gateway if present.

Installer

• Postinstall: replace git apply with builtin JS patcher (works npm/pnpm/bun; no git dependency) plus regression tests.
• Postinstall: skip pnpm patch fallback when the new patcher is active.
• Installer tests: add root+non-root docker smokes, CI workflow to fetch clawd.bot scripts and run install sh/cli with onboarding skipped.
• Installer UX: support CLAWDBOTNOONBOARD=1 for non-interactive installs; fix npm prefix on Linux and auto-install git.
• Installer UX: add install.sh --help with flags/env and git install hint.
• Installer UX: add --install-method git|npm and auto-detect source checkouts (prompt to update git checkout vs migrate to npm).

Fixes

• Control UI: flatten nav into a single horizontal scroll row on tablet/mobile (and always show collapsed group items). (#771) — thanks @carlulsoe.
• macOS: start + await local gateway before onboarding wizard begins.
• macOS: cancel onboarding wizard on close, recover if the gateway drops the session, and time out stalled gateway connects.
• macOS: wizard debug CLI now surfaces error status instead of exiting as complete.
• Models/Onboarding: configure MiniMax (minimax.io) via Anthropic-compatible /anthropic endpoint by default (keep minimax-api as a legacy alias).
• Agents/Browser: cap Playwright AI snapshots for tool calls (maxChars); CLI snapshots remain full. (#763) — thanks @thesash.
• Models: normalize Gemini 3 Pro/Flash IDs to preview names for live model lookups. (#769) — thanks @steipete.
• CLI: fix guardCancel typing for configure prompts. (#769) — thanks @steipete.
• Providers: default groupPolicy to allowlist across providers and warn in doctor when groups are open.
• MS Teams: add groupPolicy/groupAllowFrom gating for group chats and warn when groups are open.
• Providers: strip tool call/result ids from Gemini CLI payloads to avoid API 400s. (#756)
• Gateway/WebChat: include handshake validation details in the WebSocket close reason for easier debugging; preserve close codes.
• Gateway/Auth: send invalid connect responses before closing the handshake; stabilize invalid-connect auth test.
• Gateway: tighten gateway listener detection.
• Control UI: hide onboarding chat when configured and guard the mobile chat sidebar overlay.
• Auth: read Codex keychain credentials and make the lookup platform-aware.
• macOS/Release: avoid bundling dist artifacts in relay builds and generate appcasts from zip-only sources.
• Doctor: surface plugin diagnostics in the report.
• Plugins: treat plugins.load.paths directory entries as package roots when they contain package.json + clawdbot.extensions; load plugin packages from config dirs; extract archives without system tar.
• Config: expand ~ in CLAWDBOTCONFIGPATH and common path-like config fields (including plugins.load.paths); guard invalid $include paths. (#731) — thanks @pasogott.
• Agents: stop pre-creating session transcripts so first user messages persist in JSONL history.
• Agents: skip pre-compaction memory flush when the session workspace is read-only.
• Auto-reply: allow inline /status for allowlisted senders (stripped before the model); unauthorized senders see it as plain text.
• Auto-reply: include config-only allowlisted models in /model even when the catalog is partial.
• Auto-reply: allow fuzzy /model matches (e.g. /model kimi or /model moonshot/kimi) when unambiguous.
• Auto-reply: ignore inline /status directives unless the message is directive-only.
• CLI/Configure: enter the selected section immediately, then return to the section picker.
• CLI/Configure: apply the chosen auth model as default (skip the extra picker) and refresh the model catalog for new providers.
• Auto-reply: align /think default display with model reasoning defaults. (#751) — thanks @gabriel-trigo.
• Auto-reply: flush block reply buffers on tool boundaries. (#750) — thanks @sebslight.
• Auto-reply: allow sender fallback for command authorization when SenderId is empty (WhatsApp self-chat). (#755) — thanks @juanpablodlc.
• Heartbeat: refresh prompt text for updated defaults.
• Agents/Tools: use PowerShell on Windows to capture system utility output. (#748) — thanks @myfunc.
• Agents/Tools: normalize Claude Code-style read/write/edit params (filepath/oldstring/new_string) and keep sandbox guards in place. (#768) — thanks @hsrvc.
• Docker: tolerate unset optional env vars in docker-setup.sh under strict mode. (#725) — thanks @petradonka.
• CLI/Update: preserve base environment when passing overrides to update subprocesses. (#713) — thanks @danielz1z.
• Agents: treat message tool errors as failures so fallback replies still send; require to + message for action=send. (#717) — thanks @theglove44.
• Agents: preserve reasoning items on tool-only turns.
• Agents: enforce <final> gating for reasoning-tag providers to prevent tag/reasoning leaks. (#754) — thanks @mcinteerj.
• Agents/Subagents: wait for completion before announcing, align wait timeout with run timeout, and make announce prompts more emphatic.
• Agents: route subagent transcripts to the target agent sessions directory and add regression coverage. (#708) — thanks @xMikeMickelson.
• Agents/Tools: preserve action enums when flattening tool schemas. (#708) — thanks @xMikeMickelson.
• Gateway/Agents: canonicalize main session aliases for store writes and add regression coverage. (#709) — thanks @xMikeMickelson.
• Agents: reset sessions and retry when auto-compaction overflows instead of crashing the gateway.
• Providers/Telegram: normalize command mentions for consistent parsing. (#729) — thanks @obviyus.
• Providers: skip DM history limit handling for non-DM sessions. (#728) — thanks @pkrmf.
• Sandbox: fix non-main mode incorrectly sandboxing the main DM session and align /status runtime reporting with effective sandbox state.
• Sandbox/Gateway: treat agent:<id>:main as a main-session alias when session.mainKey is customized (backwards compatible).
• Auto-reply: fast-path allowlisted slash commands (inline /help//commands//status//whoami stripped before model).

What matters for hosted operators

• Validate channel delivery behavior (web chat + Telegram).
• Verify model/provider settings and fallback behavior.
• Run a smoke test after deploy: message flow, tool call, and response quality.

Post-upgrade checklist

1. Send/receive test messages in active channels.
2. Confirm bot settings and auth paths still behave as expected.
3. Check billing/usage visibility and dashboard status.
4. Log regressions immediately and keep rollback notes.

Related reading

• OpenClaw Release Notes Hub (2026)
• Best OpenClaw Hosting in 2026
• Pricing · Why OpenClaw VPS · FAQ

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Source

• https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/releases/tag/v2026.1.11