OpenClaw 2026.1.21 — What Shipped (Operator Guide)

This post covers what shipped in v2026.1.21 and what it means for OpenClaw VPS operators.

What shipped

Highlights

• Lobster optional plugin tool for typed workflows + approval gates. docs
• Custom assistant identity + avatars in the Control UI. docs docs
• Cache optimizations: cache-ttl pruning + defaults reduce token spend on cold requests. docs
• Exec approvals + elevated ask/full modes. docs docs
• Signal typing/read receipts + MSTeams attachments. docs docs
• /models UX refresh + clawdbot update wizard. docs docs

Changes

• Highlight: Lobster optional plugin tool for typed workflows + approval gates. docs (#1152) Thanks @vignesh07.
• Agents/UI: add identity avatar config support and Control UI avatar rendering. (#1329, #1424) Thanks @dlauer. docs docs
• Control UI: add custom assistant identity support and per-session identity display. (#1420) Thanks @robbyczgw-cla. docs
• CLI: add clawdbot update wizard with interactive channel selection + restart prompts, plus preflight checks before rebasing. docs
• Models/Commands: add /models, improve /model listing UX, and expand clawdbot models paging. (#1398) Thanks @vignesh07. docs
• CLI: move gateway service commands under clawdbot gateway, flatten node service commands under clawdbot node, and add gateway probe for reachability. docs docs
• Exec: add elevated ask/full modes, tighten allowlist gating, and render approvals tables on write. docs docs
• Exec approvals: default to local host, add gateway/node targeting + target details, support wildcard agent allowlists, and tighten allowlist parsing/safe bins. docs docs
• Heartbeat: allow explicit session keys and active hours. (#1256) Thanks @zknicker. docs
• Sessions: add per-channel idle durations via sessions.channelIdleMinutes. (#1353) Thanks @cash-echo-bot.
• Nodes: run exec-style, expose PATH in status/describe, and bootstrap PATH for node-host execution. docs
• Cache: add cache.ttlPrune mode and auth-aware defaults for cache TTL behavior.
• Queue: add per-channel debounce overrides for auto-reply. docs
• Discord: add wildcard channel config support. (#1334) Thanks @pvoo. docs
• Signal: add typing indicators and DM read receipts via signal-cli. docs
• MSTeams: add file uploads, adaptive cards, and attachment handling improvements. (#1410) Thanks @Evizero. docs
• Onboarding: remove the run setup-token auth option (paste setup-token or reuse CLI creds instead).
• macOS: refresh Settings (location access in Permissions, connection mode in menu, remove CLI install UI).
• Diagnostics: add cache trace config for debugging. (#1370) Thanks @parubets.
• Docs: Lobster guides + org URL updates, /model allowlist troubleshooting, Gmail message search examples, gateway.mode troubleshooting, prompt injection guidance, npm prefix/node CLI notes, control UI dev gatewayUrl note, tool_use FAQ, showcase video, and sharp/node-gyp workaround. (#1427, #1220, #1405) Thanks @vignesh07, @mbelinky.

Breaking

• BREAKING: Control UI now rejects insecure HTTP without device identity by default. Use HTTPS (Tailscale Serve) or set gateway.controlUi.allowInsecureAuth: true to allow token-only auth. docs
• BREAKING: Envelope and system event timestamps now default to host-local time (was UTC) so agents don’t have to constantly convert.

Fixes

• Streaming/Typing/Media: keep reply tags across streamed chunks, start typing indicators at run start, and accept MEDIA paths with spaces/tilde while preferring the message tool hint for image replies.
• Agents/Providers: drop unsigned thinking blocks for Claude models (Google Antigravity) and enforce alphanumeric tool call ids for strict providers (Mistral/OpenRouter). (#1372) Thanks @zerone0x.
• Exec approvals: treat main as the default agent, align node/gateway allowlist prechecks, validate resolved paths, avoid allowlist resolve races, and avoid null optional params. (#1417, #1414, #1425) Thanks @czekaj.
• Exec/Windows: resolve Windows exec paths with extensions and handle safe-bin exe names.
• Nodes/macOS: prompt on allowlist miss for node exec approvals, persist allowlist decisions, and flatten node invoke errors. (#1394) Thanks @ngutman.
• Gateway: prevent multiple gateways from sharing the same config/state (singleton lock), keep auto bind loopback-first with explicit tailnet binding, and improve SSH auth handling. (#1380)
• Control UI: remove the chat stop button, keep the composer aligned to the bottom edge, stabilize session previews, and refresh the debug panel on route-driven tab changes. (#1373) Thanks @yazinsai.
• UI/config: export SECTION_META for config form modules. (#1418) Thanks @MaudeBot.
• macOS: keep chat pinned during streaming replies, include Textual resources, respect wildcard exec approvals, allow SSH agent auth, and default distribution builds to universal binaries. (#1279, #1362, #1384, #1396) Thanks @ameno-, @JustYannicc.
• BlueBubbles: resolve short message IDs safely, expose full IDs in templates, and harden short-id fetch wrappers. (#1369, #1387) Thanks @tyler6204.
• Models/Configure: inherit session model overrides in threads/topics, map OpenCode Zen models to the correct APIs, narrow Anthropic OAuth allowlist handling, seed allowlist fallbacks, list the full catalog when no allowlist is set, and limit /model list output. (#1376, #1416)
• Memory: prevent CLI hangs by deferring vector probes, add sqlite-vec/embedding timeouts, and make session memory indexing async.
• Cron: cap reminder context history to 10 messages and honor contextMessages. (#1103) Thanks @mkbehr.
• Cache: restore the 1h cache TTL option and reset the pruning window.
• Zalo Personal: tolerate ANSI/log-prefixed JSON output from zca. (#1379) Thanks @ptn1411.
• Browser: suppress Chrome restore prompts for managed profiles. (#1419) Thanks @jamesgroat.
• Infra: preserve fetch helper methods/preconnect when wrapping abort signals and normalize Telegram fetch aborts.
• Config/Doctor: avoid stack traces for invalid configs, log the config path, avoid WhatsApp config resurrection, and warn when gateway.mode is unset. (#900)
• CLI: read Codex CLI account_id for workspace billing. (#1422) Thanks @aj47.
• Logs/Status: align rolling log filenames with local time and report sandboxed runtime in clawdbot status. (#1343)
• Embedded runner: persist injected history images so attachments aren’t reloaded each turn. (#1374) Thanks @Nicell.
• Nodes/Subagents: include agent/node/gateway context in tool failure logs and ensure subagent list uses the command session.

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

Start your free 7-day Pro trial

• Start your free 7-day Pro trial

Source

• https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/releases/tag/v2026.1.21