OpenClaw 2026.1.24 — What Shipped (Operator Guide)

This post covers what shipped in v2026.1.24 and what it means for OpenClaw VPS operators.

What shipped

2026.1.24

Highlights

• Providers: Ollama discovery + docs; Venice guide upgrades + cross-links. (#1606) Thanks @abhaymundhara. https://docs.clawd.bot/providers/ollama https://docs.clawd.bot/providers/venice
• Channels: LINE plugin (Messaging API) with rich replies + quick replies. (#1630) Thanks @plum-dawg.
• TTS: Edge fallback (keyless) + /tts auto modes. (#1668, #1667) Thanks @steipete, @sebslight. https://docs.clawd.bot/tts
• Exec approvals: approve in-chat via /approve across all channels (including plugins). (#1621) Thanks @czekaj. https://docs.clawd.bot/tools/exec-approvals https://docs.clawd.bot/tools/slash-commands
• Telegram: DM topics as separate sessions + outbound link preview toggle. (#1597, #1700) Thanks @rohannagpal, @zerone0x. https://docs.clawd.bot/channels/telegram

Changes

• Channels: add LINE plugin (Messaging API) with rich replies, quick replies, and plugin HTTP registry. (#1630) Thanks @plum-dawg.
• TTS: add Edge TTS provider fallback, defaulting to keyless Edge with MP3 retry on format failures. (#1668) Thanks @steipete. https://docs.clawd.bot/tts
• TTS: add auto mode enum (off/always/inbound/tagged) with per-session /tts override. (#1667) Thanks @sebslight. https://docs.clawd.bot/tts
• Telegram: treat DM topics as separate sessions and keep DM history limits stable with thread suffixes. (#1597) Thanks @rohannagpal.
• Telegram: add channels.telegram.linkPreview to toggle outbound link previews. (#1700) Thanks @zerone0x. https://docs.clawd.bot/channels/telegram
• Web search: add Brave freshness filter parameter for time-scoped results. (#1688) Thanks @JonUleis. https://docs.clawd.bot/tools/web
• UI: refresh Control UI dashboard design system (typography, colors, spacing). (#1786) Thanks @mousberg.
• Exec approvals: forward approval prompts to chat with /approve for all channels (including plugins). (#1621) Thanks @czekaj. https://docs.clawd.bot/tools/exec-approvals https://docs.clawd.bot/tools/slash-commands
• Gateway: expose config.patch in the gateway tool with safe partial updates + restart sentinel. (#1653) Thanks @Glucksberg.
• Diagnostics: add diagnostic flags for targeted debug logs (config + env override). https://docs.clawd.bot/diagnostics/flags
• Docs: expand FAQ (migration, scheduling, concurrency, model recommendations, OpenAI subscription auth, Pi sizing, hackable install, docs SSL workaround).
• Docs: add verbose installer troubleshooting guidance.
• Docs: add macOS VM guide with local/hosted options + VPS/nodes guidance. (#1693) Thanks @f-trycua.
• Docs: add Bedrock EC2 instance role setup + IAM steps. (#1625) Thanks @sergical. https://docs.clawd.bot/bedrock
• Docs: update Fly.io guide notes.
• Dev: add prek pre-commit hooks + dependabot config for weekly updates. (#1720) Thanks @dguido.

Fixes

• Web UI: fix config/debug layout overflow, scrolling, and code block sizing. (#1715) Thanks @saipreetham589.
• Web UI: show Stop button during active runs, swap back to New session when idle. (#1664) Thanks @ndbroadbent.
• Web UI: clear stale disconnect banners on reconnect; allow form saves with unsupported schema paths but block missing schema. (#1707) Thanks @Glucksberg.
• Web UI: hide internal message_id hints in chat bubbles.
• Gateway: allow Control UI token-only auth to skip device pairing even when device identity is present (gateway.controlUi.allowInsecureAuth). (#1679) Thanks @steipete.
• Matrix: decrypt E2EE media attachments with preflight size guard. (#1744) Thanks @araa47.
• BlueBubbles: route phone-number targets to DMs, avoid leaking routing IDs, and auto-create missing DMs (Private API required). (#1751) Thanks @tyler6204. https://docs.clawd.bot/channels/bluebubbles
• BlueBubbles: keep part-index GUIDs in reply tags when short IDs are missing.
• iMessage: normalize chatid/chatguid/chat_identifier prefixes case-insensitively and keep service-prefixed handles stable. (#1708) Thanks @aaronn.
• Signal: repair reaction sends (group/UUID targets + CLI author flags). (#1651) Thanks @vilkasdev.
• Signal: add configurable signal-cli startup timeout + external daemon mode docs. (#1677) https://docs.clawd.bot/channels/signal
• Telegram: set fetch duplex="half" for uploads on Node 22 to avoid sendPhoto failures. (#1684) Thanks @commdata2338.
• Telegram: use wrapped fetch for long-polling on Node to normalize AbortSignal handling. (#1639)
• Telegram: honor per-account proxy for outbound API calls. (#1774) Thanks @radek-paclt.
• Telegram: fall back to text when voice notes are blocked by privacy settings. (#1725) Thanks @foeken.
• Voice Call: return stream TwiML for outbound conversation calls on initial Twilio webhook. (#1634)
• Voice Call: serialize Twilio TTS playback and cancel on barge-in to prevent overlap. (#1713) Thanks @dguido.
• Google Chat: tighten email allowlist matching, typing cleanup, media caps, and onboarding/docs/tests. (#1635) Thanks @iHildy.
• Google Chat: normalize space targets without double spaces/ prefix.
• Agents: auto-compact on context overflow prompt errors before failing. (#1627) Thanks @rodrigouroz.
• Agents: use the active auth profile for auto-compaction recovery.
• Media understanding: skip image understanding when the primary model already supports vision. (#1747) Thanks @tyler6204.
• Models: default missing custom provider fields so minimal configs are accepted.
• Messaging: keep newline chunking safe for fenced markdown blocks across channels.
• Messaging: treat newline chunking as paragraph-aware (blank-line splits) to keep lists and headings together. (#1726) Thanks @tyler6204.
• TUI: reload history after gateway reconnect to restore session state. (#1663)
• Heartbeat: normalize target identifiers for consistent routing.
• Exec: keep approvals for elevated ask unless full mode. (#1616) Thanks @ivancasco.
• Exec: treat Windows platform labels as Windows for node shell selection. (#1760) Thanks @ymat19.
• Gateway: include inline config env vars in service install environments. (#1735) Thanks @Seredeep.
• Gateway: skip Tailscale DNS probing when tailscale.mode is off. (#1671)
• Gateway: reduce log noise for late invokes + remote node probes; debounce skills refresh. (#1607) Thanks @petter-b.
• Gateway: clarify Control UI/WebChat auth error hints for missing tokens. (#1690)
• Gateway: listen on IPv6 loopback when bound to 127.0.0.1 so localhost webhooks work.
• Gateway: store lock files in the temp directory to avoid stale locks on persistent volumes. (#1676)
• macOS: default direct-transport ws:// URLs to port 18789; document gateway.remote.transport. (#1603) Thanks @ngutman.
• Tests: cap Vitest workers on CI macOS to reduce timeouts. (#1597) Thanks @rohannagpal.
• Tests: avoid fake-timer dependency in embedded runner stream mock to reduce CI flakes. (#1597) Thanks @rohannagpal.
• Tests: increase embedded runner ordering test timeout to reduce CI flakes. (#1597) Thanks @rohannagpal.

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/v2026.1.24