OpenClaw 2026.4.22: What Shipped

This post covers what shipped in v2026.4.22.

What shipped

• Providers/xAI: add image generation, text-to-speech, and speech-to-text support, including grok-imagine-image / grok-imagine-image-pro, reference-image edits, six live xAI voices, MP3/WAV/PCM/G.711 TTS formats, grok-stt audio transcription, and xAI realtime transcription for Voice Call streaming. (#68694) Thanks @KateWilkins.
• Providers/STT: add Voice Call streaming transcription for Deepgram, ElevenLabs, and Mistral, alongside the existing OpenAI and xAI realtime STT paths; ElevenLabs also gains Scribe v2 batch audio transcription for inbound media.
• TUI: add local embedded mode for running terminal chats without a Gateway while keeping plugin approval gates enforced. (#66767) Thanks @fuller-stack-dev.
• Onboarding: auto-install missing provider and channel plugins during setup so first-run configuration can complete without manual plugin recovery.
• OpenAI/Responses: use OpenAI's native websearch tool automatically for direct OpenAI Responses models when web search is enabled and no managed search provider is pinned; explicit providers such as Brave keep the managed websearch tool.
• Models/commands: add /models add <provider> <modelId> so you can register a model from chat and use it without restarting the gateway; keep /models as a simple provider browser while adding clearer add guidance and copy-friendly command examples. (#70211) Thanks @Takhoffman.
• WhatsApp: add configurable native reply quoting with replyToMode for WhatsApp conversations. Thanks @mcaxtr.
• WhatsApp/groups+direct: forward per-group and per-direct systemPrompt config into inbound context GroupSystemPrompt so configured per-chat behavioral instructions are injected on every turn. Supports "*" wildcard fallback and account-scoped overrides under channels.whatsapp.accounts.<id>.{groups,direct}; account maps fully replace root maps (no deep merge), matching the existing requireMention pattern. Closes #7011. (#59553) Thanks @Bluetegu.
• Agents/sessions: add mailbox-style sessions_list filters for label, agent, and search plus visibility-scoped derived title and last-message previews. (#69839) Thanks @dangoZhang.
• Control UI/settings+chat: add a browser-local personal identity for the operator (name plus local-safe avatar), route user identity rendering through the shared chat/avatar path used by assistant and agent surfaces, and tighten Quick Settings, agent fallback chips, and narrow-screen chat layouts so personalization no longer wastes space or clips controls. (#70362) Thanks @BunsDev.
• Gateway/diagnostics: enable payload-free stability recording by default and add a support-ready diagnostics export with sanitized logs, status, health, config, and stability snapshots for bug reports. (#70324) Thanks @gumadeiras.
• Providers/Tencent: add the bundled Tencent Cloud provider plugin with TokenHub onboarding, docs, hy3-preview model catalog entries, and tiered Hy3 pricing metadata. (#68460) Thanks @JuniperSling.
• Providers/Amazon Bedrock Mantle: add Claude Opus 4.7 through Mantle's Anthropic Messages route with provider-owned bearer-auth streaming, so the model is actually callable without treating AWS bearer tokens like Anthropic API keys. Thanks @wirjo.
• Providers/GPT-5: move the GPT-5 prompt overlay into the shared provider runtime so compatible GPT-5 models receive the same behavior and heartbeat guidance through OpenAI, OpenRouter, OpenCode, Codex, and other GPT providers; add agents.defaults.promptOverlays.gpt5.personality as the global friendly-style toggle while keeping the OpenAI plugin setting as a fallback.
• Providers/OpenAI Codex: remove the Codex CLI auth import path from onboarding and provider discovery so OpenClaw no longer copies ~/.codex OAuth material into agent auth stores; use browser login or device pairing instead. (#70390) Thanks @pashpashpash.
• CLI/Claude: default claude-cli runs to warm stdio sessions, including custom configs that omit transport fields, and resume from the stored Claude session after Gateway restarts or idle exits. (#69679) Thanks @obviyus.

Source

Official OpenClaw release notes for v2026.4.22