OpenClaw v2026.2.26 to v2026.4.8 Update Summary - Telegram Bot, Media Generation, Memory Improvements

OpenClaw is an open-source multi-channel AI gateway that connects LLM agents to various messaging platforms like Telegram, Discord, and Slack. Over the past three weeks (v2026.2.26 to v2026.4.8), there have been very active updates. Here's a version-by-version summary of the key changes.

v2026.3.22 - Major Structural Overhaul

This release includes many breaking changes as part of a major update.

Plugin SDK Overhaul

The old openclaw/extension-api has been removed and replaced with the openclaw/plugin-sdk/* subpath structure.
ClawHub marketplace was introduced, enabling skill search and installation via openclaw skills search|install|update.

Security Hardening

Exec environment sandbox strengthened: JVM injection (MAVEN_OPTS, SBT_OPTS, etc.), glibc exploits (GLIBC_TUNABLES), and .NET hijacking (DOTNET_ADDITIONAL_DEPS) are now blocked.
Voice call webhook pre-auth body budget reduced to 64KB/5s.

Channel Updates

Chrome MCP legacy extension relay path removed.
New Matrix plugin added based on official matrix-js-sdk.
Discord slash commands switched to Carbon reconcile mode.

Telegram

Fixed missing currentThreadTs in DM topics, so thread-aware tools now work correctly.

v2026.3.23 - Qwen Model Studio + UI Improvements

Qwen (Alibaba Cloud Model Studio) DashScope endpoints added for both China and global API keys.
Control UI received Knot theme (black/red palette with WCAG 2.1 AA contrast), config icons, and accessibility improvements.
Bundled plugin runtime sidecars (WhatsApp, Matrix, etc.) re-included in the npm package, fixing global install failures.

v2026.3.24 - OpenAI Compatible API + MS Teams

OpenAI Compatible API

/v1/models and /v1/embeddings endpoints added for broader RAG client compatibility.

Microsoft Teams

Migrated to the official Teams SDK with streaming 1:1 replies, welcome cards, feedback/reflection, typing indicators, and native AI labeling.
Message edit and delete support added.

Other Key Changes

--container option enables running commands inside Docker/Podman containers.
/tools command now shows only tools the current agent can actually use.
Slack rich reply parity restored with auto-rendered interactive buttons/selects.
Gateway channel startup is now sequential but isolated, so one broken channel no longer blocks others.

v2026.3.28 - xAI Search + Plugin Approval Hooks

xAI Integration

xAI provider moved to the Responses API with first-class x_search support.
Optional x_search setup available during onboarding.

Plugin Hook Enhancements

requireApproval added to before_tool_call hooks, allowing plugins to pause tool execution and prompt users for approval via Telegram buttons, Discord interactions, or the /approve command.

Channel Updates

QQ Bot bundled channel plugin added.
Matrix received streaming replies (in-place message updates), room history context, and proxy configuration.
MiniMax image generation provider (image-01 model) added.

v2026.3.31 - Background Tasks + Task Flow

Unified Background Tasks

ACP, subagent, cron, and background CLI execution unified under a single SQLite-backed ledger.
openclaw flows list|show|cancel for task flow management.

Security Hardening

trusted-proxy now rejects mixed shared-token configs.
Node commands require pairing approval before activation.
Skill/plugin installs with dangerous-code critical findings are blocked by default.

Channels

LINE image/video/audio outbound sends added.
Matrix native voice bubble TTS and per-DM thread policy overrides added.

v2026.4.1 - Telegram Error Policy + Chat Task Board

Telegram Improvements

Configurable errorPolicy and errorCooldownMs settings added to suppress repeated delivery errors per account, chat, and topic without muting distinct failures.

Chat Task Board

/tasks command shows a background task board for the current session.

Other Changes

SearXNG web search provider added.
Amazon Bedrock Guardrails support added.
macOS Voice Wake triggers Talk Mode.
Rate-limit auth profile rotation cap (auth.cooldowns.rateLimitedProfileRotations) is now configurable.
/model changes queue behind busy runs instead of interrupting the active turn.

v2026.4.2 - Task Flow API + Android Assistant

Task Flow

Managed child task spawning with sticky cancel intent added.
Plugins can drive Task Flows directly via api.runtime.taskFlow.

Provider Transport Policy

Auth, proxy, TLS, and header shaping centralized across HTTP, stream, and websocket paths.
Insecure TLS/runtime transport overrides blocked.

Android

Google Assistant App Actions enable launching OpenClaw from the assistant trigger.

v2026.4.5 - Media Generation + Dreaming Memory

Media Generation Tools

video_generate: xAI (grok-imagine-video), Alibaba Wan, and Runway providers.
music_generate: Google Lyria, MiniMax, and ComfyUI workflow support.
ComfyUI bundled plugin for local image/video/music generation.

Provider Expansion

Qwen, Fireworks AI, and StepFun bundled providers added.
Amazon Bedrock Mantle auto-discovery with IAM auth support.

Memory/Dreaming (Experimental)

Automatic short-term memory promotion system introduced.
Three cooperative dreaming phases: Light, Deep, and REM.
/dreaming command, Dreams UI, and multilingual conceptual tagging.
Configurable memory decay via recencyHalfLifeDays and maxAgeDays.

Control UI Multilingual

Korean, Japanese, Chinese (Simplified/Traditional), Portuguese, German, Spanish, French, Turkish, Indonesian, Polish, and Ukrainian added.

iOS

Exec approval APNs notifications + Apple Watch approval support.

v2026.4.7 - Inference Hub + Wiki Memory

openclaw infer Inference Hub

Unified inference CLI for model, media, web, and embedding tasks.

Memory/Wiki

Structured claim/evidence-based wiki memory stack restored.
Includes compiled digest retrieval, claim health linting, contradiction clustering, and freshness dashboards.

Session Management

Compaction checkpoints are now persisted, enabling branch/restore in the Sessions UI.
Compaction providers can be replaced via plugins.

Providers

Gemma 4 model support (Google).
Arcee AI bundled provider added.
Ollama vision model auto-detection (image attachment support).

Other

Webhook ingress plugin enables external automation to drive TaskFlows.
agents.defaults.systemPromptOverride for controlled prompt experiments.

v2026.4.8 - Telegram Hotfix

Fixed missing dist/extensions/telegram/src/* files in npm builds during gateway startup.
Same fix applied to bundled channels: BlueBubbles, Feishu, Google Chat, IRC, Matrix, Mattermost, Microsoft Teams, Nextcloud Talk, Slack, and Zalo.
Bundled plugin compatibility metadata aligned with release version.
Slack Socket Mode WebSocket connections now work through HTTP(S) proxies.

How to Update

Check your current version and update:

openclaw --version
openclaw update

Preview with --dry-run first:

openclaw update --dry-run

With many breaking changes, make sure to run openclaw doctor --fix after updating to verify config migration:

openclaw doctor --fix

Conclusion

The most notable changes across these three weeks of updates are the addition of media generation tools (video, music), the dreaming memory system, Task Flow-based background task management, and Control UI multilingual support. For Telegram users, the error policy settings in v2026.4.1 and the startup fix in v2026.4.8 are particularly important.