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Keep OpenClaw up to date. For Docker, Podman, and Kubernetes image replacements, see Upgrading container images. The gateway runs startup-safe upgrade work before readiness and exits if mounted state needs manual repair. Detects your install type (npm or git), fetches the latest version, runs openclaw doctor, and restarts the gateway.
Switch channels or target a specific version:
openclaw update has no --verbose flag (the installer does). For diagnostics use --dry-run to preview planned actions, --json for structured results, or openclaw update status --json to inspect channel and availability state. --channel beta prefers the beta npm dist-tag, but falls back to stable/latest when the beta tag is missing or its version is older than the latest stable release. Use --tag beta for a one-off package update pinned to the raw npm beta dist-tag instead. --channel extended-stable is package-only, and installation remains foreground-only. OpenClaw reads the public npm extended-stable selector, verifies the selected exact package, and installs that exact version. Missing or inconsistent registry data fails closed; it never falls back to latest. If the selected version is older than the installed version, the normal downgrade confirmation still applies. The CLI persists the channel after a successful core update; a direct npm install -g openclaw@extended-stable does not update update.channel. After the core swap, eligible official npm plugins with bare/default or latest intent converge to that exact core version. Exact pins and explicit non-latest tags, third-party plugins, and non-npm sources remain unchanged. Catalog installs created by current OpenClaw versions retain that default intent. Older records that contain only an exact version remain pinned because OpenClaw cannot safely distinguish an old automatic pin from a user pin; run openclaw plugins update @openclaw/name once on the extended-stable channel to opt that plugin back into exact-core tracking. --channel dev gives a persistent moving GitHub main checkout. For a one-off package update, --tag main maps to the github:openclaw/openclaw#main package spec and installs it directly through the target package manager (npm/pnpm/bun). For managed plugins, a missing beta release is a warning, not a failure: the core update can still succeed while a plugin falls back to its recorded default/latest release. See Release channels for channel semantics.

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Switch between npm and git installs

Use channels to change the install type. The updater keeps your state, config, credentials, and workspace in ~/.openclaw; it only changes which OpenClaw code install the CLI and gateway use.
Preview the install-mode switch first:
dev ensures a git checkout, builds it, and installs the global CLI from that checkout. The stable, extended-stable, and beta channels use package installs. Extended-stable is rejected on a git checkout without mutating or converting it. If the gateway is already installed, openclaw update refreshes the service metadata and restarts it unless you pass --no-restart. For package installs with a managed Gateway service, openclaw update targets the package root used by that service. If the shell openclaw command comes from a different install, the updater prints both roots and the managed service’s Node path, and checks that Node version against the target release’s engines.node requirement before replacing the package.

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Alternative: re-run the installer

Add --no-onboard to skip onboarding. To force a specific install type, pass --install-method git --no-onboard or --install-method npm --no-onboard. If openclaw update fails after the npm package install phase, re-run the installer instead. It does not call the updater; it runs the global package install directly and can recover a partially updated npm install.
Pin the recovery to a specific version or dist-tag with --version:

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Alternative: manual npm, pnpm, or bun

Prefer openclaw update for supervised installs: it can coordinate the package swap with the running Gateway service. If you update manually on a supervised install, stop the managed Gateway first. Package managers replace files in place, and a running Gateway can otherwise try to load core or plugin files mid-swap. Restart the Gateway after the package manager finishes so it picks up the new install. For a root-owned Linux system-global install, if openclaw update fails with EACCES, recover with system npm while keeping the Gateway stopped for the manual replacement. Use the same profile flags/environment you normally use for that Gateway. Replace /usr/bin/npm with the system npm that owns the root-owned global prefix on your host:
Then verify:
When openclaw update manages a global npm install, it installs the target into a temporary npm prefix first. The candidate package validates the host Node version during preinstall; only then does OpenClaw verify the packaged dist inventory and swap the clean package tree into the real global prefix. A packed completion guard is omitted from the expected inventory and removed only after preinstall succeeds, so skipped lifecycle scripts also fail before the swap. On npm 12 and newer, the updater approves only the candidate OpenClaw lifecycle; transitive dependency scripts remain blocked. This avoids npm overlaying a new package onto stale files from the old one. If the install command fails, OpenClaw retries once with --omit=optional, which helps hosts where native optional dependencies cannot compile. OpenClaw-managed npm update and plugin-update commands also clear npm’s min-release-age supply-chain quarantine (or the older before config key) for the child npm process. That policy exists for general protection, but an explicit OpenClaw update means “install the selected release now.”

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Advanced npm install topics

OpenClaw treats packaged global installs as read-only at runtime, even when the global package directory is writable by the current user. Plugin package installs live in OpenClaw-owned npm/git roots under the user config directory, and Gateway startup does not mutate the OpenClaw package tree.Some Linux npm setups install global packages under root-owned directories such as /usr/lib/node_modules/openclaw. OpenClaw supports that layout because plugin install/update commands write outside that global package directory.
Give OpenClaw write access to its config/state roots so explicit plugin installs, plugin updates, and doctor cleanup can persist their changes:
Before package updates and explicit plugin installs, OpenClaw tries a best-effort disk-space check for the target volume. Low space produces a warning with the checked path, but does not block the update because filesystem quotas, snapshots, and network volumes can change after the check. The actual package-manager install and post-install verification remain authoritative.

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Auto-updater

Off by default. Enable it in ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json:
The gateway also logs an update hint on startup (disable with update.checkOnStart: false). Stored extended-stable selections use this read-only hint path and the existing 24-hour hint interval, but never invoke automatic installation, handoff, restart, stable delay/jitter, or beta polling. For downgrade or incident recovery, set OPENCLAW_NO_AUTO_UPDATE=1 in the gateway environment to block automatic applies even when update.auto.enabled is configured. Startup update hints can still run unless update.checkOnStart is also disabled. Package-manager updates requested through the live Gateway control-plane (update.run) do not replace the package tree inside the running Gateway process. On managed service installs, the Gateway starts a detached handoff, exits, and lets the normal openclaw update --yes --json CLI path stop the service, replace the package, refresh service metadata, restart, verify the Gateway version and reachability, and recover an installed-but-unloaded macOS LaunchAgent when possible. If the Gateway cannot make that handoff safely, update.run reports a safe shell command instead of running the package manager in-process. The Control UI sidebar update card shows Update Gateway when it will start this update.run flow directly. This covers browser-hosted Control UI, remote Gateways, and manually managed local Gateways. In the signed macOS app, a local app-owned Gateway changes that card to Update Mac app + Gateway. Sparkle updates the app first; after relaunch, the app runs openclaw update --tag <app-version> --json, restarts its Gateway, and verifies health in a setup-style progress window. The window appears only when that managed Gateway needs update, repair, or installation; app-only updates relaunch directly into the app. Failure details stay visible with Retry, Update guide, and Discord actions. The app never uses this coordinated path for a remote or externally managed Gateway, never downgrades a newer Gateway, and never overrides an extended-stable channel pin. When the update succeeds, the app queues a one-time welcome event for the most recent top-level direct session with a real user/channel interaction. Cron runs, heartbeats, and background-only session updates do not move that selection. In remote mode, the app updates only its local Mac node runtime and sends the event only when the connected remote Gateway is at least as new as the app.

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After updating

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Run doctor
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openclaw doctor
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Migrates config, audits DM policies, and checks gateway health. Details: Doctor
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Restart the gateway
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openclaw gateway restart
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Verify
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openclaw health

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Rollback

Rollback has two layers:
  1. Reinstall older OpenClaw code while keeping the current state.
  2. Restore pre-update state only when the older code cannot use a migrated config or database.
Start with a code-only rollback. Restoring state discards changes made after the backup.

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Before updating: create a verified backup

openclaw update preserves an automatic pre-update config copy, but it does not create a full state recovery point. Before a significant update, create one explicitly:
The archive manifest records the OpenClaw version and the source paths included in the backup. The archive can contain credentials, auth profiles, and channel state, so store it with owner-only permissions and the same protection as the live state directory. See Backup for included and intentionally omitted files. For a byte-for-byte recovery point that includes volatile artifacts omitted by the portable archive, stop the Gateway and use a filesystem, volume, or VM snapshot provided by your platform.

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Roll back a package install

List published versions, then preview and install the known-good version:
openclaw update --tag is preferred over a direct package-manager install. It detects the downgrade, asks for confirmation, runs managed plugin convergence and compatibility checks against the installed target, refreshes service metadata, restarts the Gateway, and verifies the running version. If the stored channel is extended-stable, use --channel stable --tag <known-good-version> because exact one-off tags cannot be combined with the extended-stable selector. Package updates stage and verify the candidate before activation. If the filesystem swap or command-shim replacement fails, OpenClaw restores the old package automatically. After a successful swap, a later Gateway health failure reports the previous version and manual rollback instructions instead of automatically replacing the package again. If the CLI update path is unavailable, use the same package manager and install scope that own the current Gateway:
Replace npm with pnpm or bun when that manager owns the install. During incident recovery, prevent an enabled auto-updater from immediately applying a newer release by setting OPENCLAW_NO_AUTO_UPDATE=1 in the Gateway environment.

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Roll back a source checkout

Use a clean checkout and select a known-good tag or commit:
To return to latest: git checkout main && git pull. The updater automatically returns a git checkout to its previous branch and SHA when dependency installation, build, UI build, or doctor fails after a git update starts. Manual checkout is still required when you intentionally choose an older commit.

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Downgrading across the session SQLite migration

Before starting an older file-backed OpenClaw release, use the current CLI to restore archived legacy transcript artifacts:
This does not delete SQLite data. Sessions created after the SQLite migration exist only in SQLite and will not appear to the older runtime. See Downgrading after session SQLite migration.

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Restore state only when necessary

If the older code cannot read a newer config or database schema, stop the Gateway and restore the verified pre-update filesystem, volume, or VM snapshot. Preserve the current state separately before restoring because this removes changes made after the snapshot. Broad openclaw backup create archives support creation and verification, but not in-place whole-archive activation. Extract a broad archive into a staging directory and use its manifest.json source-to-archive mapping for an offline restore. openclaw backup sqlite restore likewise writes a verified database to a fresh target; activating that target remains an explicit offline operator step.

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Verify the rollback

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If you are stuck

  • Run openclaw doctor again and read the output carefully.
  • For openclaw update --channel dev on source checkouts, the updater auto-bootstraps pnpm when needed. If you see a pnpm/corepack bootstrap error, install pnpm manually (or re-enable corepack) and rerun the update.
  • Check: Troubleshooting
  • Ask in Discord: https://discord.gg/clawd