Upgrade Openclaw

Upgrade OpenClaw and comprehensively discover new features, config options, hooks, and improvements. Use when: user says "upgrade openclaw", "update openclaw", "check for openclaw updates", "what's new in openclaw", or "/skills upgrade_openclaw". Runs the update, diffs the changelog against enabled channels/plugins, performs config schema gap analysis, audits hooks and doctor recommendations, and presents ALL findings for user approval before applying.

Update, diff, audit, propose. Every new feature surfaced. Nothing missed.

Settings

On first run, check settings.json in this skill's directory. If subagentModel not set, ask:

"Which model for upgrade sub-agents? (e.g., claude-sonnet-4-6, deepseek-chat). Note: external providers will receive config data."

Save to settings.json:

json

{ "subagentModel": "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6" }

Procedure

1. Record Pre-Update State

Before touching anything:

bash

PRE_VERSION=$(openclaw --version | grep -oP '\d{4}\.\d+\.\d+')
echo "$PRE_VERSION"

Save PRE_VERSION — needed for changelog diffing in Step 3.

2. Run Update

bash

openclaw update

If dirty working tree, stash first:

bash

cd "$(openclaw --version 2>&1 | grep -oP '(?<=\().*?(?=\))' || echo ~/openclaw)" 
git stash --include-untracked -m "pre-update stash" && openclaw update

Record new version:

bash

POST_VERSION=$(openclaw --version | grep -oP '\d{4}\.\d+\.\d+')

If PRE_VERSION == POST_VERSION, report "Already up to date" and skip to Step 5 (audit only).

3. Extract Delta Changelog

The changelog lives locally at ~/openclaw/CHANGELOG.md after update. Versions delimited by ## YYYY.x.x headers.

Extract only entries between old and new version:

bash

awk "/^## $POST_VERSION/,/^## $PRE_VERSION/" ~/openclaw/CHANGELOG.md

Then filter by relevance to this setup:

1. Read current config via gateway config.get to identify enabled channels/plugins
2. From the changelog delta, keep entries matching:
   • Enabled channels (e.g., Telegram — skip LINE/Discord/Feishu/etc. unless enabled)
   • Core agent/gateway/cron/tools/memory/security changes (always relevant)
   • ACP/sessions/subagent changes (if ACP enabled)
   • Breaking changes (always relevant)
3. Discard entries for disabled channels, iOS/macOS app changes, and platforms not in use
4. Categorize kept entries into: Features | Fixes | Security | Breaking Changes

4. Config Schema Gap Analysis

Fetch the live schema and current config:

• Schema: gateway config.schema
• Current: gateway config.get

Compare systematically:

1. Walk schema properties tree recursively
2. For each schema key path, check if it exists in current config
3. New/unset options = schema keys not present in current config (excluding keys with sensible defaults)
4. Focus on actionable fields — ones where setting a non-default value provides clear benefit
5. Flag fields from the changelog delta (new in this version) separately as "New in this release"

Present as a table:

text

| Config Path | Type | Default | Description | New? |

5. Audit Current Setup

bash

openclaw hooks list --json
openclaw doctor --non-interactive
clawhub update --all --dry-run 2>&1

Collect:

• Hooks: any hooks available but not enabled
• Doctor: all warnings and recommendations
• Skills: any ClawHub updates available

6. Present Comprehensive Report

Structure the report exactly like this:

markdown

## 🔍 Post-Upgrade Report: {PRE_VERSION} → {POST_VERSION}

### 🆕 New Features (Relevant to Your Setup)
- [Feature]: What it does, why it matters for you
  - Config: `path.to.setting` (if applicable)

### 🔧 Notable Fixes
- [Fix]: What was broken, now fixed

### 🔐 Security Updates
- [Security]: What was patched

### ⚠️ Breaking Changes
- [Breaking]: What changed, migration needed

### 📋 New Config Options Available
| Config Path | Type | Default | Why Enable |
|-------------|------|---------|------------|

### 🪝 Hooks Status
- [hook]: enabled/available/new

### 🏥 Doctor Recommendations
- [Item]: severity + action

### 📦 Skill Updates Available
- [skill]: current → available version

---
**Apply these improvements?** Reply with:
- "yes" / "all" — apply everything
- "select" — I'll list numbered items to pick from
- specific items by name

Critical: Do NOT present a thin report. Every changelog entry that survived the relevance filter in Step 3 MUST appear. Every new config option from Step 4 MUST appear. Every doctor finding from Step 5 MUST appear. The user triggered this skill to see EVERYTHING.

7. Apply with Approval

Never apply without explicit user approval.

On approval, apply changes via:

• Config changes: gateway config.patch
• Hook enablement: openclaw hooks enable <hook>
• Skill installs: clawhub install <skill>

After applying, pop any git stash:

bash

cd ~/openclaw && git stash list | grep -q "pre-update stash" && git stash pop

8. Persist State

Write upgrade state to state.json in this skill's directory:

json

{
  "lastUpgrade": {
    "from": "2026.3.2",
    "to": "2026.3.3",
    "timestamp": "2026-03-05T06:50:00Z",
    "featuresProposed": ["telegram-streaming", "pdf-tool", ...],
    "featuresApplied": ["telegram-streaming", ...],
    "doctorApplied": ["entrypoint-fix", ...]
  }
}

This prevents re-proposing on repeated runs and enables "what changed since last upgrade" queries.