Update info

OpenClaw 2026.9.9: Update Recovery, Messaging Fixes and the 8.35 Extended-Stable Line

OpenClaw 9.8/9.9 and extended-stable 8.35: verified release facts, update recovery, messaging fixes and migration limits.

Direct answer: OpenClaw shipped three releases between October 2 and 8: stable-line v2026.9.8 (Oct 3, 11:21 Beijing time) and the current v2026.9.9 (Oct 8, 18:23), plus extended-stable 2026.8.35 (Oct 2, 22:06) — a gateway-only release the project positions as its current LTS equivalent, carrying GPT-6.1 Sol support and a batch of security and reliability fixes. Note that the v2026.9.8 and v2026.9.9 release pages switched to a "stats plus links" format: change details live in the official release notes and changelog, which we also checked.

Release timeline

Version Channel Published (UTC) Beijing time Release-page format
v2026.8.35 extended-stable (gateway-only) 2026-10-02 14:06 10-02 22:06 full highlights
v2026.9.8 stable (2026.9 line) 2026-10-03 03:21 10-03 11:21 stats + links
v2026.9.9 stable (2026.9 line, current) 2026-10-08 10:23 10-08 18:23 stats + links

v2026.9.8: a regular stable drop, in a new format

The official release page states what can be verified: 58 commits, 43 pull requests, 21 contributors. Changes are published in two formats — release notes formatted for people, and a plain-Markdown changelog for AI agents and tools. The page also publishes the npm package URL, registry tarball, integrity value, release SHA and CI release evidence; readers who need to verify each item should go straight to the official release page. The page itself no longer lists feature bullets, and this article does not write them on the project's behalf.

v2026.9.9: the current stable release

v2026.9.9 landed on October 8 at 185 commits, 112 pull requests and 92 contributors in the release-page counting convention, separate from direct-commit counts in the docs. Its page uses the same stats-plus-links format: details live in the official release notes and changelog. As of this article's check (2026-10-09), the official page lists no specific features, and we say so plainly rather than speculate; use the two official documents for item-by-item comparison.

extended-stable 2026.8.35: a real update for the LTS-equivalent channel

In the project's own words, this is a gateway-only extended-stable release — "our current equivalent to LTS." It is OpenClaw from the end of August 2026 plus critical security updates, reliability and performance fixes, and features like new model support. The notes also state that the latest OpenClaw at release time was 2026.9.7. Highlights as listed officially:

  • GPT-6.1 Sol support: the current Sol model across OpenAI routing, discovery, reasoning, harness, and Reef guard-model boundaries.
  • Safer updates and recovery: preserve plugin settings, prevent duplicate Gateways, handle pnpm package updates without terminal failures, retain plugin inventory through migration.
  • Reliable agent completion: preserve complete delegated and CLI answers, release suspended child capacity, recover full cron output, and keep failed requests from consuming steered questions.
  • Security and ownership hardening: keep secret-store kinds stable during rotation, restore admitted secret-egress execution, retain explicit cron tool allowlists while repairing stale automatic snapshots.
  • Channel and integration reliability: repairs for Gmail and IMAP watchers, Matrix direct mappings, Telegram progress, remote MCP startup, and managed llama.cpp startup on clean Windows hosts.
  • Performance and UI continuity: bound model-catalog waits and reduce Codex fleet heap pressure, among others.

Details checked in the official 9.9 changelog

Compatible failed-update recovery preserves data written during the attempt; an older updater already running does not gain those safeguards. Fixes cover iMessage replies, Feishu attachments and an older scheduled timeout interrupting a newer chat. These OpenClaw changes do not prove recovery of another agent or local installation.

Very old configurations may require an intermediate 2026.9.5 upgrade and Doctor. Version 9.9 cannot downgrade or repair data converted by an October beta; preserve the data and follow the recovery guide.

Source: official 9.9 changelog.

Upgrade boundaries

  • Stable-line users: check source-version compatibility first — create a verified backup first, preview with openclaw update --dry-run, then run openclaw update. The full backup → update → doctor → verify → rollback path is in the site's upgrade tutorial.
  • Long-term-stability users: switch with openclaw update --channel extended-stable. 2026.8.35 is gateway-only and built on end-of-August code plus critical fixes — it is not the 2026.9 line's feature set, so don't compare it against a 9.x feature list.
  • Checking 9.8/9.9 specifics: trust only the official release notes and changelog; community summaries should link back to them.

Sources