Is OpenClaw v2026.5.20 stable?
-137/100Fact score: -137/100 · evidence-based, not a YES/NO verdict
“🔴 Backfill found more 2026.5.20 dents. The basement score stays put; the incident list learned a few new tricks.”
Stability Score
-137Base
80
Evidence
-137
Votes
-0
Survived
ignored
Curated
ignored
-137 evidence debt=-137
Affected components
codexcron-runtimediscorddoctorgatewayheartbeatlaunchagentlinux-runtimematrixmcpmemory-wikimodel-routingplugin-systemruntimesessions-managementtelegramtooluiupdate-systemvoicewebchatwechatwhatsapp
Install this version
npm install openclaw@2026.5.20openclaw update --tag 2026.5.20Score Evidence
| Issue | Area | Type | Penalty | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| openclaw/openclaw issue 85202 → | linux-runtime | kernel | -4 | Linux headless node exec fails with spawn /bin/sh ENOENT despite connected nodes and existing /bin/sh (2026-05-22) |
| openclaw/openclaw issue 85113 → | plugin-system | runtime | -3 | v2026.5.20 post-update Codex plugin sync can wedge managed npm root with npm ERR_INVALID_ARG_TYPE (2026-05-21) |
| openclaw/openclaw issue 85184 → | update-system | runtime | -3 | openclaw update silently downgrades and rewrites pinned direct-dependency versions (2026-05-22) |
| openclaw/openclaw issue 85120 → | update-system | kernel | -4 | In-band openclaw update on macOS LaunchAgent can stop the gateway supervising it (2026-05-21) |
| openclaw/openclaw issue 85224 → | update-system | runtime | -3 | respawnGatewayProcessForUpdate falsely reports mode=supervised on macOS when XPC_SERVICE_NAME inherited from launchd parent (2026-05-22) |
| openclaw/openclaw issue 85234 → | update-system | runtime | -3 | openclaw update fails at 'global install swap' step when npm hardlinks dependency binaries (macOS + fnm) (2026-05-22) |
| openclaw/openclaw issue 85161 → | runtime | tool | -2 | Valid tool call XML in LLM reasoning block is sometimes executed by gateway (2026-05-22) |
| openclaw/openclaw issue 85203 → | runtime | runtime | -2 | Runtime sites bypass prependSystemPromptAdditionAfterCacheBoundary (2026-05-22) |
| openclaw/openclaw issue 85246 → | ui | tool | -3 | UI Update button breaks Gateway when npm global + launchd (handoff deadlock) (2026-05-22) |
| openclaw/openclaw issue 85260 → | webchat | channel-specific | -2 | WebChat long reply renders duplicate cards after upgrading to 2026.5.20 (2026-05-22) |
| openclaw/openclaw issue 85193 → | webchat | channel-specific | -2 | WebChat message-tool replies expose raw citation markers instead of rendered blocks (2026-05-22) |
| openclaw/openclaw issue 85255 → | runtime | runtime | -2 | shouldFallbackToStartupEntry fails on non-English Windows (locale-blind) (2026-05-22) |
| openclaw/openclaw issue 85419 → | telegram | channel-specific | -3 | Telegram group chat replies silently dropped in v2026.5.20 — regression from 2026.5.18 — message-tool-terminal hook misclassifies group reply delivery (2026-05-22) |
| openclaw/openclaw issue 85333 → | doctor | tool | -2 | openclaw doctor --fix 4-5x slower on v2026.5.20 vs 2026.5.19 (55s → 229s+) — session snapshot path traversal bottleneck (2026-05-22) |
| openclaw/openclaw issue 85374 → | webchat | tool | -2 | WebChat run-complete indicator fires before reply text renders — UX race between event and final stream chunks (2026-05-22) |
| openclaw/openclaw issue 85523 → | runtime | kernel | -5 | toLowerCase crash on every message after bootstrap filename is undefined in 2026.5.20 (2026-05-22) |
| openclaw/openclaw issue 85601 → | mcp | runtime | -3 | Bundled MCP config tempDir race still present on openclaw@2026.5.20 (2026-05-23) |
| openclaw/openclaw issue 85655 → | memory-wiki | tool | -2 | memory-wiki bridge import reports 0 artifacts while memory-core exports 683 on 2026.5.20 (2026-05-23) |
| openclaw/openclaw issue 85334 → | doctor | tool | -2 | doctor --fix injects bundled plugin path and creates circular plugin warning on 2026.5.20 (2026-05-22) |
| openclaw/openclaw issue 85557 → | runtime | kernel | -4 | stripInvalidThinkingSignatures mutates latest assistant message, causing Anthropic invalid_request_error on 2026.5.20 (2026-05-23) |
| openclaw/openclaw issue 85524 → | gateway | kernel | -5 | v2026.5.20 gateway memory leak causes repeated crashes 4-6x/day (2026-05-22) |
| openclaw/openclaw issue 85314 → | telegram | channel-specific | -3 | Telegram DM replies stay in webchat and are not delivered to Telegram on 2026.5.20 (2026-05-22) |
| openclaw/openclaw issue 85401 → | channel-specific | -2 | WhatsApp final MEDIA directive can render as plain text for PDF/document attachments on 2026.5.20 (2026-05-22) | |
| openclaw/openclaw issue 85520 → | telegram | channel-specific | -3 | Telegram real reply intermittently never sends while progress draft deletes on 2026.5.20 (2026-05-22) |
| openclaw/openclaw issue 82250 → | launchagent | runtime | -2 | macOS LaunchAgent KeepAlive restarts after clean already-running gateway exit, confirmed on 2026.5.20 (2026-05-21) |
| openclaw/openclaw issue 85626 → | runtime | kernel | -4 | MissingAgentHarnessError on resumed sessions in openclaw@2026.5.20 (2026-05-23) |
| openclaw/openclaw issue 85559 → | update-system | runtime | -3 | Auto-update to 2026.5.20 fails on npm 11+/pnpm installs due to hardlink rejection in swap step (2026-05-23) |
| openclaw/openclaw issue 84844 → | gateway | kernel | -3 | Gateway scheduler keeps work queued while CPU saturated, reproduced on 2026.5.20 (2026-05-21) |
| openclaw/openclaw issue 85508 → | telegram | channel-specific | -2 | Non-default agents generate responses but Telegram delivery fails silently after v2026.5.20 upgrade (2026-05-22) |
| openclaw/openclaw issue 85620 → | matrix | channel-specific | -2 | Matrix inbound image leaves agent turn unresolved and send queue fails on 2026.5.20 (2026-05-23) |
| openclaw/openclaw issue 85689 → | doctor | runtime | -3 | doctor --fix detects but does not repair stale session snapshot paths after pnpm runtime-root changes, leaving sessions broken or forcing history loss (2026-05-23) |
| openclaw/openclaw issue 85773 → | runtime | kernel | -4 | Reinstalled v2026.5.20 agents can ignore workspace files, identity, skills, and tool context, returning generic replies (2026-05-23) |
| openclaw/openclaw issue 85779 → | discord | channel-specific | -2 | Discord turns inject much larger runtime context after v2026.5.20 and status reports inconsistent context windows (2026-05-23) |
| openclaw/openclaw issue 85806 → | codex | runtime | -2 | Codex harness on v2026.5.20 errors and falls back when using openai/gpt-5.4-nano (2026-05-23) |
| openclaw/openclaw issue 85771 → | webchat | channel-specific | -1 | WebChat UI can render duplicate assistant messages on chat.status final event while backend transcript has a single message (2026-05-23) |
| openclaw/openclaw issue 85702 → | webchat | channel-specific | -1 | OpenResponses streaming on v2026.5.20 delays first visible output_text.delta, leaving WebChat visually idle during active work (2026-05-23) |
| openclaw/openclaw issue 85669 → | sessions-management | runtime | -2 | sessions_history returns delivery-mirror/gateway-injected transcript-only assistant messages, causing duplicate dashboard history (2026-05-23) |
| openclaw/openclaw issue 85783 → | heartbeat | kernel | -5 | Embedded-run bootstrap-context variance causes 20-37s heartbeat fire latency on v2026.5.20 in clean lab reproduction (2026-05-23) |
| openclaw/openclaw issue 85871 → | heartbeat | kernel | -5 | Heartbeat scheduler silently fails to fire on 2026.5.20 and tested 5.x versions, with no heartbeat start log (2026-05-24) |
| openclaw/openclaw issue 85943 → | codex | runtime | -3 | 2026.5.20+ Codex app-server path lacks prior codex-cli process isolation for high-concurrency agents (2026-05-24) |
| openclaw/openclaw issue 85822 → | discord | channel-specific | -2 | 2026.5.20 Discord turns can retain the lane for about 48s after embedded run completion with no trace gap visibility |
| openclaw/openclaw issue 85848 → | voice | tool-specific | -2 | 2026.5.20 voice-call outbound audio can clip/break words during the first 30s on OpenAI realtime/Twilio mulaw |
| openclaw/openclaw issue 85846 → | voice | tool-specific | -2 | 2026.5.20 voice-call outbound calls can greet callers twice due triggerGreeting plus server_vad response creation |
| openclaw/openclaw issue 85847 → | voice | tool-specific | -1 | 2026.5.20 voice-call first-turn latency regresses by about 2–3s because realtime websocket opens too late |
| openclaw/openclaw issue 86178 → | cron-runtime | runtime | -3 | Managed Memory Dreaming Promotion cron silently NO_REPLYs on 2026.5.20 with jobs.json lastRun staying null |
| openclaw/openclaw issue 85552 → | discord | channel-specific | -2 | Discord typing indicator is delayed 20-30s before model dispatch on v2026.5.20 due session lock contention |
| openclaw/openclaw issue 86208 → | model-routing | runtime | -2 | DeepSeek V4 Pro isolated cron sessions hit model-call-started timeout on OpenClaw 2026.5.20 |
| openclaw/openclaw issue 86519 → | telegram | channel-specific | -3 | Telegram replies repeat 2-10x after the 2026.5.20 update; 2026.5.22 only partially reduced the symptom |
| openclaw/openclaw issue 86314 → | channel-specific | -2 | openclaw-weixin channel not registered in gateway runtime; invalid channels.start channel on 2026.5.20/2026.5.22 | |
| openclaw/openclaw issue 86390 → | channel-specific | -2 | WhatsApp messageReceived hook opt-in docs/schema/runtime mismatch confirmed on 2026.5.20 and unchanged in 2026.5.22 packages | |
| openclaw/openclaw issue 86465 → | tool | tool | -3 | exec() strips dollar-variable patterns before the shell on 2026.5.20 Windows, silently corrupting commands |