update
Apr 30, 2026
By Teun
OpenClaw adds Codex desktop setup, DeepInfra, and new channel support
OpenClaw’s 2026.4.27 release adds Codex Computer Use setup commands, bundles DeepInfra as a provider, and expands support for Tencent Yuanbao and QQBot. The update also changes plugin startup and model catalog handling, and includes reliability fixes across Telegram, Slack, sessions, and Windows restarts.
OpenClaw’s 2026.4.27 release adds setup tooling for Codex Computer Use, brings DeepInfra into the bundled provider set, and expands channel support for Tencent Yuanbao and QQBot, according to the project’s release notes. The update also pushes plugin startup and model catalog metadata toward a manifest-first design, while bundling a long list of reliability fixes across chat, approvals, startup, and media handling.
On the Codex side, the release adds computer-use setup commands for Codex-mode agents. OpenClaw says users can now run /codex computer-use status and /codex computer-use install, use marketplace discovery, and optionally auto-install the required pieces.
⚡ New to this?
This release matters because it changes how OpenClaw starts up, connects to providers, and handles desktop control. MCP, or Model Context Protocol, is the layer that lets an AI tool talk to other tools and services; the new fail-closed checks make that connection stricter before Codex-mode starts.
For non-experts, the big story is that OpenClaw is adding more built-in support while also making the system safer and easier to audit. That affects anyone using the platform for chat automation, agent workflows, or self-hosted integrations.
🦞 OpenClaw angle
If you run OpenClaw in production, review your plugin manifests and move any startup behavior into explicit activation.onStartup entries. That will reduce surprise imports when Gateway boots and make it easier to see what is actually loaded.
If you use Codex-mode desktop control, add the new /codex computer-use status and install checks to your deployment flow so missing MCP components are caught early. If you route traffic through an outbound proxy, set proxy.enabled and proxy.proxyUrl deliberately and test that only the intended forward-proxy path is open.
For channel automation, re-test Telegram, Slack, QQBot, and Yuanbao flows after upgrading, especially if you rely on approvals, media uploads, or group chat routing. The release changes those paths enough that older assumptions about startup timing and attachment handling may no longer hold.
The new Codex path also includes fail-closed MCP server checks before Codex-mode turns start. MCP stands for Model Context Protocol, a standard used to connect models and tools, and “fail-closed” means the system refuses to proceed if checks do not pass.
OpenClaw also says it is now bundling DeepInfra as a provider. The provider includes model discovery plus media generation and editing, text-to-speech, embeddings, and provider-owned onboarding policy, with DEEPINFRA_API_KEY support.
Channel support is expanding too. The release adds Tencent Yuanbao docs and catalog entries, plus a Yuanbao external channel plugin. It also adds QQBot support for group chat, streaming, media upload, and a refactored pipeline, according to the release notes and linked docs changes.
Several of the changes focus on startup behavior and metadata handling. OpenClaw says plugin startup is moving to explicit activation.onStartup declarations so Gateway only imports bundled plugins that intentionally expose startup-time runtime surfaces.
The company also says model catalogs are moving into plugin manifests, including aliases and suppressions. That means provider rows can be audited more easily, and the Gateway no longer has to rebuild as much plugin discovery data at boot.
The release notes list a broader set of SDK and testing changes as well. OpenClaw says it is exposing more focused plugin SDK test surfaces, adding shared channel route helpers, and tightening approval and channel contract coverage.
Reliability work covers Telegram startup and send paths, Slack socket mode, gateway prewarm, session history defaults, update sync, and restart handoffs on Windows. The notes also mention fixes for stale device tokens, duplicate approval resolves, media handling, and chat session defaults.
On networking, OpenClaw is adding opt-in operator-managed outbound proxy routing through proxy.enabled and proxy.proxyUrl or OPENCLAW_PROXY_URL. The release says the proxy support uses strict forward-proxy validation and keeps Gateway loopback bypass behavior in place.
Other items in the release include sandbox Docker GPU passthrough, authenticated node.presence.alive events for iOS and Android, support for non-image chat attachments, and a Matrix approval metadata update. OpenClaw’s release notes say the goal is to reduce boot work, improve routing and metadata consistency, and tighten runtime behavior across bundled plugins and channels.
