Evidence record / openclaw
A dated record of one change, kept so the writing that cites it can be checked. Compiled from the sources listed below by the research run, not written for reading. The judgment lives in the issues that cite it, below.
2026-08-10-openclaw-auto-updates-stop-being-silent-countdown-hold-1-h-and-an-updates
Auto-updates stop being silent: countdown, Hold 1 h, and an Updates settings page.
Automatic updates previously applied the moment they came due, with no warning and no visible schedule. PR #120506 replaces that with a scheduled update campaign: when an update is due the Gateway announces it, waits while there is active work, then runs a one-minute countdown with a 15-minute hard deadline that forces the update through the existing restart-drain and session-recovery path. Operators get a one-shot admin update.hold (Hold 1 h) that honestly pushes the deadline back rather than racing the countdown, an 'Update now' button, and a new /settings/updates page showing channel, auto-update policy, campaign state and -- for git installs -- the exact pending commit subjects about to land. Dev-channel (git) installs get automatic updates for the first time, pinned to a frozen upstream SHA. Failed applies now clear their campaign instead of leaving the UI stuck on 'Updating...' forever. Non-admins see the page read-only.
Channel: preview-or-beta. Ancestry: Merge commit e3de98a451b480d1e52cd96c62ba850ab2042660 (PR #120506, merged 2026-08-08T18:19:54Z, base main). gh api repos/openclaw/openclaw/compare/v2026.8.1-beta.2...e3de98a45 -> status=behind, ahead_by=0 (contained in the beta tag). compare/v2026.7.1-2...e3de98a45 -> diverged, ahead_by=11942; compare/v2026.6.34...e3de98a45 -> diverged, ahead_by=15095. In no stable tag.
Operator consequence: Test it on the beta channel before it reaches you on stable, because it changes when your gateway restarts. The 15-minute forced deadline means a busy gateway can no longer defer an update indefinitely -- if you were relying on 'it never restarts because it is always busy', that is over. Source installs running update.channel: dev should decide deliberately whether they want the new hourly auto-update, since that path previously never updated itself at all.
Receipt
Finding metadata
Run: 2026-08-10-weekly-digest-2026-08-03_2026-08-10-frontier-v0
Finding ID: 2026-08-10-openclaw-auto-updates-stop-being-silent-countdown-hold-1-h-and-an-updates
Source links
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Versioned source: run artifact