- Gateway/node pending work: add narrow in-memory pending-work queue primitives (`node.pending.enqueue` / `node.pending.drain`) and wake-helper reuse as a foundation for dormant-node work delivery. (#41409) Thanks @mbelinky.

- Git/runtime state: ignore the gateway-generated `.dev-state` file so local runtime state does not show up as untracked repo noise. (#41848) Thanks @smysle.

- Exec/child commands: mark child command environments with `OPENCLAW_CLI` so subprocesses can detect when they were launched from the OpenClaw CLI. (#41411) Thanks @vincentkoc.

- LLM Task/Lobster: add an optional `thinking` override so workflow calls can explicitly set embedded reasoning level with shared validation for invalid values and unsupported `xhigh` modes. (#15606) Thanks @xadenryan and @ImLukeF.

- Mattermost/reply threading: add `channels.mattermost.replyToMode` for channel and group messages so top-level posts can start thread-scoped sessions without the manual reply-then-thread workaround. (#29587) Thanks @teconomix.