Bug type

Regression (worked before, now fails)

Summary

Environment:
OS: Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL2) - Ubuntu
OpenClaw Version: 2026.3.9
Model: local qwen3:

When starting the OpenClaw gateway, it completely refuses to load officially installed skills, throwing a Skipping skill path that resolves outside its configured root error. This occurs even when the skill is freshly installed using the official clawhub install command and resides in the default, unmodified ~/.openclaw/skills directory.

Steps to reproduce

Clean up any existing ~/.openclaw/skills directories.

Run the official installer: clawhub install "openclaw-tavily-search"

Verify the installation path: /home/beibei/.openclaw/skills/openclaw-tavily-search

Verify openclaw.json has the entry correctly named:

Start the gateway: openclaw gateway --port 18789 --allow-unconfigured

Expected behavior

The gateway should recognize /home/beibei/.openclaw/skills/ as the configured root and successfully load the openclaw-tavily-search skill.

Actual behavior

The gateway rejects its own default directory, outputting the following error in the terminal:

Troubleshooting Performed (Isolating the issue):

Script/Environment Integrity: Manually executing the underlying Python script (python3 scripts/tavily_search.py --query "test" --max-results 2) works perfectly and returns the correct JSON data. This proves the Python environment, dependencies, and API keys are completely valid.

Directory Relocation: Attempted moving the skill to workspace/skills and linking it. Same error.

Configuration Override: Attempted bypassing this via load.extraDirs in openclaw.json. However, the 2026.3.9 JSON schema flags extraDirs as an invalid property (PROBLEMS 1 in VS Code) and the gateway silently overwrites/deletes the manual configuration upon reload.

OpenClaw version

2026.3.9

Operating system

Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL2) - Ubuntu

Install method

No response

Model

local qwen3:8b

Provider / routing chain

There appears to be a critical path-resolution bug in the 2026.3.9 Gateway initialization logic, specifically when running under WSL. It incorrectly flags its own default installation path (~/.openclaw/skills) as an "outside" directory.

Config file / key location

No response

Additional provider/model setup details

No response

Logs, screenshots, and evidence

Impact and severity

No response

Additional information

No response