Bug type

Crash (process/app exits or hangs)

Summary

After upgrading to 2026.3.12, OpenClaw crashes with JavaScript heap out of memory on basic CLI commands, making the CLI completely unusable.

Steps to reproduce

1. Install OpenClaw 2026.3.12:
   npm install -g [email protected]

2. Run any simple command:
   openclaw gateway status

   or

   openclaw doctor

3. Observe crash with OOM error.

Expected behavior

Commands should execute normally without exhausting memory (as they do in 2026.3.11).

Actual behavior

<--- Last few GCs --->
[2396:0x32e75000] 33798 ms: Mark-Compact 1017.4 (1042.1) -> 1016.6 (1043.4) MB, allocation failure
[2396:0x32e75000] 35349 ms: Mark-Compact 1018.5 (1043.4) -> 1017.3 (1048.1) MB, allocation failure

FATAL ERROR: Reached heap limit Allocation failed - JavaScript heap out of memory

OpenClaw version

2026.3.12 (also tested on 2026.3.11 - works)

Operating system

Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS (Linux 6.17.9-1-pve x86_64)

Install method

npm global

Model

N/A - crashes on basic CLI commands, no model interaction needed

Provider / routing chain

N/A

Config file / key location

~/.openclaw/openclaw.json (but issue occurs even with default config)

Additional provider/model setup details

Not applicable - issue occurs before any provider/model interaction.

Logs, screenshots, and evidence

System memory is充足 (2GB total, 1.6GB free at crash time):
$ free -h
total 2.0Gi, free 1.6Gi

Data directory size is normal (62MB):
$ du -sh ~/.openclaw/
62M

No large files:
$ find ~/.openclaw -type f -size +50M
(empty)

Rollback to 2026.3.11 resolves issue:
$ npm install -g [email protected]
$ openclaw --version
OpenClaw 2026.3.11
$ openclaw gateway status
(works normally)

Impact and severity

Affected users/systems: All Ubuntu/Linux users on 2026.3.12
Severity: High (blocks all CLI usage, cannot run any commands)
Frequency: 100% reproducible
Consequence: OpenClaw CLI completely unusable; users must downgrade to 2026.3.11

Additional information

This is a regression - last known good version is 2026.3.11, first known bad version is 2026.3.12.

Temporary workaround: Downgrade to 2026.3.11:
npm uninstall -g openclaw
npm install -g [email protected]

The issue occurs even with:

• No gateway service running
• Fresh install with default config
• Minimal data directory (62MB)

The fact that doctor itself crashes makes auto-diagnosis impossible and suggests the memory leak is in core module loading/initialization.

Possible related changes in 2026.3.12:

• New plugin architecture (Ollama/vLLM/SGLang provider-plugin migration)
• Dashboard v2
• Fast mode toggles
• Multiple security fixes