Bug type

Behavior bug (incorrect output/state without crash)

Summary

On Windows with PowerShell, setting config values that contain quotes via openclaw config set results in corrupted values. PowerShell's string handling strips or escapes quote characters before they reach the CLI.

Example:

Intended:

openclaw config set foobar.token '"token"'

Actual result stored in config:

""token""

instead of:

"token"

PowerShell treats ' and " differently from bash/zsh, and nested quote combinations get mangled during argument passing. This affects any config value that contains quote characters.

Steps to reproduce

Open PowerShell on Windows
Run openclaw config set ''
Check config — stored value has corrupted quote escaping

Expected behavior

document PowerShell-safe escaping in the docs

Actual behavior

Quote characters are silently mangled by PowerShell before reaching OpenClaw, resulting in corrupted config values.
User needs to edit openclaw.json directly with a text editor.

OpenClaw version

2026.3.12

Operating system

Windows 11

Install method

npm global

Model

any

Provider / routing chain

CLI - gateway config

Config file / key location

No response

Additional provider/model setup details

No response

Logs, screenshots, and evidence

Impact and severity

Affected: Powershell
Severity: irritating

Additional information

No response