Summary

After upgrading to [email protected] via npm install -g openclaw, the bundled ACPX Runtime plugin fails to load with:

[plugins] acpx failed to load from /usr/lib/node_modules/openclaw/dist/extensions/acpx/index.js: Error: Cannot find module 'acpx/runtime'
Require stack:
- /usr/lib/node_modules/openclaw/dist/extensions/acpx/register.runtime-D_wx_dkq.js

The plugin's runtime dependency ([email protected]) is never staged into node_modules during the global npm install, so the subpath import acpx/runtime fails at gateway startup. openclaw plugins list reports acpx as failed-to-load.

Related to (but not a duplicate of) #70217 — that issue is about a pnpm source-build where node_modules/acpx was stale at 0.4.0. This one is about npm global install where node_modules/acpx is simply absent under the bundled plugin.

Environment

• OpenClaw: 2026.4.22 (00bd2cf)
• Install method: npm install -g openclaw
• Node: v22.22.0
• OS: Ubuntu 24.04 (Linux 6.8.0, x64)
• Plugin path: /usr/lib/node_modules/openclaw/dist/extensions/acpx/

Reproduction

1. Fresh install / upgrade: npm install -g [email protected]
2. Start gateway or run any CLI command that triggers plugin load (e.g. openclaw memory search --query x)
3. Observe the error on stderr:

   [plugins] acpx failed to load from .../dist/extensions/acpx/index.js: Error: Cannot find module 'acpx/runtime'
   

Root cause

/usr/lib/node_modules/openclaw/dist/extensions/acpx/package.json declares:

{
  "name": "@openclaw/acpx",
  "version": "2026.4.20",
  "type": "module",
  "dependencies": { "acpx": "0.5.3" },
  "openclaw": { "extensions": ["./index.js"], "bundle": { "stageRuntimeDependencies": true } }
}

But /usr/lib/node_modules/openclaw/dist/extensions/acpx/node_modules/acpx does not exist after npm install -g. The stageRuntimeDependencies: true flag did not install [email protected] alongside the bundled plugin.

The compiled plugin entry (register.runtime-D_wx_dkq.js) imports from acpx/runtime, which is a subpath export only available in [email protected]. With no local copy present, resolution falls through to the global node_modules (none), and fails.

Workaround (confirmed working)

cd /usr/lib/node_modules/openclaw/dist/extensions/acpx
npm install [email protected] --no-save

After this, openclaw plugins list shows ACPX Runtime as loaded without error, and sessions_spawn(runtime: "acp", ...) works.

Impact

• ACP coding agent sessions are unavailable on clean npm global installs until the workaround is applied. This affects:
  • sessions_spawn(runtime: "acp", agentId: "codex"|"claude-code"|"cursor"|...)
  • Resuming persistent Codex/Claude Code sessions via resumeSessionId
  • Any Discord/webchat thread-bound ACP harness flow
• Silent-ish: the error fires on stderr but CLI commands still complete, so users may not notice until they try to spawn an ACP session.

Related history

This is the same bundler-miss pattern documented in:

• Bundled-plugin stageRuntimeDependencies fails under ProtectSystem=strict (EROFS; gateway can't write /usr/lib) #69923 (stageRuntimeDependencies fails under ProtectSystem=strict)
• Plugin runtime dependencies not properly staged after global npm install #67038 (plugin runtime deps not properly staged after global npm install)
• bug: npm install -g openclaw crashes — stageRuntimeDependencies not staging @buape/carbon and @larksuiteoapi/node-sdk #62748 / bug: npm install -g openclaw crashes - stageRuntimeDependencies not staging @buape/carbon and @larksuiteoapi/node-sdk #62749 (buape/carbon and larksuite missing after global install)
• [Bug]: Error: Cannot find module 'grammy' #69831 / [Bug]: grammy module missing after every update - telegram extension breaks repeatedly #70615 (grammy missing for telegram plugin)
• [Bug]: Cannot find module '@larksuiteoapi/node-sdk' #70587 (larksuite node-sdk missing)

Appears to be the first report specifically for [email protected] not being staged post-4.22.

Suggested fix

Whatever mechanism now (after those earlier fixes) ensures grammy, @larksuiteoapi/node-sdk, and @buape/carbon get staged into their respective bundled plugin node_modules/ on global npm install needs to also cover [email protected] in dist/extensions/acpx/. It looks like this plugin's manifest was added or bumped in 4.20 (@openclaw/acpx version string) and the staging rule either didn't pick it up or regressed for 4.22.