Bug type

Regression (worked before, now fails)

Beta release blocker

No

Summary

Version: 2026.4.26 → 2026.6.5Platform: Linux (Bluehost VPS), Slack channel via Socket Mode

What happened:
After updating to 2026.6.5 and restarting the gateway, the Slack channel silently stopped loading. Gateway reported "ready" with no errors. No Slack socket connection was established. The channel had been working fine on 2026.4.26.

Root cause (found manually):
The Slack plugin is installed at ~/.openclaw/npm/projects/openclaw-slack-*/. On 2026.4.26 it auto-loaded on startup. On 2026.6.5 it no longer auto-discovers from that path — only plugins in the extensions/ directory are picked up. Fix was to manually add plugins.allow: ["slack"] to config.

Two asks:

1. Either restore backward-compat auto-discovery for npm-installed plugins, or document this as a breaking change with a migration step.
2. If a configured channel (one with tokens/credentials in config) fails to load on startup, surface a loud warning — not a silent omission. Users have no way to know their channel is down until they try to use it.

Steps to reproduce

Repro path:

1. Slack channel configured and working on 2026.4.26; plugins.allow not set in config
2. npm install -g openclaw@latest → upgrades to 2026.6.5
3. openclaw gateway restart
4. Observe: startup log shows http server listening (N plugins: ...) — slack absent from list; no slack socket mode connected log entry; channel status shows SETUP

Confirmed fix: openclaw config set plugins.allow '["slack"]' + restart → slack appears in loaded plugins, socket connects.

Expected behavior

On 2026.4.26, Slack auto-loaded and connected without plugins.allow set. The expected behavior is that upgrading to 2026.6.5 preserves that — Slack loads on startup without requiring manual config changes.

Actual behavior

After upgrading to 2026.6.5 and restarting, Slack silently failed to load. Gateway logged http server listening (10 plugins: ...) with slack absent from the list. No slack socket mode connected entry appeared. Channel status showed SETUP. User received no messages and had no indication the channel was down until attempting to send.

OpenClaw version

2026.4.26 → 2026.6.5

Operating system

Linux — CentOS Stream 9 (5.14.0-687.12.1.el9_8.x86_64)

Install method

npm install -g openclaw — global npm install, running as a systemd user service on a Bluehost VPS.

Model

anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6

Provider / routing chain

Direct — Anthropic API (api.anthropic.com), no proxy or router.

Additional provider/model setup details

No response

Logs, screenshots, and evidence

Impact and severity

No response

Additional information

No response