OpenClaw 2026.10.4 keeps your agent running after sleep and updates

OpenClaw released version 2026.10.4 on the 16th of October 2026, a patch that keeps the agent running after the computer under it goes to sleep and brings chats back to the same conversation after an update. The release notes on GitHub describe it as a stability patch for 2026.10.3, with no new features and no configuration changes.

For an ordinary owner the patch touches three areas: the Gateway, updates, and the chat apps where people talk to their agent. The Gateway is the always-running background service of OpenClaw, the part that receives messages and hands them to the agent.

The official OpenClaw account on X summed up the release the same day as update and recovery fixes, chats unstuck after updates, messaging and sign-in repairs, and more bug fixes. The npm registry, the public catalogue OpenClaw is installed from, lists 2026.10.4 as its latest version.

The Gateway stays up when the computer sleeps

The Gateway checks a regular signal, called a heartbeat, to confirm it still holds its own data. According to the release notes published on the 16th of October, when a sleep or a jump in the system clock makes that signal look old, the Gateway now takes its data back and keeps running.

The same notes say that shutting the Gateway down or restarting it now completes, even when a background task that writes the conversation record is slow to finish.

Personal computers sleep often. A laptop lid closes, a desktop powers down its disk overnight, and the clock can jump when the machine wakes. An agent that answers messages around the clock depends on the machine under it, and this fix is written for exactly that moment.

Updates: safer snapshots and clearer messages

Before an update, OpenClaw takes a safety snapshot, a copy of the agent's state it can return to if something goes wrong. The release notes list these changes to how updates run:

• The safety snapshot now reads agent databases, where the agent keeps its conversations and settings, accurately, so a database is marked as changed only when it changed.
• The summary after a successful update lists finished upgrades as finished.
• On slower machines the Gateway keeps working while an update runs.
• When a snapshot fails, the message names the actual problem and gives recovery advice.
• On Linux, updates can clear away abandoned leftover folders.
• A failed optional cleanup step lets the update carry on to the end.
• The update repair tool, which finishes an update that stopped halfway, now completes on slower machines.

The release page in the OpenClaw documentation adds that later upgrades no longer warn that an unchanged database changed while its recovery copy was being made.

The work builds on 2026.10.3, released on the 13th of October. That version cleared blocked updates, kept sign-ins and memory files intact during repairs and let chats resume after an interrupted reply. It also added two models: Muse Wonder, made by Meta, and MiniMax M3.1 Flash, made by MiniMax.

Chats return to the same conversation

The control screen is OpenClaw's own web page for chatting with the agent and managing it. According to the documentation, a chat that shows the message "Server updated" can now refresh straight back to the same conversation. The same page advises anyone whose tab was open before updating to save unsaved work and reload the page once, so the fix takes effect.

Long conversations can be squeezed into a short summary, a step OpenClaw calls compaction, so the agent has room to keep working. When the owner starts compaction by hand, 2026.10.4 lets the current task finish first and keeps the request that was waiting.

Messaging apps and sign-in

The release notes list repairs across the apps where owners reach their agent:

• Telegram: the part that collects Telegram messages starts correctly again. The documentation describes it as a startup fix that gets Telegram messages through to the agent on the installations that were affected.
• Discord: the agent keeps working after changes to voice channels.
• Other networks: Feishu, a workplace chat app, keeps its conversation links after a settings reload, and long IRC replies in non-Latin alphabets, such as Greek or Chinese, arrive in full.
• Outside tools: signing in to tools connected through MCP, a standard way to plug outside services into an agent, completes after the owner approves in the browser.
• Tailscale: for owners who reach their agent through Tailscale, a private network service, local access stays open when the network refuses its Serve feature, the option that shares the agent across that network.
• Mac: when the app recovers, it keeps a newer Gateway that is compatible with it in place.
• Built-in browser: the browser the agent drives in the background keeps responding to clicks while a website waits for a passkey, a sign-in method that uses the device in place of a password.

The patch also carries a security fix for Tlon, a messaging network. In Tlon group conversations, owner rights now stay with the owner alone.

Keeping an agent on a machine that stays awake

The lead fix of 2026.10.4 deals with computers that sleep and clocks that jump. Both are part of daily life on a home laptop or desktop. A server in a data centre runs day and night and has no lid to close, which keeps the Gateway on the same steady footing between one update and the next.

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