OpenClaw Upgrade Standard

A battle-tested upgrade procedure for OpenClaw, born from a real production failure where a Dashboard upgrade silently broke Gateway communication (Telegram, WebChat) with no clear error message.

Use this skill when: upgrading OpenClaw to a new version, planning a safe upgrade path, or recovering from a failed upgrade.

Why This Exists

In March 2026, a Dashboard-triggered upgrade from 2026.3.13 to 2026.3.22 caused:

• Silent Gateway failure (Telegram showed "typing" but never delivered)
• Dashboard used pnpm which wasn't installed
• Gateway entrypoint renamed (entry.js → index.js) without service file migration
• openclaw doctor --fix fixed config but NOT the systemd service file
• Required backup restore to recover

This procedure prevents all of these issues.

Golden Rule