OpenClaw 2.0 (v2026.8.2) Brings Side Panel, Linux App, and More
OpenClaw v2026.8.2 is out — the first follow-up to the 2.0 launch. It packs 784 pull requests, 10 direct commits, and contributions from 134 people. The headline feature is a new Home button in the Control UI that opens your selected agent's main conversation in a side panel, so you can ask for help without leaving your current work.
Side Panel for Your Main Agent
The Home button opens your main agent's conversation beside whatever page or session you're on. You can inspect or remove the small “Working on” snapshot included with your message, and open Home full-page without losing your draft or attachments.
Start Sessions in the Background
From the New Session page, press Cmd+Enter (macOS) or Ctrl+Enter elsewhere to start independent work without navigating away. OpenClaw prepares and runs the session in the background, then shows a notification when the first task finishes.
Linux Desktop and Browser Control
Linux users now have an x86-64 desktop companion available as a .deb or AppImage, with Quick Chat in the system tray and an X11 keyboard shortcut. On supported macOS and Linux builds, a paired Chrome extension can keep its authenticated local browser-control relay available while the Gateway is not running — the Gateway can reconnect later without taking it away from other clients.
Conversations, Voice, and Channels
The Control UI adds four optional themes: Manuscript, Rosé, Miami, and CRT. Conversation drafts, queued messages, long histories, session links, and cross-session messages behave more consistently. Voice and media improvements include better Browser Talk turn ordering, more reliable spoken replies, improved Voice Call interruption handling, and fixes for images, audio, video, and plain-text formatting.
Delivery and presentation fixes went into Discord, Slack, Telegram, WhatsApp, iMessage, LINE, Matrix, SMS, and shared Beam conversations.
Setup, Models, and Recovery
Guided setup now preserves the selected agent and model through reconnects, and required runtime plugins can be reviewed, installed, and verified in the same flow. Model and speech-provider selection, authentication, retries, and fallback guidance are more consistent. Plugin loading, updates, diagnostics, and capability approval get a reliability pass. Updates preserve more of the working installation, and Doctor can coordinate offline repairs with the managed Gateway.
If you missed the 2.0 release, the post OpenClaw 2.0, Accidentally explains what changed. Peter also joins the ClawCast tomorrow at 11:30 AM PT to talk about the 2.0 series — join live through the podcast page.
📖 Read the full source: r/openclaw
👀 See Also
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