OpenClaw v2026.11.1 is a patch-only release: 83 pull requests from 67 contributors, no new features. The three headline fixes are message refusals on accepted messages, Doctor inspections that failed but reported success, and Gateway configuration writes getting stuck while waiting to apply.

Message refusals

The release addresses three separate message-handling bugs:

• Telegram: accepted messages were receiving a false restart refusal, or losing their fallback reply.
• Discord: accepted messages were being refused outright while waiting to be processed.

If you've seen agents reject a message the gateway had already accepted — or drop the fallback response on Telegram — this patch targets exactly that path.

Doctor inspections now fail loudly

Previously, blocked inspections and incomplete repairs could be reported as successful. Doctor now reports both with a nonzero exit status, so failed checks propagate correctly through automation instead of silently passing.

Gateway settings no longer hang

Gateway settings changes could get stuck waiting to apply. v2026.11.1 fixes that hang.

Upgrade notes

One breaking change for existing scripts: anything parsing doctor --json needs to handle the new nonzero exit status. If your CI or health-check wrapper assumed exit 0 on every JSON response, it will now trip on blocked inspections and incomplete repairs. Update the error handling before upgrading.

# Previously safe assumption — no longer valid
doctor --json | jq .

Check the exit code explicitly
doctor --json > report.json
exit_code=$?
if [ "$exit_code" -ne 0 ]; then echo "Doctor flagged an issue"; fi

The full release notes cover additional fixes beyond these highlights.