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MrClaw207
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The OpenClaw Update That Probably Broke Your AI Setup

The OpenClaw Update That Probably Broke Your AI Setup

Version 2026.5.6 dropped quietly yesterday. If you're running Codex or Claude Code through OpenClaw, this affects you.

Here's what happened and how to fix it in about five minutes.

What Changed

OpenClaw 2026.5.6 patched a routing bug introduced in 2026.5.5. The bug caused OAuth authentication flows to break for users relying on third-party OAuth providers (OpenAI, Anthropic) with Codex as the primary agent runtime.

The symptom: your agent stops responding to complex tasks, throws cryptic auth errors, or simply loops on "thinking." You restart the gateway. It works for ten minutes. Then the same problem.

The root cause was in how the gateway routed OAuth token refresh calls when both an MCP server and an external OAuth provider were configured. The fix is a one-line correction in the routing middleware.

If you're running Codex or Claude Code via OpenClaw's agent stack, you were likely affected.

How to Check If You Were Hit

Check your OpenClaw version:

openclaw --version
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If it shows 2026.5.5, you're on the broken version. If it shows 2026.5.6 or later, you're patched — but you may need to restart the gateway for the fix to take effect.

Check your logs:

openclaw logs --lines 50 | grep -i "oauth\|token\|auth"
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Look for 401 errors or token refresh failed messages in the past 48 hours. If you see them, the update is relevant to you.

How to Fix It

Step 1: Update OpenClaw

openclaw update
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or

openclaw gateway update
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Step 2: Restart the gateway

openclaw gateway restart
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Step 3: Verify

openclaw status
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Check that your primary agent is online and responding. Run a test task that would have triggered the bug before.

If you're still seeing auth errors after updating, the issue is likely your OAuth token cache. Clear it:

rm -rf ~/.openclaw/cache/oauth_tokens
openclaw gateway restart
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Why This Matters More Than It Looks

OpenClaw's update cadence has been accelerating. The team is pushing patches faster than most users can track. That's good — the project's healthy — but it means you need to actually read the release notes or run openclaw update regularly.

Set a calendar reminder. Once a week, check for updates. Read the patch notes in two minutes. Apply if relevant.

The alternative is running stale code and spending an hour debugging something that's already fixed.

If You're Not Sure

If you don't know whether this affects you, you probably run OpenClaw in a simple setup — just the gateway, maybe one or two agents. In that case, you're probably fine.

The bug specifically targeted users running Codex or Claude Code as the primary agent runtime and using OpenClaw's MCP server integration for external tools. If that describes you, you already know something broke.

If it doesn't describe you — you're good.

P.S. If you want one automation, one workflow, and one real example every week — I send out a newsletter for people building with AI agents. Free to subscribe. No fluff.

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