--- doc-schema-version: 1 summary: "CLI reference for `openclaw update` (updates, repair, and recovery cleanup)" read_when: - You want to update a source checkout safely - You are debugging `openclaw update` output or options - You want to inspect or retire migration recovery originals after an update - You need to understand `--update` shorthand behavior title: "Update" --- # `openclaw update` Update OpenClaw and switch between stable/extended-stable/beta/dev channels. If you installed via **npm/pnpm/bun** (global install, no git metadata), updates go through the package-manager flow described in [Updating](/install/updating). Custom npm prefixes such as `~/.npm-global` are recognized from npm's configured prefix and the installed OpenClaw launcher. A prefix configured in `~/.npmrc` does not need a matching `NPM_CONFIG_PREFIX` environment variable. If no owner can be identified, the CLI includes the inspected package, prefix, and launcher paths and the package-manager probe results in its guidance. Installation inspection also reports the root, Git metadata, `node_modules` layout, and service unit target (or why it was not inspected). An unrecognized root skips target preflight and gives commands to locate the owning installation. Service-definition refresh recognizes Windows account aliases that resolve to the same SID. A different or unresolved account remains protected from automatic repair. An older updater that stops before staging cannot use this repair. For a known npm installation, supply its configured prefix explicitly for that update: `NPM_CONFIG_PREFIX="$(npm prefix -g)" openclaw update`. An installation without a detected package-manager owner records a **skipped** update, exits successfully, and leaves the Gateway running. For Docker/container images, pull or build the new image and recreate the container with the same state/config mounts. For a standalone or extracted tarball installation, reinstall using the original method; Yarn global installations must be updated with Yarn. The CLI displays this next action. Existing profiles also record it in update history and include it in JSON as `run.origin.nextAction`. With `--json`, a fresh profile emits the guidance to stderr and does not create a state database for a skipped update. These non-outcomes do not run rollback verification or offer an update failure report. ## Usage ```bash openclaw update openclaw update status openclaw update repair openclaw update cleanup --dry-run openclaw update wizard openclaw update --channel extended-stable openclaw update --channel beta openclaw update --channel dev openclaw update --tag beta openclaw update --dry-run openclaw update --no-restart openclaw update --yes openclaw update --accept-capabilities openclaw update --json openclaw --update ``` `openclaw --update` rewrites to `openclaw update` (useful for shells and launcher scripts). Invalid configuration reports `invalid-config` before database schema inspection. An unreadable configuration file or failed configuration loading step instead reports `config-read-failed`, with a recognized filesystem error code when available. For supported package targets, the candidate makes that decision after private staging; see [Candidate-owned admission](#candidate-owned-admission). The local diagnostic identifies invalid fields and recommends `openclaw doctor --fix`, followed by correcting any remaining errors. A dry run keeps this guidance in its JSON `notes` without changing the configuration. Public failure reports retain the rejected schema area, such as `gateway.*`, while hiding operator-defined keys and rejected values. Admission still runs when the selected package version matches the installed version; the no-op decision follows validation of the selected artifact and live installation. Guided recovery recognizes the saved config failure after a later successful update and still verifies the installed runtime and Gateway readiness. The 2026.9.4 updater reports this condition as `database-schema-preflight` and can show `mode: unknown` even after resolving an npm target. Before another update or dry run replaces the latest history, run `openclaw update status --json` and inspect `lastRun.origin.nextAction` and `lastRun.target` for the recorded reason and target. A candidate release cannot repair an installed updater that refuses before staging it; correct the configuration before retrying. Updaters without the admission fix first shipped in 2026.7.2-beta.5 (including 2026.6.34–2026.6.35 and the 2026.7.33–2026.7.35 extended-stable line) also refuse before staging with `plugins.load.paths: plugin path not found`; restore a missing custom plugin directory or remove its configured path before retrying. `openclaw doctor --fix` can repair recognized bundled-path aliases and preserves unrelated custom paths. Update admission recognizes orphan `task_delivery_state` rows whose parent tasks are missing as repairable. When it can acquire Doctor's ownership fences, it runs the same [preservation-first recovery](/reference/database-schemas/integrity-and-recovery#doctor-reports-orphan-task-delivery-rows) before creating update history. Recovery and its ledger entry commit together; the entry records the row count and recovery directory. A live Gateway owner, read-only store, or failed preservation prevents repair and reports `openclaw doctor --fix` as the next action. Other foreign-key violations and structural damage still refuse admission. `--dry-run` reports the repairable condition without recovering rows or creating an update ledger entry for that refused preview. The installed 2026.9.4 updater cannot use this recovery before updating itself. If it refuses with a database integrity error, install the corrective release manually and run `openclaw doctor --fix`. Failed update and repair attempts enter [recovery triage](/cli/update#recover-a-failed-update) after service recovery and cleanup finish. Preflight and finalization join admitted command cleanup before handing off ownership or reporting completion. If cleanup cannot confirm that work stopped, the updater retains any acquired ownership and recovery artifacts and skips automatic service compensation and repair. Inspect `openclaw update status` and resolve the pending execution before retrying. Repair settles only native commands belonging to its Doctor. Another Doctor's retained command is recorded as foreign custody with its Doctor PID, without making the completed Doctor unsettled. Installation replacement remains blocked while any live command claim exists. If retaining a spawned command's custody fails, Doctor keeps its process identity and stops the command before settling its reservation. A reservation without a recorded identity still blocks recovery; repeating repair cannot prove it stopped. A verified rollback does not automatically start triage: the previous generation is running again, and the report keeps the failing check as the reason. An interactive update offers the diagnose/report menu with **Exit** selected by default. Declining or cancelling preserves the failed update's nonzero exit status. JSON, non-interactive, `--yes`, and managed-service handoff invocations do not prompt after rollback. Update completion prints the terminal outcome and a local Markdown report path before exiting, including unexpected failures. Failed runs keep rollback-facing diagnostic JSON within the released 8 KiB limit. That file links a separate artifact containing every individually bounded Doctor finding; the Markdown report also retains the complete inventory. JSON output includes `reportPath`; a report-write failure prints a warning and preserves the update outcome. Exit always waits for accepted state operations, pending database opens, and live worker references to settle. After settlement, retained-worker native close and thread termination have a ten-second grace period. Expiry records a warning, keeps the retained runtime for later cleanup, and preserves the command's exit status. This protection belongs to the installed updater: installing a release with the fix enables it for the next update that release performs. When a Dashboard update fails while the Gateway handles the request, the Gateway logs a warning with the public reason and a safe error summary. Successful and intentional no-op update logs are unchanged. This only affects Gateway logging, not the installed updater, rollback, or the Dashboard RPC response. After a final interactive update failure, **Diagnose update failure** and **Report update failure** are separate choices. Reporting first shows the exact sanitized issue body and defaults confirmation to **No**. After confirmation, OpenClaw checks the GitHub CLI's active `github.com` account with a silent, read-only request before issue creation. Fallback and pending outcomes retain the sanitized report locally; a confirmed issue keeps only its durable issue URL. If the CLI is missing, authentication is unavailable, or GitHub rejects the upload, OpenClaw keeps the sanitized report locally and returns to the previous action menu. Fix the problem, then choose **Report update failure** and confirm again to retry the same report, or choose **Report in browser** to review and submit it with your browser's GitHub account. The browser choice is available when the prepared report fits a prefilled link and no uncertain upload is pending; it does not require the GitHub CLI. Completed update and Doctor checks are not rerun. Preparation or submission errors also return to the menu. An uncertain upload stays pending: **Check report status** looks for the existing issue without creating another one, and no browser handoff is offered. Successful submission, explicit exit, and cancellation retain their normal behavior; Diagnose runs only when selected explicitly. In the Control UI, an interrupted pre-create preparation becomes retryable after its local reservation expires. After an uncertain creation result, OpenClaw checks for an issue matching the exact report. If neither a verified issue URL nor a definitive rejection is available, the report stays pending with no replay link because an issue may already exist. `--yes`, `--json`, non-interactive runs, and managed-service handoffs never submit a report. For admitted updates, unexpected exceptions retain a bounded, redacted error identity and source location in update history, along with the operation reached and the installation and target facts resolved so far. Failure reports include the initiating action and the owner's recorded rollback outcome. Failed steps use stable identifiers such as `candidate-state-snapshot`, `candidate-doctor-lint`, and `post-install-verify` in the report body and issue title; command arguments and private paths remain redacted. Snapshot errors identify the active database, execution approvals, or plugin phase. A completed database snapshot does not establish that later plugin paths are readable; inspect the source path and filesystem error named by the failing phase. A failure during installation or target resolution keeps that resolution step visible. Older updater processes cannot recover details they already discarded; a report generated by newer code only includes facts that were recorded by the updater that handled the failure. Npm install failures record a recognized error code (or `unknown`) and a sanitized excerpt of `npm ERR!` / `npm error` lines in update history and the reviewed report. The existing history format retains at most five lines of 200 UTF-8 bytes each; permission guidance reserves one of those entries. Home paths, credentials, and authenticated registry URLs are redacted before the excerpt is recorded. For `EACCES` or `EPERM`, check `npm prefix -g` and run the update as the installing account with write access to that prefix. For `ENOSPC`, free space on the prefix and npm cache volumes. For `E404` or `ETARGET`, check the configured registry and the requested version or tag. The generated report includes the applicable next step. An already-running older updater cannot gain this diagnostic capture from its candidate package. On Windows, a temporarily locked live package can prevent the updater from renaming it into its backup location. The updater retries `EPERM`, `EBUSY`, and `EACCES` with bounded backoff (16 attempts and up to 57.75 seconds of waiting), recording each retry as a warning. If the rename still fails, the failure names both paths and leaves the installed package in place. Close processes holding that installation and check its permissions before retrying. This protection belongs to the installed updater; a newer candidate cannot add it to an older updater already running. ## Candidate-owned admission For package-manager updates, `openclaw update` privately stages the selected package once, then lets that candidate decide whether the live installation can be updated. Registry targets and explicit artifacts such as `--tag ./openclaw.tgz` use the same flow. The stage is reused for verification, canary rehearsal, and activation; a refusal or pre-mutation failure removes it and leaves the installed package and serving Gateway in place. After admission and package verification, a matching installed version and artifact build identity remain a no-op unless the update needs to replace the installation method or a separate serving root. The temporary candidate is removed without activating it. When replacement is needed, the updater retains its running worker files before changing the installed package. Linux OverlayFS installations use private copies so hard-link copy-up cannot invalidate the retained files’ identity checks. Other supported filesystems keep the hard-link fast path and copy fallback. SQLite read-only workers use that retained generation through post-install verification, even after the package manager removes the previous package path. Already-installed older updaters, including 2026.9.6, still run their original worker-launch code; installing a corrected candidate cannot repair that first hop. Source updates retain a retired workspace dependency link when only its ignored `node_modules` directory remains. An older installed updater that fails at `updater-runtime-retention` needs this correction in its running code before retrying; a newer candidate cannot repair that earlier step. The installed updater reads the candidate's `package.json` before running its pending lifecycle scripts. `openclaw.updateAdmissionProtocol: 1` advertises the internal admission command. Reading this marker does not execute candidate code. Managed-service preflight still runs in the installed updater before the candidate admission process starts. | Owner | Checks and operations | | ------------------------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Candidate-owned (via `update admit`) | Config read/validation with the candidate schema (missing-path style problems that candidate Doctor preserves/handles are `admit` + warning), database schema preflight against the explicit installation root, plugin availability preflight. The Node engine comparison is informational (`ok` or `warn`) and cannot refuse admission. | | Installed-owned (unchanged) | Run admission/ledger, executor lease, managed-service preflight (ownership/ancestry), Node runtime selection/provisioning, directory permissions, npm/pnpm lifecycle policy, staging/verify/canary/swap/post-core. | The candidate inspects the live installation read-only, using the same selected profile, state directory, configuration path, and environment. It does not acquire a lease, write history, run Doctor repairs, start a Gateway, or receive update execution authority. A missing custom `plugins.load.paths` entry can therefore produce an admission warning while preserving the configured path and plugin configuration bytes. Admission does not promise to repair that path. Legacy plugin configuration, such as Discord's nested `dm.policy` and `dm.allowFrom`, is admitted with a warning when the candidate's Doctor planner produces a fully valid configuration. Admission checks the projected database targets while preserving the original config and state bytes. The normal update-time Doctor still owns saving the repair, backups, and rollback. A valid `admit` verdict replaces only the candidate-owned checks it reports. Installed Node preflight always runs for package updates, including selection or private provisioning of a compatible runtime after an informational Node warning. A valid `refuse` verdict reports the candidate's reason and next action through the usual pre-mutation error and JSON output. History records the checks in a `candidate-admission` step. The installed updater continues to own the update after admission, including every mutation. If the marker is absent or invalid, the updater uses its installed admission checks and records `update-admission-unsupported-target`. If the candidate times out, crashes, or returns no valid protocol-1 verdict, it records `update-admission-fallback` and uses those same installed checks. These warnings are informational; the installed checks determine whether the update proceeds. Both warning steps retain their identity, status, and timestamps when history compacts at its 128-step or 16 KiB limit. Warning text can be compacted to fit that limit. This requires no migration and does not change admission decisions. Use `--admission installed` to force the installed checks. The default option is `--admission auto`; this option has no environment-variable form. `--dry-run` always uses installed checks and does not stage a package or invoke candidate admission. Git/source updates keep their existing flow. `openclaw update admit` is an internal command, hidden from help. The supervisor passes `--context ` to a private mode-0600 context file; this command path and required argument select admission child mode. The command emits one JSON document with `protocol`, `verdict`, `reasons`, `warnings`, and `facts` containing candidate/installed versions, the candidate's `nodeEngines` requirement when declared, and named check results. It exits `0` for admission, `3` for refusal, or `2` for an internal error without a valid verdict. It rejects inherited update authority variables with exit `2`, allowing the supervisor to fall back. It does not perform managed-service ancestry checks. The default admission budget is 120 seconds and follows the canary timeout budget resolution. Run JSON includes `run.admission` with `owner: "candidate"` or `"installed"`, and optional `protocol`, `candidateVersion`, `checks`, and `fallbackReason`. The ledger stores this metadata in its existing origin JSON; `run.origin.candidateAdmission` retains the bounded, redacted verdict, including all recorded reasons and warnings. Older history records can omit admission metadata. Admission metadata is diagnostic and can be omitted from history when recovery receipts use the full history budget. This handoff works only when the installed updater already supports it. An older updater that refuses before staging cannot use a newer candidate's judgment; follow the recovery guidance for that installed release first. ## Automation and SSH For an authorized update on another host, use the target installation's owning account and a non-interactive SSH command: ```bash ssh -T user@gateway-host 'openclaw update --yes' ` before `update` when targeting a named profile. An active chat session alone does not prevent an explicit update. `--yes` skips confirmation and optional shell-completion prompts. Without it, ordinary upgrades can still run with piped input, but an operation requiring confirmation, such as a downgrade, fails promptly. Failure-report menus and triage consent prompts do not wait for input when stdin is not a terminal. `--yes` does not grant exec approval or accept changed plugin capabilities. An agent updating the Gateway that hosts its own session should use the `gateway` tool's `update.run` action when available. The SSH recipe is for another host; verify that the destination is not that same Gateway. Normal execution approvals and deployment ownership still apply. ## Native service commands during updates Native service install, restart, and stop commands launched by the updater through the target CLI retain the original update owner while their child processes settle. A command whose owner exits or loses its lease cannot start another native mutation or commit its pending config changes. A new update remains excluded while a registered child or its process group is still alive. The target runtime must support this ownership handoff. Candidate validation checks that support before stopping the Gateway or activating its replacement. A missing target CLI or an older target without support is refused; the updater does not invoke the old runtime installer as a substitute. Authorized installation-root changes bind the destination CLI separately while retaining the original update owner. Update-owned commands also refuse unmanaged restart/stop and detached restart or Windows Startup-folder fallbacks that cannot retain this ownership. Ordinary user-invoked `openclaw gateway` commands keep their existing behavior. On Windows, capability probes stay alive until the updater finishes binding their process identity. If Windows cannot supply a process creation timestamp, the updater retains the identity established by the live parent or uses the child's recorded launcher identity, with a warning in the run history and diagnostic logs. A different observed identity still refuses the handoff. Scheduled Tasks using `InteractiveToken` remain supported; this does not require storing a task password. This target-CLI protection does not cover every Doctor or plugin child or the in-process service preparation before package mutation. ## Options Post-core repair Doctor and `openclaw update finalize` run without a separate per-Doctor deadline unless the operator supplies `--timeout`. A fresh post-core process receives the operator choice separately from its internal step allowance. Older targets retain their existing allowance and deadline behavior. When `--timeout` is omitted, current CLI and RPC finalization do not add an aggregate activation deadline. Explicit operator limits and inherited activation allowances still apply; older or unrecognized handoffs retain their existing finite-deadline behavior. Probes, ownership admission, readiness, recovery, and cleanup retain their own bounds. An explicit `--timeout ` limits each finalization phase and its child commands. Admission and config phases scale with shared SQLite state. After activation or rollback is verified, obsolete package and launcher backup trees share a five-minute cleanup budget. Expiry retains the remaining backups and records their paths as a warning without undoing the verified installation. Cleanup checks this budget between filesystem operations and waits for operations already in flight to settle, so stalled storage can extend the cleanup wait. Ownership and path-identity failures remain distinct from cleanup expiry. Post-plugin config validation and readiness checks use the measured shared and agent database sizes after Doctor finishes, including WAL files. Post-core plugin installation and update work have no default deadline when `--timeout` is omitted; explicit operator limits and older caller allowances still apply. When an aggregate activation budget is present, it uses the measured database sizes, observed candidate startup, plugin count, and the caller's step allowance. Migrated finalization preserves explicit or inherited allowances. Aggregate expiry reports `update-activation-timeout` and retains ownership until writers settle; it does not authorize rollback or restart. Use `openclaw update status` and Doctor for recovery guidance. | Flag | Description | | ------------------------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `--no-restart` | Skip restarting the Gateway service after a successful update. Package-manager updates that do restart verify the restarted service reports the expected version before the command succeeds. | | `--channel ` | Set the update channel and persist it after core update success. Extended-stable is package-only. | | `--tag ` | Override the package target for this update only. It cannot be combined with an effective `extended-stable` channel, whose verified exact target is mandatory. Package installs reject the `main` shorthand; use `--channel dev` for the supported checkout and build flow. Other explicit package specs keep their package-manager behavior. | | `--dry-run` | Preview planned actions (channel/tag/target/restart flow) without writing config, installing, syncing plugins, or restarting. | | `--admission ` | Choose candidate admission when supported (`auto`, the default), or force installed admission checks. This option has no environment-variable form. Dry runs always use installed checks. | | `--json` | Print machine-readable `UpdateRunResult` JSON. Includes `postUpdate.plugins.warnings` when a managed plugin needs repair, beta-channel plugin fallback details, and `postUpdate.plugins.integrityDrifts` when npm plugin artifact drift is detected during post-update sync. | | `--timeout ` | Optional per-step deadline in seconds. Omit to let package installation, deferred lifecycle scripts, and candidate Doctor finish without a work deadline. Probes and recovery retain their own bounds. | | `--yes` | Skip confirmation prompts (for example downgrade confirmation). | | `--reapply-local-overrides` | Replay trusted local packaged `dist` edits when the new package has the same baseline. Otherwise preserve them for manual recovery. | | `--accept-capabilities` | Accept each plugin's reviewed capability changes during post-update sync. This acknowledges the exact staged capability surface; it does not disable capability checks or establish future trust. | There is no `--verbose` flag. Use `--dry-run` to preview planned actions, `--json` for machine-readable results, and `openclaw update status --json` for channel, availability, and the latest durable update report. Gateway console verbosity (`--verbose`) and file log level (`logging.level: "debug"`/`"trace"`) are independent knobs; see [Gateway logging](/gateway/logging). Interactive updates show phase transitions, the current step, and elapsed time. The phases match the Control UI: requested, staging, validating, activating, restarting, verifying, and finished. When output is piped or captured in a log, progress prints without animation and reports elapsed time every 30 seconds while a step is running. Updates, verification, and rollback do not require inference or model authentication. Model-auth findings remain warnings. Automatic inference repair belongs to triage after an update has finished with a failed outcome and released its update ownership; it does not change that recorded outcome. Reports from older updaters can still contain a `repairing` phase. Failed steps include the final diagnostics from both output streams; timeouts are labeled explicitly. The final report includes the outcome, recorded phase durations, failed steps, verification facts, and recovery guidance. `--json` keeps stdout machine-readable and does not print progress steps. When no update is active, `openclaw update status` labels the saved outcome `Last recorded update` with the recorded start time, so historical results are distinct from current update activity. When switching from a dev checkout to a package, the updater replaces npm's install link and leaves the external checkout untouched. If activation fails, restoring that link and its launchers does not verify the mutable checkout's runtime. Recovery stays unverified and does not authorize an automatic restart; inspect the checkout and recovery report before restarting it. For a profile without a runtime database, an older npm target initializes its compatible state before the updater records history. The selected release's Doctor runs before activation, including when npm's install hooks already created the database. Existing databases retain their downgrade protections. During candidate validation, Doctor leaves bookkeeping-only version, wizard, and migration stamps out of the copied config so older updaters do not mistake them for required config repairs. Real config migrations still run; normal config writes after activation record the candidate's version and migration metadata. If database schema preflight cannot inspect the configured paths because the config is invalid, its refusal lists the config file and invalid fields. Run `openclaw doctor --fix` to repair retired or unrecognized fields, correct any remaining errors, and retry the update. Preflight leaves the config unchanged. Explicit package specs on a fresh profile first stage with a temporary OpenClaw profile. The updater inspects the staged runtime's declared schema and Node requirements before admitting changes to the selected profile. Artifacts without declared schema support are refused without creating the profile's runtime database. Preparation uses the original package spec and owning package manager. A fresh-profile `--dry-run` leaves the database absent and does not record a run. For package targets, it checks the exact target's Node requirements using the same runtime planner as a real update. Text output and JSON `notes` report `Would refuse update` when no usable runtime is available, or `Would replace` when the updater can refresh its owned managed service to a compatible Node. The preview still exits successfully and does not install a package or change the service. If package metadata cannot be resolved, retry with an exact published `--tag`; failed target selection does not initialize the profile with the updater's schema. Metadata failures retain the detected update mode and a specific failure fact for registry lookup, dist-tag resolution, version mismatch, schema declarations, or Git target inspection. The summary and `openclaw update status --json` include the reason and next step; the bounded failure report includes the same public description without publishing local paths or registry response text. Existing updaters cannot gain these diagnostics until the candidate has been installed. `--dry-run --json` reports the known installed version in `currentVersion` for package and Git installs, including a saved dev channel that selects conversion to Git. If the target version is unresolved, `targetVersion` remains `null` and the additive `targetVersionReason` field explains why. Resolved targets omit this field. The text preview also shows the installed version and explains unresolved targets. `--yes` also skips the optional shell-completion setup prompt. Existing completion profiles and caches are still repaired when needed; installing completion in a new shell profile remains an interactive choice. `--tag` changes only this package update. A saved `update.channel` continues to govern later foreground and automatic updates, even after a one-off beta install. Use `--channel` to change that policy. For explicit package artifacts, configured plugin availability is checked against the privately staged package version before rehearsal or activation. `--dry-run` does not stage the artifact and reports that this check remains pending. Managed update handoffs preserve the selected artifact, including already-current repeats, so target checks use that artifact's database schema and runtime requirements. For source checkouts, `--dry-run` previews the update flow without fetching Git refs or checking working-tree changes. The real update checks for uncommitted changes before modifying the checkout. Use `openclaw update status` to inspect the current branch, version, and update availability. In Nix mode (`OPENCLAW_NIX_MODE=1`), mutating `openclaw update` runs are disabled. Update the Nix source or flake input for this install instead; for nix-openclaw, use the agent-first [Quick Start](https://github.com/openclaw/nix-openclaw#quick-start). `openclaw update status` remains read-only. `openclaw update --dry-run` previews the flow without changing the installation. It records a skipped run only when the profile already has a runtime database. Downgrades require confirmation because older versions can break configuration. If the install has already migrated sessions to SQLite, restore archived legacy transcript artifacts before starting an older file-backed version. See [Doctor: Downgrading after session SQLite migration](/cli/doctor#downgrading-after-session-sqlite-migration). ## `update wizard` Interactive flow to pick an update channel and confirm whether to restart the Gateway afterward (defaults to restart). Selecting `dev` without a git checkout offers to create one. The channel picker reads the local install identity without checking Git freshness or dependencies. Those checks run when you apply the update; use `openclaw update status` to inspect availability first. | Flag | Default | Description | | ----------------------- | ------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ | | `--timeout ` | Unset | Optional deadline for each update step in seconds. | | `--accept-capabilities` | `false` | Accept reviewed plugin capability changes during the update. | ## Detailed topics `update status`, the durable run ledger, and the reports each run writes. Triage after a failed update, `update repair`, and `update cleanup`. Channel switching, validation, restart handoff, and the Git checkout flow. - [Recover a failed update](/cli/update/repair-and-recovery#recover-a-failed-update) - [`update status`](/cli/update/status-and-history#update-status) - [Run history and reports](/cli/update/status-and-history#run-history-and-reports) - [`update repair`](/cli/update/repair-and-recovery#update-repair) - [`update cleanup`](/cli/update/repair-and-recovery#update-cleanup) - [What it does](/cli/update/how-updates-run#what-it-does) - [Validation and activation](/cli/update/how-updates-run#validation-and-activation) - [Recovery limits](/cli/update/how-updates-run#durable-serving-recovery) - [Compatibility-checked package rollback](/cli/update/how-updates-run#legacy-package-rollback) - [Restart handoff](/cli/update/how-updates-run#restart-handoff) - [Control-plane response shape](/cli/update/how-updates-run#control-plane-response-shape) - [Git checkout flow](/cli/update/how-updates-run#git-checkout-flow) - [Channel selection](/cli/update/how-updates-run#channel-selection) - [Update steps](/cli/update/how-updates-run#update-steps) - [Verify clean worktree](/cli/update/how-updates-run#verify-clean-worktree) - [Resolve the target](/cli/update/how-updates-run#resolve-the-target) - [Build a candidate](/cli/update/how-updates-run#build-a-candidate) - [Validate the candidate](/cli/update/how-updates-run#validate-the-candidate) - [Activate and verify](/cli/update/how-updates-run#activate-and-verify) - [Sync plugins](/cli/update/how-updates-run#sync-plugins) - [Plugin sync details](/cli/update/how-updates-run#plugin-sync-details) ## Related - `openclaw doctor` (offers to run update first on git checkouts) - [Development channels](/install/development-channels) - [Updating](/install/updating) - [CLI reference](/cli)