How often should we update?

CVE fixes: immediately. Other updates: weekly after staging tests. Don't let updates pile up beyond 2 weeks — update debt accumulates.

Yes, but on bigger jumps (>4 version drops) schema migrations get painful. Better: regularly.

Who maintains this long-term?

If your IT team handles it: good. Otherwise we recommend our maintenance — we review every release.

Guide

OpenClaw update management

OpenClaw releases weekly (calver). Some updates bring features, some fix CVEs, some break old configs. Here's the strategy.

Manuel Streit

/ May 11, 2026 / 3 min read

About this guide

OpenClaw update management: how to review calver releases, test in staging, without breaking production.

Understand calver

calver = Calendar Versioning. Format: 2026.5.9-beta.1 = year.month.day.beta-iteration. Multiple releases per week. No major/minor distinction like semver — you have to classify each release.

Read release notes

GitHub Releases at github.com/openclaw/openclaw/releases. Per release: what changed? Bugfix, feature, breaking change, CVE fix? Mark CVE fixes as install immediately.

Staging setup

A second OpenClaw instance for tests, ideally on a separate machine or Tailscale-isolated. Updates land there first, observed for a week, then to production.

Skill regression tests

Per skill a test set (see create skills). On every update: openclaw skill test --all. On failure: adjust skill or roll back update.

Rollback strategy

Via npm install -g openclaw@<previous-version> you can downgrade. Config usually stays compatible. Skills and logs unaffected. Plus: daily backup of ~/.openclaw/.