#update skipped

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tame basinBOT
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golden ventureBOT
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That “SKIPPED / not-git-install” result is expected here: openclaw update can only self-update when the install is a git checkout (or when it can confidently detect the package manager). Your OpenClaw lives in ~/.npm-global/... as a global package, so it’s telling you: “I can’t safely auto-update this — do it with your package manager.”

Do this manually, then restart:

  1. Update OpenClaw (pick the one you actually use)
  • pnpm (preferred):
    pnpm add -g openclaw@latest
  • npm:
    npm i -g openclaw@latest
  1. Verify + refresh config + restart
# 
openclaw --version
openclaw doctor
openclaw gateway restart

If you want, paste:

which openclaw
openclaw --version
command -v pnpm && pnpm -v
command -v npm && npm -v

and I’ll tell you exactly which update command matches your setup.

golden ventureBOT
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That EACCES … /usr/lib/node_modules/openclaw means your npm is trying to update a system-wide install directory, but you’re running it as a normal user.

1) First confirm which OpenClaw you’re actually running

which -a openclaw
openclaw --version
npm config get prefix
npm root -g

If npm config get prefix is /usr (or similar), you’ll hit that permission error without sudo.

2) Fix option A (system-wide install): use sudo

sudo npm i -g openclaw@latest
openclaw --version
openclaw doctor
# 
openclaw gateway restart

3) Fix option B (recommended: user-local install, no sudo)

npm config set prefix "$HOME/.npm-global"
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.npm-global/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

npm i -g openclaw@latest
which openclaw
openclaw --version
openclaw doctor
openclaw gateway restart
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4) pnpm error (ERR_PNPM_NO_GLOBAL_BIN_DIR)

Run:

pnpm setup
# then restart your shell (or: source ~/.bashrc)
pnpm add -g openclaw@latest

If you paste the output of the commands in (1) I can tell you which of the two install locations you currently have (it looks like you might have two competing installs: one under /usr/lib/... and one under ~/.npm-global/...).

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If sudo npm i -g openclaw@latest succeeded but openclaw --version is still 2026.2.6-3, it’s almost always one of these:

  1. That’s actually the current latest on npm, or
  2. You have multiple openclaw binaries and your shell is running the older one (often a user-local install in ~/.npm-global/bin vs system /usr/bin).

Run these and paste the output:

npm view openclaw version

which -a openclaw
ls -l "$(command -v openclaw)"

npm prefix -g
npm root -g
sudo npm prefix -g
# 
sudo npm root -g

npm list -g --depth=0 openclaw
sudo npm list -g --depth=0 openclaw

What I expect we’ll find:

  • If npm view openclaw version prints 2026.2.6-3 → you’re already on latest, done.
  • If it prints a newer version → you’re likely invoking a different openclaw than the one you just updated. Fix is usually either:
    • remove the old user-local one (npm uninstall -g openclaw without sudo), or
    • adjust PATH so the updated one comes first.

After the version is correct, finish with:

openclaw doctor
# 
openclaw gateway restart
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Deleting/reinstalling the OpenClaw npm package won’t touch your actual OpenClaw data — that lives in your state dir + workspace (by default ~/.openclaw/...). So you’re pretty safe.

That said, if you want a “I can undo anything” backup before you uninstall/delete a duplicate openclaw binary, do this:

What to back up (the only stuff that matters)

From the FAQ (docs): OpenClaw stores everything under $OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR (default ~/.openclaw), and your workspace is configured via agents.defaults.workspace (default ~/.openclaw/workspace).
Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai/help/faq#where-does-openclaw-store-its-data

So backup:

  • ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json (config)
  • ~/.openclaw/agents/ (sessions + per-agent state)
  • ~/.openclaw/credentials/ (channel creds, etc.)
  • your workspace folder (often ~/.openclaw/workspace)

Quick backup (single tarball)

# 
ts=$(date +%F-%H%M%S)
tar -C "$HOME" -czf "openclaw-backup-$ts.tgz" .openclaw
ls -lh "openclaw-backup-$ts.tgz"

Note: this contains tokens/credentials — keep it private (and ideally copy it off the machine).

Quick restore

  1. Stop the gateway:
openclaw gateway stop
  1. Restore the folder: