How do I set this:

[grim vortex]

OPENCLAW_ALLOW_OLDER_BINARY_DESTRUCTIVE_ACTIONS=1

I need to downgrade to 5.12 because of a "⚠️ Requested agent harness "claude-cli" is not registered." error.

[inland isle]

Bandit, first grab this so we know what you’re actually on:

openclaw --version

For setting that env var, it’s a normal shell env var. One command only:

OPENCLAW_ALLOW_OLDER_BINARY_DESTRUCTIVE_ACTIONS=1 pnpm add -g openclaw@2026.5.12
openclaw doctor
openclaw gateway restart

For the current terminal session:

[inland isle]

export OPENCLAW_ALLOW_OLDER_BINARY_DESTRUCTIVE_ACTIONS=1
pnpm add -g openclaw@2026.5.12
openclaw doctor
openclaw gateway restart

That said, the specific error Requested agent harness "claude-cli" is not registered usually means claude-cli is being used as an embedded harness/runtime. In current docs, claude-cli is a CLI backend/provider path, not an embedded harness id. Valid embedded harness runtime values are things like auto, pi, or registered harness ids like codex.

So also check/remove this if you have it set:

unset OPENCLAW_AGENT_RUNTIME
# or force built-in runner:
OPENCLAW_AGENT_RUNTIME=pi openclaw gateway restart

[inland isle]

And check config for this kind of value:

openclaw config get agents.defaults.embeddedHarness

If it says runtime: "claude-cli", set it back to auto or pi, not claude-cli.

Docs:
https://docs.openclaw.ai/install/updating
https://docs.openclaw.ai/gateway/configuration-reference#agentsdefaultsembeddedharness
https://docs.openclaw.ai/gateway/cli-backends

[grim vortex]

Ubuntu, OC 5.19.

[inland isle]

Got it. On Ubuntu + 2026.5.19, I’d check the harness setting before downgrading. That error is very likely from OPENCLAW_AGENT_RUNTIME=claude-cli or config embeddedHarness.runtime: "claude-cli".

Run:

printenv OPENCLAW_AGENT_RUNTIME
openclaw config get agents.defaults.embeddedHarness

If either says claude-cli, change it to auto or pi:

unset OPENCLAW_AGENT_RUNTIME
openclaw config set agents.defaults.embeddedHarness.runtime auto
openclaw gateway restart

[inland isle]

If you’re running it as a systemd user service and had put the env var in the service environment, check:

systemctl --user show openclaw-gateway.service -p Environment

If you still want to pin 2026.5.12, use:

OPENCLAW_ALLOW_OLDER_BINARY_DESTRUCTIVE_ACTIONS=1 pnpm add -g openclaw@2026.5.12
openclaw doctor
openclaw gateway restart

But I’d fix the runtime value first; claude-cli is the CLI backend/provider route, not an embedded harness runtime.

[grim vortex]

Your OpenClaw config was written by version 2026.5.19, but this command is running 2026.5.12.
Check: openclaw --version, which openclaw, and openclaw gateway status --deep.
If unexpected, update PATH so openclaw points to the version you want, or reinstall the Gateway service from that same OpenClaw install.

[inland isle]

That message means the downgrade itself happened, but 2026.5.12 is refusing to touch config/state last written by 2026.5.19.

Two paths:

Recommended: go back to 2026.5.19 and fix the bad harness setting

pnpm add -g openclaw@2026.5.19
openclaw config set agents.defaults.embeddedHarness.runtime auto
openclaw gateway restart

Then verify:

openclaw --version

[inland isle]

which openclaw
openclaw gateway status --deep

If you really want to stay on 2026.5.12, run the follow-up commands with the same break-glass env var too:

OPENCLAW_ALLOW_OLDER_BINARY_DESTRUCTIVE_ACTIONS=1 openclaw doctor
OPENCLAW_ALLOW_OLDER_BINARY_DESTRUCTIVE_ACTIONS=1 openclaw gateway restart

If the gateway is installed as a systemd user service, also make sure the service is using the same binary you just installed:

which openclaw

[inland isle]

systemctl --user show openclaw-gateway.service -p ExecStart -p Environment

If those point at different installs, reinstall the gateway service from the chosen install after confirming which openclaw is correct.

[grim vortex]

ERR_PNPM_NO_GLOBAL_BIN_DIR  Unable to find the global bin directory

[inland isle]

That’s pnpm saying its global install path was never initialized.

On Ubuntu, run:

pnpm setup
source ~/.bashrc
pnpm bin -g

If pnpm setup doesn’t update the current shell cleanly, add this manually:

export PNPM_HOME="$HOME/.local/share/pnpm"
export PATH="$PNPM_HOME:$PATH"

[inland isle]

Then retry the install:

pnpm add -g openclaw@2026.5.19
which openclaw
openclaw --version

If you’re using a systemd user gateway service, restart your shell first or make sure the service is reinstalled/restarted after which openclaw points to the version you want.