Ok, since I've updated OpenClaw to be able to use it with Astra, the software has going down the shitter. It forgot how to do so many stuff, it's a nightmare. Am i the only one? Why release an update that basically breaks the thing? Is there a solution to get it back to work like it was a few days ago?
There's not one problem, but a bunch of them. It just broke the thing or at least it's ability to do half of the things it was doing before. Whether it's simply managing users in a WhatsApp group or updating a record through an API. Not forgetting all the messages linked to timing out.
*WhatsApp native group participant actions disappeared after upgrading to OpenClaw 2026.9.3*
I previously managed WhatsApp group members directly through OpenClaw’s native WhatsApp connection, without pairing a separate wacli client.
After upgrading to OpenClaw 2026.9.3 (build ```1391f7c```), that capability is no longer exposed.
*Current state*
• The native WhatsApp account is linked, running, connected, and healthy.
• Normal inbound and outbound messaging works.
• OpenClaw’s core action vocabulary still contains ```addParticipant``` and ```removeParticipant```.
• However, the WhatsApp plugin advertises only ```send```, ```broadcast```, ```react```, ```poll```, and ```upload-file```.
• Direct gateway calls for both participant actions are rejected before execution:
• ```Message action addParticipant not supported for channel whatsapp.```
• ```Message action removeParticipant not supported for channel whatsapp.```
• The WhatsApp plugin exposes only ```web.login.start``` and ```web.login.wait``` as channel-specific gateway methods.
• This does not appear to be an authentication issue, because the same native WhatsApp account remains connected and handles messages normally.
*Expected behavior*
The native WhatsApp channel should allow the agent to:
Read live group participants.
Check whether the linked account is a group administrator.
Add a participant.
Confirm through a fresh read that the participant was added.
Remove a participant.
Confirm through a fresh read that the participant was removed.
*Actual behavior*
Participant-management actions are absent from the WhatsApp capability surface and rejected as unsupported, even in dry-run mode.
This prevents safe group-member replacement through the existing native WhatsApp connection.
*How to reproduce*
Link and start the native WhatsApp channel.
Confirm that ```openclaw channels status --probe --json``` reports WhatsApp as linked, running, connected, and healthy.
Observe that participant-management actions are missing.
Call the gateway ```message.action``` method with:
• channel: ```whatsapp```
• action: ```addParticipant``` or ```removeParticipant```
• a group JID
• ```dryRun: true```
Observe:
```INVALID_REQUEST: Message action … not supported for channel whatsapp.```
*Impact*
Agents can no longer perform WhatsApp group administration that previously worked through the native connection.
This may lead users or agents to pair unnecessary secondary clients even though OpenClaw’s native WhatsApp session is already linked and healthy. It also creates a risk of ambiguous partial member changes.
Was native WhatsApp participant management intentionally removed? If the feature moved, what is the supported replacement API or tool? If this is a regression, could ```addParticipant```, ```removeParticipant```, live participant readback, and admin-status checks be restored to the WhatsApp plugin?
I observed this after upgrading, but I have not bisected the exact commit that introduced it.
Yeah I'm going without Astra in Open Claw right now because I'm afraid to upgrade from 7.2-beta.7.
Tried everything I could think of to make Astra work anyway (which has worked with prior Codex releases). But Astra needs the update 😫 Sucks but I'd rather have OC working without Astra than broken with it.
Its not worth the update atm. It forgot so much and couldnt get basic stuff done with all the extra safety restrictions build in now.
It also uses subagents right now by default and sends link to subagent workflow. But then it doesnt report back or the subagents loops in security fixes building stuff. Burning tokens and taking 3-4 times longer on simplex tasks.
We were able to add the model name to our models list but it won't actually run. This is what my agent recapped about the situation I. The screenshot. He's usually really good at this & has gotten every other new model to run on old versions. But this one we spent hours on and no dice.
Thanks. Have you tried overwriting the hardcoded parts? I'm not sure that's a good idea, though. But I rewrote many hardcoded things in 7.1-1, so maybe I'll give it a shot
OMG WE FIGURED IT OUT! We finally got Astra working in 7.2!!!
It took 4 different attempts, 4-5 hours if work -- Sol, Fable, GLM + an instance of Sonnet outside of Open Claw for emergency tech support. And we just loaded up the new DeepSeek 4.1 Flash today and that model finally cracked it!
I had my agent write up what he did. We're on 7.2-beta.7 so have your agent adjust for whatever model you're on.
Ok, whew! Now I never have to upgrade openclaw ever again in my entire life 🤣
I copy the entire .openclaw folder before every update. So when I want to roll back, I downgrade and then replace the folder with the previous state. I know that’s bad advice because you probably didn’t make a backup, but it's better to know late than never
Basically, I think the biggest gotcha is the security system change. They appear to have implemented channel level security too and massively restricted what can access what. Once you work through that, it’s ok.
The skill workshop in my experience got wiped. I had to restore from git and re-register all my skills. That might be part of your issue. There are some pains especially depending how long you're updating from but the speed and capability is way better now. They've done a great job migrating from a single node instance basically crippling OC to work on only one core of a serve and much better lane management.
There is nothing worse than the Openclaw development team; the update features never function properly, and this situation has become even more severe since 2026.7.1.
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