Nanoclaw Updates & Release Notes

NanoClaw 2026.10.0-rc.2 is the second release candidate for 2026.10.0, the first release with calendar version numbers and the first one /update-nanoclaw installs by default: updates now follow published releases instead of the tip of main. Installs on the beta channel get this candidate; stable stays on 2.4.0 until 2026.10.0 is published. Since 2026.10.0-rc.1 it pins the fixed WhatsApp library, holds OneCLI gateway upgrades on 1.42.0, stops macOS updates from failing when the service is slow to stop, and lets the agent browser load HTTPS pages behind Iron Proxy. It also makes updates and rollbacks more dependable, lets Iron Proxy reach a keyless local model over plain HTTP, routes the service through an outbound proxy when you have one, and shows Claude's own reason when a run fails. Iron Proxy installs need one setup rerun, so check the section below before you update.

⚠️ Before you update …

NanoClaw 2026.10.0-rc.1 is the release candidate for 2026.10.0, the first release with calendar version numbers and the first one /update-nanoclaw installs by default: updates now follow published releases instead of the tip of main. Installs on the beta channel get this candidate; stable stays on 2.4.0 until 2026.10.0 is published. It also makes updates and rollbacks more dependable, lets Iron Proxy reach a keyless local model over plain HTTP, routes the service through an outbound proxy when you have one, and shows Claude's own reason when a run fails. Iron Proxy installs need one setup rerun, so check the section below before you update.

⚠️ Before you update

• [BREAKING] OneCLI installs: upgrade the OneCLI gateway to 1.42.0, which closes a credential-injection bypass. /update-nanoclaw never upgrades a running gateway, so this step stops the update until it is done. Skip it if .env has no ONECLI_URL (Iron Proxy installs). Otherwise follow docs/onecli-upgrades.md: run its detect step, upgrade to the onecli-gateway version in versions.json (1.42.0), verify, and note the old version for its rollback step. New installs already get 1.42.0. …

NanoClaw 2.4.0 adds credential gateways installed through skills (OneCLI stays the default, Iron Proxy is new), community-portal setup for Echo's hardened image and a managed Slack app, install-wide and per-group model and speed controls, a Mattermost channel, and a reworked OpenCode provider. Agents now receive all of their capability instructions, replies stay in the thread they answer, and host restarts and /update-nanoclaw are more reliable. The default Claude model moves to Opus 5.5 and new Codex threads to gpt-6-astra, so check the section below before you update.

⚠️ Before you update

• [BREAKING] Custom source that composes agent instructions must move to the new module. CLAUDE.md was a list of @ imports into /app, and Claude Code silently drops imports that resolve outside the project directory, so eight of nine instruction sections never reached the model; it is now one flat file with every source inlined, shared with the Codex provider. src/claude-md-compose.ts is now src/project-doc-compose.ts, composeGroupClaudeMd(group) became composeGroupProjectDoc(group, groupDir, spec), and the /app/CLAUDE.md and /workspace/agent/.claude-fragments mounts are gone. Migration: run grep -rn --exclude='*.test.ts' "claude-md-compose\|composeGroupClaudeMd\|claude-fragments" src/ setup/ scripts/; no hits means nothing to do, otherwise repoint the import and pass DEFAULT_PROJECT_DOC as the third argument. Then clear the inert leftovers once with…

• [BREAKING] A new Slack experience — per-agent provisioned Slack apps, agent spawning from Slack, and UX improvements — is available to classic single-bot Slack installs. Classic Slack keeps working unchanged; this gate asks for a decision, not a forced migration. New installs and non-Slack installs are unaffected. Migration: run /migrate-slack-agents — it detects classic state (exits cleanly otherwise) and either walks the upgrade or records the choice to stay on classic; both outcomes satisfy this requirement.
• /add-codex now pins @openai/codex 0.146.0. The previous pin (0.138.0) defaults to GPT-5.4, which OpenAI retires from Codex on 2026-08-31 — codex-provider agents ride the CLI default model, so stock installs stop completing turns at retirement — and it rejects the newer GPT-5.6 models with a 400 asking for a newer Codex CLI. Existing codex installs are not re-pinned by re-running /add-codex (the manifest merge is keyed on package name): edit the @openai/codex entry in container/cli-tools.json to 0.146.0, rebuild the agent image (./container/build.sh), and restart. …

• Stamped plugins update in place through ncl groups create --template <ref>. When a group already carries the template's plugin, the same command becomes an in-place update instead of minting a duplicate agent: a dry run prints a plan of every plugin-owned surface (plugin files, skills, MCP servers, persona, context files, tasks), flagging locally customized files whose edits would be lost; --yes applies, --id picks among several stamped groups, --new deliberately stamps another agent. Agent state the plugin does not own (memory, plugin-data/, user-added MCP servers, task pause/resume state, wiring) is never touched. Plugin-stamped MCP servers now carry an ownership marker and refuse direct edits via ncl groups config add-mcp-server / remove-mcp-server or the agent's add_mcp_server tool: update the plugin and restamp instead.
• [BREAKING] Agent templates are now Agent Plugins 1.0.0 directories. plugin.json replaces context/instructions.md as the required file; MCP servers move to a spec-shaped mcp.json; persona, extra context, and tasks move under the ai.nanoco.nanoclaw/ extension dir. Templates become portable to other plugin clients, and any conformant third-party plugin stamps as a NanoClaw agent. Migration: re-fetch templates from the registry (the pre-plugin layout fails with a migration error); to convert a local custom template, see docs/templates.md. …

Rollup release covering v2.1.18 through v2.1.54 — everything merged since the v2.1.17 tag.

• [BREAKING] iMessage unified into one imessage channel with two backends via /add-imessage: Local (this Mac's chat.db via the Chat SDK) or Hosted (native Photon via spectrum-ts, no Mac relay). Backend chosen at install or via IMESSAGE_BACKEND=local|hosted. The legacy Chat-SDK remote mode (IMESSAGE_SERVER_URL/IMESSAGE_API_KEY) and the separate imessage-cloud channel + /add-imessage-cloud skill are removed. See docs/imessage.md.
• [BREAKING] Provider-agnostic memory. All providers now share one OKF v0.1-compatible memory/ tree, while persona lives in instructions.prepend.md; startup, clear, and compact reload memory automatically. Existing groups with legacy memory must run /migrate-memory before use. See memory and provider migration.
• New groups can inherit an instance-wide default provider. DEFAULT_AGENT_PROVIDER sets the provider used when a new agent group is created without an explicit provider. Each group's stored provider still overrides it, and existing groups are unchanged. …