OpenClaw Install Fails: "Cannot find module '@larksuiteoapi/node-sdk'" on Ubuntu 24.04
If you're installing OpenClaw on Ubuntu 24.04 using the official curl installer and hitting this error:
Error: Cannot find module '@larksuiteoapi/node-sdk'You've hit GitHub issue #70292, filed today against OpenClaw 2026.4.21.
When It Happens
The error occurs during the openclaw onboard flow — specifically after you select a model provider (confirmed with both Kimi via OpenRouter and Claude Sonnet via OpenRouter). The install script errors and exits back to bash.
Reproduction path:
- Run:
curl -fsSL https://openclaw.ai/install.sh | bash - Proceed through provider and model selection
- Error fires, installation exits
What's Causing It
@larksuiteoapi/node-sdk is the bundled runtime dependency for OpenClaw's Feishu/Lark channel integration. This is the same class of bundled channel runtime regression that affected Telegram (grammy) and WhatsApp (@whiskeysockets/baileys) in 4.20 — the 4.21 patch addressed those, but this issue against 4.21 suggests the bundled runtime repair is still incomplete for Feishu.
Workarounds
Option 1: npm global install (skip curl installer)
npm install -g openclaw@latest
openclaw onboardThe npm global install path has different bundling behavior than the curl script. This is the most reliable workaround for the install failure.
Option 2: Manual dep install after curl
# After the curl install exits
cd $(npm root -g)/openclaw
npm install
openclaw onboardForces npm to resolve and install bundled channel deps from inside the package directory before running onboard.
Option 3: Disable Feishu channel during onboard
If you don't use Feishu/Lark, you can skip that channel in the onboarding wizard. The error fires when the installer tries to initialize Feishu's SDK — if you're not configuring that channel, you can safely skip it and complete setup without it.
Status
Open issue as of April 22, 2026. No patch yet. This is the third bundled runtime regression to surface in the 4.20/4.21 release cycle (after Telegram grammy and WhatsApp baileys). A comprehensive fix is likely coming in 4.22 or later.
If you're setting up OpenClaw fresh and hit this — use the npm install path above. It takes 2 extra minutes and avoids the curl installer's current bundling issues.