OpenClaw Update Broke My Setup — How to Fix It

You updated OpenClaw, and now something's broken. Firecrawl isn't fetching pages. xAI web search is returning errors. Or your agent just seems off — slower, less capable, not using tools it used to use.

If you updated to 2026.4.1 on April 2 or later and have xAI or Firecrawl configured, the problem is almost certainly a config migration issue. Here's what changed and how to fix it in about 5 minutes.

What Changed in the April 2 Release

OpenClaw moved two plugin configurations from legacy "core" paths to proper plugin-owned paths:

1. xAI / x_search

Old path: tools.web.x_search.*
New path: plugins.entries.xai.config.xSearch.*
Auth key path: plugins.entries.xai.config.webSearch.apiKey (or env var XAI_API_KEY)

2. Firecrawl / web_fetch

Old path: tools.web.fetch.firecrawl.*
New path: plugins.entries.firecrawl.config.webFetch.*

If you had these configured at the old paths, they still exist in your config but OpenClaw no longer reads them there. The tools silently fall back to defaults or fail.

The Fast Fix: openclaw doctor

OpenClaw ships with a migration tool for exactly this. Run:

openclaw doctor --fix

This scans your config for legacy paths, migrates them to the new locations, and backs up the original. Takes about 30 seconds. Restart OpenClaw afterward:

openclaw gateway restart

Test that your tools are working again:

openclaw status

If xAI or Firecrawl show as active in the status output, you're good.

If You Prefer to Fix It Manually

Open your ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json config file. Look for either of these sections:

{
  "tools": {
    "web": {
      "x_search": { ... },     ← OLD — move this
      "fetch": {
        "firecrawl": { ... }   ← OLD — move this
      }
    }
  }
}

Move them to the plugin-owned structure:

{
  "plugins": {
    "entries": {
      "xai": {
        "config": {
          "xSearch": { ... },         ← moved here
          "webSearch": {
            "apiKey": "your-key"
          }
        }
      },
      "firecrawl": {
        "config": {
          "webFetch": { ... }         ← moved here
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Save, then restart the gateway.

Other Things to Check After Any Major Update

While you're in there, a few things worth checking after any OpenClaw version bump:

• Gateway security defaults — some releases tighten exec defaults. Run openclaw status and confirm your gateway binding is what you expect.
• Skill compatibility — ClaWHub skills that use core tool APIs sometimes break on major releases. Check your installed skills against the release notes.
• Memory and session files — rarely affected, but worth a quick scan if behavior seems off.
• Model config — release notes occasionally rename model identifiers. If a model returns "unknown model" errors, check the updated model list.

Still Broken?

If openclaw doctor --fix didn't resolve it, there are a few other culprits:

1. Node version — OpenClaw requires Node 20+. Check with node --version.
2. API key expiry — xAI and Firecrawl keys rotate. Verify in your respective dashboards.
3. Conflicting skill configs — a skill with elevated permissions can override tool behavior. Run openclaw skills list and look for anything that touches web fetch or search.
4. Exec policy changes — the 2026.4.1 release also changed exec defaults on gateway/node targets. If commands that used to run silently now prompt for approval, that's intentional — adjust your exec-approvals.json or policy config.

The OpenClaw Discord (#help) is active and usually has same-day answers for specific errors. Post your openclaw status output along with the error message.