OpenClaw kept pushing toward platform mode

API compatibility, tools visibility, and plugin architecture are doing the heavy lifting. Releases covered: v2026.3.28, v2026.3.24, v2026.3.24-beta.2, v2026.3.24-beta.1, v2026.3.23

What shipped this week

• v2026.3.28
• v2026.3.24
• v2026.3.24-beta.2
• v2026.3.24-beta.1
• v2026.3.23

Control surface

• Agents/tools: make `/tools` show the tools the current agent can actually use right now, add a compact default view with an optional detailed mode, and add a live "Available Right Now" section in the Control UI so it is easier to see what will work before you ask.
• Skills/install metadata: add one-click install recipes to bundled skills (coding-agent, gh-issues, openai-whisper-api, session-logs, tmux, trello, weather) so the CLI and Control UI can offer dependency installation when requirements are missing.
• Control UI/skills: add status-filter tabs (All / Ready / Needs Setup / Disabled) with counts, replace inline skill cards with a click-to-detail dialog showing requirements, toggle switch, install action, API key entry, source metadata, and homepage link.
• Control UI/agents: convert agent workspace file rows to expandable `<details>` with lazy-loaded inline markdown preview, and add comprehensive `.sidebar-markdown` styles for headings, lists, code blocks, tables, blockquotes, and details/summary elements.

Security and safety

• Providers/Qwen: remove the deprecated `qwen-portal-auth` OAuth integration for `portal.qwen.ai`; migrate to Model Studio with `openclaw onboard --auth-choice modelstudio-api-key`.
• xAI/tools: move the bundled xAI provider to the Responses API, add first-class `x_search`, and auto-enable the xAI plugin from owned web-search and tool config so bundled Grok auth/configured search flows work without manual plugin toggles.
• Plugins/hooks: add async `requireApproval` to `before_tool_call` hooks, letting plugins pause tool execution and prompt the user for approval via the exec approval overlay, Telegram buttons, Discord interactions, or the `/approve` command on any channel. The `/approve` command now handles both exec and plugin approvals with automatic fallback.
• OpenAI/apply_patch: enable `apply_patch` by default for OpenAI and OpenAI Codex models, and align its sandbox policy access with `write` permissions.

Plugins and ecosystem

• xAI/tools: move the bundled xAI provider to the Responses API, add first-class `x_search`, and auto-enable the xAI plugin from owned web-search and tool config so bundled Grok auth/configured search flows work without manual plugin toggles.
• xAI/onboarding: let the bundled Grok web-search plugin offer optional `x_search` setup during `openclaw onboard` and `openclaw configure --section web`, including an x_search model picker with the shared xAI key.
• Plugins/hooks: add async `requireApproval` to `before_tool_call` hooks, letting plugins pause tool execution and prompt the user for approval via the exec approval overlay, Telegram buttons, Discord interactions, or the `/approve` command on any channel. The `/approve` command now handles both exec and plugin approvals with automatic fallback.
• Plugins/CLI backends: move bundled Claude CLI, Codex CLI, and Gemini CLI inference defaults onto the plugin surface, add bundled Gemini CLI backend support, and replace `gateway run --claude-cli-logs` with generic `--cli-backend-logs` while keeping the old flag as a compatibility alias.

Models and providers

• Providers/Qwen: remove the deprecated `qwen-portal-auth` OAuth integration for `portal.qwen.ai`; migrate to Model Studio with `openclaw onboard --auth-choice modelstudio-api-key`.
• xAI/onboarding: let the bundled Grok web-search plugin offer optional `x_search` setup during `openclaw onboard` and `openclaw configure --section web`, including an x_search model picker with the shared xAI key.
• MiniMax: add image generation provider for `image-01` model, supporting generate and image-to-image editing with aspect ratio control.
• OpenAI/apply_patch: enable `apply_patch` by default for OpenAI and OpenAI Codex models, and align its sandbox policy access with `write` permissions.

Mobile and browser

• macOS app/config: replace horizontal pill-based subsection navigation with a collapsible tree sidebar using disclosure chevrons and indented subsection rows.
• macOS app/skills: add "Get your key" homepage link and storage-path hint to the API key editor dialog, and show the config path in save confirmation messages.
• ClawHub/macOS: read the local ClawHub login from the macOS Application Support path and still honor XDG config on macOS, so skill browsing uses the logged-in token on both default and XDG-style setups. Fixes #52949.

API and performance

• xAI/tools: move the bundled xAI provider to the Responses API, add first-class `x_search`, and auto-enable the xAI plugin from owned web-search and tool config so bundled Grok auth/configured search flows work without manual plugin toggles.
• Gateway/OpenAI compatibility: add `/v1/models` and `/v1/embeddings`, and forward explicit model overrides through `/v1/chat/completions` and `/v1/responses` for broader client and RAG compatibility.
• Plugins/startup: auto-load bundled provider and CLI-backend plugins from explicit config refs, so bundled Claude CLI, Codex CLI, and Gemini CLI message-provider setups no longer need manual `plugins.allow` entries.
• Memory/plugins: move the pre-compaction memory flush plan behind the active memory plugin contract so `memory-core` owns flush prompts and target-path policy instead of hardcoded core logic.