GoKawiilToday we released by far the largest update in the history of OpenClaw. It was built by 933 contributors, including 569 first-time contributors, and is composed of over 16,000 pull requests. You can read the full release notes HERE.
This update touches every part of OpenClaw, including installation, messaging, memory, skills, models, automations, the browser and native apps, plugins, security, and a very long tail of fixes. We started by simplifying installation and rebuilding the browser app as a first-class experience, but doing that properly meant carrying the cleanup through the rest of OpenClaw until it became OpenClaw 2.0.
Why this took nearly two months
Before this update, we had shipped 106 releases in 230 days, most within a day or two of the one before them, so going nearly seven weeks without shipping was not normal for us. The release cadence slowed, but development moved in the opposite direction because our team was growing, and the increased volume and pace of work outgrew both the foundation of OpenClaw and the process we used to ship it, so we reworked both at the same time.
That acceleration left us with a release containing roughly 50% of all pull requests ever merged into OpenClaw, so we took the extra time to make sure it worked for people starting from scratch and people upgrading an existing Claw rather than shipping quickly and handing them an update that broke what they already had.
Getting to a useful Claw faster
Installation was the first place we needed to make OpenClaw easier, so for first-time installs we are starting with what is already on someone’s computer, including existing ChatGPT or Claude subscriptions, API keys, and local models. We cut or simplified a lot of configuration and moved the rest out of initial setup, letting people get to a first conversation faster and finish setting up their Claw by talking to it.
The browser app is where most people meet OpenClaw and have their first conversation, so we rebuilt it as a first-class experience where they can keep setting things up, return to ongoing work, or follow along live when they want to.
The rebuilt browser app opens directly into a conversation with your Claw.
How a useful Claw can grow
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