OpenClaw Adds GPT-6.1 Sol and Fixes Missing Replies Between AI Agents

An AI agent asking another agent for help should get the answer back, not lose it between sessions. OpenClaw’s v2026.9.8 release repairs that handoff and adds GPT-6.1 Sol through its OpenAI provider for accounts that already have access, according to the release notes.

The answer follows the requester

When one agent delegates work, OpenClaw now returns the result to the original requester once. A finished answer can arrive immediately; otherwise, it is delivered later. Delivery uses the original requester’s identity and checks that the requester is still the same active instance.

There is a compatibility change alongside that repair. OpenClaw removes automatic back-and-forth between agents and automatic target-announcement turns. Custom workflows that need further conversation or channel delivery must now use explicit follow-up or message-tool calls. The retired loop’s REPLY_SKIP and ANNOUNCE_SKIP controls no longer suppress returned text.

A policy reload need not stop the job

The release also separates a connection change from a loss of permission. Work OpenClaw has already accepted can finish through connection-policy reloads if the user’s access remains valid. That includes accepted runs and queued inputs that previously could be cancelled simply because their originating connection retired.

Clients must reconnect before sending new requests. Revoking access still permanently cancels affected work, while changes to the authentication mode or listener setup require a restart. Rotating a local proxy fallback password cancels password-authenticated work without cancelling unrelated proxy-authenticated work.

Upgrade repairs have a starting point

On Windows, package replacement now retries temporary file-lock failures up to 16 times, with bounded waits totaling 57.75 seconds. If those retries run out, it identifies the affected paths and preserves the installed package. On macOS, updates recognize equivalent installation paths reached through aliases, including while npm has temporarily removed the old package directory.

Those repairs apply only once the updated updater is running. An older updater cannot acquire them mid-upgrade, including the documented v2026.9.6 first-hop limitation. OpenClaw’s Windows and macOS updates guidance also cautions that the changes do not guarantee every upgrade will succeed.

Two other maintenance changes

• Windows startup shortens overly long compile-cache paths or disables them with a warning. Child processes also avoid unsafe inherited cache paths.
• Browser tabs left open through updates can keep loading retained interface files. The cache holds at most three generations and 96 MiB; older tabs may still need reloading.