[Release] openclaw/openclaw v2026.5.16-beta.2: openclaw 2026.5.16-beta.2

OpenClaw v2026.5.16-beta.2 introduces xAI Grok OAuth authentication, enhanced cron scheduling with wait/timeout controls, multilingual CLI onboarding (English, Simplified/Traditional Chinese), skill caching optimizations, and Telegram ambient chat handling. The release includes 40+ fixes addressing media MIME validation, plugin metadata integrity, session persistence, MCP tool cancellation, and config repair workflows to improve stability and reliability.

Key Points

• •xAI Grok OAuth login for SuperGrok subscribers eliminates need for XAI_API_KEY environment variable
• •CLI cron now supports `--wait` flag with timeout and poll interval controls for blocking on queued manual runs
• •Skill resolution caching across warm gateway turns reduces redundant snapshot rebuilds while respecting config boundaries
• •Setup wizard and channel setup flows localized for English, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese
• •Telegram ambient chat opt-in via `messages.groupChat.ambientTurns: "room_event"` for quiet room context
• •MCP plugin tool cancellation now properly forwards AbortSignal from host to plugin execution layer
• •Media MIME validation hardened: byte-sniffing detects mislabeled zip/octet-stream payloads before staging
• •Config persistence repairs improved: malformed session IDs, auth tokens, pairing requests, and cron jobs now handled gracefully
• •Codex app-server MCP scoping allows user MCP servers per OpenClaw agent with configurable approval modes
• •Plugin metadata validation strengthened: rejects malformed `package.json` extensions and files negations during install/discovery

Workflow Diagram

Concepts

Artifacts (4)

openclaw cron run --wait --timeout <seconds> --poll-interval <ms> --run-id <id>

mcp:
  servers:
    <name>:
      codex:
        agents:
          - <agent_id>
      codex.defaultToolsApprovalMode: "auto|prompt|approve"

openclaw doctor --fix

messages:
  groupChat:
    ambientTurns: "room_event"