What causes CPU saturation in OpenClaw v2026.4.5?

Every worker child process independently loads and registers all plugins instead of inheriting from the parent gateway process, causing 87+ processes each at 20-50% CPU.

How to fix OpenClaw v2026.4.5 CPU saturation bug?

Downgrade to v2026.4.2 as a workaround. The proposed fix is to skip plugin initialization in worker processes and inherit from the parent gateway process.

Which systems are affected by the OpenClaw CPU bug?

Any system running v2026.4.5 with multiple plugins. Most visible on Mac Mini with 8-10 cores where all cores become saturated.

Is OpenClaw v2026.4.5 safe to upgrade to?

Not recommended due to two regressions: CPU saturation from plugin loading and npm CLI breakage from missing bundled plugin deps.

What version of OpenClaw should I use instead of v2026.4.5?

v2026.4.2 is the last stable version before the CPU saturation and npm regressions were introduced.

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⚠ IssueWide OpenLive

OpenClaw v2026.4.5 CPU Saturation Bug Causes Worker Processes to Load All Plugins Independently

Upgrading from v2026.4.2 to v2026.4.5 causes every worker child process to independently register all plugins, creating massive CPU overhead. On Mac Mini with 8-10 cores, the gateway spawns 87+ child processes each consuming 20-50% CPU, saturating all cores.

Product Idea from this Signal

A CLI tool that dry-runs OpenClaw upgrades against your config and skills before applying them

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Every OpenClaw release breaks something different. pnpm users lose dependencies, npm users get broken CLI, permissions decouple after updates, CPU spikes from plugin registration, and device management commands fail. Users have no way to test if an upgrade will break their specific setup. This tool snapshots your current config, installed skills, environment, and package manager, spins up the target version in an isolated environment, runs your workflows against it, and reports exactly what will break before you commit to the upgrade.

developer-toolsupgrade-testingregression-preventionclicompatibility

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