Removed surfaces and replacements

What the July 2026 sweep removed, plus the per-API replacement mappings for removed surfaces and later-window deprecations. Part of the Plugin SDK migration guide.

Removed compatibility surfaces

The July 2026 sweep removed the root SDK and compat barrels, the extension API bridge, the expired SDK subpath aliases, unused SDK subpaths, and typed-public access to bundled-only SDK modules. Private-local build mappings remain for repository owners, and production-private JavaScript exports support official plugin runtimes. Neither provides typed third-party SDK access.

Process-global API-provider publication

registerApiProvider(...) and unregisterApiProviders(...) were removed from openclaw/plugin-sdk/llm. They published API transports into process-global state, which lifecycle-owned model runtimes then had to copy into each prepared registry. Provider plugins should register text-inference providers through api.registerProvider(...). Host-owned code and tests that construct an ApiRegistry should register directly on that registry so provider ownership and teardown stay scoped to the prepared runtime.

Deactivate hook alias

The api.on("deactivate", handler) compatibility alias was removed. Register the same shutdown cleanup with gateway_stop:

// Before
api.on("deactivate", async (event, ctx) => {
  await stopPluginService(ctx);
});

// After
api.on("gateway_stop", async (event, ctx) => {
  await stopPluginService(ctx);
});

Private testing barrel

openclaw/plugin-sdk/testing was repo-local and excluded from shipped package artifacts, so it was removed before its 2026-07-28 removeAfter date. Repository tests use focused subpaths such as plugin-sdk/plugin-test-runtime, plugin-sdk/channel-test-helpers, plugin-sdk/channel-target-testing, plugin-sdk/test-env, and plugin-sdk/test-fixtures.

Migration reference

These mappings cover both removed July 2026 surfaces and later-window active deprecations. A mapping is migration guidance, not evidence that the old surface remains available; consult the compatibility registry and removal timeline for current status.

command-auth help builders -> command-status

Old (openclaw/plugin-sdk/command-auth): buildCommandsMessage, buildCommandsMessagePaginated, buildHelpMessage.New (openclaw/plugin-sdk/command-status): same signatures, imported from the narrower subpath. The command-auth compatibility re-exports have been removed.

// Before
import { buildHelpMessage } from "openclaw/plugin-sdk/command-auth";

// After
import { buildHelpMessage } from "openclaw/plugin-sdk/command-status";

Mention gating helpers -> resolveInboundMentionDecision

Old: resolveMentionGating(params) and resolveMentionGatingWithBypass(params) from openclaw/plugin-sdk/channel-inbound or openclaw/plugin-sdk/channel-mention-gating.New: resolveInboundMentionDecision({ facts, policy }) - one decision object instead of two split call shapes.Adopted across Discord, iMessage, Matrix, MS Teams, QQBot, Signal, Telegram, WhatsApp, and Zalo. Slack’s own app_mention event model does not use this helper.

Channel runtime shim and channel actions helpers

openclaw/plugin-sdk/channel-runtime has been removed. Use openclaw/plugin-sdk/channel-runtime-context for registering runtime objects.The native message schema helpers in openclaw/plugin-sdk/channel-actions were removed alongside raw “actions” channel exports. Expose capabilities through the semantic presentation surface instead - channel plugins declare what they render (cards, buttons, selects) rather than which raw action names they accept.

Web search provider tool() helper -> createTool() on the plugin

Old: tool() factory from openclaw/plugin-sdk/provider-web-search.New: implement createTool(...) directly on the provider plugin. OpenClaw no longer needs the SDK helper to register the tool wrapper.

Plaintext channel envelopes -> BodyForAgent

Old: api.runtime.channel.reply.formatInboundEnvelope(...) (and the channelEnvelope field on inbound message objects) to build a flat plaintext prompt envelope from inbound channel messages.New: BodyForAgent plus structured user-context blocks. Channel plugins attach routing metadata (thread, topic, reply-to, reactions) as typed fields instead of concatenating them into a prompt string. The formatAgentEnvelope(...) helper is still supported for synthesized assistant-facing envelopes, but inbound plaintext envelopes are on the way out.Affected areas: inbound_claim, message_received, and any custom channel plugin that post-processed the old envelope text.

subagent_spawning hook -> core thread binding

Old: api.on("subagent_spawning", handler) returning threadBindingReady or deliveryOrigin.New: let core prepare thread: true subagent bindings through the channel session-binding adapter. Use api.on("subagent_spawned", handler) only for post-launch observation.

// Before
api.on("subagent_spawning", async () => ({
  status: "ok",
  threadBindingReady: true,
  deliveryOrigin: { channel: "discord", to: "channel:123", threadId: "456" },
}));

// After
api.on("subagent_spawned", async (event) => {
  await observeSubagentLaunch(event);
});

The subagent_spawning hook and its event/result types were removed in August 2026 after thread binding moved to the core session-binding path.

Provider discovery types -> provider catalog types

Four discovery type aliases are now thin wrappers over the catalog-era types:

Old alias	New type
`ProviderDiscoveryOrder`	`ProviderCatalogOrder`
`ProviderDiscoveryContext`	`ProviderCatalogContext`
`ProviderDiscoveryResult`	`ProviderCatalogResult`
`ProviderPluginDiscovery`	`ProviderPluginCatalog`

The aliases and legacy ProviderCapabilities static bag have been removed. Provider plugins should use explicit provider hooks such as buildReplayPolicy, normalizeToolSchemas, and wrapStreamFn rather than a static object.

Thinking policy hooks -> resolveThinkingProfile

Old (three separate hooks on ProviderThinkingPolicy): isBinaryThinking(ctx), supportsXHighThinking(ctx), and resolveDefaultThinkingLevel(ctx).New: a single resolveThinkingProfile(ctx) that returns a ProviderThinkingProfile with the canonical id, optional label, and a ranked level list. OpenClaw downgrades stale stored values by profile rank automatically.The context includes provider, modelId, optional merged reasoning, and optional merged model compat facts. Provider plugins can use those catalog facts to expose a model-specific profile only when the configured request contract supports it.Implement one hook instead of three. The legacy hooks have been removed.

External auth providers -> contracts.externalAuthProviders

Old: implementing external auth hooks without declaring the provider in the plugin manifest.New: declare contracts.externalAuthProviders in the plugin manifest and implement resolveExternalAuthProfiles(...).

{
  "contracts": {
    "externalAuthProviders": ["anthropic", "openai"]
  }
}

Provider env-var lookup -> setup.providers[].envVars

Old manifest field: providerAuthEnvVars: { anthropic: ["ANTHROPIC_API_KEY"] }.New: mirror the same env-var lookup into setup.providers[].envVars on the manifest. This consolidates setup/status env metadata in one place and avoids booting the plugin runtime just to answer env-var lookups.providerAuthEnvVars is no longer accepted.

Memory plugin registration -> registerMemoryCapability

Old: three separate calls - api.registerMemoryPromptSection(...), api.registerMemoryFlushPlan(...), api.registerMemoryRuntime(...).New: one call on the memory-state API - registerMemoryCapability(pluginId, { promptBuilder, flushPlanResolver, runtime }).Same slots, single registration call. Additive prompt and corpus helpers (registerMemoryPromptSupplement, registerMemoryCorpusSupplement) are not affected.

Memory embedding provider API

Old: api.registerMemoryEmbeddingProvider(...) plus contracts.memoryEmbeddingProviders.New: api.registerEmbeddingProvider(...) plus contracts.embeddingProviders.The generic embedding provider contract is reusable outside memory and is the supported path for every provider. The memory-specific registration API and manifest contract were removed after the 2026-08-21 migration deadline.

Raw channel send results -> OutboundDeliveryResult

Old: return { ok, messageId, error } through ChannelSendRawResult and normalize it with createRawChannelSendResultAdapter(...).New: return OutboundDeliveryResult fields and attach the channel with createAttachedChannelResultAdapter(...). Failed sends should throw instead of returning an error string. Put the platform destination in target: { kind: "chat" | "channel" | "room" | "conversation", id }; the old parallel chatId, channelId, roomId, and conversationId result fields are no longer accepted. The raw result type remains available until the next plugin-SDK major release.

Subagent session messages types renamed

Two legacy type aliases still exported from src/plugins/runtime/types.ts:

Old	New
`SubagentReadSessionParams`	`SubagentGetSessionMessagesParams`
`SubagentReadSessionResult`	`SubagentGetSessionMessagesResult`

The runtime method readSession is deprecated in favor of getSessionMessages. Same signature; the old method calls through to the new one.

Removed session and transcript file APIs

The SQLite session/transcript flip removes or deprecates plugin-facing APIs that exposed active sessions.json stores, JSONL transcript paths, or lists of session files. Runtime plugins should use session identity and SDK runtime helpers instead of resolving or mutating active files.

Migrating surface	Replacement
Deprecated `loadSessionStore(...)`, `updateSessionStore(...)`, and `resolveSessionStoreEntry(...)`, including package-root `loadSessionStore(...)`	`getSessionEntry(...)`, `listSessionEntries(...)`, and row-level session mutations.
Deprecated `resolveSessionFilePath(...)`	Session identity (`sessionKey`, `sessionId`, and SDK runtime target helpers) plus Gateway methods that operate on the current session.
Deprecated package-root `saveSessionStore(...)` and removed SDK file-store writes	Gateway-owned session runtime APIs; plugin code should request or mutate session state through documented runtime/context helpers instead of writing the active store file.
Removed `resolveSessionTranscriptPathInDir(...)` and `resolveAndPersistSessionFile(...)`	Session identity and Gateway methods that operate on the current session.
`readLatestAssistantTextFromSessionTranscript(...)`	Identity-backed transcript readers exposed by the current runtime context, or Gateway history/session methods when the plugin is outside the transcript owner path.
`SessionTranscriptUpdate.sessionFile`	`SessionTranscriptUpdate.target` with `agentId`, `sessionKey`, and `sessionId`.
Memory sync inputs such as `sessionFiles`	Identity-backed transcript/session sources provided by the host; do not crawl active JSONL files for live sessions.
Runtime options named `transcriptPath` or `sessionFile` for active sessions	`sessionTarget`/runtime target objects that carry storage-neutral session identity.

Legacy JSONL transcript files remain valid as import, archive, export, and support artifacts. They are no longer the steady-state runtime contract for active sessions.Official plugins released with v2026.7.1-beta.5 imported the four deprecated helpers above. openclaw/plugin-sdk/session-store-runtime keeps that exact bridge through 2026-10-12; new plugins must use the replacements. resolveStorePath(...) remains a supported SDK helper and is not part of this deprecation.openclaw plugins inspect --all --runtime reports non-bundled plugins whose load errors or diagnostics still reference these removed file APIs. The @openclaw/plugin-inspector advisory sweep must use version 0.3.17 or newer so external package scans also flag whole-store session helpers, session file-path helpers, legacy transcript file targets, and low-level transcript helpers before release.

Agent harness attempt params -> V2 host-capability contract

New or updated harness plugins should implement AgentHarnessV2 and use AgentHarnessAttemptParamsV2, EmbeddedRunAttemptParamsV2, or AgentHarnessSideQuestionParamsV2. The V2 parameter types require hostCapabilities, matching what core supplies at the selected-harness boundary. A plugin that adopts these V2 contracts must declare openclaw.compat.pluginApi: ">=2026.8.1" (or a newer floor) in its package manifest so an older host rejects the plugin before loading it.Existing plugins may continue implementing AgentHarness and constructing the legacy AgentHarnessAttemptParams, EmbeddedRunAttemptParams, or AgentHarnessSideQuestionParams types without that field through 2026-10-12. Those contracts keep the capability optional only for source compatibility; they do not create a capability-free runtime path. Migrate by changing the imported type name and binding tool or native-action surfaces through params.hostCapabilities.

runtime.tasks.flow -> runtime.tasks.managedFlows

Old: runtime.tasks.flow (singular) returned a live task-flow accessor.New: runtime.tasks.managedFlows keeps the managed TaskFlow mutation runtime for plugins that create, update, cancel, or run child tasks from a flow. Use runtime.tasks.flows when the plugin only needs DTO-based reads.

// Before
const flow = api.runtime.tasks.flow.fromToolContext(ctx);
// After
const flow = api.runtime.tasks.managedFlows.fromToolContext(ctx);

The legacy aliases were removed in July 2026.

Embedded extension factories -> agent tool-result middleware

Covered in How to migrate. Included here for completeness: the removed embedded-runner-only api.registerEmbeddedExtensionFactory(...) path is replaced by api.registerAgentToolResultMiddleware(...) with an explicit runtime list in contracts.agentToolResultMiddleware.

OpenClawSchemaType alias -> OpenClawConfig

The OpenClawSchemaType root-SDK alias was removed. Use the canonical OpenClawConfig name.

// Before
import type { OpenClawSchemaType } from "openclaw/plugin-sdk";
// After
import type { OpenClawConfig } from "openclaw/plugin-sdk/config-contracts";

Extension-level deprecations (inside bundled channel/provider plugins under extensions/) are tracked inside their own api.ts and runtime-api.ts barrels. They do not affect third-party plugin contracts and are not listed here. If you consume a bundled plugin’s local barrel directly, read the deprecation comments in that barrel before upgrading.

CLI commands

RPC and API

Codex harness

Plugin reference

Plugin SDK reference

Plugin maintainer reference

Templates

Technical reference

Concept internals

Project

Contributing

Removed surfaces and replacements

Removed compatibility surfaces

Process-global API-provider publication

Deactivate hook alias

Private testing barrel

Migration reference

​Removed compatibility surfaces

​Process-global API-provider publication

​Deactivate hook alias

​Private testing barrel

​Migration reference

Removed compatibility surfaces

Process-global API-provider publication

Deactivate hook alias

Private testing barrel

Migration reference