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Release channels

Last updated: 2026-06-16 WednesdayAI uses release channels so users can choose how much change they accept and maintainers can promote builds only after the right checks have run.

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Choose a channel

Most users should stay on stable. Administrators who manage shared or remote Gateways should test beta on one non-critical install before promoting it to their main deployment. dev is for contributors and short-lived verification, not unattended production Gateways. We publish or tag a build to beta, validate it, then promote the vetted build to latest without changing the version number. npm dist-tags are the source of truth for global installs.

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Switching channels

Git checkout:
  • stable and beta check out the latest matching tag.
  • dev switches to main and rebases the source checkout.
  • openclaw update ... remains a compatibility alias.
npm/pnpm global install:
stable and beta update via npm dist-tags (latest, beta). dev switches the install to a git checkout so local development builds can be rebased and reinstalled from source. If a beta tag points at an older candidate than latest, WednesdayAI falls back to the stable latest package rather than downgrading. When you explicitly switch channels with --channel, WednesdayAI also aligns the install method:
  • dev ensures a git checkout (default ~/openclaw, override with OPENCLAW_GIT_DIR), updates it, and installs the global CLI from that checkout.
  • stable/beta installs from npm using the matching dist-tag.
Tip: if you want stable + dev in parallel, keep two clones and point your gateway at the stable one.

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Promotion checks

Release-channel promotion is tied to deterministic gates in CI: The deterministic gates are described in the CI pipeline runbook (repo-only, under dev-docs/build/). Some security and docs checks are advisory while the repository is private, but real findings must be tracked before promotion.

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Plugins and channels

When you switch channels with wednesdayai update, WednesdayAI also syncs plugin sources:
  • dev prefers bundled plugins from the git checkout.
  • stable and beta restore npm-installed plugin packages.

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Tagging best practices

  • Tag releases you want git checkouts to land on.
  • Use SemVer tags for WednesdayAI package releases.
  • Use prerelease suffixes such as -beta.N for beta candidates.
  • Keep tags immutable: never move or reuse a tag.
  • npm dist-tags remain the source of truth for npm installs:
    • latest → stable
    • beta → candidate build
    • dev → main snapshot (optional)
    • lts-<major> → future LTS line only after policy is accepted

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macOS app availability

Beta and dev builds may not include a macOS app release. That’s OK:
  • The git tag and npm dist-tag can still be published.
  • Call out “no macOS build for this beta” in release notes or changelog.

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Rollback

If a channel breaks your install, pin the last known-good version:
Then restart and verify:
Use Updating for full rollback steps, including source checkout pinning.