Summary

After updating from openclaw 2026.5.4 to 2026.5.5, the launchd-handoff restart automatically runs openclaw doctor --non-interactive --fix. The doctor migration mutates openclaw.json and rewrites every openai-codex/* model reference to openai/* across agents.defaults.modelOverride, per-agent modelOverride blocks, per-channel modelOverride blocks, and agents.modelCatalog. Users authenticated only via OpenAI Codex OAuth (i.e., a ChatGPT account, no OPENAI_API_KEY) are then locked out — every agent run fails on boot with:

[boot] agent run failed: No API key found for provider "openai".

openai-codex/gpt-5.4-pro is also lost entirely in the rewrite — there is no openai/gpt-5.4-pro in the catalog, so the model entry effectively disappears.

Environment

• openclaw 2026.5.5 (fresh install via npm global), upgraded from 2026.5.4
• macOS 14 (Darwin 25.4.0)
• Auth profiles: openai-codex:<chatgpt-account> + anthropic:default. No openai:* profile.
• Last-good auth-state.json:

  "lastGood": { "anthropic": "anthropic:default", "openai-codex": "openai-codex:<account>" }

Reproduction

1. On 2026.5.4, configure agents.defaults.modelOverride:

   "modelOverride": {
     "primary": "openai-codex/gpt-5.5",
     "fallbacks": ["openai-codex/gpt-5.4", "openai-codex/gpt-5.4-mini"]
   }

   And agents.modelCatalog containing openai-codex/gpt-5.4, openai-codex/gpt-5.4-mini, openai-codex/gpt-5.4-pro, openai-codex/gpt-5.5, openai-codex/gpt-5.5-pro.
2. Have only an openai-codex:* profile in ~/.openclaw/agents/<agent>/agent/auth-profiles.json — no openai:*.
3. Update to 2026.5.5. The launchd post-update handler runs openclaw doctor --non-interactive --fix.
4. Boot the gateway. Send any message in webchat to the affected agent.

Expected

Doctor migration leaves openai-codex/* refs alone (they are still valid model ids in 2026.5.5 — openclaw models list confirms openai-codex/gpt-5.5 is listed and configured with Auth: yes). At minimum, doctor should not rewrite a model ref to a provider for which the user has no auth profile.

Actual

Diff of openclaw.json immediately before/after the doctor --fix run (from ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json.bak.1 → ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json.bak):

       "modelOverride": {
-        "fallbacks": [ "openai-codex/gpt-5.4", "openai-codex/gpt-5.4-mini" ],
-        "primary": "openai-codex/gpt-5.5"
+        "fallbacks": [ "openai/gpt-5.4", "openai/gpt-5.4-mini" ],
+        "primary": "openai/gpt-5.5"
       },

       "modelCatalog": {
-        "openai-codex/gpt-5.4": {},
-        "openai-codex/gpt-5.4-mini": {},
-        "openai-codex/gpt-5.4-pro": {},
-        "openai-codex/gpt-5.5": {},
-        "openai-codex/gpt-5.5-pro": {}
+        "openai/gpt-5.4": {},
+        "openai/gpt-5.4-mini": {},
+        "openai/gpt-5.4-pro": {},
+        "openai/gpt-5.5": {},
+        "openai/gpt-5.5-pro": {}
       }

The same rewrite occurs in 5 separate locations in the config (default + 3 per-agent/per-channel modelOverride blocks + the catalog). openai-codex/gpt-5.4-pro is renamed to openai/gpt-5.4-pro, which does not exist in the model catalog.

Evidence from logs

~/.openclaw/logs/config-audit.jsonl:

{"ts":"2026-05-06T09:38:10.210Z","argv":["...openclaw","doctor","--non-interactive","--fix"],
 "changedPathCount":57,"previousHash":"7c638e8a…","nextHash":"84d28f91…","result":"rename"}

~/.openclaw/logs/gateway.err.log (within seconds of the doctor run):

2026-05-06T16:38:31.510+07:00 [diagnostic] lane task error: lane=main durationMs=1224 error="FailoverError: No API key found for provider \"openai\". Auth store: …/agents/main/agent/auth-profiles.json …"
2026-05-06T16:38:31.518+07:00 [model-fallback/decision] model fallback decision: decision=candidate_failed requested=openai/gpt-5.5 candidate=openai/gpt-5.5 reason=auth next=none detail=No API key found for provider "openai". …
2026-05-06T16:38:31.569+07:00 [boot] agent run failed: No API key found for provider "openai". …

~/.openclaw/logs/gateway-restart.log:

[2026-05-06T09:38:22Z] openclaw restart attempt source=update target=ai.openclaw.gateway
[2026-05-06T09:38:22Z] openclaw restart done   source=update
[2026-05-06T09:45:09Z] openclaw restart attempt source=update target=ai.openclaw.gateway
[2026-05-06T09:45:10Z] openclaw restart done   source=update

The error is recoverable in user-facing terms — openai-provider-BVG8OXtu.js:225 even prints the right hint:

No API key found for provider "openai". You are authenticated with OpenAI Codex OAuth. Use openai-codex/gpt-5.5, or set OPENAI_API_KEY for direct OpenAI API access.

…but doctor is the thing producing the bad refs in the first place, so simply re-editing the config and restarting works only until the next doctor run.

Suspected location

dist/doctor-config-flow-D_wwaDIB.js:141:

const LEGACY_MODELS_ADD_CODEX_MODEL_IDS = new Set(["gpt-5.5", "gpt-5.5-pro"]);
function isLegacyModelsAddCodexMetadataModel(params) {
  // returns true for openai-codex/gpt-5.5 with the canonical reasoning/image/cost shape
}

The _ADD_CODEX_ naming suggests this branch is meant to add the -codex prefix, but the observed effect is the opposite (strip it). Either the call-site that consumes this set is inverted, or there is a sibling _REMOVE_CODEX_ migration acting on these model ids. The exact mutator is not in doctor-config-flow-D_wwaDIB.js directly; it is invoked from the broader doctor flow during --fix.

Workaround

1. cp ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json.bak.1 ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json (the pre-doctor backup), or
2. Manually re-prefix every openai/gpt-5.X* back to openai-codex/gpt-5.X* in modelOverride.{primary,fallbacks} and modelCatalog.
3. Avoid running openclaw doctor --fix until this is patched.

Happy to attach the full pre/post openclaw.json diff or the redacted config-audit excerpt if useful.