OpenClaw 2.0 rebuilds its control interface and moves sessions into SQLite

OpenClaw shipped version 2.0 on 30 August 2026, drawn from more than 16,000 pull requests by 933 contributors. Setup now reuses credentials you already have (ChatGPT, Claude CLI, Ollama) and checks the model actually answers before saving. The browser control interface was rebuilt around the conversation, with a workspace editor, a git-backed changes panel and a web terminal; startup falls from about 1.6 seconds to 575ms and JavaScript requests from 140 to 45. Sessions and transcripts move to SQLite, so a downgrade needs a manual restore, and the new shared cloud sessions are explicitly described by the project as not a security boundary.

What it means Two upgrade traps in one release: downgrading now means a manual SQLite restore, and shared sessions are not a permission boundary you can lean on.