Release Notes

August 28, 2026

v0.0.116

NemoClaw v0.0.116 improves compatible endpoint validation, Portable Hermes inference recovery, sandbox lifecycle safety, managed images, Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) onboarding, managed local inference, and experimental Hermes channel credentials. It also preserves recorded network-policy intent during sandbox reuse and rebuild.

  • OpenClaw compatible endpoint onboarding now validates inference.local from inside the sandbox even when no messaging channel is selected, and an unreachable route stops onboarding before final deployment verification. inference set can reuse a recorded loopback no-auth endpoint without replacing its provider, and reasoning-only responses receive one bounded larger-budget content attempt before failure. Related changes: PR #10458, PR #10531, and PR #10540.
  • nemohermes <name> recover and nemohermes <name> connect --probe-only now recover only the published receipt-owned Portable Ollama runner. They verify an already-running runner without restarting it, resume the recorded stopped runner once, and require a final in-sandbox route proof. If a later check fails, recovery attempts to return the stopped runner and registry to their prior state and reports when either restoration cannot be proved. Related change: PR #10505.
  • Uninstall now creates fresh snapshots for eligible registered non-Portable sandboxes before deletion unless --destroy-user-data is selected. It honors NEMOCLAW_OPENSHELL_GATEWAY_STATE_DIR, preserves abandoned Portable configuration without treating it as lifecycle authority, and stops before cleanup when backup, lifecycle-lock, ownership, or registration checks fail. Related changes: PR #10231, PR #10550, and PR #10562.
  • Sandbox creation and reuse now retain verified sandbox identity, policy, provider, credential, and lifecycle authority across retries and process restarts. Same-name replacements and authority drift stop mutation, while managed-image registration tolerates a transient non-Ready report only when durable sandbox identity still matches. Related changes: PR #10510 and PR #10512.
  • Sandbox destruction can recover an expired Shields auto-restore timer only when its process is gone or its recorded start identity no longer matches. Live or unverifiable timer ownership remains fail-closed, and destruction skips pre-delete hardening only after Docker proves the sandbox container is absent. Related change: PR #10225.
  • Hermes Portable images now select the reviewed multi-platform base that matches their OpenSSL 3.5.7 package inventory, and OpenClaw images install checksum-pinned libevent 2.1.13 on AMD64 and ARM64. Related changes: PR #10532 and PR #10526.
  • On WSL, public managed image pulls, generated image builds, GPU probes, and local inference probe pulls use a temporary credential-free Docker configuration when the default Docker Desktop credential helper is unavailable. Managed local inference now waits for disposable Podman probe identities to disappear after one removal command, and llama.cpp image-pull failures report a fixed layer, code, and exit status without exposing raw pull output. Related changes: PR #10470, PR #10554, and PR #10561.
  • Re-onboarding or rebuilding an OpenClaw sandbox with a recorded Balanced or Open tier now keeps an already-applied brave preset when web search is disabled or switched to Tavily Search. Restricted and unknown tiers, unsupported agents, and custom preset ownership retain their existing fail-closed reconciliation behavior. Related change: PR #10457.
  • For the experimental Hermes WeChat and Microsoft Teams channels, managed startup now maps revision-scoped OpenShell credential placeholders to the environment names Hermes reads. Only matching revision-scoped placeholders are copied. Raw or identityless runtime values are ignored, while malformed or channel-unbound aliases stop startup; both channels remain experimental. Related change: PR #10563.

v0.0.115

NemoClaw v0.0.115 strengthens Portable Hermes recovery, sandbox lifecycle authority, managed messaging credentials, and installer recovery. It also improves managed local inference and adds bounded experimental planning for an externally managed OpenShell target.

  • Portable Hermes recovery now revalidates the exact receipt-owned Podman container, OpenShell gateway, executable, policy, route, and runtime identities before each operation. If recovery starts a stopped receipt-owned container and authenticated Hermes health remains unavailable, it launches the receipt-recorded nemoclaw-start command once and waits for authenticated health. If the container was already running, recovery only waits for authenticated health and does not launch another startup process. A failed recovery rolls back only the exact container that recovery started. Related changes: PR #10315, PR #10376, PR #10441, PR #10456, and PR #10499.
  • Stock Docker-driver onboarding for OpenClaw, Hermes, and LangChain Deep Agents Code now requires the release’s exact managed image. Registry or catalog failures stop before sandbox creation instead of falling back to a local stock-image build; explicit custom Dockerfiles remain separate. Existing and recreated sandboxes retain exact image, policy, route-reservation, and lifecycle authority checks. Related changes: PR #10113, PR #10320, PR #10321, PR #10322, PR #10332, PR #10396, and PR #10422.
  • Messaging setup now binds revision-scoped credentials to canonical OpenShell providers before sandbox creation or rebuild. This restores runtime credential delivery for maintained Slack, Discord, Google Chat, and Telegram paths while preserving endpoint-specific policy matching and fail-closed provider ownership. Related changes: PR #10170, PR #10271, PR #10273, PR #10275, PR #10277, PR #10307, and PR #10314.
  • The Hermes installer accepts --defer-onboarding or NEMOCLAW_DEFER_ONBOARDING=1 only for NVIDIA-hosted inference when no supported credential and no sandbox exist. It installs NemoClaw and Hermes without creating a provider, sandbox, or completed onboarding state; any credential or existing sandbox keeps the normal validation and recovery path. Related change: PR #10299.
  • The experimental managed llama.cpp path now offers NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Nano 30B-A3B on qualified DGX Spark Arm64 and Linux x86_64 NVIDIA GPU hosts and recommends it during onboarding. Meta Muse Glimmer remains available on DGX Spark only by explicit selection, and existing Muse-owned installations are not migrated. Local NVIDIA NIM selection now enforces the documented usable-memory limit, including the DGX Spark unified-memory cap. Related changes: PR #10122 and PR #10292.
  • nemoclaw upgrade-sandboxes --check now exits nonzero when it reports actionable stale, unknown-version, backup-recovery, or missing-sandbox state. Sandbox destruction and stale-container cleanup have bounded waits and preserve registry or lifecycle authority when deletion cannot be confirmed. Non-portable managed Hermes uninstall also removes its exact owned state volume and stops before state retirement on Docker failure. Related changes: PR #10128, PR #10133, and PR #10224.
  • The experimental direct blueprint runner can validate and sanitize a plan for an externally managed OpenShell target. Planning validates the HTTPS endpoint, workspace, expected release range, CA bundle, and authentication-file metadata without reading credential contents, connecting to the gateway, authenticating, or applying changes. Related change: PR #10045.
  • Security and diagnostics now reject config reads through a symlinked config directory, redact URL userinfo credentials in debug bundles, bind sandbox mutations and cancellation recovery to durable exact identity, and classify incomplete onboarding without reporting success. Related changes: PR #10041, PR #10127, PR #10146, and PR #10396.