OpenClaw 2 Brings Major Performance Boost and Security Enhancements

The open-source AI agent framework OpenClaw has released its largest update to date, version 2026.8.1, dubbed OpenClaw 2.

The new version was contributed by 933 developers, of which 569 were first-time contributors. The team had initially planned to focus on simplifying the installation process and rebuilding the browser application, but the scope expanded to include changes in memory, models, plugins, messages, and security modules.

OpenClaw 2 features a revamped control interface centered around chat, automatic identification of existing Claude or ChatGPT subscriptions and local Ollama models, and team-oriented multi-person cloud sessions. Users can access their colleagues' ongoing tasks at team.openclaw.ai.

Internal tests showed significant performance improvements: the initial JavaScript requests dropped from 140 to 45, and startup time decreased from 1.6 seconds to 575 milliseconds.

The update also includes new security features such as request-level approval, parameter-limited command permissions, Docker and Podman sandboxing, role-based execution, and team-level key management. However, these features are disabled by default.