OpenClaw Agent System Broken After Recent Updates

OpenClaw's agent system, which was previously functional, has become unreliable after recent updates. Users report that core functionality is now broken, preventing them from using agents for real tasks.

What Worked Before

In previous versions, users could:

• Create agents
• Have them show up correctly
• Run workflows between them
• Actually use them for real tasks

The system wasn't perfect but was usable.

Current Issues

After recent updates, several problems have emerged:

• Creating agents through chat only partially works - they show in config and agent lists but don't create required runtime folders (agentDir)
• CLI creation only works with hidden flags: --workspace --agent-dir
• Even when agents are created correctly, they won't run
• Worker spawning fails with error: gateway closed (1008): pairing required
• This is caused by a forced scope upgrade from operator.read to operator.admin
• There's no clear way to approve or bypass this in a local setup
• Mission Control doesn't show agents unless extra files like status.json exist

The simplest test fails: saying "create an agent named Rick" doesn't reliably produce a usable product.