fix(update): suppress internal handoff version warnings

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -104,6 +104,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 ### Fixes
 
 - Gateway/update: avoid fetching unrelated tags during dev-channel git updates so moved release tags do not block branch-based updates. (#84737) Thanks @rubencu.
+- CLI/update: suppress the expected future-config warning while an old update parent hands off to the freshly installed post-core process.
 - MiniMax: store OAuth token expiry as an absolute millisecond timestamp so OAuth profiles no longer appear expired on every request. (#83480) Thanks @NianJiuZst.
 - Agents/Anthropic: strip missing or blank thinking signatures for signed-thinking providers even when recovery supplies a narrow replay policy without signature preservation. Fixes #84430. (#84448) Thanks @NianJiuZst.
 - Agents/channels: send a visible notice when an aborted main session cannot be resumed after restart, including Telegram group targets. (#85805) Thanks @pfrederiksen.

src/cli/update-cli.test.ts

@@ -896,6 +896,10 @@ describe("update-cli", () => {
     expect(call?.[2]?.env?.OPENCLAW_UPDATE_POST_CORE).toBe("1");
     expect(call?.[2]?.env?.OPENCLAW_UPDATE_POST_CORE_CHANNEL).toBe("dev");
     expect(call?.[2]?.env?.OPENCLAW_COMPATIBILITY_HOST_VERSION).toBe("1.0.0");
+    expect(vi.mocked(readConfigFileSnapshot).mock.calls[1]?.[0]).toEqual({
+      skipPluginValidation: true,
+      suppressFutureVersionWarning: true,
+    });
     expect(updateNpmInstalledPlugins).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
     expect(runDaemonInstall).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
     expect(runDaemonRestart).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
@@ -1179,7 +1183,11 @@ describe("update-cli", () => {
     expect(
       vi
         .mocked(readConfigFileSnapshot)
-        .mock.calls.some(([options]) => options?.skipPluginValidation === true),
+        .mock.calls.some(
+          ([options]) =>
+            options?.skipPluginValidation === true &&
+            options.suppressFutureVersionWarning === true,
+        ),
     ).toBe(true);
     expect(defaultRuntime.exit).toHaveBeenCalledWith(0);
     expect(syncPluginsForUpdateChannel).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);

src/cli/update-cli/update-command.ts

@@ -2950,7 +2950,10 @@ export async function updateCommand(opts: UpdateCommandOptions): Promise<void> {
 
     process.env.OPENCLAW_COMPATIBILITY_HOST_VERSION = (await readPackageVersion(root)) ?? VERSION;
 
-    let postCoreConfigSnapshot = await readConfigFileSnapshot({ skipPluginValidation: true });
+    let postCoreConfigSnapshot = await readConfigFileSnapshot({
+      skipPluginValidation: true,
+      suppressFutureVersionWarning: true,
+    });
     const preUpdateSourceConfig = await readPostCorePreUpdateSourceConfig({
       sourceConfigPath: process.env[POST_CORE_UPDATE_SOURCE_CONFIG_PATH_ENV],
       currentSnapshot: postCoreConfigSnapshot,
@@ -3416,7 +3419,10 @@ export async function updateCommand(opts: UpdateCommandOptions): Promise<void> {
 
   let postUpdateConfigSnapshot =
     result.status === "ok" && !opts.dryRun
-      ? await readConfigFileSnapshot({ skipPluginValidation: true })
+      ? await readConfigFileSnapshot({
+          skipPluginValidation: true,
+          suppressFutureVersionWarning: shouldResumePostCoreInFreshProcess,
+        })
       : configSnapshot;
   if (!shouldResumePostCoreInFreshProcess) {
     postUpdateConfigSnapshot = await persistRequestedUpdateChannel({

src/config/io.compat.test.ts

@@ -150,6 +150,38 @@ describe("config io paths", () => {
     });
   });
 
+  it("does not warn about newer config during internal update handoff reads", async () => {
+    await withTempHome(async (home) => {
+      const configPath = path.join(home, ".openclaw", "openclaw.json");
+      await fs.mkdir(path.dirname(configPath), { recursive: true });
+      await fs.writeFile(
+        configPath,
+        JSON.stringify(
+          {
+            meta: { lastTouchedVersion: "9999.1.1" },
+            gateway: { mode: "local" },
+          },
+          null,
+          2,
+        ),
+      );
+      const logger = {
+        error: vi.fn(),
+        warn: vi.fn(),
+      };
+
+      const io = createConfigIO({
+        configPath,
+        env: { OPENCLAW_UPDATE_POST_CORE: "1" } as NodeJS.ProcessEnv,
+        homedir: () => home,
+        logger,
+      });
+      io.loadConfig();
+
+      expect(logger.warn).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    });
+  });
+
   it("normalizes safe-bin config entries at config load time", () => {
     const cfg = {
       tools: {

src/config/io.ts

@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import { resolveAgentWorkspaceDir, resolveDefaultAgentId } from "../agents/agent
 import { ensureOwnerDisplaySecret } from "../agents/owner-display.js";
 import { isVerbose } from "../global-state.js";
 import { loadDotEnv } from "../infra/dotenv.js";
+import { isTruthyEnvValue } from "../infra/env.js";
 import { formatErrorMessage } from "../infra/errors.js";
 import { resolveRequiredHomeDir } from "../infra/home-dir.js";
 import { replaceFileAtomic, replaceFileAtomicSync } from "../infra/replace-file.js";
@@ -956,6 +957,7 @@ export type ConfigSnapshotReadOptions = {
   observe?: boolean;
   skipPluginValidation?: boolean;
   preservedLegacyRootKeys?: readonly string[];
+  suppressFutureVersionWarning?: boolean;
 };
 
 function warnOnConfigMiskeys(raw: unknown, logger: Pick<typeof console, "warn">): void {
@@ -997,6 +999,13 @@ function warnIfConfigFromFuture(cfg: OpenClawConfig, logger: Pick<typeof console
   }
 }
 
+function shouldSuppressFutureVersionWarningForEnv(env: NodeJS.ProcessEnv): boolean {
+  return (
+    isTruthyEnvValue(env.OPENCLAW_UPDATE_IN_PROGRESS) ||
+    isTruthyEnvValue(env.OPENCLAW_UPDATE_POST_CORE)
+  );
+}
+
 function resolveConfigPathForDeps(deps: Required<ConfigIoDeps>): string {
   if (deps.configPath) {
     return deps.configPath;
@@ -1005,16 +1014,17 @@ function resolveConfigPathForDeps(deps: Required<ConfigIoDeps>): string {
 }
 
 function normalizeDeps(overrides: ConfigIoDeps = {}): Required<ConfigIoDeps> {
+  const env = overrides.env ?? process.env;
   return {
     fs: overrides.fs ?? fs,
     json5: overrides.json5 ?? JSON5,
-    env: overrides.env ?? process.env,
-    homedir:
-      overrides.homedir ?? (() => resolveRequiredHomeDir(overrides.env ?? process.env, os.homedir)),
+    env,
+    homedir: overrides.homedir ?? (() => resolveRequiredHomeDir(env, os.homedir)),
     configPath: overrides.configPath ?? "",
     logger: overrides.logger ?? console,
     measure: overrides.measure ?? (async (_name, run) => await run()),
-    suppressFutureVersionWarning: overrides.suppressFutureVersionWarning ?? false,
+    suppressFutureVersionWarning:
+      overrides.suppressFutureVersionWarning ?? shouldSuppressFutureVersionWarningForEnv(env),
     observe: overrides.observe ?? true,
   };
 }
@@ -2544,6 +2554,7 @@ export async function readConfigFileSnapshot(
     ...(options.measure ? { measure: options.measure } : {}),
     ...(options.observe === false ? { observe: false } : {}),
     ...(options.skipPluginValidation ? { pluginValidation: "skip" } : {}),
+    ...(options.suppressFutureVersionWarning ? { suppressFutureVersionWarning: true } : {}),
     ...(options.preservedLegacyRootKeys
       ? { preservedLegacyRootKeys: options.preservedLegacyRootKeys }
       : {}),