ClawHosters
by Daniel Samer
3 min read
OpenClaw v2026.3.28 shipped yesterday with two features people have been asking about for weeks: native xAI Grok web search and MiniMax as an image generation provider. There's also a Config Doctor change that self-hosters need to know about.
ClawHosters instances already have the update. If you're self-hosting, read the Config Doctor section before you upgrade.
xAI Grok Moves to Responses API with x_search
The bundled xAI provider now runs on the Responses API instead of the older completions path. That's the technical bit. The practical bit is that this enables first-class x_search support, which means your OpenClaw agent can browse the web through Grok's own search infrastructure.
If you've already configured web search with an xAI key, the xAI plugin auto-enables from your existing config. No extra setup.
For new users, openclaw onboard and openclaw configure --section web now offer an optional x_search setup step. You pick your preferred x_search model (shared xAI key works fine), and you're done. The bundled Grok web-search plugin handles the rest.
The Web Search Key Audit also got broader. It now recognizes Gemini, Grok/xAI, Kimi, Moonshot, and OpenRouter credentials, so openclaw doctor catches more misconfigured keys than before.
MiniMax Image Generation
Until now, image generation in OpenClaw meant DALL-E. That's no longer the only option. v2026.3.28 adds MiniMax as a provider with their image-01 model.
It supports both text-to-image generation and image-to-image editing with aspect ratio control. From what I've tested so far, it handles photorealistic prompts better than DALL-E for certain styles, though DALL-E still wins on creative illustration. Having the choice is what matters.
Setup takes about two minutes through openclaw configure --section image.
Config Doctor Drops Old Migrations
This one is mostly relevant if you self-host OpenClaw. Config Doctor used to silently rewrite very old config keys to their modern equivalents. Starting with v2026.3.28, migrations older than two months just fail validation instead. You'll need to run openclaw doctor --fix yourself.
ClawHosters customers aren't affected. We manage configs on every instance, so legacy keys never pile up in the first place.
The Qwen provider also dropped its deprecated qwen-portal-auth OAuth path and migrated to Model Studio. And the legacy Chrome extension relay for Browser Chrome MCP is gone.
