Summary
OpenClaw’s 2026.5.22-beta.1 pre-release bundles a wide set of docs, packaging, agent, plugin, and runtime improvements. Two of the most notable changes are tighter default sub-agent bootstrap context and a major performance win for model listing, which the release says drops hot-path cost from roughly 20 seconds to around 5 milliseconds after startup warm.
What changed
OpenClaw’s May 22 beta updated sub-agent bootstrap defaults, model-listing performance, plugin and session APIs, observability checks, and a broad set of docs and runtime fixes.
Why it matters
OpenClaw is signaling that agent orchestration quality now depends on context hygiene and operational speed, not just feature breadth. Faster model discovery and narrower default worker context both matter for long-running, delegated agent systems at scale.
Evidence excerpt
The release notes say default sub-agent bootstrap context is limited to AGENTS.md and TOOLS.md, and model-listing hot-path cost drops from about 20 seconds to around 5 milliseconds after startup warm.