Fix tools.profile null handling and pnpm test integer comparison for 2026.3.11 upgrade

[Copilot]

Upgrade verification tests failed on two assertions: tools.profile returned null instead of "coding", and the pnpm exclusion check threw an integer comparison error.

Changes

Config init: Handle null values in tools.profile

The //= operator only sets missing keys, not null values. When upgrading from configs with explicit null, the default wasn't applied.

# Before: Only sets if key is missing
jq '.tools.profile //= "coding"'

# After: Sets for both missing and null
jq '.tools.profile = (if .tools.profile == null then "coding" else .tools.profile end)'

Preserves existing non-null user settings while ensuring the "coding" default for fresh or null configs.

Test script: Sanitize grep output before integer comparison

Added character stripping to ensure PNPM_EXCLUDED is a valid integer before comparison:

PNPM_EXCLUDED=${PNPM_EXCLUDED//[^0-9]/}
PNPM_EXCLUDED=${PNPM_EXCLUDED:-0}

Impact

• Net +2 lines across 2 files
• Backward compatible: preserves user config when set
• No breaking changes

Original prompt

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This section details on the original issue you should resolve

<issue_title>⚠️ OpenClaw 2026.3.11 upgrade failed automated tests</issue_title>
<issue_description>## Automated Upgrade Failed: 2026.2.9 → 2026.3.11

Failed stage: Docker smoke tests
Workflow run: https://github.com/vhrahulkumar/openclaw-appplatform/actions/runs/23451488641

Test Output

=== OpenClaw Upgrade Verification ===

Waiting for container openclaw-upgrade-test to be ready...
✓ Container is responsive (waiting for init to complete...)
✓ s6 init complete (crond up)
✓ Version: 2026.3.11
✓ Config is valid JSON
FAIL: tools.profile is 'null' (expected 'coding')
✓ Config owned by openclaw
✓ Auth mode: token
✓ Gateway process running
✓ Tailscale binary present
Waiting for gateway HTTP...
✓ Gateway HTTP: 200
✓ Config writable by openclaw user
✓ Channel plugins loaded: discord,signal,telegram,whatsapp
✓ Backup config (backup.yaml) is valid
./tests/minimal/04-upgrade-verify.sh: line 151: [: 0
0: integer expression expected
WARN: pnpm store may not be excluded from backups
SKIP: Telegram channel probe (TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN not set)
✓ openclaw doctor completes

=== Upgrade Verification Results ===
  Passed:   11
  Failed:   1
  Warnings: 1

=== UPGRADE VERIFICATION FAILED (1 failures) ===

Known Regressions

• vhrahulkumar/openclaw-appplatform#44708: [Bug]: Telegram media download broken since 2026.3.11
• vhrahulkumar/openclaw-appplatform#45287: [Bug]: 2026.3.12 update rolls back during gateway CLI verification: plugins.slots.memory: plugin not found: memory-core
• vhrahulkumar/openclaw-appplatform#47402: [Bug]: WebSocket device auth regression in 2026.3.13 breaks web dashboard connections
• vhrahulkumar/openclaw-appplatform#44096: Hot reload sends SIGTERM to gateway on every config evaluation (2026.3.11)
• vhrahulkumar/openclaw-appplatform#50541: [Bug]: CLI cannot connect to Gateway (missing scope: operator.read) - Downgrade to 2026.3.11 works

Release Notes

openclaw 2026.3.22

Breaking

• Plugins/install: bare now prefers ClawHub before npm for npm-safe names, and only falls back to npm when ClawHub does not have that package or version. Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai/tools/clawhub
• Browser/Chrome MCP: remove the legacy Chrome extension relay path, bundled extension assets, , and . Run to migrate host-local browser config to / ; Docker, headless, sandbox, and remote browser flows still use raw CDP. Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai/gateway/doctor and https://docs.openclaw.ai/tools/browser (#47893) Thanks @vincentkoc.
• Tools/image generation: standardize the stock image create/edit path on the core tool. The old docs/examples are gone; if you previously copied that sample-skill config, switch to for built-in image generation or install a separate third-party skill explicitly.
• Skills/image generation: remove the bundled skill wrapper. Use for the native Nano Banana-style path instead.
• Plugins/SDK: the new public plugin SDK surface is ; is removed with no compatibility shim. Bundled plugins must use injected runtime for host-side operations (for example ) and any remaining direct imports must come from narrow subpaths instead of the monolithic SDK root. Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai/plugins/sdk-migration and https://docs.openclaw.ai/plugins/sdk-overview
• Plugins/message discovery: require for shared tool discovery. The legacy , , and adapter methods are removed. Plugin authors should migrate message discovery to and keep channel-specific action runtime code inside the owning plugin package. Thanks @gumadeiras.
• Plugins/Matrix: add a new Matrix plugin backed by the official . If you are upgrading from the previous public Matrix plugin, follow the migration guide: https://docs.openclaw.ai/install/migrating-matrix Thanks @gumadeiras.
• Config/env: remove legacy and compatibility env names across runtime, installers, and test tooling. Use the matching env names instead.
• Config/state: remove legacy state-dir and auto-detection/migration fallback. If you still keep state under , move it to or set / explicitly. Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai/install/migrating and https://docs.openclaw.ai/start/getting-started
• Exec/env sandbox: block build-tool JVM injection (, , , ), glibc tunable exploitation (), and .NET dependency resolution hijack () from the host exec environment, and restrict Gradle init script redirect () as an override-only block so user-configured Gradle homes still propagate. (#49702)
• Discord/commands: switch native command deployment to Carbon reconcile by default so Discord restarts stop churning slash commands through OpenClaw’s local deploy path. (#46597) Thanks @huntharo and @thewilloftheshadow.
• Security/exec approvals: treat as a transparent dispatch wrapper during allowlist evaluation and allow-always persistence so approved commands bind the inner executable instead of the wrappe...

• Fixes vhrahulkumar/openclaw-appplatform#9

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