OpenClaw Update 3.31: But is it Enough?

OpenClaw 3.31 ships four security locks and a unified background task plane, but the creator still ranks Hermes and Claude Code computer use above it.

## Plugin installs now fail closed Roughly 10% of ClawHub ecosystem plugins were flagged as malicious in past audits. The 3.31 release blocks installs when a plugin carries a critical dangerous code finding, rather than letting users opt in. The creator calls it a "decent step up for the ClawHub ecosystem" but explicitly says it is "still not 100% fixed yet."

## Gateway auth and tool approval tightened Three more security changes land in 3.31. Trusted proxy mode now rejects mixed shared-token configs, and the direct local fallback requires a configured token instead of implicitly trusting same-host callers — meaning "any process on the same machine could previously talk to your gateway without authentication." Device pairing no longer exposes node commands, and ACP tool approval moves from name-based overrides to semantic approval classes where read and search tools can auto-approve.

## Unified background task control plane Background tasks from ACP subagents, cron, and CLI previously ran in isolated silos and could orphan as ghost processes. They now route through a single SQLite-backed task ledger, exposed via three new commands: openclaw flows list, openclaw flows show, and openclaw flows cancel. Detached tasks also bubble back up to their intended parent thread instead of appearing orphaned in the sidebar.

## /by-the-way and MCP fixes The /by-the-way slash command was completely broken with Claude adaptive thinking enabled because the side query collided with provider reasoning. The fix disables reasoning specifically for the side query while the main session keeps thinking mode. MCP gains auth headers on remote HTTP/SSE servers, a server/tool namespace to fix silent name collisions, and per-server connection timeouts.

## Channels and the bottom line QQ bot is a first-class channel, Matrix gets streaming, WhatsApp agents can react with emoji, and Line gets full outbound image/video/audio. The creator's personal stack order is Claude Code computer use, then Hermes, then OpenClaw. In benchmarks, Hermes beat OpenClaw 7 to 3 on core personal productivity, narrowing to roughly 6 to 5.5 once OpenClaw's full Nemo-claw/Hi-claw ecosystem is counted.

## Migration caveat One team member migrating from OpenClaw to Hermes saw cron jobs fail to sync, so existing OpenClaw users should plan for migration friction even if the fresh-setup experience is smoother.