Removal timeline

The dates and gates that govern when deprecated surfaces become removable. Part of the Plugin SDK migration guide.

pnpm plugin-sdk:surface:check enforces the latest stable release's committed typed public surface independently of export-count budgets. Removing a shipped subpath or named export requires a covering deprecated, removal-pending, or removed compatibility record with a removeAfter date strictly before the current UTC date; a removalGate alone does not authorize removal. Packaged private runtime facades without a types export condition are excluded because they are not declared typed-public contracts.

Removal timeline

When	What happens
Now	Warning-capable deprecated surfaces emit runtime warnings; repository guards reject deprecated SDK imports from core and bundled plugins.
Pending owner decision	Records without removeAfter or removalGate remain deprecated and ineligible until their owner publishes a gate.
Day after a deprecated record's removeAfter date	At 00:00 UTC, that record becomes date-eligible and pnpm plugins:boundary-report --fail-on-eligible-compat exits non-zero. The date itself is the final compatibility day.
A removal-pending record's removeAfter date	At 00:00 UTC, the report marks the record due for review and lists its blockers. It does not trigger the compatibility fail flag.
Next Plugin SDK major	inbound-reply-dispatch, synchronous plugin keyed stores, memory session inventory readers, synchronous Mention Inbox persistence methods, and synchronous session/extension/provider replay persistence reach their explicit next-plugin-sdk-major gate; none is date-eligible before that version boundary.

The remaining public SDK subpaths below have registry-backed removal windows. The July 30 rows were removed after their early maintainer-authorized sweep: unused subpaths were deleted, earlier compatibility aliases were deleted, and bundled-only modules were demoted to private-local build mappings.

The August 15 compatibility subpaths agent-config-primitives, channel-logging, channel-secret-runtime, channel-streaming, group-access, matrix, text-runtime, and zod were retired early by explicit SDK-owner approval in August 2026. Use the focused replacements in the Plugin SDK subpath catalog, and import zod directly from the zod package. inbound-reply-dispatch remains available until the next Plugin SDK major.

The beta.5 whole-session-store bridge was retired with explicit SDK-owner approval on September 30, 2026, ahead of its former October 12 deadline. The supported-plugin cutoff excludes v2026.7.1-beta.5 and all releases that still import those bridge exports or package-root whole-store aliases. Upgrade affected plugins to scoped row and transcript-identity APIs before upgrading the host. The session-store-runtime subpath and resolveStorePath remain supported; see the removed session APIs and replacements.

Removal gate	Tier	SDK subpaths
next-plugin-sdk-major	Major-version compatibility gate	inbound-reply-dispatch; api.runtime.state.openSyncKeyedStore and PluginStateSyncKeyedStore; loadArchivedSessions and resolveMemorySessionTargets; mentionInbox.list, mentionInbox.dismiss, mentionInbox.recordCommittedInput, and mentionInbox.invalidate; synchronous SessionManager, extension session, and provider replay persistence contracts
2026-10-01	Media legacy projection	agent-media-payload, plus the non-subpath MsgContext Media* fields, channel inbound media payload builders, buildMediaPayload, hook media aliases, and {{Media*}} templates

The five compatibility subpaths channel-lifecycle, channel-message, channel-reply-pipeline, config-runtime, and infra-runtime were retired early by explicit SDK-owner approval on September 30, 2026. That decision supersedes their October 1 gate and external-migration retention blocker; it does not certify that every external plugin has migrated. Their public exports and compatibility aliases are removed. Upgrade affected plugins before loading them on a host containing this removal.

These subpaths remained available in 2026.8.2 under an approved retention exception. On September 2, 2026, the release maintainer renewed their removeAfter date from September 1 to October 1 for 2026.9.1. The September 30 decision replaces that window. See channel import mappings and config and infrastructure migration for replacements and behavioral differences. System-event snapshot inspection and consumption now use openclaw/plugin-sdk/system-event-runtime.

The compatibility subpaths command-auth, discord, and telegram-account were retired early by explicit SDK-owner approval on October 2, 2026. That decision closes their compatibility window; it does not certify that every external plugin has migrated. Their public exports are removed. Upgrade affected plugins before loading them on a host containing this removal. See the command and channel facade replacements.

Bundled-plugin migration does not prove that every external caller can use a path-only replacement. Migrate the functions with verified typed-public mappings; adapt the caller where a removed named type or required behavior lacks a public replacement. Do not substitute a private-local host export. Run pnpm plugins:boundary-report to see the dates, gates, and blockers for the surfaces your plugin uses.