OpenHands 1.38 lets automations run from agent profiles

OpenHands released 1.38.0 on November 10, 2026. Most of the changelog is interface cleanup, but a few entries change how automations and self-hosted Docker installs behave.

Automations follow agent profiles

Prompt and plugin presets can now run from an agent profile, so a scheduled job can use the same model and settings as a profile you already set up. Automation help can edit an executable plugin's configuration, and exported automations now carry their script bundle through export and import instead of losing it.

Org admins and owners can edit other users' automations. If you run a shared instance, review who holds those roles before upgrading.

Docker installs fail louder

Three Docker fixes matter for self-hosting:

• The container exits non-zero when the agent-server stops responding, so a supervisor or orchestrator can restart it.
• Unwritable bind mounts fail at startup, and the docs now describe the permission fix.
• Conversation workspaces stay in the persisted volume.

The bundled agent-server moves to 1.61.0. Check any separately pinned agent-server or SDK against that version.

Smaller changes you will notice

Conversation budgets show as meters, Agent Canvas gets a Paper theme, and the composer's stop button now interrupts the agent instead of pausing the Cloud sandbox. /launch links can carry just a message without a plugin.

The macOS app is still not signed with an Apple Developer ID, so Gatekeeper may call a fresh download damaged. The release notes give the xattr command that clears the quarantine flag.

This entry reports the documented changes; we did not benchmark coding quality or speed.

See the OpenHands hub, the previous OpenHands 1.34 note, or compare it in OpenHands alternatives.