openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix Add a title * Bug type * Beta release blocker * Summary * Steps to reproduce * Expected behavior * Actual behavior * OpenClaw version * Operating system * Model * Provider / routing chain * [1 comments, 2 participants]

Bug type

Regression (worked before, now fails)

Beta release blocker

No

Summary

2026-05-19_openclaw-5.18-webchat-dashboard-regression.md

After upgrading from 2026.5.7 to 2026.5.18 (50a2481) and restarting the gateway, two related WebChat dashboard regressions appear and persist across full restarts:

1. The Control UI sidebar for configured non-default agents no longer lists subagent sessions spawned into those agents (e.g. via sessions_spawn from the default main agent). Only an agent:<configured-agent>:main row appears, even though sessions.list returns the subagent sessions with correct agentId / parentSessionKey / status.

2. During Codex app-server turns, no thought or tool progress events are streamed to the WebChat chat surface while the run is in progress. The chat stays in "In progress" state, and the assistant transcript is only populated when the turn finishes. The same data is being written to *.trajectory.jsonl and *.codex-app-server.json in real time.

Both regressions started immediately after the 2026.5.18 update on the same config that worked correctly on 2026.5.7. There is no documented user-facing config under gateway.controlUi., gateway.webchat., messages., or tools.sessions. that restores the old behavior.

The two regressions line up with these 2026.5.18 CHANGELOG items:

• Gateway/webchat: hide internal runtime-context and other display: false transcript messages from Chat history and live message events. Fixes #83216.
• Codex app-server: native Codex tool calls/results recorded into the trajectory artifact; native tool progress composed from the final turn snapshot.
• Control UI / configured-only sessions filter changes.

A quick look at the bundled dist/control-ui/assets/index-*.js shows sessions.list calls hard-coded to configuredAgentsOnly: n?.configuredAgentsOnly ?? true, with no user setting to disable it.

Steps to reproduce

1. Run OpenClaw 2026.5.7 with three configured agents (default main plus two non-default agents anonymized here as <agent-A> and <agent-B>). From the default main session, spawn subagent sessions into <agent-A> / <agent-B> via sessions_spawn (runtime: "subagent"). Before the upgrade the Control UI dashboard lists those subagent sessions in the sidebar for the corresponding agent and streams thought/tool progress while the run is active.

2. Run openclaw doctor --fix, update to 2026.5.18 (50a2481), and restart the gateway service.

3. From main, spawn a new subagent into <agent-A> via sessions_spawn.

4. Open the Control UI dashboard (e.g. http://127.0.0.1:18789/) and click <agent-A> in the sidebar. (If there is no main row, send one chat message in the dashboard to create agent:<agent-A>:main.) Refresh with F5/Ctrl+R.

5. Observe the sidebar listing for <agent-A> and the chat surface for agent:main:main while the subagent run is still active.

Expected behavior

• The Control UI sidebar for <agent-A> lists every session belonging to that agent id, including subagent sessions spawned into it, with their labels/status (as on 2026.5.7).
• The WebChat chat surface streams thought/tool progress events in real time during a Codex app-server tur run is in progress.

Actual behavior

• The Control UI sidebar for <agent-A> shows only an agent:<agent-A>:main row (once a main row exists) and never lists subagent sessions, regardless of how recent or active they are. • During Codex app-server turns, the WebChat chat surface stays in "In progress" with no streaming thought/tool events. The transcript fills in only after the turn finishes.

Data layer is fully intact:

• sessions.list JSON-RPC returns the subagent sessions with correct agentId, parentSessionKey, label, status (running / done). • ~/.openclaw/agents/<agent-A>/sessions/<uuid>.trajectory.jsonl and ~/.openclaw/agents/<agent-A>/sessions/<uuid>.codex-app-server.json are being written in real time during the run; the corresponding <uuid>.jsonl transcript is only populated at turn completion.

So this looks like a Control UI / WebChat transport regression, not a storage problem.

Workarounds tried (none restore the old behavior):

• Created agent:<agent-A>:main and agent:<agent-B>:main rows by sending one chat message each from the dashboard. Sidebar still lists only main for those agents. • tools.sessions.visibility="all" is already set (controls sessions_* tools, not the Control UI sidebar). • No relevant toggle found under gateway.controlUi., gateway.webchat. (only chatHistoryMaxChars), messages., tools.sessions.. • Deep-linking to a specific subagent session (?session=agent%3A<agent-A>%3Asubagent%3A<uuid>) opens that session but still does not show live thought/tool progress during the run.

OpenClaw version

2026.5.18

Operating system

Linux x64

Install method

(Node 24.14.1, npm-global install path, OpenClaw managed via nvm).

Model

openai-codex/gpt-5.4 and openai-codex/gpt-5.5

Provider / routing chain

• Telegram DM (channels.telegram) • WebChat dashboard (gateway.controlUi + gateway WebChat)

Additional provider/model setup details

No response

Logs, screenshots, and evidence

Impact and severity

No response

Additional information

No response