Bug type

Regression (worked before, now fails)

Beta release blocker

No

Summary

Problem

In OpenClaw 2026.5.3 (and 2026.5.3-1), running a bare /new or /reset command (with no trailing instructions) no longer triggers the persona greeting from the agent. Instead, the user gets a canned text reply ✅ New session started. / ✅ Session reset. and no LLM turn runs.

This breaks the established UX where a freshly-reset session greets the user via the agent's configured persona (SOUL.md / system prompt). For users who rely on the greeting as a "morning sync"-style summary, this is a meaningful regression.

Steps to reproduce

1. Configure an agent with a persona that produces a greeting on BARE_SESSION_RESET (we have agents.defaults.bootstrapTotalMaxChars etc. set so the persona has enough context to write a real greeting).
2. From any chat surface, send exactly /new (or /reset).
3. Expected: agent runs an LLM turn and replies with the persona greeting (covers daily memory, current todos, etc.).
4. Actual: gateway returns the canned ✅ New session started. text and the LLM turn is skipped entirely.

Expected behavior

One of the following:

1. Restore 4.x behavior (preferred): bare /new / /reset falls through to the LLM turn, agents that have a persona-driven greeting see it run as before.
2. Make it configurable: e.g. agents.defaults.commands.bareReset.mode = "greeting" | "canned" (default "greeting" to match historical behavior), or a per-handler hook so configs that want the canned reply opt in.

The current behavior makes it impossible to use /new as a normal "reset and re-greet" trigger without patching dist/, which is brittle across upgrades.

Actual behavior

the user gets a canned text reply ✅ New session started. / ✅ Session reset. and no LLM turn runs.

OpenClaw version

2026.5.3-1

Operating system

Ubuntu 20.04

Install method

No response

Model

claude-opus-4-7

Provider / routing chain

feishu -> openclaw -> claude

Additional provider/model setup details

No response

Logs, screenshots, and evidence

Root Cause (suspected)

dist/commands.runtime-*.js was changed in 5.3 to add a short-circuit branch immediately after emitResetCommandHooks(...):

// 5.3 introduced this branch
if (!resetTail) return {
    shouldContinue: false,
    ...hookResult.routedReply ? {} : { reply: { text: commandAction === "reset" ? "✅ Session reset." : "✅ New session started." } }
};
return null;

In 4.x, the corresponding code path returned null for bare /new and /reset, so the request fell through to isBareSessionReset → the normal LLM turn → the persona greeting.

In 5.3, when resetTail is empty (bare /new), the new branch returns shouldContinue: false with the canned text, so the LLM turn never runs.

Workaround

Locally patching the dist file to remove the short-circuit restores the greeting behavior. Reproducible patch:

perl -0777 -i -pe 's/\tif \(!resetTail\) return \{\n\t\tshouldContinue: false,\n\t\t\.\.\.hookResult\.routedReply \? \{\} : \{ reply: \{ text: commandAction === "reset" \? "✅ Session reset\." : "✅ New session started\." \} \}\n\t\};\n\treturn null;/\treturn null;/' \
  ~/.nvm/versions/node/v22.22.0/lib/node_modules/openclaw/dist/commands.runtime-*.js
systemctl --user restart openclaw-gateway


After the patch, bare `/new` again triggers the persona greeting. Confirmed working on `2026.5.3-1`.

Impact and severity

No response

Additional information

No response