openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix [Bug] chat.send implicit session creation leaks workspace directories [1 participants]

Bug: chat.send implicit session creation leaks workspace directories

Problem

When chat.send is called with a sessionKey that does not exist in OpenClaw, OpenClaw implicitly creates a new session and a corresponding workspace directory at ~/.openclaw/workspace-<id>/. This workspace is populated with bootstrap files (AGENTS.md, BOOTSTRAP.md, HEARTBEAT.md, IDENTITY.md, SOUL.md, TOOLS.md, USER.md).

When the session ends, the workspace directory is never cleaned up.

Over time this causes:

1. Disk bloat: Each orphaned workspace is ~8-64KB; with hundreds of sessions this accumulates
2. Operational confusion: Users see dozens/hundreds of unnamed workspace-* directories with no way to know which are active vs orphaned
3. No caller control: Callers that only invoke chat.send have no API to prevent or clean up workspace creation

Root Cause

OpenClaw owns the full session lifecycle silently:

Caller
  → chat.send { sessionKey, message }
  → OpenClaw checks sessionKey
  → Session not found
  → OpenClaw implicitly creates session + workspace directory
  → chat.send returns
  → Session ends
  → Workspace directory: NEVER CLEANED UP

Key facts:

• No caller calls sessions.create — all callers only invoke chat.send
• Callers cannot control workspace lifecycle because OpenClaw handles it implicitly
• When a caller writes session metadata to its own local DB, that DB record is separate from OpenClaw's own workspace directory, which OpenClaw manages entirely

Evidence

~/.openclaw/workspace-2hlghlah5v5d3t79clxmn/
~/.openclaw/workspace-xj45ribstldgcdvybnosn/
... (106 orphaned workspaces on a system with only 12 legitimate agent workspaces)

All orphaned workspaces contain identical bootstrap files and are created implicitly by OpenClaw during chat.send with unknown sessionKeys.

Expected Behavior

OpenClaw should clean up the workspace directory when an implicitly-created session ends. Options:

1. Session-scoped cleanup: When an implicitly-created session ends (completes, times out, errors), delete its workspace directory
2. Ephemeral workspace path: For implicit sessions, use a temp path (e.g. /tmp/openclaw-<sessionKey>) so cleanup is automatic on reboot
3. Explicit workspace opt-out: Add a workspace: false flag to chat.send for callers that do not need a persistent workspace directory
4. Startup GC: On Gateway startup, remove any workspace-* directories that do not correspond to active sessions

Environment

• OpenClaw 2026.4.15 (041266a)
• macOS / Linux
• Gateway running as user-level service

Priority

Medium — Low functional impact but creates operational overhead, disk waste, and no caller control.