openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix [Bug] CLI fallback constructs MCP config path from cron task prompt string (2026.4.2) [1 participants]

Error: Invalid MCP configuration:
MCP config file not found: /Users/<user>/.openclaw/workspace/[cron:<id> <job-name>] <full task prompt text...>

For jobs with longer prompts, the OS rejects the path entirely:

Error: ENAMETOOLONG: name too long

TL;DR

The most likely fix is to modify the cron job's CLI fallback session initialization to construct the MCP config file path using a valid filesystem path instead of the full task prompt string.

Guidance

• Review the cron session key template to ensure it does not include the full task prompt string, and update it to use a valid filesystem path.
• Verify that the MCP config path is correctly resolved to the actual OpenClaw workspace config directory by checking the ~/.openclaw/workspace directory for the expected config file.
• Consider adding a check to truncate or sanitize the task prompt string to prevent ENAMETOOLONG errors.
• Investigate the code that constructs the MCP config path to determine why it is sharing the same variable or template as the workspace session key.

Example

No code snippet is provided as the issue does not include specific code details.

Notes

The fix may require updates to the OpenClaw configuration or the cron job setup, and may involve modifying the session key template or the code that constructs the MCP config path.

Recommendation

Apply a workaround by modifying the cron job's CLI fallback session initialization to use a hardcoded or dynamically generated valid filesystem path for the MCP config file, until a permanent fix can be implemented.