openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix [Bug]: Control UI / WebChat duplicates one user message into two transcript user messages and two assistant replies [1 comments, 2 participants]

Bug type

Behavior bug (incorrect output/state without crash)

Beta release blocker

No

Summary

Summary

Control UI / WebChat duplicates a single user input into two user messages in the server-side session transcript, and the assistant replies twice.

This is not just a UI rendering duplicate. The duplicate messages are written into the .jsonl session transcript on disk.

Environment

OpenClaw version: OpenClaw 2026.4.24 (cbcfdf6)

OS: Ubuntu Server 24.04 LTS, no GUI

Runtime: Node.js v24.15.0

Install type: native npm install, systemd user service

Gateway service: openclaw-gateway.service

Gateway command:

/srv/openclaw/npm/global/bin/openclaw gateway run --bind loopback --auth token --port 18789

Gateway bind:

127.0.0.1:18789
[::1]:18789

Access path:

Windows Chrome Incognito
-> SSH local port forwarding
-> http://127.0.0.1:18789

Channels:

none configured

Plugins configured:

openai
google
anthropic
memory-core

There is no openclaw chat or interactive foreground process running. The process list only shows openclaw and openclaw-gateway. The systemd unit confirms the Gateway is started with openclaw gateway run --bind loopback --auth token --port 18789.

Expected behavior

When I send one WebChat message, the server-side session transcript should contain one user message and one assistant reply.

Actual behavior

When I send one WebChat message, the Control UI displays two identical user messages and two identical assistant replies.

The server-side transcript also contains two user messages and two assistant replies, so this is not only a front-end rendering issue.

Reproduction steps

1. Start OpenClaw Gateway as a systemd user service.

2. On Windows, open an SSH tunnel to the Ubuntu Gateway host:

   ssh -N -L 127.0.0.1:18789:127.0.0.1:18789 USER@UBUNTU_HOST

3. Open Chrome Incognito.

4. Navigate to a fresh WebChat session:

   http://127.0.0.1:18789/chat?session=agent%3Amain%3Adup-test

5. Send exactly one message:

   duplicate-test-001

6. The UI shows two identical user messages and two identical assistant replies.

7. The server transcript confirms that the duplicate was written to disk.

Evidence

The test string appears in both the normal session JSONL and trajectory JSONL:

/srv/openclaw/state/agents/main/sessions/5e67464b-3df4-451a-b1ae-b0d5861c1707.jsonl
/srv/openclaw/state/agents/main/sessions/5e67464b-3df4-451a-b1ae-b0d5861c1707.trajectory.jsonl

Command output showed:

trajectory.jsonl: 4 hits
normal session .jsonl: 4 hits

The normal .jsonl file contains:

line 5: user message with Sender metadata wrapper:
        Sender (untrusted metadata): openclaw-control-ui ... duplicate-test-001

line 6: assistant reply

line 7: raw user message:
        [Sun 2026-04-26 14:47 UTC] duplicate-test-001

line 8: assistant reply

So one WebChat input appears to be inserted twice:

1. once as a wrapped message with Sender metadata from openclaw-control-ui
2. once as the raw user text

Both messages then receive assistant replies.

Checks already performed

Only one Gateway is listening:

127.0.0.1:18789
[::1]:18789

Only one Gateway service/process is running:

openclaw
openclaw-gateway

No openclaw chat or interactive foreground process was found.

Systemd service command:

ExecStart=/srv/openclaw/npm/global/bin/openclaw gateway run --bind loopback --auth token --port 18789

Channels:

Config path not found: channels

Plugins:

openai
google
anthropic
memory-core

A grep for delivery-mirror returned no hits.

Impact

This causes:

• double user messages in the transcript
• double assistant replies
• possible double API usage/cost
• session context pollution
• possible duplicate tool calls if tools are enabled

Notes

This still reproduces in Chrome Incognito with a fresh session. It does not appear to be caused by browser cache, normal browser extensions, multiple Gateway processes, configured external channels, or an interactive CLI process running beside the Gateway.

Please advise whether this is a known Control UI / WebChat duplicate-send bug, and whether there is a config workaround or a fixed release/channel to test.

Steps to reproduce

NOT_ENOUGH_INFO

Expected behavior

NOT_ENOUGH_INFO

Actual behavior

NOT_ENOUGH_INFO

OpenClaw version

OpenClaw 2026.4.24 (cbcfdf6)

Operating system

Ubuntu Server 24.04 LTS, no GUI

Install method

No response

Model

gpt-5.5

Provider / routing chain

Additional provider/model setup details

No response

Logs, screenshots, and evidence

Impact and severity

Severity (annoying, blocks workflow,

Additional information

No response