openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix [Bug]: Cron job with agentTurn payload fails: TypeError reading 'sourceReplyDeliveryMode'

Bug type

Behavior bug (incorrect output/state without crash)

Beta release blocker

No

Summary

/home/z01/.openclaw/workspace/bug-report-cron-agent-turn-delivery.md

bug-report-cron-agent-turn-delivery.md

Steps to reproduce

Steps to Reproduce

Prerequisites:

• OpenClaw Gateway running
• No chat channels configured (default setup)
• Any model configured

Repro Steps:

1. Create a cron job with agentTurn payload:

openclaw cron add --name "test-job" --schedule "0 9 * * *" --tz "Europe/Berlin" \
  --payload '{"kind":"agentTurn","message":"echo hello"}' \
  --session-target isolated \
  --delivery none

1. Trigger manually:

openclaw cron run --job-id <job-id>

1. Check run result:

openclaw cron runs --job-id <job-id>

Expected: status: "success"

Observed: status: "error", error: TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'sourceReplyDeliveryMode')

Verification:

openclaw cron list
# Observe: consecutiveErrors: >0, lastStatus: "error"

openclaw sessions history --session-key agent:main:cron:<job-id>:run:<run-id>
# Observe: messages: [], bytes: 2

Deterministic: Yes — reproduces 100% of the time across 4 consecutive runs.

Expected behavior

Expected Behavior

Expected Result:

Cron jobs with payload.kind: "agentTurn" and sessionTarget: "isolated" should:

1. Create an isolated agent session
2. Execute the agent turn with the specified message
3. Complete with status "success"
4. Either deliver results (if delivery.mode: "announce") or write outputs to filesystem (if agent task includes file writes)

Grounded Reference:

NOT_ENOUGH_INFO — No prior observed successful run exists for this job. Documentation reference: Cron Jobs

From OpenClaw Cron Tool Documentation:

sessionTarget: "isolated" → Run in an ephemeral isolated session (requires payload.kind="agentTurn")
payload.kind: "agentTurn" → Runs agent with message in isolated session

Expected Session State After Successful Run:

• Session should contain agent messages and tool outputs
• sessions_history should return non-empty message list
• cron action=runs should show status: "success"

Observed vs Expected:

Actual behavior

Observed Result:

Cron jobs with payload.kind: "agentTurn" fail immediately with a TypeError before any agent execution begins.

Evidence:

Job Configuration: Job Run History (from cron action=runs): Session Created (from cron action=runs): Session History (from sessions_history): → Session is empty; agent never executed.

Sender Metadata (from execution context): User-Visible Effect:

Cron job runs fail silently (no error notification delivered) stellenangebote.md remains unchanged ("Warte auf erste Cron-Ausführung...") No agent output, no delivery attempt Attempts to Mitigate:

Changed delivery.mode from announce to none → same error Manual trigger via cron action=run → same error

OpenClaw version

v2026.5.7

Operating system

Zorin OS 18.1 Pro

Install method

npm install -g openclaw@latest

Model

ollama/glm-5:cloud

Provider / routing chain

OpenClaw Gateway → Ollama API → glm-5:cloud

Additional provider/model setup details

Additional Provider/Model Setup Details

Model Configuration:

{
  "models": {
    "mode": "merge",
    "providers": {
      "ollama": {
        "api": "ollama",
        "baseUrl": "http://127.0.0.1:11434",
        "models": [
          {
            "id": "glm-5:cloud",
            "name": "glm-5:cloud",
            "reasoning": true,
            "input": ["text"],
            "cost": {
              "input": 0,
              "output": 0
            }
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}

Agent Defaults:

{
  "agents": {
    "defaults": {
      "model": {
        "primary": "ollama/glm-5:cloud"
      },
      "workspace": "/home/z01/.openclaw/workspace",
      "contextInjection": "continuation-skip",
      "bootstrapMaxChars": 5000,
      "bootstrapTotalMaxChars": 30000
    }
  }
}

Environment:

• No auth-profile rotation configured
• No model fallbacks configured
• Single provider (Ollama local)
• No per-agent overrides

Sender Metadata:

{
  "label": "openclaw-control-ui",
  "id": "openclaw-control-ui"
}

→ Job triggered from OpenClaw Control UI (dashboard at http://127.0.0.1:18789/), not from a chat channel.

Delivery Preview (from cron action=list):

"last -> no route, will fail-closed: Channel is required (no configured channels detected)."

→ No chat channels configured; delivery.mode: announce requires a channel. However, error persists even with delivery.mode: none.

Logs, screenshots, and evidence

Impact and severity

Impact and Severity

Affected Users/Systems:

• Users running cron jobs with payload.kind: "agentTurn" and sessionTarget: "isolated"
• Jobs triggered from OpenClaw Control UI (dashboard) or scheduled cron
• NOT_ENOUGH_INFO: whether sessionTarget: "main" or systemEvent payloads are affected

Severity:

• Blocks workflow – scheduled agent tasks cannot execute
• No data risk (jobs fail before execution)
• No cost impact (no model tokens consumed)

Frequency:

• Always – 100% failure rate observed across 4 job runs (3 scheduled, 1 manual trigger)
• Error is deterministic and reproducible

Consequence:

• Missed scheduled tasks (no job results delivered)
• User must manually run tasks (workaround: execute agent turn directly in main session)
• No notification of failure unless user checks job run history manually

Evidence:

Total runs: 4
Successful: 0
Failed: 4 (100%)
Last error: TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'sourceReplyDeliveryMode')

Additional information

NOT_ENOUGH_INFO