openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix [Bug]: gemini-3-flash-preview cron sessions still downgrade thinkingDefault "low" to "off" on 2026.5.19 — interactive path fixed but cron path remains broken

Bug type

Behavior bug (incorrect output/state without crash)

Beta release blocker

No

Summary

On OpenClaw 2026.5.19, agents.defaults.thinkingDefault: "low" is still silently downgraded to "off" in cron sessions for google/gemini-3-flash-preview. The interactive session path appears fixed in 5.19, but the cron session path continues to emit the same WARN and downgrade on every scheduled run.

Steps to reproduce

Cron session path (still broken on 5.19):

Set agents.defaults.thinkingDefault: "low" in openclaw.json Set agents.defaults.model.primary to google/gemini-3-flash-preview Start the gateway via systemctl --user start openclaw-gateway Wait for any scheduled cron job to fire Check /tmp/openclaw/openclaw-<date>.log → observe WARN: Thinking level "low" is not supported for google/gemini-3-flash-preview; downgrading to "off"

Interactive session path (fixed on 5.19):

Same config as above Run /status → observe Think: low Issue /think medium → rejected with Use one of: off Run /status again → Think: low (correctly preserved, unlike 5.18)

Expected behavior

thinkingDefault: "low" should be honored in cron sessions. The interactive session fix in 5.19 confirms the level is valid for this model — the cron session path should use the same provider profile.

Actual behavior

Every cron run on 5.19 still emits: Thinking level "low" is not supported for google/gemini-3-flash-preview; downgrading to "off".

OpenClaw version

2026.5.19 (a185ca2)

Operating system

Rocky Linux, Node.js v24.14.1

Install method

npm global, systemd user service

Model

google/gemini-3-flash-preview

Provider / routing chain

OpenClaw gateway → google

Additional provider/model setup details

{ "agents": { "defaults": { "thinkingDefault": "low", "model": { "primary": "google/gemini-3-flash-preview", "fallbacks": [ "google/gemini-3.1-flash-lite-preview", "google/gemini-2.5-flash", "google/gemini-3.1-pro-preview" ] } } } }

Logs, screenshots, and evidence

Cron session WARN on 2026.5.19 (from /tmp/openclaw/openclaw-2026-05-22.log):
json{"message":"[cron:763edefb-89bc-4096-aa27-d76a1edb9eb6] Thinking level \"low\" is not supported for google/gemini-3-flash-preview; downgrading to \"off\".","logLevelName":"WARN","time":"2026-05-22T08:31:06.447+08:00"}
Interactive session on 2026.5.19 (from /tmp/openclaw/openclaw-2026-05-21.log):
json{"message":"agent model: google/gemini-3-flash-preview (thinking=low, fast=off)","logLevelName":"INFO","time":"2026-05-21T19:57:02.597+08:00"}
{"message":"agent model: google/gemini-3-flash-preview (thinking=low, fast=off)","logLevelName":"INFO","time":"2026-05-21T19:58:49.947+08:00"}
Note: 5.18 gateway used subsystem-LmgZvqF7.js, 5.19 uses subsystem-C-H8Q21Y.js. The interactive session logs above are confirmed 5.19 based on the subsystem filename. No WARN appears in the interactive path — confirming the asymmetry between cron and interactive session handling.

Impact and severity

Affected: all users with thinkingDefault: "low" on google/gemini-3-flash-preview running scheduled cron jobs Severity: High — every cron run silently ignores the configured thinking level, affecting scheduled tasks such as morning briefings, background processing, and any agent automation Frequency: 100% reproducible on every cron run

Additional information

Context from #84914 This issue was previously reported as #84914, which was closed by ClawSweeper as "already implemented" citing 5.19 as the fix. However, live testing on 5.19 confirms the fix is incomplete — the interactive session path is fixed but the cron session path is not. Asymmetry between interactive and cron paths

Interactive session on 5.19: /think medium rejected but existing low is preserved ✅ Cron session on 5.19: WARN emitted and low downgraded to off on every run ❌

This suggests the fix in 5.19 (extensions/google/provider-hooks.ts, commit c4f14a39a520) updated the interactive session thinking validator but did not propagate the same provider profile to the cron session path (src/cron/isolated-agent/run.ts).

Workaround None currently. Setting thinkingDefault: "off" stops the WARN but disables thinking entirely for all sessions including interactive.