openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix [Bug] image_generate MEDIA paths not delivered to Telegram chat [1 comments, 2 participants]

Bug Description

image_generate tool successfully generates images and returns valid MEDIA:/path/... paths, but the generated images are NOT delivered to Telegram chats. Text responses work fine. Direct Telegram Bot API calls successfully send photos.

Environment

• OpenClaw: 2026.5.2 (8b2a6e5)
• Channel: Telegram (both default and lydia accounts)
• Install: global npm package under /usr/lib/node_modules/openclaw
• Node: v22.22.2
• OS: Linux (Hostinger VPS)

Observed Behavior

1. image_generate returns MEDIA:/root/.openclaw/media/tool-image-generation/image-1---xxx.png
2. File exists: ls -la confirms valid PNG files (200KB-2MB)
3. Direct Telegram API calls (curl/Python) successfully send these same images to the same chat
4. OpenClaw gateway does NOT send the images to Telegram
5. Text responses are delivered correctly

Evidence

Direct API call works perfectly:

# Send photo via Bot API -> ✅ returns message_id

Tested Workaround

Calling the Telegram Bot API directly via Python/urllib works perfectly. The issue is in OpenClaw's media delivery layer, not the Telegram API or bot token.

Possible Related Issues

• #75683 (image_generate output not accessible from sandbox workspace)
• #75166 (image/video provider inventory leaks - fixed in #75550)
• The media delivery path for generated images vs user-uploaded files may have diverged

Expected

Generated images should appear in Telegram chat alongside or instead of the MEDIA: path text.

Suggested Investigation

Check if the media delivery path for Telegram attachments has changed in 2026.5.x, or if there is a regression in the sendPhoto handling for generated tool outputs vs user-uploaded files. The delivery may be silently failing or the MEDIA path may not be getting converted to a file handle correctly.