openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix [Bug]: Inbound DM creates new isolated session that inherits a closed cron run's sessionKey, causing the cron task to re-execute [1 comments, 2 participants]

Bug type

Behavior bug (incorrect output/state without crash)

Beta release blocker

No

Summary

After a sessionTarget=isolated cron job finishes, an inbound DM that arrives within ~1 minute is materialized as a brand-new isolated session whose sessionKey is the just-closed cron's run key (agent:<id>:cron:<jobId>:run:<runId>); the new session interprets the DM under the closed cron's "Your Role" task and re-executes it, causing duplicate side effects (in our case, a duplicate monthly report email).

Steps to reproduce

1. Start OpenClaw 2026.4.27 with session.dmScope: "main", a single-owner Telegram allowlist, and a non-default agent (agentId: youtube) configured.
2. Configure an isolated cron job for that agent (payload.kind: agentTurn, sessionTarget: isolated, payload.model: claude-sonnet-4-6) whose payload.message contains a substantive task in a "# Tarea / Your Role" block — e.g. a monthly analytics report that ends by sending an email.
3. Let the cron fire and finish normally. Confirm the run closes (session.ended in the trajectory) and the side effect (e.g. report email) is delivered.
4. Within ~1 minute of the run closing, send any inbound DM from the parent agent's main session that, under dmScope=main, would normally route to agent:main:main (in our case a one-line "Buenas noches, Juli." emitted automatically from a different cron a few seconds later).
5. Inspect ~/.openclaw/agents/<agentId>/sessions/ for new *.trajectory.jsonl files created in that minute.

Expected behavior

The inbound DM lands in agent:main:main (per dmScope=main). No new session is created in agents/<other-agentId>/sessions/. Closed cron run sessionKeys are not reusable as targets for inbound user messages. The cron task does not re-execute.

Actual behavior

A brand-new session file is created under the cron's agent (agents/youtube/sessions/<new-uuid>.jsonl + matching .trajectory.jsonl). Its session.started event has:

• sessionId: a fresh UUID (different from the closed run).
• runId: a fresh UUID.
• sessionKey: literally agent:youtube:cron:<jobId>:run:<closed-runId> — i.e. the closed cron run's key, reused.
• data.trigger: "user", data.messageChannel: "webchat".
• spawnedBy: null, requesterSessionKey: null.
• data.toolCount: 20 (the cron's tool profile, not the parent main's profile).
• The compiled system prompt contains the cron's full "Your Role" / "# Tarea" block verbatim.

The DM text is delivered as the prompt.submitted payload to that fresh session. The model interprets the combination (inbound user text + cron task in system prompt) as a re-trigger of the cron task and re-executes it (in our case re-sending the monthly report email to the user).

The same pattern shows up across multiple agents and crons over a 5-day window — see "Logs and evidence".

OpenClaw version

2026.4.27

Operating system

Ubuntu 24.04 (arm64) — Oracle Cloud VPS

Install method

npm global

Model

anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6 (cron payload). Inbound DM that triggered the reuse came from a different agent running anthropic/claude-opus-4-7.

Provider / routing chain

openclaw -> anthropic (direct)

Additional provider/model setup details

• Two agents on the same gateway: main (Opus 4.7) and youtube (Sonnet 4.6, separate workspace ~/.openclaw/workspace-youtube/).
• Top-level session.dmScope: "main", single-owner Telegram allowlist (one user id).
• The cron is agentId: youtube, sessionTarget: isolated, schedule.kind: cron, payload.kind: agentTurn, delivery.mode: announce, delivery.channel: telegram.
• Cross-agent message delivery from main to youtube was triggered from the main session via the runtime's normal DM path (not via sessions_send); the messageChannel: webchat on the new session is what the runtime recorded.

Logs, screenshots, and evidence

=== 1. Closed cron run ===
File: ~/.openclaw/agents/youtube/sessions/703dd922-dde2-4f32-8ef7-b51d204cf606.trajectory.jsonl
session.started ts: 2026-05-01T05:00:13.228Z
sessionKey: agent:youtube:cron:b5e2cfe3-78ef-43cc-9b06-8501f762d1fd:run:703dd922-dde2-4f32-8ef7-b51d204cf606
runId: 703dd922-dde2-4f32-8ef7-b51d204cf606
data.trigger: "cron"
session.ended (closed normally): 2026-05-01T05:08:25.609Z  -- email delivered, summary OK

=== 2. New session created 53 seconds later, reusing the closed run's sessionKey ===
File: ~/.openclaw/agents/youtube/sessions/cac575da-2edc-4871-a8ad-0f8b29d0dccf.trajectory.jsonl
session.started ts: 2026-05-01T05:09:18.450Z
sessionId:  cac575da-2edc-4871-a8ad-0f8b29d0dccf  <-- NEW
runId:      1fdaa485-1669-4b24-be55-c0ec7de46619  <-- NEW
sessionKey: agent:youtube:cron:b5e2cfe3-78ef-43cc-9b06-8501f762d1fd:run:703dd922-dde2-4f32-8ef7-b51d204cf606  <-- REUSED FROM CLOSED RUN
data.trigger: "user"
data.messageChannel: "webchat"
data.toolCount: 20
data.workspaceDir: /home/ubuntu/.openclaw/workspace-youtube

prompt.submitted text:
  "[Fri 2026-05-01 07:08 GMT+2] Buenas noches, Juli. Que descanses 👁️"

systemPrompt -> "Your Role" block (excerpt): contains the full cron task verbatim:
  "# Tarea: Informe Mensual Analytics — Mayo 2026
   **Trigger:** Cron día 1 de mayo (7:00 CEST). Ejecutar SO-7 completo.
   ..."

Result: the model re-executed the monthly report, sending a duplicate email to
the user (Gmail Message-ID <[email protected]> at
07:10 CEST, ~10 min after the original 07:00 CEST report).

=== 3. Pattern is not isolated ===
A grep over the last 30 days of trajectories
  (filter: session.started.sessionKey contains ":cron:<uuid>:run:<uuid>"
   AND data.trigger == "user")
returned 12 matches across both agents (main and youtube) and 7 distinct cron job IDs:

  2026-05-01T03:05  agent:main:cron:36ed96ea:run:4301eba2     trigger=user
  2026-05-01T05:09  agent:youtube:cron:b5e2cfe3:run:703dd922  trigger=user   <-- duplicate email
  2026-05-01T05:31  agent:main:cron:74768b89:run:577da363     trigger=user
  2026-05-01T08:04  agent:main:cron:c89b99e9:run:81ea4e14     trigger=user
  2026-05-01T16:10  agent:youtube:cron:9fc2ec57:run:283bf2e6  trigger=user
  2026-05-01T19:51  agent:main:cron:33a23856:run:22fb867c     trigger=user
  2026-05-03T05:31  agent:main:cron:74768b89:run:36058d36     trigger=user
  2026-05-04T05:11  agent:youtube:cron:9fc2ec57:run:0a524142  trigger=user
  2026-05-04T05:31  agent:main:cron:74768b89:run:66e9bc58     trigger=user
  2026-05-04T06:01  agent:main:cron:0954482f:run:8224e358     trigger=user
  2026-05-05T03:04  agent:main:cron:36ed96ea:run:253acfb7     trigger=user
  2026-05-05T05:31  agent:main:cron:74768b89:run:27e8e524     trigger=user

Most of these resolved to NO_REPLY (the model recognized the mismatch); one
(2026-05-01 05:09) re-executed a side-effecting task and produced the duplicate
email described above.

Impact and severity

• Affected: OpenClaw operators running 2+ agents with isolated cron jobs and dmScope=main. Both agent:main and a separate agent:youtube were affected on the same install.
• Severity: Medium-high. Mostly silent (NO_REPLY), but on tasks with external side effects (email send, posting to a third-party API) it causes duplicates. We observed one duplicate monthly-report email delivered to the end user.
• Frequency: 12 occurrences observed across 5 days on a single install with 7 distinct cron jobs, so it is not a one-off; it triggers whenever a DM lands wi ...(truncated)...

Additional information

No response