openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix [Bug]: isolated cron agentTurn ignores toolsAllow for exec/bash and exposes only message [1 comments, 2 participants]

Bug type

Behavior bug (incorrect output/state without crash)

Beta release blocker

No

Summary

On OpenClaw 2026.5.18, an isolated cron agentTurn job with payload.toolsAllow set to exec/bash starts with only the message tool available, so the agent cannot run the requested local shell command.

Steps to reproduce

1. Start OpenClaw 2026.5.18.
2. Create or use a cron job with sessionTarget: "isolated" and payload.kind: "agentTurn".
3. Set payload.toolsAllow to include exec; a second forced test also included both exec and bash.
4. Use a prompt that asks the isolated cron agent to run a local command with the allowed shell tool.
5. Force-run the cron job.
6. Inspect the generated session trajectory and cron run summary.

Expected behavior

The isolated cron agentTurn session should expose the shell tool(s) allowed by payload.toolsAllow, so the agent can execute the requested local command or fail with a real command/tool execution result.

Actual behavior

The isolated cron session starts with toolCount: 1, and the only exposed tool in the compiled prompt is message. The agent then replies that exec or a shell command tool is unavailable. This reproduced on the scheduled run and on two manual forced runs after widening toolsAllow and disabling light context.

OpenClaw version

OpenClaw 2026.5.18 (50a2481)

Operating system

Ubuntu 24.04, Linux 6.17.0-23-generic x86_64

Install method

npm global CLI with local loopback gateway on Linux host

Model

openai-codex/gpt-5.5

Provider / routing chain

OpenClaw cron isolated agentTurn -> openai-codex/gpt-5.5

Additional provider/model setup details

The affected cron job uses sessionTarget: "isolated", payload.kind: "agentTurn", payload.model: "openai/gpt-5.5", payload.toolsAllow: ["exec", "bash"], payload.thinking: "off", and payload.lightContext: false after the second repro attempt. The session trajectory records the effective runtime model as openai-codex/gpt-5.5.

Logs, screenshots, and evidence

$ openclaw --version
OpenClaw 2026.5.18 (50a2481)

$ uname -srvmo
Linux 6.17.0-23-generic #23~24.04.1-Ubuntu SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Tue Apr 14 16:11:48 UTC 2 x86_64 GNU/Linux

$ openclaw gateway status --require-rpc
CLI version: 2026.5.18
Gateway version: 2026.5.18
Read probe: ok
Listening: 127.0.0.1:18789

Cron job configuration after attempted workaround:
{
  "sessionTarget": "isolated",
  "payload": {
    "kind": "agentTurn",
    "model": "openai/gpt-5.5",
    "toolsAllow": ["exec", "bash"],
    "thinking": "off",
    "lightContext": false,
    "timeoutSeconds": 45
  }
}

Direct command outside cron succeeds, so the checker command itself is not the failing component:
$ python3 ./scripts/check-discord-context.py --threshold 80 --watch-threshold 60 --transcript-threshold-mb 20 --transcript-watch-threshold-mb 12 --max-watch 2; echo $?
0

Observed isolated cron sessions:
run=a81085af-2c2b-4f2b-808b-34df6c26030a ts=2026-05-19T03:02:41.345Z sessionKey=agent:main:cron:<job-id>:run:a81085af-2c2b-4f2b-808b-34df6c26030a toolCount=1 model=openai-codex/gpt-5.5
assistantTexts=["Unexpected failure: exec tool is not available in this session."]

run=e9c42ee8-b4f7-482e-840f-de8ce7479670 ts=2026-05-19T03:05:13.895Z sessionKey=agent:main:cron:<job-id>:run:e9c42ee8-b4f7-482e-840f-de8ce7479670 toolCount=1 model=openai-codex/gpt-5.5
assistantTexts=["Unexpected failure: shell command tool is not available, so the local checker command could not be run."]

run=655255b5-e678-423b-9b40-d2cf62594c46 ts=2026-05-19T03:06:04.757Z sessionKey=agent:main:cron:<job-id>:run:655255b5-e678-423b-9b40-d2cf62594c46 toolCount=1 model=openai-codex/gpt-5.5
assistantTexts=["Unexpected failure: shell command tool is not available in this session."]

Cron run summaries show these runs completed as status ok and delivered the failure text, even though the requested tool was not exposed:
- 2026-05-19T03:02Z: Unexpected failure: exec tool is not available in this session.
- 2026-05-19T03:05Z: Unexpected failure: shell command tool is not available, so the local checker command could not be run.
- 2026-05-19T03:06Z: Unexpected failure: shell command tool is not available in this session.

Impact and severity

Affected: Isolated cron agentTurn jobs that depend on local shell tools via payload.toolsAllow. Severity: Medium to high for monitoring/automation jobs, because scheduled checks can report false failures or become unable to perform their intended work. Frequency: 3/3 observed runs on OpenClaw 2026.5.18 after the issue appeared. Consequence: A local monitor that previously ran through cron had to be disabled to stop false Discord failure alerts; direct execution of the underlying command still succeeds.

Additional information

No exact duplicate was found when searching issues for cron toolsAllow exec bash isolated agentTurn message tool unavailable and "exec tool is not available" cron before filing.

Temporary workaround: disable the affected isolated cron job or move the check to a non-agent scheduler that directly runs the command and sends alerts. Widening toolsAllow from exec to exec + bash and setting lightContext: false did not restore shell tool availability in the isolated cron session.