Bug type

Behavior bug (incorrect output/state without crash)

Beta release blocker

No

Summary

Issue Title

lightContext: true on heartbeat and cron payloads does not filter workspace files — full bootstrap context always injected

Version

OpenClaw 2026.4.2 (d74a122)

Description

Setting lightContext: true on both:

1. agents.list[].heartbeat.lightContext
2. agents.defaults.heartbeat.lightContext
3. Cron job payload.lightContext

...has no effect. All workspace files (AGENTS.md, SOUL.md, TOOLS.md, IDENTITY.md, USER.md, MEMORY.md) are still injected into the system prompt.

Expected Behavior

• Heartbeat with lightContext: Only HEARTBEAT.md should be injected (per applyContextModeFilter at pi-embedded-BYdcxQ5A.js:342)
• Cron with lightContext: Zero workspace files should be injected (per pi-embedded-BYdcxQ5A.js:343)

Actual Behavior

All workspace files are injected regardless of lightContext setting. System prompt report shows 5+ files totaling ~17k chars of project context.

Root Cause Analysis

Heartbeat path (runtime-BXvktGYG.js)

1. lightContext: true is correctly converted to bootstrapContextMode: "lightweight" (line 1152)
2. Passed to getReplyFromConfig() as opts.bootstrapContextMode
3. BUG: reply-BilMVRVo.js (getReplyFromConfig) never forwards bootstrapContextMode to the agent runner. The property is accepted but silently dropped.
4. resolveBootstrapFilesForRun is called without contextMode, defaults to "full", injects everything.

Cron path (gateway-cli-CWpalJNJ.js)

1. lightContext is correctly converted to bootstrapContextMode: "lightweight" (line 5156)
2. bootstrapContextRunKind: "cron" is also set (line 5157)
3. These ARE passed to the agent runner (pi-embedded-BYdcxQ5A.js:37582-37583)
4. resolveBootstrapContextForRun at line 37573 receives them correctly
5. However, systemPromptReport from actual runs shows 5 files injected — suggesting either:
   • A different code path is used for the initial system prompt (line 31027 does NOT pass contextMode/runKind)
   • Or applyBootstrapHookOverrides is re-adding files after filtering

Evidence

Session entry for cron run with lightContext: true:

{
  "systemPromptReport": {
    "systemPrompt": { "chars": 29707, "projectContextChars": 17460 },
    "injectedWorkspaceFiles": [
      { "name": "AGENTS.md", "injectedChars": 10543 },
      { "name": "SOUL.md", "injectedChars": 1664 },
      { "name": "TOOLS.md", "injectedChars": 850 },
      { "name": "IDENTITY.md", "injectedChars": 319 },
      { "name": "USER.md", "injectedChars": 3241 }
    ]
  }
}

Impact

• Heartbeat runs cost ~$0.07/run on Haiku instead of ~$0.01
• At 48 runs/day: ~$3.40/day wasted on unnecessary context
• Cron jobs that should be lightweight still inject full workspace context

Config

{
  "agents": {
    "list": [{
      "id": "main",
      "heartbeat": {
        "lightContext": true,
        "isolatedSession": true,
        "model": "anthropic/claude-haiku-4-5"
      }
    }],
    "defaults": {
      "heartbeat": {
        "lightContext": true,
        "isolatedSession": true,
        "model": "anthropic/claude-haiku-4-5"
      }
    }
  }
}

Steps to reproduce

Setting lightContext: true on both:

1. agents.list[].heartbeat.lightContext
2. agents.defaults.heartbeat.lightContext
3. Cron job payload.lightContext

...has no effect. All workspace files (AGENTS.md, SOUL.md, TOOLS.md, IDENTITY.md, USER.md, MEMORY.md) are still injected into the system prompt.

Expected behavior

• Heartbeat with lightContext: Only HEARTBEAT.md should be injected (per applyContextModeFilter at pi-embedded-BYdcxQ5A.js:342)
• Cron with lightContext: Zero workspace files should be injected (per pi-embedded-BYdcxQ5A.js:343)

Actual behavior

All workspace files are injected regardless of lightContext setting. System prompt report shows 5+ files totaling ~17k chars of project context.

OpenClaw version

OpenClaw 2026.4.2 (d74a122)

Operating system

macOS Tahoe 26.2

Install method

No response

Model

Anthropic (claude-haiku-4-5 for heartbeat/cron, claude-opus-4-6 for main)

Provider / routing chain

webchat → gateway → agent:main (dmScope: main)

Additional provider/model setup details

No response

Logs, screenshots, and evidence

Impact and severity

No response

Additional information

No response