openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix [Bug] openclaw agents list fails with unresolved SecretRef on non-default install [1 comments, 2 participants]

Summary

openclaw agents list fails with an unresolved SecretRef error when the CLI is invoked inside a container where channels.telegram.botToken references an env var that is not yet resolved against the active gateway snapshot.

Error message

[openclaw] Failed to start CLI: Error: channels.telegram.botToken: unresolved SecretRef "env:default:OPENCLAW_TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN".
  Resolve this command against an active gateway runtime snapshot before reading it.
    at assertSecretInputResolved (types.secrets-*.js:61:8)
    at normalizeResolvedSecretInputString (types.secrets-*.js:66:2)
    at resolveTelegramToken (token-*.js:63:22)
    ...
    at agentsListCommand (agents-*.js:861:31)

Reproduction

1. Start an OpenClaw container whose openclaw.json has channels.telegram.botToken: "{{env:default:OPENCLAW_TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN}}" (SecretRef form).
2. The env var IS set on the container (confirmed via env | grep OPENCLAW_TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN).
3. Run openclaw agents list inside the container.
4. Observe: CLI exits 1 with unresolved SecretRef error even though the secret is present.

Expected behaviour

openclaw agents list should not require the telegram token to be resolved — it's only needed if the agent list output includes channel health columns. Either:

• Skip telegram resolution for commands that don't need it, OR
• Fall back to env var resolution when the gateway snapshot is unavailable.

Affected installations

Confirmed on an OpenClaw 2026.4.12+ install using a custom OPENCLAW_CONFIG_PATH (Odo Nord deployment). Agent invocation (openclaw agent --agent X) still works — only the agents list listing command is gated.

Impact

Operators cannot use openclaw agents list to inspect configured agents in non-default installs. Workaround: parse openclaw.json manually with jq.

Source

Discovered during Phase 4 cross-installation audit of 4 OpenClaw deployments (host, neba, neba-mkt, odonorth), 2026-04-18.