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openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix [Bug]: sessions_send payload replaced by announce-step placeholder; inter-agent escalation silently fails [1 participants]

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openclaw/openclaw#68671•Fetched 2026-04-19 15:08:48
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sessions_send reports success and the target session receives a message, but the actual payload is replaced by the internal placeholder Agent-to-agent announce step. — making inter-agent escalation appear to work while delivering nothing actionable.

Error Message

Target session receives only the announce-step placeholder. The real handoff content is silently dropped. sessions_send return value reports success, so there is no error signal to the caller.

Root Cause

This is worse than simple visibility failure. The transport appears successful, the target session has a record of receiving a message, but the target agent receives no actionable content. Inter-agent escalation silently fails with a false success signal.

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Summary

sessions_send reports success and the target session receives a message, but the actual payload is replaced by the internal placeholder Agent-to-agent announce step. — making inter-agent escalation appear to work while delivering nothing actionable.

Environment

  • Linux, custom systemd gateway unit
  • Secrets loaded via SOPS wrapper (openclaw-env) before gateway start
  • OpenClaw version: current (2026.4.x)

Steps to Reproduce

  1. Send a substantive escalation payload from one agent session to another via sessions_send
  2. Check target session history
  3. Observe: message is present with kind: inter_session, sourceTool: sessions_send
  4. Observe: message content is only Agent-to-agent announce step. — original payload is gone

Expected Behavior

The full sessions_send message body arrives intact in the target session. Internal announce/placeholder machinery does not replace or degrade the payload.

Actual Behavior

Target session receives only the announce-step placeholder. The real handoff content is silently dropped. sessions_send return value reports success, so there is no error signal to the caller.

Why This Matters

This is worse than simple visibility failure. The transport appears successful, the target session has a record of receiving a message, but the target agent receives no actionable content. Inter-agent escalation silently fails with a false success signal.

Evidence

  • Target session history entry:
    • kind: inter_session
    • sourceTool: sessions_send
    • content: Agent-to-agent announce step.
  • Substantive escalation payload confirmed sent, not reflected in target history

Related Issues

  • #7463 (closed) — sessions_send announce step undisableable; #7463 is locked so unable to comment there
  • #42725 — Discord subagent incomplete deliveryContext / ANNOUNCE_SKIP
  • #43848 — sessions_send delivery/transcript pollution

extent analysis

TL;DR

Review the sessions_send implementation and related issues to identify why the internal placeholder Agent-to-agent announce step. is replacing the actual payload.

Guidance

  • Investigate the relationship between the sessions_send function and the internal announce/placeholder machinery to determine why the payload is being replaced.
  • Check the code for any conditions or flags that might be causing the Agent-to-agent announce step. placeholder to be used instead of the actual payload.
  • Examine the related issues (#7463, #42725, #43848) to see if they provide any clues about the cause of the problem or potential workarounds.
  • Verify that the substantive escalation payload is being sent correctly and that the issue is not with the sending process, but rather with the receiving or processing of the message.

Example

No specific code snippet can be provided without more information about the implementation of sessions_send and the related issues.

Notes

The issue seems to be related to the internal implementation of sessions_send and how it handles the payload and the announce/placeholder machinery. Without more information about the code and the specific conditions that are causing the issue, it is difficult to provide a more specific solution.

Recommendation

Apply a workaround by reviewing the related issues and implementing a fix based on the findings, as upgrading to a fixed version is not mentioned as an option in the issue.

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openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix [Bug]: sessions_send payload replaced by announce-step placeholder; inter-agent escalation silently fails [1 participants]