openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix [Bug]: Telegram /verbose no longer streams thinking/tool progress into preview on 2026.5.4 [1 comments, 2 participants]

Summary

After upgrading to OpenClaw 2026.5.4 (325df3e), Telegram /verbose on no longer produces the live thinking/tool/progress preview that used to update while a turn was running. The final assistant reply still arrives, and the native Telegram "typing" indicator is visible, but the in-chat editable preview is either absent or stays static.

This looks like a regression in the Telegram preview/progress event path rather than a Telegram delivery failure.

Environment

• OpenClaw: 2026.5.4 (325df3e)
• Channel: Telegram supergroup forum topic
• Telegram transport: long polling, channel status healthy, lastError: null
• Session: /verbose on confirmed by the bot
• Channel streaming config tested with:
  • channels.telegram.streaming.mode = "partial"
  • channels.telegram.streaming.mode = "progress" (maps to Telegram preview/progress behavior)
  • streaming.preview.toolProgress not set to false
• Runtime/model in the affected session: Codex harness / openai-codex with gpt-5.5

Expected behavior

With /verbose on and Telegram preview streaming enabled, OpenClaw should keep one live preview message updated while the agent runs, including thinking/tool/progress lines.

That matches the current docs:

• Streaming docs say Telegram uses sendMessage + editMessageText preview updates, and tool-progress updates should appear in the same live preview while tools run.
• Telegram docs say channels.telegram.streaming supports off | partial | block | progress, progress keeps one editable status draft, and streaming.preview.toolProgress defaults to enabled when preview streaming is active.
• The docs also state Telegram has shipped tool-progress preview updates enabled since v2026.4.22.

Actual behavior

On 2026.5.4, the visible behavior is:

1. /verbose on returns "Verbose logging enabled."
2. Slow/tool-like prompts show only the Telegram native "typing" indicator.
3. The old editable preview containing Thinking, Working, tool calls, etc. does not update while the turn is running.
4. The final assistant reply is delivered normally.

I also tested a local workaround that forces an initial Telegram draft preview. With that patch, Telegram can create the bubble (Thinking... preparing response), but the bubble still does not receive the native progress/tool/thinking updates during the turn. That suggests basic Telegram send/edit works; the missing piece is the OpenClaw progress/partial events feeding the Telegram preview.

Reproduction

1. Configure Telegram with preview streaming active:

   {
     "channels": {
       "telegram": {
         "streaming": {
           "mode": "partial"
         }
       }
     }
   }

2. Start/restart the gateway.

3. In a Telegram supergroup topic, run /verbose on.

4. Ask for a slow/tool-heavy turn, for example one that should run a shell command or perform multi-step work.

5. Observe the Telegram chat during the run.

Expected: one preview/status message updates with thinking/tool/progress lines before the final reply.

Actual: only native typing is visible, or a static initial preview if locally forced; no live thinking/tool/progress updates arrive before the final reply.

Local diagnostics

• Gateway health is OK.
• Telegram channel is running/polling with no current channel error.
• /verbose on is persisted for the session.
• Refreshing the plugin registry and restarting the gateway fixed earlier harness-registration errors, but did not restore live preview updates.
• Some slow-prompt tests produced only a final assistant message in the session log and no toolCall entries, despite prompts asking for a shell sleep. That may be a separate harness/tool exposure issue, but the Telegram preview also fails to update for turns where a progress/status preview should remain active.
• A local initial-preview/ticker workaround can update the same Telegram message, which points away from a Telegram API permission problem and toward missing/suppressed progress events in the normal runtime path.

Related issues/PRs that look adjacent but not the same

• #76869 / #76914: CLI backend assistant deltas not bridged into channel preview. This seems relevant to final/text partials, but the current symptom persists as missing verbose/progress updates in Telegram.
• #72497 / #71825: tool calls invisible in Telegram when preview streaming is off. This install has preview streaming enabled.
• #73487: selected quote replies can suppress Telegram preview tool progress. This reproduction is in a normal topic message flow with replyToMode effectively off/no selected quote path.
• #73795: toolProgress config stripped without streaming.mode.
• #77267, #77401, #77727: noisy/slow/ordering issues around Telegram partial streaming and progress.

Question

Was there a config/behavior change in 2026.5.2 or 2026.5.4 that intentionally changed Telegram /verbose preview/progress behavior?

If not, could the Telegram verbose/progress preview path be restored so /verbose on again shows live thinking/tool/progress updates instead of only Telegram typing plus a final answer?