openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix [Bug]: WorkClaw-exec工具执行卡死Bug反馈 [1 participants]

The exec tool hangs indefinitely — the agent enters a loop of "Thinking" → calling exec → "Thinking" without ever receiving a result. No error message is displayed. The user is forced to manually stop/refresh the session.

TL;DR

The issue can be mitigated by investigating the differences in how the exec tool handles command execution compared to PowerShell and cmd.exe, focusing on potential issues with output handling or timeouts.

Guidance

• Review the exec tool's implementation to ensure it properly handles stdout/stderr output from the executed command, especially for commands that produce large output like PDF text extraction.
• Compare the execution environment and parameters used by the exec tool with those of PowerShell and cmd.exe to identify any discrepancies that could cause the hanging behavior.
• Investigate the OpenClaw gateway logs further to understand why the response from the model is not being delivered back to the agent, checking for any signs of timeouts, connection issues, or data corruption.
• Test the exec tool with simpler commands to see if the issue is specific to the uv run python command or if it's a more general problem with command execution.

Example

No specific code example can be provided without more details on the exec tool's implementation, but a simple test script to execute a command and print its output could help isolate the issue:

import subprocess

def execute_command(command):
    try:
        output = subprocess.check_output(command, shell=True)
        print(output.decode('utf-8'))
    except subprocess.CalledProcessError as e:
        print(f"Command failed with return code {e.returncode}")

# Example usage
command = "uv run python read_file.py some-file.pdf"
execute_command(command)

Notes

The exact cause of the issue is unclear without more information about the exec tool's implementation and the specific environment in which it's running. The fact that the same command works in PowerShell and cmd.exe suggests an issue specific to the exec tool or its interaction with the OpenClaw gateway.

Recommendation

Apply workaround: Given the information provided, it seems prudent to apply a workaround rather than waiting for a potential fix, such as using an alternative method for executing commands that does not hang, or implementing a timeout mechanism to prevent indefinite hanging.