openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix Bug: write tool returns success but file not created [1 comments, 2 participants]

Bug Description

The write tool returns a success message but the file is not actually created on the filesystem.

Environment

• OpenClaw Version: 2026.5.12 (f066dd2)
• Node Version: v22.22.0
• OS: macOS 11 (Big Sur) - Darwin 20.6.0 (x64)
• Shell: zsh

Steps to Reproduce

1. Call the write tool with a file path and content
2. Tool returns: Successfully wrote X bytes to /path/to/file
3. Check if file exists with ls or read tool
4. File does not exist

Expected Behavior

File should be created at the specified path with the provided content.

Actual Behavior

Tool returns success message but file is not created.

Example

# Tool call
write(path="/Users/liantian/.openclaw/workspace/test.md", content="test content")

# Tool result
Successfully wrote 12 bytes to /Users/liantian/.openclaw/workspace/test.md

# Verification
ls /Users/liantian/.openclaw/workspace/test.md
# Result: No such file or directory

Workaround

Using exec with cat or echo works correctly:

exec(command="cat > /path/to/file << 'EOF'\ncontent\nEOF")

Impact

• High: Can cause task loss when AI agent believes file was written
• Causes confusion and potential data loss
• Undermines trust in tool reliability

Additional Context

This was discovered during a multi-agent workflow where Friday (main agent) was communicating with Jarvis (sub-agent) via file-based message passing. The write tool appeared to succeed multiple times but files were never created, causing communication breakdown.

Suggested Fix

1. Verify file creation before returning success
2. Add filesystem sync/flush after write
3. Return actual error if write fails