Summary

The Clear chat history button in the control UI appears to do nothing — clicking it leaves old messages visible. Clicking Reset works correctly.

Root Cause

In dist/control-ui/assets/index-D0pCc5YA.js, the ap() function handles the /clear slash command:

async function ap(e) {
  if (!(!e.client || !e.connected)) {
    try {
      await e.client.request(`sessions.reset`, { key: e.sessionKey }),
      e.chatMessages = [],
      e.chatSideResult = null,
      e.chatSideResultTerminalRuns?.clear(),
      e.chatStream = null,
      e.chatRunId = null,
      await bf(e)   // ← THIS IS THE BUG
    } catch (t) { e.lastError = String(t) }
    Gr(e)
  }
}

After sessions.reset resolves, bf(e) immediately calls chat.history. Because the server's session file transition isn't fully flushed at that point, chat.history returns the just-archived session's messages — which get written back into chatMessages. The local e.chatMessages = [] is effectively overwritten with the old history. Net result: the UI clears for a frame, then old messages reload.

The commands.log confirms the bug: clear button clicks appear as "source": "gateway:sessions.reset", "senderId": "unknown" (three entries at 04:25, 04:26, 04:32 UTC today) — the server-side reset is succeeding, but the UI race undoes it visually.

Secondary Issue

Unlike the Reset button (which routes through sessions.send('/reset') and gets proper sender attribution: source: "webchat", senderId: "openclaw-control-ui"), the Clear button calls sessions.reset directly without sender context. This makes log-based debugging confusing.

Fix

Remove await bf(e) from ap(). The local state (chatMessages, chatStream, etc.) is already zeroed; the subscription mechanism handles any needed history refresh on next interaction.

async function ap(e) {
  if (!(!e.client || !e.connected)) {
    try {
      await e.client.request(`sessions.reset`, { key: e.sessionKey }),
      e.chatMessages = [],
      e.chatSideResult = null,
      e.chatSideResultTerminalRuns?.clear(),
      e.chatStream = null,
      e.chatRunId = null
      // bf(e) removed — was causing stale history to reload
    } catch (t) { e.lastError = String(t) }
    Gr(e)
  }
}

Optionally, also route clear through sessions.send('/clear') to match the Reset button's pattern and restore proper sender attribution in the command log.

Version

2026.4.11

Steps to Reproduce

1. Open control UI, have an active chat session with messages
2. Click the Clear (trash icon) button
3. Messages remain — UI appears unchanged
4. Click Reset — works correctly