Bug Description

envelopeTimestamp: "on" is configured but the model never sees the timestamp envelope on inbound messages. The agent is time-blind — cannot determine when messages were sent without calling session_status.

Expected Behavior

Per docs, with envelopeTimestamp: "on", inbound messages should be wrapped:

[WhatsApp +1555 2026-01-18 00:19 PST] hello

Actual Behavior

Messages arrive as raw text with no envelope prefix. The envelope IS applied to ctx.Body, but never reaches the model.

Root Cause

In initSessionState, BodyStripped is computed with this priority:

BodyStripped: normalizeInboundTextNewlines(
    bodyStripped ?? ctx.BodyForAgent ?? ctx.Body ?? ...
),

• ctx.Body = message WITH envelope timestamp ✅
• ctx.BodyForAgent = raw message body, NO envelope ❌
• BodyForAgent takes precedence over Body in the fallback chain
• Downstream, baseBody = sessionCtx.BodyStripped ?? sessionCtx.Body — so BodyStripped (without envelope) always wins

The envelope is correctly applied by formatInboundEnvelope() and assigned to Body, but initSessionState bypasses it by preferring BodyForAgent.

Affects

All channels (WhatsApp, Slack, Signal, iMessage, Discord, Telegram, LINE) — not WhatsApp-specific.

Suggested Fix

Swap the priority in initSessionState:

// Before (broken):
BodyStripped: normalizeInboundTextNewlines(bodyStripped ?? ctx.BodyForAgent ?? ctx.Body ?? ...),

// After (fixed):
BodyStripped: normalizeInboundTextNewlines(bodyStripped ?? ctx.Body ?? ctx.BodyForAgent ?? ...),

This ensures the envelope-wrapped Body is used when available, falling back to BodyForAgent only when Body is not set.

Config

{
  "agents": {
    "defaults": {
      "envelopeTimestamp": "on"
    }
  }
}

Environment

• OpenClaw 2026.3.2
• macOS (arm64)
• WhatsApp channel (but affects all channels)