openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix [Feature]: Feature Request: Agent Intermediate Acknowledgment

Summary

Feature Request: Agent Intermediate Acknowledgment (中间确认消息)

Problem to solve

Problem

When a user sends a task to the agent, there's no way for the agent to acknowledge receipt before completing the work. The entire response (acknowledgment + processing results) is delivered as a single message after all tool calls finish.

This creates a poor UX:

• User sends task → silence for 30s-2min while agent processes → response appears
• User can't tell if the message was received, lost, or the agent is still working
• Multiple queued messages result in a burst of responses, confusing the user

Proposed solution

Proposed Solution

Support intermediate message delivery during an agent turn:

1. Agent receives message → immediately sends a lightweight acknowledgment (e.g., "收到，处理中 ⚡")
2. Agent continues processing (tool calls, computation)
3. Agent sends the final result

This could be implemented as:

• A new API: agent.ack(message) that flushes a partial response mid-turn
• Or a streaming mode where the agent can emit multiple messages per turn
• Or a config option: agents.defaults.ackOnReceive: true that auto-sends "received" before processing

Alternatives considered

No response

Impact

Impact

• Significantly improves perceived responsiveness
• Reduces anxiety about "did the agent receive my message?"
• Aligns with natural human communication patterns (acknowledge → work → deliver)
• Especially important for long-running tasks (data analysis, report generation)

Evidence/examples

Use Case

User: "分析这份月报数据"
Agent: "收到，处理中 ⚡"          ← immediate (1-2 seconds)
       [processing for 45 seconds]
Agent: "分析完成，结果如下：..."   ← final result

Current Workaround

• User runs openclaw logs --follow in terminal to see real-time gateway logs
• This is not user-friendly for non-technical users

Additional information

No response