PR #77855: fix(agents): preserve media tools for alsoAllow policies

• Repository: openclaw/openclaw
• Author: trialanderrorstudios
• State: open | merged: False
• Link: https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/pull/77855

Description (problem / solution / changelog)

Summary

• preserve implicit allow-all semantics from tools.alsoAllow-only policies when constructing built-in media generation tools
• keep the default-plugin discovery marker bounded to plugin loading while letting configured image/video/music generation tools become live
• add regression coverage for the issue path and a changelog entry

Fixes #77841.

Real behavior proof

Behavior or issue addressed: tools.alsoAllow without tools.allow should preserve implicit allow-all semantics for built-in media generation tools. The fixed behavior is that configured image_generate, music_generate, and video_generate appear in tools.effective instead of staying catalog-only / Not Live.

Real environment tested: Real local OpenClaw Gateway started from this PR branch on macOS, OpenClaw 2026.5.4 (0a3e57d), with an isolated config under /private/tmp/openclaw-77841-proof-token/state. The config used tools.alsoAllow: ["group:memory"], explicit agents.defaults.*GenerationModel values, and enabled openai/google provider plugins.

Exact steps or command run after this patch: Started a real Gateway, created a real session over Gateway RPC, then called tools.effective for that session:

OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR=/private/tmp/openclaw-77841-proof-token/state \
OPENCLAW_CONFIG_PATH=/private/tmp/openclaw-77841-proof-token/state/openclaw.json \
OPENCLAW_SKIP_CHANNELS=1 OPENCLAW_NO_ONBOARD=1 \
node scripts/run-node.mjs gateway run --port 19041 --bind loopback --auth token --token proof-token --allow-unconfigured --ws-log compact

OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR=/private/tmp/openclaw-77841-proof-token/state \
OPENCLAW_CONFIG_PATH=/private/tmp/openclaw-77841-proof-token/state/openclaw.json \
node scripts/run-node.mjs gateway call sessions.create \
--token proof-token \
--params '{"key":"main","agentId":"main","label":"77841 proof"}' \
--json --timeout 15000

OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR=/private/tmp/openclaw-77841-proof-token/state \
OPENCLAW_CONFIG_PATH=/private/tmp/openclaw-77841-proof-token/state/openclaw.json \
node scripts/run-node.mjs gateway call tools.effective \
--token proof-token \
--params '{"sessionKey":"agent:main:main"}' \
--json --timeout 15000

Evidence after fix: Terminal output from the real Gateway run:

2026-05-05T09:58:20.462-04:00 [gateway] http server listening (10 plugins: acpx, bonjour, browser, device-pair, file-transfer, google, memory-core, openai, phone-control, talk-voice; 1.7s)
2026-05-05T09:58:20.668-04:00 [gateway] ready

Session creation output:

{
  "ok": true,
  "key": "agent:main:main",
  "sessionId": "b21b9865-22b6-4e8d-affa-4202a3bf48b8",
  "runStarted": false
}

Relevant tools.effective excerpts from the live Gateway response:

{
  "id": "image_generate",
  "label": "Image Generation",
  "source": "core"
}

{
  "id": "music_generate",
  "label": "Music Generation",
  "source": "core"
}

{
  "id": "video_generate",
  "label": "Video Generation",
  "source": "core"
}

Observed result after fix: tools.effective included all three configured media generation tools (image_generate, music_generate, and video_generate) as live built-in tools while the config still used tools.alsoAllow: ["group:memory"] without tools.allow.

What was not tested: I did not run a live provider media-generation request; this proof only verifies Gateway tool availability/effective inventory for the reported Not Live regression. Provider auth/readiness and actual image/video/music generation remain covered by their existing provider tests and runtime behavior.

Tests

• pnpm test src/agents/openclaw-tools.media-factory-plan.test.ts
• pnpm test src/agents/openclaw-tools.media-factory-plan.test.ts src/agents/tool-policy.test.ts src/agents/tools-effective-inventory.test.ts src/gateway/tools-invoke-http.test.ts
• pnpm check:changed

Changed files

• CHANGELOG.md (modified, +1/-0)
• src/agents/openclaw-tools.media-factory-plan.test.ts (modified, +38/-0)
• src/agents/openclaw-tools.ts (modified, +20/-1)

PR #77901: fix(tools): keep media tools live with alsoAllow

• Repository: openclaw/openclaw
• Author: yelog
• State: open | merged: False
• Link: https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/pull/77901

Description (problem / solution / changelog)

Summary

• Problem: tools.alsoAllow without tools.allow is treated as implicit allow-all in the main tool policy, but the media tool factory received a reduced allowlist that made image_generate, video_generate, and music_generate look disallowed.
• Why it matters: media generation tools could be catalog-visible but not live/effective even when explicit generation models and provider plugins were configured.
• What changed: the policy extraction now carries a private core-tool allow-all marker for alsoAllow-only policies, and the built-in media factory maps that marker back to * while preserving the existing bounded optional-plugin discovery marker.
• What did NOT change (scope boundary): optional plugin tool discovery remains bounded; this PR does not address the separate warning wording issue in #77801.

Change Type (select all)

• Bug fix
• Feature
• Refactor required for the fix
• Docs
• Security hardening
• Chore/infra

Scope (select all touched areas)

• Gateway / orchestration
• Skills / tool execution
• Auth / tokens
• Memory / storage
• Integrations
• API / contracts
• UI / DX
• CI/CD / infra
• Agent tool policy

Linked Issue/PR

• Closes #77841
• Related #77801
• This PR fixes a bug or regression

Real behavior proof (required for external PRs)

• Behavior or issue addressed: media generation factories now preserve implicit allow-all behavior when policy input came from tools.alsoAllow without tools.allow.
• Real environment tested: local macOS OpenClaw checkout on 2026-05-05, Node via pnpm exec tsx, production tool-policy and media-factory planning code with a real temporary workspace.
• Exact steps or command run after this patch: pnpm exec tsx ran production APIs: pickSandboxToolPolicy(alsoAllow) -> collectExplicitAllowlist -> resolveOptionalMediaToolFactoryPlan.
• Evidence after fix: terminal output from the real OpenClaw policy/factory path:

REAL_OPENCLAW_MEDIA_TOOLS_PROOF {"workspaceBasename":"openclaw-real-tools-proof-1oLQF2","command":"pickSandboxToolPolicy(alsoAllow) -> collectExplicitAllowlist -> resolveOptionalMediaToolFactoryPlan","allowlist":["group:memory","__openclaw_implicit_core_tools__","__openclaw_default_plugin_tools__"],"hasLiteralWildcard":false,"mediaFactoryPlan":{"imageGenerate":true,"videoGenerate":true,"musicGenerate":true,"pdf":true},"memoryGroupStillRequested":true}

• Observed result after fix: the extracted allowlist still does not contain a literal *, so optional plugin discovery remains bounded, while the built-in media factory sees image/video/music generation as available under the internal core allow-all marker.
• What was not tested: a live Gateway restart with real OpenAI/Google credentials; explicit generation model config is sufficient to prove the fixed factory-planning branch without making provider calls.
• Before evidence: source inspection matched the issue: collectExplicitAllowlist removed the synthetic wildcard from alsoAllow-only policy, leaving a nonempty reduced allowlist that made the media factory treat generation tools as disallowed.

Root Cause (if applicable)

• Root cause: the plugin-tool allowlist extraction intentionally removed the synthetic wildcard from alsoAllow-only policy to avoid loading all optional plugin tools, but the same reduced list was reused by built-in media factory availability checks.
• Missing detection / guardrail: tests covered restrictive allowlists and explicit model config availability, but not the alsoAllow-only policy path where core tools should remain effectively allow-all.
• Contributing context (if known): optional plugin discovery and built-in media factory planning share pluginToolAllowlist, but they need different interpretations of the implicit allow-all marker.

Regression Test Plan (if applicable)

• Coverage level that should have caught this:
  • Unit test
  • Seam / integration test
  • End-to-end test
  • Existing coverage already sufficient
• Target test or file: src/agents/openclaw-tools.media-factory-plan.test.ts and src/agents/tool-policy.test.ts
• Scenario the test should lock in: an alsoAllow-only policy exposes built-in media generation factories without reintroducing a literal wildcard into optional plugin discovery.
• Why this is the smallest reliable guardrail: it directly validates the extracted allowlist and the media factory plan without starting a full Gateway.
• Existing test that already covers this (if any): none for alsoAllow-only media generation factory planning.
• If no new test is added, why not: N/A

User-visible / Behavior Changes

With tools.alsoAllow and no tools.allow, explicitly configured image/video/music generation tools can remain live/effective instead of appearing enabled but not live.

Diagram (if applicable)

Before:
tools.alsoAllow only -> strip synthetic * -> media factory sees group:memory -> generation tools filtered

After:
tools.alsoAllow only -> strip synthetic * for plugin discovery + carry core allow-all marker -> media factory sees * -> generation tools stay live

Security Impact (required)

• New permissions/capabilities? (Yes/No) No
• Secrets/tokens handling changed? (Yes/No) No
• New/changed network calls? (Yes/No) No
• Command/tool execution surface changed? (Yes/No) No
• Data access scope changed? (Yes/No) No
• If any Yes, explain risk + mitigation: N/A

Repro + Verification

Environment

• OS: macOS local checkout
• Runtime/container: Node 22+/pnpm repo scripts
• Model/provider: N/A for local tests; issue config used OpenAI/Google generation providers
• Integration/channel (if any): agent tool policy / Gateway tool resolution
• Relevant config (redacted): tools.alsoAllow: ["group:memory"] with explicit agents.defaults.*GenerationModel

Steps

1. Create an alsoAllow-only sandbox tool policy.
2. Extract the explicit allowlist through collectExplicitAllowlist and verify it does not contain a literal *.
3. Pass that allowlist to optional media factory planning with explicit image/video/music generation model config.
4. Verify image, video, and music generation factories are all available.

Expected

• Built-in media generation factories preserve implicit allow-all semantics from alsoAllow-only policy.
• Optional plugin discovery remains bounded by the default plugin marker instead of a literal wildcard.

Actual

• Matches expected after this patch.

Evidence

• Failing test/log before + passing after
• Trace/log snippets
• Screenshot/recording
• Perf numbers (if relevant)

Verification run:

pnpm test src/agents/openclaw-tools.media-factory-plan.test.ts src/agents/tool-policy.test.ts src/agents/tools-effective-inventory.test.ts src/gateway/tools-invoke-http.test.ts
Test Files  4 passed (4)
Tests       94 passed (94)

Additional checks:

pnpm exec oxfmt --check --threads=1 CHANGELOG.md src/agents/tool-policy.ts src/agents/tool-policy.test.ts src/agents/openclaw-tools.ts src/agents/openclaw-tools.media-factory-plan.test.ts
All matched files use the correct format.

git diff --check
passed

Known unrelated local typecheck blocker:

pnpm tsgo:core

This currently stops on existing src/infra/command-explainer/* web-tree-sitter type export errors outside this PR's touched files.

Human Verification (required)

• Verified scenarios: alsoAllow-only extracted allowlist lacks a literal wildcard but still enables built-in image/video/music generation factories; restrictive explicit allowlist tests still pass; gateway tool invoke tests still pass.
• Edge cases checked: optional plugin discovery keeps its existing default-plugin marker behavior; denylist and explicit restrictive allowlist coverage still pass in the same target suite.
• What you did not verify: a live Gateway restart with real provider credentials.

Review Conversations

• I replied to or resolved every bot review conversation I addressed in this PR.
• I left unresolved only the conversations that still need reviewer or maintainer judgment.

Compatibility / Migration

• Backward compatible? (Yes/No) Yes
• Config/env changes? (Yes/No) No
• Migration needed? (Yes/No) No
• If yes, exact upgrade steps: N/A

Risks and Mitigations

• Risk: accidentally expanding optional plugin tool loading when alsoAllow-only is used.
  • Mitigation: the literal * is still stripped from plugin discovery; only the built-in media factory maps the new internal core marker back to allow-all.

Changed files

• CHANGELOG.md (modified, +1/-0)
• src/agents/openclaw-tools.media-factory-plan.test.ts (modified, +33/-0)
• src/agents/openclaw-tools.ts (modified, +6/-1)
• src/agents/tool-policy.test.ts (modified, +2/-0)
• src/agents/tool-policy.ts (modified, +2/-0)