openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix GPT-5.4 default parameter values break message tool (poll, components, media path) [1 comments, 2 participants]

Summary

When using GPT-5.4 as the model provider, the message tool fails in multiple ways because GPT-5.4 sends all tool parameters with default values (e.g. pollDurationHours: 24, pollMulti: false, components: {blocks:[], modal:{fields:[],...}, ...}), unlike other models that omit unused optional parameters.

This causes three cascading issues:

Bug 1: Poll validation false positive

hasPollCreationParams() detects pollDurationHours: 24 and pollMulti: false as poll intent, throwing:

Poll fields require action "poll"; use action "poll" instead of "send".

Root cause: The guard checks for the presence of any poll-related parameter with a non-empty value, but GPT-5.4 always sends pollDurationHours: 24 (the default) even for non-poll messages.

Fix: Only trigger the poll guard when pollQuestion is a non-empty string, since a poll without a question is never intentional:

// Before
if (action === "send" && hasPollCreationParams(params)) throw new Error("Poll fields require action \"poll\"...");

// After
if (action === "send" && typeof (readSnakeCaseParamRaw(params, "pollQuestion") ?? "") === "string" && (readSnakeCaseParamRaw(params, "pollQuestion") ?? "").toString().trim().length > 0) throw new Error("Poll fields require action \"poll\"...");

Bug 2: Components empty defaults route to wrong send path

GPT-5.4 sends components: {blocks:[], modal:{fields:[], title:"", ...}, reusable:false, text:""}. readDiscordComponentSpec() returns a non-null object, causing the message to go through the Discord Components v2 send path (sendDiscordComponentMessage) instead of the normal sendMessageDiscord path. This results in:

1. components.modal.fields must be a non-empty array error (empty fields: [] fails validation)
2. Even after bypassing the modal validation, file attachments are silently dropped because the Components v2 path doesn't handle them the same way

Fix: Return null from readDiscordComponentSpec when all fields are empty defaults:

function readDiscordComponentSpec(raw) {
    if (raw === void 0 || raw === null) return null;
    // Skip empty default components from models that fill all params
    if (typeof raw === "object" && raw !== null) {
        const b = raw.blocks; const m = raw.modal; const t = raw.text;
        const blocksEmpty = !b || (Array.isArray(b) && b.length === 0);
        const modalEmpty = !m || (typeof m === "object" && Array.isArray(m.fields) && m.fields.length === 0);
        const textEmpty = !t || (typeof t === "string" && t.trim() === "");
        if (blocksEmpty && modalEmpty && textEmpty) return null;
    }
    // ... rest of function
}

Bug 3: workspace- media path restriction

assertLocalMediaAllowed() blocks file paths under workspace-* directories (e.g. workspace-team/), but agents commonly generate output files in their workspace. This causes:

Local media path is not under an allowed directory: /home/ubuntu/.openclaw/workspace-team/edited_schedule.pdf

Suggestion: Consider allowing workspace directories in the media path whitelist, or provide a configuration option (e.g. localRoots: "any" in config) to relax this restriction.

Environment

• OpenClaw version: 2026.3.13
• Model: GPT-5.4 (via hunters provider)
• Agent: content-creator (specialist)
• Platform: Discord gateway

Suggested general fix

Rather than patching each validation individually, consider a general approach: strip/normalize default-valued optional parameters at the tool input boundary before validation, so that pollDurationHours: 24 (default), components: {blocks:[]} (empty), etc. are treated the same as omitted parameters regardless of which model is calling the tool.