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openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix Mission Control gateway heartbeat exhausts ChatGPT Plus Codex weekly quota [1 participants]

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openclaw/openclaw#56804•Fetched 2026-04-08 01:47:37
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The Mission Control (mc-gateway) agent's heartbeat feature, when enabled with a ChatGPT Plus (consumer) account using Codex/GPT-5.4, rapidly exhausts the weekly Codex API quota. Each heartbeat fires an agent turn, and with the default interval these accumulate quickly — burning through the entire weekly allowance in hours rather than days.

Error Message

  • Warn when using a consumer account that heartbeat will burn quota quickly
  1. Add quota-awareness: if the provider is consumer-tier, warn or auto-disable heartbeat

Root Cause

The Mission Control (mc-gateway) agent's heartbeat feature, when enabled with a ChatGPT Plus (consumer) account using Codex/GPT-5.4, rapidly exhausts the weekly Codex API quota. Each heartbeat fires an agent turn, and with the default interval these accumulate quickly — burning through the entire weekly allowance in hours rather than days.

Fix Action

Workaround

Remove the heartbeat from the gateway agent config entirely:

// In the mc-gateway agent config, remove or disable:
"heartbeat": { "enabled": false }

Code Example

// In the mc-gateway agent config, remove or disable:
"heartbeat": { "enabled": false }
RAW_BUFFERClick to expand / collapse

Summary

The Mission Control (mc-gateway) agent's heartbeat feature, when enabled with a ChatGPT Plus (consumer) account using Codex/GPT-5.4, rapidly exhausts the weekly Codex API quota. Each heartbeat fires an agent turn, and with the default interval these accumulate quickly — burning through the entire weekly allowance in hours rather than days.

Steps to Reproduce

  1. Configure a gateway agent (mc-gateway) with heartbeat enabled
  2. Use a ChatGPT Plus ($20/month consumer) account as the OpenAI provider with gpt-5.4 model
  3. Let the gateway run unattended

Expected Behavior

Heartbeat should either:

  • Not count against Codex quota (use a lighter model for pings)
  • Have a sensible default interval that accounts for consumer-tier rate limits
  • Warn when using a consumer account that heartbeat will burn quota quickly

Actual Behavior

Heartbeat agent turns consume Codex quota at the same rate as normal agent turns. With a consumer ChatGPT Plus account, the weekly quota is exhausted within hours, resulting in a 7-day lockout from Codex API access.

Workaround

Remove the heartbeat from the gateway agent config entirely:

// In the mc-gateway agent config, remove or disable:
"heartbeat": { "enabled": false }

Environment

  • OpenClaw version: 2026.3.13
  • Node.js: v22.x
  • OS: Ubuntu 24.04
  • Account type: ChatGPT Plus (consumer, $20/month)

Suggestion

Consider one or more of:

  1. Default heartbeat to off for gateway agents
  2. Use a no-cost ping mechanism instead of an agent turn for heartbeat
  3. Add a config option like heartbeat.model to use a cheaper model for pings
  4. Add quota-awareness: if the provider is consumer-tier, warn or auto-disable heartbeat

extent analysis

Fix Plan

To address the issue of rapid Codex API quota exhaustion due to the heartbeat feature, we will implement the following steps:

  • Disable heartbeat by default for consumer-tier accounts
  • Introduce a config option to use a lighter model for heartbeat pings
  • Add quota awareness to warn or auto-disable heartbeat for consumer-tier accounts

Example Code Changes

// Check if the account is consumer-tier and warn or auto-disable heartbeat
if (accountType === 'consumer') {
  console.warn('Heartbeat may exhaust Codex quota quickly. Consider disabling or using a lighter model.');
  // Auto-disable heartbeat for consumer-tier accounts
  config.heartbeat.enabled = false;
}

// Introduce a config option to use a lighter model for heartbeat pings
if (config.heartbeat.model === 'lighter') {
  // Use a lighter model for heartbeat pings
  const lighterModel = 'gpt-3.5';
  // Update the agent turn to use the lighter model
  agentTurn.model = lighterModel;
}

// Update the config to include the heartbeat model option
const config = {
  heartbeat: {
    enabled: false,
    model: 'gpt-5.4' // Default model
  }
};

// Add a config option to specify a lighter model for heartbeat pings
config.heartbeat.model = 'gpt-3.5'; // Lighter model

Verification

To verify that the fix worked, monitor the Codex API quota usage and ensure that it is not being exhausted rapidly. Also, check the console logs for warnings or auto-disable messages related to heartbeat.

Extra Tips

  • Consider implementing a more robust quota management system to prevent unexpected quota exhaustion.
  • Provide clear documentation and guidelines for configuring heartbeat and quota management.
  • Regularly review and update the default heartbeat interval and model to ensure they are suitable for consumer-tier accounts.

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openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix Mission Control gateway heartbeat exhausts ChatGPT Plus Codex weekly quota [1 participants]