openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix Sessions: orphan transcript files accumulate on failed/interrupted runs, no per-failure cleanup [1 comments, 2 participants]

When a session fails mid-run (API error, timeout, gateway saturation), the partial transcript file is written to the agent's sessions directory but never cleaned up. These "orphan" files accumulate indefinitely until a manual or scheduled maintenance pass removes them. OpenClaw writes the session transcript file when a session starts, but only removes/archives it on clean completion. There is no cleanup path in the error/interrupt exit branch. The openclaw sessions cleanup --fix-missing command removes them post-hoc, but it's not called automatically on failure. 2. Trigger an Anthropic API error (or simply run many short sessions in a high-load environment). On session exit via error or unclean interrupt, run the equivalent of sessions cleanup --fix-missing for that agent's store, or at minimum delete/archive the partial transcript for the failed session ID. This would prevent unbounded accumulation without needing a scheduled external cleanup.

TL;DR

Run a cleanup command equivalent to openclaw sessions cleanup --fix-missing on session exit via error or unclean interrupt to prevent orphan file accumulation.

Guidance

• Identify and implement an automatic cleanup mechanism for partial transcript files when a session fails or is interrupted, potentially by integrating the sessions cleanup --fix-missing command into the error handling branch.
• Verify the effectiveness of the cleanup mechanism by monitoring the accumulation of orphan files in the agent's sessions directory after implementing the fix.
• Consider adjusting the session.maintenance.maxEntries setting to optimize session management, although this may not directly address the orphan file issue.
• Review the current nightly cron job running openclaw sessions cleanup --all-agents --enforce --fix-missing to ensure it remains effective in bounding accumulation, even after implementing the proposed fix.

Example

No specific code snippet is provided due to the lack of direct code references in the issue, but the solution involves calling a cleanup command or function similar to openclaw sessions cleanup --fix-missing when a session exits abnormally.

Notes

The proposed solution focuses on addressing the root cause of orphan file accumulation by ensuring cleanup occurs even on session failure or interrupt. However, the exact implementation details may vary depending on the internal workings of OpenClaw and its session management mechanisms.

Recommendation

Apply a workaround by integrating an automatic cleanup command into the session exit handling, as upgrading to a potentially fixed version is not mentioned in the provided issue context. This approach directly addresses the identified root cause and prevents further accumulation of orphan files.