openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix Telegram exec approval inline buttons fail due to callback_query sequentialization timeout [1 participants]

Bug Description

Telegram exec approval inline buttons (Allow Once / Allow Always / Deny) consistently fail with ❌ Failed to submit approval when clicked by the user, even immediately after the approval card is sent.

Root Cause Analysis

The Telegram bot uses grammY's sequentialize middleware, which processes all updates from the same chat sequentially. When an agent turn issues an exec command requiring approval:

1. The agent turn is blocked waiting on exec.approval.waitDecision
2. The approval card with inline buttons is sent to Telegram
3. The user clicks a button immediately
4. The resulting callback_query arrives via getUpdates polling
5. However, the callback_query is queued behind the still-running agent turn due to sequentialize
6. By the time the callback_query handler runs, Telegram's internal callback query timeout has expired
7. answerCallbackQuery fails with query is too old and response timeout expired
8. Simultaneously, the waitDecision resolves (agent turn interrupted or timed out), clearing the approval from memory
9. exec.approval.resolve fails with unknown or expired approval id

Evidence from Logs

03:40:31 [exec] obfuscation detected → approval created
03:42:28 [telegram] answerCallbackQuery failed: query is too old
03:42:28 [ws] exec.approval.waitDecision returned (116454ms)
03:42:30 [ws] exec.approval.resolve FAILED: unknown or expired approval id
03:42:30 [ws] plugin.approval.resolve FAILED: unknown or expired approval id

Pattern confirmed across 3 separate incidents (22:37, 02:11, 03:42), all showing the same callback_query sequentialization timeout.

Expected Behavior

Clicking the inline approval button should immediately process the approval, regardless of whether an agent turn is in progress.

Suggested Fix

callback_query updates for exec approvals should bypass the sequentialize middleware, or at minimum be processed in a separate concurrency lane from regular message updates. The approval resolution handler does not depend on the agent turn's sequential state and should be safe to process concurrently.

Workaround

Set channels.telegram.execApprovals.enabled: false to disable inline buttons and fall back to text-based /approve <id> allow-once commands, which are processed as regular messages and do not suffer from this issue.

Environment

• OpenClaw: 2026.4.2 (d74a122)
• Node: v22.22.2
• OS: macOS (arm64)
• Telegram: polling mode with proxy