openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix WhatsApp group chat: agent responses not routing to message tool despite visibleReplies config [1 comments, 2 participants]

Bug Report

Description

WhatsApp group chat agent responses are not being sent back to the group, despite the visibleReplies: "message_tool" configuration being set.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Enable WhatsApp group chat with config:

   {
     "channels": {
       "whatsapp": {
         "groupPolicy": "open",
         "groups": { "*": { "requireMention": false } }
       }
     },
     "agents": {
       "list": [{
         "id": "main",
         "groupChat": {
           "historyLimit": 50,
           "mentionPatterns": [".*"],
           "visibleReplies": "message_tool"
         }
       }]
     }
   }

2. Send a message to a WhatsApp group (e.g., mention the bot)

3. Observe the typing indicator appears

4. Agent runs (visible in logs: model_call:started)

5. No response is sent to the group

Expected Behavior

With visibleReplies: "message_tool" configured, the agent should automatically call the message tool to send responses back to the group.

Actual Behavior

Agent completes but no response is delivered. Manual message tool calls from outside the agent session work fine.

Evidence

• Group messages are received: Inbound message [email protected] -> +351912237155 (group, ...)
• Agent runs: Liveness warning shows agent:main:whatsapp:group:[email protected](processing/model_call)
• But no corresponding outbound or auto-reply sent log entry for agent responses
• Manual message tool calls succeed: Sent message ... -> [email protected]

Environment

• OpenClaw version: 2026.5.7
• Channel: WhatsApp
• OS: macOS 15.6

Related

• Config setting exists: messages.groupChat.visibleReplies: "message_tool"
• Direct message responses work fine (auto-reply mechanism works)
• Group message receiving works fine (inbound routing works)
• Manual message tool calls work fine

The issue appears to be in the agent-to-group response routing layer, where responses from group sessions aren't being converted to message tool calls even when the config is set to do so.