Summary

WhatsApp group mention detection (requireMention) fails even when the bot is correctly mentioned using WhatsApp's native @ mention feature.

Environment

• OpenClaw Version: 2026.2.6-3 (85ed6c7)
• OS: Linux 6.8.0-94-generic (x64)
• Node: v22.22.0
• Channel: WhatsApp (whatsapp-web.js)

Configuration

{
  "channels": {
    "whatsapp": {
      "groupPolicy": "open",
      "groups": {
        "<GROUP_ID>@[g.us](http://g.us/)": {
          "requireMention": true
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Steps to Reproduce

1. Configure a WhatsApp group with requireMention: true
2. Send a message in the group using WhatsApp's native @ mention feature to tag the bot
3. Check the debug logs

Expected Behavior

When the bot is mentioned, wasMentioned should be true and the bot should process the message.

Actual Behavior

Even when correctly mentioned, wasMentioned remains false and the message is ignored.

Debug Logs

{
  "conversationId": "<GROUP_ID>@[g.us](http://g.us/)",
  "wasMentioned": false,  // ← BUG: Should be true
  "from": "<GROUP_ID>@[g.us](http://g.us/)",
  "body": "@<USER_LID> Test 2",
  "bodyClean": "@<USER_LID> test 2",
  "mentionedJids": ["<USER_LID>@lid"],
  "normalizedMentionedJids": ["+49XXXXXXXXX"],  // ← Correctly normalized
  "selfJid": "<PHONE>:[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])",
  "selfJidBare": "<PHONE>:[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])",
  "selfE164": "+49XXXXXXXXX",  // ← Matches normalized mention
  "resolvedSelfE164": "+49XXXXXXXXX"
}

Root Cause Analysis

The mention normalization works correctly:

• mentionedJids contains the raw WhatsApp mention format: <USER_LID>@lid
• normalizedMentionedJids correctly converts it to the E.164 phone format
• selfE164 matches the normalized mention

However, the wasMentioned flag is not set to true. This suggests the mention-matching logic is comparing the wrong fields:

Hypothesis: The code likely compares mentionedJids (format: <USER_LID>@lid) with selfJid (format: :[email protected]) instead of comparing normalizedMentionedJids with selfE164.

Suggested Fix

The mention detection should check if selfE164 or resolvedSelfE164 is present in normalizedMentionedJids array.

Pseudo-code:

const wasMentioned = normalizedMentionedJids.includes(selfE164) ||
                     normalizedMentionedJids.includes(resolvedSelfE164);

Workaround

Set requireMention: false for groups where this feature is needed.

Impact

• requireMention feature is completely non-functional for WhatsApp groups
• Bots cannot be configured to only respond when explicitly mentioned in busy groups
• Increases noise and API usage in group chats

Additional Context

Tested with native WhatsApp @ mentions (using contact picker in WhatsApp mobile/web). The mention appears correctly in the message body and is parsed into mentionedJids, but the matching fails.

Log search hint: "group mention debug" in gateway logs