Summary

Group/channel sessions (e.g. Discord channels) never reset at the daily 4am boundary under the default config (session: null). Main sessions may still reset (especially when heartbeats are enabled), but group/channel sessions persist for many days.

Steps to reproduce

1. Use default session config (session: null).
2. Send messages in a group/channel session (e.g. Discord channel).
3. Wait past the daily reset boundary (4am).
4. Send an inbound message after 4am.

Expected behavior

A new session is created after the daily reset boundary.

Actual behavior

The same session ID persists across the reset boundary. Group/channel sessions can persist for days.

OpenClaw version

2026.2.15

Operating system

macOS 15.6.1 (arm64)

Install method

npm global

Logs, screenshots, and evidence

None included yet.

Impact and severity

Affected: group/channel sessions (Discord channels observed).
Severity: Medium (stale context never resets as expected).
Frequency: Always.
Consequence: Unexpected long-lived context; daily reset policy ineffective.

Additional information

Related to #11520 (idle reset blocked by updatedAt bump). This appears to block daily reset for group/channel sessions as well.

Suspected root cause:

• recordInboundSession calls recordSessionMetaFromInbound before reply dispatch: src/channels/session.ts
• mergeSessionEntry always sets updatedAt = Math.max(..., Date.now()): src/config/sessions/types.ts
• Freshness check uses entry.updatedAt: src/auto-reply/reply/session.ts

This makes daily reset checks compare "now" against the reset boundary, which is always fresh.