Summary

message tool cannot send a plain file to a Feishu chat using action: "send" when the tool schema includes poll-related fields. Any send call that happens to carry poll params (which the model tends to auto-fill from the schema) is rejected with:

Poll fields require action "poll"; use action "poll" instead of "send".

This makes ordinary "send + attachment" semantics unusable for Feishu when the general message tool schema exposes poll creation parameters.

Environment

• Runtime: OpenClaw (macOS, /opt/homebrew install)
• Path in use: /opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/openclaw/dist
• Channel: Feishu
• Tool: message (agent tools.message)
• Action: send
• Payload: plain text message + local txt file attachment

Expected behavior

• action: "send" should allow sending a normal message (optionally with an attachment) on Feishu, even if the generic message tool supports polls on other channels.
• The presence of poll-related fields in the tool schema should not break send semantics for channels that don't need polls, especially when the user is just trying to send a file.

Actual behavior

When using the message tool with action: "send" on Feishu to send a local txt file, the call fails with:

Poll fields require action "poll"; use action "poll" instead of "send".

From the calling side:

• Semantic intent is: action = "send", channel = Feishu, message + txt attachment.
• The tool schema, however, includes a full set of poll fields (pollQuestion, pollOption, pollDurationHours, pollMulti, pollDurationSeconds, pollAnonymous, pollPublic, etc.).
• The model tends to populate these poll fields based on the schema, even when the prompt says "don't send a poll".
• As a result, the generic guard sees hasPollCreationParams(params) == true on a send action and throws the error above, before the request ever reaches Feishu.

Relevant code paths (reverse-engineered from dist)

From the compiled bundle in /opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/openclaw/dist (filenames shortened for clarity):

1. Message tool schema construction

function buildMessageToolSchemaProps(options) {
  return {
    ...buildRoutingSchema(),
    ...buildSendSchema(options),
    ...buildReactionSchema(),
    ...buildFetchSchema(),
    ...buildPollSchema({ includeTelegramExtras: options.includeTelegramPollExtras }),
    ...buildChannelTargetSchema(),
    ...buildStickerSchema(),
    ...buildThreadSchema(),
    ...buildEventSchema(),
    ...buildModerationSchema(),
    ...buildGatewaySchema(),
    ...buildChannelManagementSchema(),
    ...buildPresenceSchema(),
  };
}

buildPollSchema expands both poll creation fields and poll voting fields into the same argument object that action: "send" uses.

2. Poll param detection guard

function hasPollCreationParams(params) {
  for (const key of POLL_CREATION_PARAM_NAMES) {
    const def = POLL_CREATION_PARAM_DEFS[key];
    const value = readPollParamRaw(params, key);
    // string / stringArray / number / boolean checks ...
    // any non-empty / true / finite value → true
  }
  return false;
}

// later in the dispatch path

if (action === "send" && hasPollCreationParams(params)) {
  throw new Error(
    'Poll fields require action "poll"; use action "poll" instead of "send".'
  );
}

Behaviorally, this means:

• If any poll creation field has a "truthy" value (non-empty string, finite number, true, etc.), hasPollCreationParams returns true.
• Combined with action === "send", the guard throws the error above.
• Since the tool schema exposes these poll fields unconditionally, the model tends to fill them even when the user only wants to send a file, making the error effectively unavoidable in real agent flows.

Why this is a problem in practice

In an agent-driven environment:

• Models generally try to fill all visible/encouraged fields from a tool schema, especially optional ones that look relevant.
• Asking the model via prompt "don't use poll fields" is a soft constraint and not reliable.
• As long as the tool schema exposes poll creation parameters on the same message tool used for plain send, agent calls to Feishu send + attachment will randomly trip the guard, even though Feishu itself doesn't need (or support) those poll parameters for simple file sends.

In this specific case, that made it impossible to:

• Use the message tool to send a simple txt file to a Feishu chat with action: "send".

Local production hotfix (for context only)

On this machine, to unblock Feishu file sends immediately, I applied a dist-level hotfix under:

• /opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/openclaw/dist

Important: this is not a proposed upstream fix, just documenting what was done locally so you understand the symptom and the minimal remediation that worked in practice.

Changes (applied across several dist bundles: reply-*, plugin-sdk/reply-*, plugin-sdk/dispatch-*, pi-embedded-*, compact-*):

1. Remove poll schema from message tool props:

-  ...buildFetchSchema(),
-  ...buildPollSchema({ includeTelegramExtras: options.includeTelegramPollExtras }),
-  ...buildChannelTargetSchema(),
+  ...buildFetchSchema(),
+  ...buildChannelTargetSchema(),

2. Remove the send+poll guard:

-if (action === "send" && hasPollCreationParams(params)) {
-  throw new Error(
-    'Poll fields require action "poll"; use action "poll" instead of "send".'
-  );
-}

After this change and a openclaw gateway restart, a Feishu message tool call with:

• action: "send"
• channel: Feishu
• message + local txt file

started working as expected (file delivered, no poll error).

Suggested upstream fix

Instead of relying on dist hotfixes, a more robust upstream fix could be one of:

1. Separate schemas for send vs poll

   • Don't expose poll creation fields on the same schema used for generic send.
   • Keep poll as a distinct action with its own (narrow) schema, so models can't accidentally apply poll fields when the user only wants send + attachment.

2. Action-aware sanitization

   • Keep the unified schema if necessary, but at runtime:
     • For action: "send", automatically strip all poll creation fields from params before the guard / channel handler.
     • Optionally, keep a soft log/diagnostic if poll params were present (to help detect model misuse), but don't throw.
   • Reserve the strict "Poll fields require action \"poll\"" error for cases where the caller actually uses action: "poll" with malformed poll input.

3. Channel-aware poll support

   • For channels where polls are not supported (or not implemented yet), don't include poll fields in the message tool schema at all.
   • That would also reduce schema size and make agent behavior more predictable per-channel.

Request

Please adjust the message tool design so that:

• action: "send" for Feishu (and other channels) is not blocked just because poll creation fields exist in the shared schema.
• Either by splitting schemas, sanitizing poll fields when action=send, or by scoping poll fields only to channels/actions that explicitly support them.

Happy to share local bundle snippets or a minimal reproducer yaml if that helps.