Summary

When using the message tool with action="send" and a local file path in media for channel="openclaw-weixin", OpenClaw rejects the request before it reaches the channel plugin with:

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

This appears to be a message normalization / validation bug in core, not a Weixin runtime send failure.

Environment

• OpenClaw: 2026.3.13
• Channel: openclaw-weixin
• Account: 4b4f3c849bb9-im-bot
• Runtime: macOS / Node 22.22.0

Repro

Using the message tool (or equivalent internal message send path), send a local file:

• action: send
• channel: openclaw-weixin
• media: /Users/js/Desktop/docs/openclaw-guides/weixin-multi-agent-guide-2026-03-27.pdf
• empty message

Observed error:

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

I reproduced the same behavior with:

• .md
• .pdf

So this is not file-type specific.

Evidence this happens before plugin send

Gateway log shows:

[tools] message failed: Poll fields require action "poll"; use action "poll" instead of "send".

The Weixin channel itself is healthy/running. The request is blocked before outbound plugin handling.

Suspected cause

Core message validation contains:

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

The tool bridge appears to be passing poll-related default fields on ordinary sends (e.g. empty / false / zero poll fields), and one of them is being treated as present.

This causes regular file sends to be misclassified as poll creation.

Expected behavior

action="send" with media set to a local file path should proceed as a normal outbound media/file send for openclaw-weixin.

At minimum, empty/default poll fields should not cause send requests to be rejected.

Suggested fix

One of:

1. In core, only treat poll params as present when explicitly provided with meaningful values.
2. Do not include poll default fields in tool/message bridge payloads for ordinary send actions.
3. Add a regression test for message send --media <local-file> on channels that support send-via-send+media.

Notes

I also tried a local hot patch against a compiled bundle to bypass poll detection for send + media/file, restarted the gateway, and still reproduced the error. That suggests there may be more than one compiled/runtime path involved for this validation.