Summary

When calling openclaw agent with --to but without explicit --agent, routing resolves to main.
With explicit --agent steward --to, routing resolves to steward.

This creates a default/explicit routing mismatch for the same business intent.

Environment

• Observed on: v2026.3.12 and v2026.3.24
• Default entry agent in config: steward

Minimal Reproduction

1. Verify default agent/bindings:

openclaw agents list --bindings --json

2. Default path (--to without --agent):

openclaw agent --to +15550001111 --session-id probe-default --message test --json

3. Explicit path (--agent steward --to):

openclaw agent --agent steward --to +15550001111 --session-id probe-explicit --message test --json

4. Compare:

• result.meta.systemPromptReport.sessionKey
• workspace/session metadata

Observed

• default path: agent:main:main
• explicit path: agent:steward:main

Expected

Please confirm intended behavior when --to is provided without --agent.

Two acceptable outcomes for callers:

1. default --to honors configured default entry agent semantics, or
2. CLI fails loudly and requires explicit --agent when --to is used.

Why this matters

In multi-agent setups, this mismatch can silently route workloads to main unless every caller enforces explicit --agent.

Context

This is a fresh report after closing previous discussion, because the behavior is still reproducible and blocks downstream close criteria.