Upstream bug report DRAFT — pending Trent blind-pass

Target: github.com/openclaw/openclaw/issues
Status: DRAFT v0 — not filed. Needs Trent review of repro + RCA before submission.

Title

infer model run --gateway fails with "No callable tools remain" when modelRun:true + tools.allow has explicit entries (4.25 + 4.26)

Environment

• Originally observed: OpenClaw 2026.4.25 (aa36ee6)
• Confirmed still present in: OpenClaw 2026.4.26 (be8c246)
• Install: npm-global at /home/openclawops/.npm-global/lib/node_modules/openclaw/openclaw.mjs (despite update status reporting "pnpm")
• Verified: vanilla runtime (no local patches)
• Not present in 4.24 (per source diff)

4.26 source locations

• dist/selection-D9uTvvsw.js:3917 — buildEmptyExplicitToolAllowlistError
• dist/selection-D9uTvvsw.js:6377 — guard invoked during tool allowlist resolution
• dist/plugin-sdk/src/agents/tool-allowlist-guard.d.ts:9 — type declaration

The 4.26 CLI hang (filed separately as a different bug) is a SEPARATE surface, not a manifestation of this allowlist precheck — these are two distinct issues affecting CLI model probes.

Summary

In 4.25, openclaw infer model run --gateway sets modelRun: true which is intended to disable tools for one-shot model probes. However, the explicit-allowlist precheck (buildEmptyExplicitToolAllowlistError) still runs against tools.allow config and surfaces a fatal error before model invocation. This breaks any gateway-mode CLI model probe in environments where tools.allow has explicit entries.

Blast radius is wider than CLI: any embedded run that orphans a tool name in tools.alsoAllow (e.g. when a plugin is disabled but its tool registrations remain in peripheral config) hits the same precheck and times out the embedded path silently. Observed in production via the active-memory plugin disable cascade on 2026-04-28.

Reproduction

On 4.25 with tools.allow containing explicit entries (e.g. ["*", "lobster", "elevenlabs", ...]):

openclaw infer model run --gateway --model openai-codex/gpt-5.5 --prompt 'reply: ok'

Returns:

Error: No callable tools remain after resolving explicit tool allowlist
(tools.allow: *, lobster, elevenlabs, tavily, firecrawl, fal, runway, exa, voice-call, apify);
tools are disabled for this run.
Fix the allowlist or enable the plugin that registers the requested tool.

Without --gateway (local mode), the same probe succeeds:

openclaw infer model run --model openai-codex/gpt-5.5 --prompt 'reply: ok'
# returns model output normally

Root cause (per source diff)

The code path for infer model run --gateway:

1. Sets modelRun: true flag
2. modelRun: true intentionally suppresses tool registration (tools should be disabled for one-shot probes)
3. BUT: code still runs buildEmptyExplicitToolAllowlistError precheck against tools.allow config
4. Precheck sees explicit allowlist entries vs registered-tool-set (empty due to suppression)
5. Concludes "no callable tools remain" and surfaces fatal error

Source location (4.25): runtime/openclaw-2026.4.25/dist/extensions/codex/... — buildEmptyExplicitToolAllowlistError function. 4.24 source line ~151163 (per pre-cutover grep).

Suggested fix

Either:

• Skip buildEmptyExplicitToolAllowlistError precheck entirely when modelRun: true, OR
• Pass disableTools: true consistently so the precheck short-circuits to non-fatal

The first option is simpler; the second handles other code paths that may end up in the same suppression mode.

Related production impact (worth including in body)

On 2026-04-28, the active-memory plugin was disabled while its tool names (memory_get, memory_search) remained in tools.alsoAllow. The orphaned entries triggered this same precheck on EVERY embedded run — not just CLI gateway-mode. Production lane (Trent agent on Telegram) started failing silently with the same error fingerprint until tools.alsoAllow was emptied.

The bug isn't narrow to --gateway CLI usage. Any embedded run with orphan entries in tools.alsoAllow hits it. Recommend the fix considers both paths.

Workaround (current)

For one-shot model probes from CLI, omit --gateway flag. For embedded runs, ensure tools.alsoAllow only contains entries for currently-registered plugins.