Best possible solution:

Keep the postpublish verifier isolated from production source and land the adjacent declaration after the remaining required checks finish.

Do we have a high-confidence way to reproduce the issue?

Yes from source and validation evidence: current main imports the isolated JavaScript helper without a declaration, while the changed scripts gate passes after adding the matching signature.

Is this the best way to solve the issue?

Yes. An adjacent declaration is the narrowest maintainable fix because it restores static typing without undoing the deliberate release-tooling isolation.

AGENTS.md: found and applied where relevant.

Codex review notes: model internal, reasoning high; reviewed against 92e5a10f1a95.

Label changes:

• add P3: This is a low-risk maintainer-tooling typecheck repair with no product runtime behavior change.
• add rating: 🦞 diamond lobster: Overall readiness is 🦞 diamond lobster; proof is 🦞 diamond lobster and patch quality is 🦞 diamond lobster.
• add status: 👀 ready for maintainer look: ClawSweeper has no concrete contributor-facing blocker left for this PR. Not applicable: The external-contributor proof gate does not apply because repository documentation identifies the author as an official maintainer; the PR still supplies focused Testbox and test output.

Label justifications:

• P3: This is a low-risk maintainer-tooling typecheck repair with no product runtime behavior change.
• rating: 🦞 diamond lobster: Overall readiness is 🦞 diamond lobster; proof is 🦞 diamond lobster and patch quality is 🦞 diamond lobster.
• status: 👀 ready for maintainer look: ClawSweeper has no concrete contributor-facing blocker left for this PR. Not applicable: The external-contributor proof gate does not apply because repository documentation identifies the author as an official maintainer; the PR still supplies focused Testbox and test output.

PR surface:

Other +1. Total +1 across 1 file.

What I checked:

• Declaration matches the helper contract: The branch declares formatErrorMessage(error: unknown): string, matching the existing helper usage without changing runtime behavior. (scripts/lib/error-format.d.mts:1, dadebb5d62c5)
• Current-main regression boundary: Current main contains the isolated JavaScript error formatter but lacks its adjacent declaration, leaving the TypeScript scripts lane without an exported signature. (scripts/lib/error-format.mjs, 92e5a10f1a95)
• Isolation provenance: The PR identifies commit 8858944 as the change that moved the postpublish verifier onto the isolated script helper; the declaration preserves that owner boundary rather than reconnecting release tooling to production source. (scripts/openclaw-npm-postpublish-verify.mjs, 8858944a81c5)
• Focused verification: The PR reports 40 passing postpublish-verifier tests, a successful changed-surface Testbox scripts/tooling gate, and a clean diff check. (test/openclaw-npm-postpublish-verify.test.ts, dadebb5d62c5)
• Repository ownership signal: The repository contributor documentation identifies steipete as an official project maintainer, so the maintainer proof exception applies despite the compact GitHub association value. (github.com) (CONTRIBUTING.md, 92e5a10f1a95)

Likely related people:

• steipete: The isolation provenance and this repair both trace to their work, and repository documentation identifies them as the project lead. (role: feature owner and release-tooling contributor; confidence: high; commits: 8858944a81c5, dadebb5d62c5; files: scripts/openclaw-npm-postpublish-verify.mjs, scripts/lib/error-format.mjs, scripts/lib/error-format.d.mts)

• 🦀 challenger crab: rare, exceptional readiness with strong proof, clean implementation, and convincing validation.
• 🦞 diamond lobster: very strong readiness with only minor maintainer review expected.
• 🐚 platinum hermit: good normal PR, likely mergeable with ordinary maintainer review.
• 🦐 gold shrimp: useful signal, but proof or patch confidence is still limited.
• 🦪 silver shellfish: thin signal; proof, validation, or implementation needs work.
• 🧂 unranked krab: not merge-ready because proof is missing/unusable or there are serious correctness or safety concerns.
• 🌊 off-meta tidepool: rating does not apply to this item.

Shiny media proof means a screenshot, video, or linked artifact directly shows the changed behavior. Runtime, network, CSP, and security claims still need visible diagnostics.

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