fix(cron): recover flat params when LLM omits job wrapper by tyler6204 · Pull Request #12124 · openclaw/openclaw

tyler6204 · 2026-02-08T21:58:15Z

Problem

Non-frontier models (e.g. Grok) flatten job properties to the top level alongside action instead of nesting them inside the job parameter. The cron tool's add handler schema uses an opaque Type.Object({}, { additionalProperties: true }) for job, giving these models no structural hint — so they place name, schedule, payload, sessionTarget, etc. as siblings of action.

This causes either:

Error('job required') when params.job is undefined
Gateway validation failure (4 missing required properties) when params.job is {} and the actual fields are ignored at the top level

Fix

Added a flat-params recovery step at the top of the case 'add': handler in src/agents/tools/cron-tool.ts:

When params.job is missing or an empty object, scan params for recognised job property names (name, schedule, payload, sessionTarget, enabled, message, text, model, thinking, etc.)
If at least one meaningful signal field is found (schedule, payload, message, or text), construct a synthetic job object from those fields
The synthetic job then flows into the existing normalizeCronJobCreate path which handles kind inference, defaults, and validation

If params.job already contains properties, the existing behavior is completely unchanged.

Tests

Added 5 test cases covering:

Flat params with no job wrapper → recovered successfully
Empty job: {} + flat params → recovered successfully
Message shorthand at top level → inferred as agentTurn payload
No meaningful fields present → still throws 'job required'
Non-empty job takes precedence over flat params

Greptile Overview

Greptile Summary

This PR updates the cron tool’s add handler to recover from “flat” LLM tool params where job fields (e.g. name, schedule, payload) are provided at the top level instead of under job. When params.job is missing or {}, it reconstructs a synthetic job from recognized keys (only if there’s a clear signal like schedule/payload/message/text) and then proceeds through the existing normalizeCronJobCreate path. The change is covered by 5 new tests validating recovery, shorthand message inference, the “no signal” error path, and that a non-empty nested job continues to take precedence.

Confidence Score: 5/5

This PR is safe to merge with minimal risk.
Changes are narrowly scoped to the cron tool add path, gated to only run when params.job is missing or empty, and further gated on strong intent signals (schedule/payload/message/text). Existing behavior for non-empty job is preserved, and new unit tests cover the main recovery and precedence cases. No broader code paths or schemas are modified.
No files require special attention

Context used:

Context from dashboard - CLAUDE.md (source)
Context from dashboard - AGENTS.md (source)

…6204

…6204)

Non-frontier models (e.g. Grok) flatten job properties to the top level alongside `action` instead of nesting them inside the `job` parameter. The opaque schema (`Type.Object({}, { additionalProperties: true })`) gives these models no structural hint, so they put name, schedule, payload, etc. as siblings of action. Add a flat-params recovery step in the cron add handler: when `params.job` is missing or an empty object, scan for recognised job property names on params and construct a synthetic job object before passing to `normalizeCronJobCreate`. Recovery requires at least one meaningful signal field (schedule, payload, message, or text) to avoid false positives. Added tests: - Flat params with no job wrapper → recovered - Empty job object + flat params → recovered - Message shorthand at top level → inferred as agentTurn - No meaningful fields → still throws 'job required' - Non-empty job takes precedence over flat params

Cron expressions operate at second granularity. When nowMs falls mid-second (e.g. 12:00:00.500) and the pattern targets that exact second (like '0 0 12 * * *'), a 1ms lookback still lands inside the matching second. Croner interprets this as 'already past' and skips to the next occurrence (e.g. the following day). Fix: floor nowMs to the start of the current second before applying the 1ms lookback. This ensures the reference always falls in the *previous* second, so croner correctly identifies the current match. Also compare the result against the floored nowSecondMs (not raw nowMs) so that a match at the start of the current second is not rejected by the >= guard when nowMs has sub-second offset. Adds regression tests for 6-field cron patterns with specific seconds.

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…6204)

tyler6204 · 2026-02-09T07:12:28Z

Merged via squash.

Merge commit: 07375a6

Thanks @tyler6204!

@tyler6204

…2124) * fix(cron): recover flat params when LLM omits job wrapper (openclaw#11310) Non-frontier models (e.g. Grok) flatten job properties to the top level alongside `action` instead of nesting them inside the `job` parameter. The opaque schema (`Type.Object({}, { additionalProperties: true })`) gives these models no structural hint, so they put name, schedule, payload, etc. as siblings of action. Add a flat-params recovery step in the cron add handler: when `params.job` is missing or an empty object, scan for recognised job property names on params and construct a synthetic job object before passing to `normalizeCronJobCreate`. Recovery requires at least one meaningful signal field (schedule, payload, message, or text) to avoid false positives. Added tests: - Flat params with no job wrapper → recovered - Empty job object + flat params → recovered - Message shorthand at top level → inferred as agentTurn - No meaningful fields → still throws 'job required' - Non-empty job takes precedence over flat params * fix(cron): floor nowMs to second boundary before croner lookback Cron expressions operate at second granularity. When nowMs falls mid-second (e.g. 12:00:00.500) and the pattern targets that exact second (like '0 0 12 * * *'), a 1ms lookback still lands inside the matching second. Croner interprets this as 'already past' and skips to the next occurrence (e.g. the following day). Fix: floor nowMs to the start of the current second before applying the 1ms lookback. This ensures the reference always falls in the *previous* second, so croner correctly identifies the current match. Also compare the result against the floored nowSecondMs (not raw nowMs) so that a match at the start of the current second is not rejected by the >= guard when nowMs has sub-second offset. Adds regression tests for 6-field cron patterns with specific seconds. * fix: add changelog entries for cron fixes (openclaw#12124) (thanks @tyler6204) * test: stabilize warning filter emit assertion (openclaw#12124) (thanks @tyler6204)

@tyler6204

…2124) * fix(cron): recover flat params when LLM omits job wrapper (openclaw#11310) Non-frontier models (e.g. Grok) flatten job properties to the top level alongside `action` instead of nesting them inside the `job` parameter. The opaque schema (`Type.Object({}, { additionalProperties: true })`) gives these models no structural hint, so they put name, schedule, payload, etc. as siblings of action. Add a flat-params recovery step in the cron add handler: when `params.job` is missing or an empty object, scan for recognised job property names on params and construct a synthetic job object before passing to `normalizeCronJobCreate`. Recovery requires at least one meaningful signal field (schedule, payload, message, or text) to avoid false positives. Added tests: - Flat params with no job wrapper → recovered - Empty job object + flat params → recovered - Message shorthand at top level → inferred as agentTurn - No meaningful fields → still throws 'job required' - Non-empty job takes precedence over flat params * fix(cron): floor nowMs to second boundary before croner lookback Cron expressions operate at second granularity. When nowMs falls mid-second (e.g. 12:00:00.500) and the pattern targets that exact second (like '0 0 12 * * *'), a 1ms lookback still lands inside the matching second. Croner interprets this as 'already past' and skips to the next occurrence (e.g. the following day). Fix: floor nowMs to the start of the current second before applying the 1ms lookback. This ensures the reference always falls in the *previous* second, so croner correctly identifies the current match. Also compare the result against the floored nowSecondMs (not raw nowMs) so that a match at the start of the current second is not rejected by the >= guard when nowMs has sub-second offset. Adds regression tests for 6-field cron patterns with specific seconds. * fix: add changelog entries for cron fixes (openclaw#12124) (thanks @tyler6204) * test: stabilize warning filter emit assertion (openclaw#12124) (thanks @tyler6204)

Integrated upstream improvements: - CRITICAL: Fix bundled hooks broken since 2026.2.2 (openclaw#9295) - Grok web search provider (xAI) with inline citations - Telegram video note support with tests and docs - QMD model cache sharing optimization (openclaw#12114) - Context overflow false positive fix (openclaw#2078) - Model failover 400 status handling (openclaw#1879) - Dynamic config loading per-message (openclaw#11372) - Gateway post-compaction amnesia fix (openclaw#12283) - Skills watcher: ignore Python venvs and caches - Telegram send recovery from stale thread IDs - Cron job parameter recovery (openclaw#12124) - Auto-reply weekday timestamps (openclaw#12438) - Utility consolidation refactoring (PNG, JSON, errors) - Cross-platform test normalization (openclaw#12212) - macOS Nix defaults support (openclaw#12205) Preserved DEV enhancements: - Docker multi-stage build with enhanced tooling (gh, gog, obsidian-cli, uv, nano-pdf, mcporter, qmd) - Comprehensive .env.example documentation (371 lines) - Multi-environment docker-compose support (DEV/PRD) - GOG/Tailscale integration - Fork-sync and openclaw-docs skills - UI config editor (Svelte) - Fork workflow documentation Merge strategy: Cherry-picked 22 upstream commits, preserved DEV Docker architecture. Docker files unchanged: Dockerfile, docker-compose.yml, docker-setup.sh, .env.example Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.5 <[email protected]>

@tyler6204

…2124) * fix(cron): recover flat params when LLM omits job wrapper (openclaw#11310) Non-frontier models (e.g. Grok) flatten job properties to the top level alongside `action` instead of nesting them inside the `job` parameter. The opaque schema (`Type.Object({}, { additionalProperties: true })`) gives these models no structural hint, so they put name, schedule, payload, etc. as siblings of action. Add a flat-params recovery step in the cron add handler: when `params.job` is missing or an empty object, scan for recognised job property names on params and construct a synthetic job object before passing to `normalizeCronJobCreate`. Recovery requires at least one meaningful signal field (schedule, payload, message, or text) to avoid false positives. Added tests: - Flat params with no job wrapper → recovered - Empty job object + flat params → recovered - Message shorthand at top level → inferred as agentTurn - No meaningful fields → still throws 'job required' - Non-empty job takes precedence over flat params * fix(cron): floor nowMs to second boundary before croner lookback Cron expressions operate at second granularity. When nowMs falls mid-second (e.g. 12:00:00.500) and the pattern targets that exact second (like '0 0 12 * * *'), a 1ms lookback still lands inside the matching second. Croner interprets this as 'already past' and skips to the next occurrence (e.g. the following day). Fix: floor nowMs to the start of the current second before applying the 1ms lookback. This ensures the reference always falls in the *previous* second, so croner correctly identifies the current match. Also compare the result against the floored nowSecondMs (not raw nowMs) so that a match at the start of the current second is not rejected by the >= guard when nowMs has sub-second offset. Adds regression tests for 6-field cron patterns with specific seconds. * fix: add changelog entries for cron fixes (openclaw#12124) (thanks @tyler6204) * test: stabilize warning filter emit assertion (openclaw#12124) (thanks @tyler6204)

@tyler6204

…2124) * fix(cron): recover flat params when LLM omits job wrapper (openclaw#11310) Non-frontier models (e.g. Grok) flatten job properties to the top level alongside `action` instead of nesting them inside the `job` parameter. The opaque schema (`Type.Object({}, { additionalProperties: true })`) gives these models no structural hint, so they put name, schedule, payload, etc. as siblings of action. Add a flat-params recovery step in the cron add handler: when `params.job` is missing or an empty object, scan for recognised job property names on params and construct a synthetic job object before passing to `normalizeCronJobCreate`. Recovery requires at least one meaningful signal field (schedule, payload, message, or text) to avoid false positives. Added tests: - Flat params with no job wrapper → recovered - Empty job object + flat params → recovered - Message shorthand at top level → inferred as agentTurn - No meaningful fields → still throws 'job required' - Non-empty job takes precedence over flat params * fix(cron): floor nowMs to second boundary before croner lookback Cron expressions operate at second granularity. When nowMs falls mid-second (e.g. 12:00:00.500) and the pattern targets that exact second (like '0 0 12 * * *'), a 1ms lookback still lands inside the matching second. Croner interprets this as 'already past' and skips to the next occurrence (e.g. the following day). Fix: floor nowMs to the start of the current second before applying the 1ms lookback. This ensures the reference always falls in the *previous* second, so croner correctly identifies the current match. Also compare the result against the floored nowSecondMs (not raw nowMs) so that a match at the start of the current second is not rejected by the >= guard when nowMs has sub-second offset. Adds regression tests for 6-field cron patterns with specific seconds. * fix: add changelog entries for cron fixes (openclaw#12124) (thanks @tyler6204) * test: stabilize warning filter emit assertion (openclaw#12124) (thanks @tyler6204)

- Add flat-params recovery in cron add handler for non-frontier models - Floor nowMs to second boundary before croner lookback (off-by-one fix) - Add tests for flat params recovery (5 cases) - Add 6-field cron pattern tests for schedule second-floor fix - Stabilize warning-filter emit assertion timing (spy emitWarning not stderr)

@tyler6204

…2124) * fix(cron): recover flat params when LLM omits job wrapper (openclaw#11310) Non-frontier models (e.g. Grok) flatten job properties to the top level alongside `action` instead of nesting them inside the `job` parameter. The opaque schema (`Type.Object({}, { additionalProperties: true })`) gives these models no structural hint, so they put name, schedule, payload, etc. as siblings of action. Add a flat-params recovery step in the cron add handler: when `params.job` is missing or an empty object, scan for recognised job property names on params and construct a synthetic job object before passing to `normalizeCronJobCreate`. Recovery requires at least one meaningful signal field (schedule, payload, message, or text) to avoid false positives. Added tests: - Flat params with no job wrapper → recovered - Empty job object + flat params → recovered - Message shorthand at top level → inferred as agentTurn - No meaningful fields → still throws 'job required' - Non-empty job takes precedence over flat params * fix(cron): floor nowMs to second boundary before croner lookback Cron expressions operate at second granularity. When nowMs falls mid-second (e.g. 12:00:00.500) and the pattern targets that exact second (like '0 0 12 * * *'), a 1ms lookback still lands inside the matching second. Croner interprets this as 'already past' and skips to the next occurrence (e.g. the following day). Fix: floor nowMs to the start of the current second before applying the 1ms lookback. This ensures the reference always falls in the *previous* second, so croner correctly identifies the current match. Also compare the result against the floored nowSecondMs (not raw nowMs) so that a match at the start of the current second is not rejected by the >= guard when nowMs has sub-second offset. Adds regression tests for 6-field cron patterns with specific seconds. * fix: add changelog entries for cron fixes (openclaw#12124) (thanks @tyler6204) * test: stabilize warning filter emit assertion (openclaw#12124) (thanks @tyler6204)

@tyler6204

…2124) * fix(cron): recover flat params when LLM omits job wrapper (openclaw#11310) Non-frontier models (e.g. Grok) flatten job properties to the top level alongside `action` instead of nesting them inside the `job` parameter. The opaque schema (`Type.Object({}, { additionalProperties: true })`) gives these models no structural hint, so they put name, schedule, payload, etc. as siblings of action. Add a flat-params recovery step in the cron add handler: when `params.job` is missing or an empty object, scan for recognised job property names on params and construct a synthetic job object before passing to `normalizeCronJobCreate`. Recovery requires at least one meaningful signal field (schedule, payload, message, or text) to avoid false positives. Added tests: - Flat params with no job wrapper → recovered - Empty job object + flat params → recovered - Message shorthand at top level → inferred as agentTurn - No meaningful fields → still throws 'job required' - Non-empty job takes precedence over flat params * fix(cron): floor nowMs to second boundary before croner lookback Cron expressions operate at second granularity. When nowMs falls mid-second (e.g. 12:00:00.500) and the pattern targets that exact second (like '0 0 12 * * *'), a 1ms lookback still lands inside the matching second. Croner interprets this as 'already past' and skips to the next occurrence (e.g. the following day). Fix: floor nowMs to the start of the current second before applying the 1ms lookback. This ensures the reference always falls in the *previous* second, so croner correctly identifies the current match. Also compare the result against the floored nowSecondMs (not raw nowMs) so that a match at the start of the current second is not rejected by the >= guard when nowMs has sub-second offset. Adds regression tests for 6-field cron patterns with specific seconds. * fix: add changelog entries for cron fixes (openclaw#12124) (thanks @tyler6204) * test: stabilize warning filter emit assertion (openclaw#12124) (thanks @tyler6204)

@tyler6204

* fix(cron): recover flat params when LLM omits job wrapper (#11310) Non-frontier models (e.g. Grok) flatten job properties to the top level alongside `action` instead of nesting them inside the `job` parameter. The opaque schema (`Type.Object({}, { additionalProperties: true })`) gives these models no structural hint, so they put name, schedule, payload, etc. as siblings of action. Add a flat-params recovery step in the cron add handler: when `params.job` is missing or an empty object, scan for recognised job property names on params and construct a synthetic job object before passing to `normalizeCronJobCreate`. Recovery requires at least one meaningful signal field (schedule, payload, message, or text) to avoid false positives. Added tests: - Flat params with no job wrapper → recovered - Empty job object + flat params → recovered - Message shorthand at top level → inferred as agentTurn - No meaningful fields → still throws 'job required' - Non-empty job takes precedence over flat params * fix(cron): floor nowMs to second boundary before croner lookback Cron expressions operate at second granularity. When nowMs falls mid-second (e.g. 12:00:00.500) and the pattern targets that exact second (like '0 0 12 * * *'), a 1ms lookback still lands inside the matching second. Croner interprets this as 'already past' and skips to the next occurrence (e.g. the following day). Fix: floor nowMs to the start of the current second before applying the 1ms lookback. This ensures the reference always falls in the *previous* second, so croner correctly identifies the current match. Also compare the result against the floored nowSecondMs (not raw nowMs) so that a match at the start of the current second is not rejected by the >= guard when nowMs has sub-second offset. Adds regression tests for 6-field cron patterns with specific seconds. * fix: add changelog entries for cron fixes (#12124) (thanks @tyler6204) * test: stabilize warning filter emit assertion (#12124) (thanks @tyler6204)

openclaw-barnacle bot added agents Agent runtime and tooling maintainer Maintainer-authored PR labels Feb 8, 2026

tyler6204 self-assigned this Feb 8, 2026

tyler6204 added a commit that referenced this pull request Feb 9, 2026

fix: add changelog entries for cron fixes (#12124) (thanks @tyler6204)

249d1c1

tyler6204 added a commit that referenced this pull request Feb 9, 2026

test: stabilize warning filter emit assertion (#12124) (thanks @tyler…

2fc658d

…6204)

tyler6204 force-pushed the fix/cron-flat-params-recovery branch from 5683066 to 2fc658d Compare February 9, 2026 06:57

tyler6204 added 4 commits February 8, 2026 23:03

fix: add changelog entries for cron fixes (#12124) (thanks @tyler6204)

64bc5f8

test: stabilize warning filter emit assertion (#12124) (thanks @tyler…

03f3c74

…6204)

tyler6204 force-pushed the fix/cron-flat-params-recovery branch from 2fc658d to 03f3c74 Compare February 9, 2026 07:08

tyler6204 merged commit 07375a6 into main Feb 9, 2026
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tyler6204 deleted the fix/cron-flat-params-recovery branch February 9, 2026 07:10

This was referenced Feb 9, 2026

fix(cron): ensure timer callback fires for scheduled jobs #12131

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fix(cron): ensure timer callback fires for scheduled jobs #12122

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fix(cron): ensure timer callback fires for scheduled jobs #12086

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Yida-Dev mentioned this pull request Feb 9, 2026

fix: prevent cron jobs from getting stuck when next-run time is in the past #12266

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BigPotty mentioned this pull request Feb 10, 2026

Model override ignored in isolated sessions and sessions_spawn #13159

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fix(cron): recover flat params when LLM omits job wrapper#12124

fix(cron): recover flat params when LLM omits job wrapper#12124
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Confidence Score: 5/5

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