Gateway: fix post-compaction amnesia for injected messages (web chat) by Takhoffman · Pull Request #12283 · openclaw/openclaw

Takhoffman · 2026-02-09T02:56:55Z

Problem

Gateway transcript injection was appending raw JSONL messages without a parentId. Pi builds context by walking the parentId chain from the leaf, so this could sever the branch and make the post-compaction session look empty (missing summary and kept suffix), across channels (Telegram included).

Fix

Route injected transcript writes through Pi SessionManager.appendMessage(...) so parentId is preserved.
Store a valid Pi stopReason (use stop instead of a non-enum value).

Guardrails

Test that chat.inject produces a transcript entry with parentId.
Static guardrail test that fails if src/gateway/server-methods/chat.ts reintroduces raw fs.appendFileSync(...transcriptPath...) writes.

User-facing impact

No more post-compaction amnesia: sessions keep the compacted summary plus the kept recent conversation, so the next user turn continues with the expected context.

Testing

pnpm build
pnpm check
pnpm test

Manual Test (Web Chat)

Start web chat.
Ask the agent to generate 3 stories.
Run /compact.
Ask: "What stories have you done?" and verify it lists the 3 stories.

Verified via MITM-captured provider payloads and by inspecting the Pi session .jsonl logs to confirm the post-compaction context includes the compaction summary plus the kept suffix.

Notes

Changelog entry included (and yes, it is self-congratulatory 🦞).

Greptile Overview

Greptile Summary

This PR fixes a Gateway transcript injection regression where injected assistant messages were appended as raw JSONL without Pi’s parentId, which could sever the transcript DAG and make post-compaction sessions appear empty. The fix routes injected transcript writes through Pi’s SessionManager.appendMessage(...) so parentId is preserved, and normalizes injected stopReason to a valid Pi enum value ("stop").

It also adds two Vitest guardrails:

a behavioral test asserting chat.inject results in a transcript entry that includes parentId
a static test preventing reintroduction of fs.appendFileSync(transcriptPath, ...) raw transcript appends in src/gateway/server-methods/chat.ts.

A changelog entry and a local AGENTS.md note document the issue and the expected invariant for Pi transcripts.

Confidence Score: 4/5

This PR is likely safe to merge once the test mocking order is made deterministic.
Core fix (routing injected transcript writes through Pi SessionManager and using a valid stopReason) is straightforward and aligns with existing transcript-writing patterns elsewhere in the repo. The main concern is the new parentId guardrail test: its current mocking approach can be bypassed depending on module import order, which risks a flaky or false-positive test rather than validating the regression reliably.
src/gateway/server-methods/chat.inject.parentid.test.ts

Thread: unknown When: 2026-02-08 20:08 CST Repo: https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw.git Branch: codex/wip/2026-02-09/compact-post-compaction-parentid-fix Problem - Post-compaction turns sometimes lost the compaction summary + kept suffix in the *next* provider request. - Root cause was session graph corruption: gateway appended "stopReason: injected" transcript lines via raw JSONL writes without `parentId`. - Pi's `SessionManager.buildSessionContext()` walks the `parentId` chain from the current leaf; missing `parentId` can sever the active branch and hide the compaction entry. Fix - Use `SessionManager.appendMessage(...)` for injected assistant transcript writes so `parentId` is set to the current leaf. - Route `chat.inject` through the same helper to avoid duplicating the broken raw JSONL append logic. Why This Matters - The compaction algorithm may be correct, but if the leaf chain is broken right after compaction, the provider payload cannot include the summary/suffix "shape" Pi expects. Testing - pnpm test src/agents/pi-embedded-helpers.post-compaction-shape.test.ts src/agents/pi-embedded-runner/run.overflow-compaction.post-context.test.ts - pnpm build Notes - This is provider-shape agnostic: it fixes transcript structure so Anthropic/Gemini/etc all see the same post-compaction context. Resume - If post-compaction looks wrong again, inspect the session transcript for entries missing `parentId` immediately after `type: compaction`.

…chain

greptile-apps

_{1 file reviewed, 1 comment}

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greptile-apps · 2026-02-09T02:58:43Z

Additional Comments (1)

src/gateway/server-methods/chat.ts
Invalid injected stopReason

In the transcript-append failure fallback, the message you broadcast still uses stopReason: "injected" (and the older minimal usage shape). This path is reachable whenever appendAssistantTranscriptMessage(...) fails, so the PR can still emit a non-enum Pi stopReason despite the stated fix. Consider aligning this fallback with the new injected-message shape (e.g., stopReason: "stop", plus the same usage fields you now write in the happy path).

Prompt To Fix With AI

This is a comment left during a code review.
Path: src/gateway/server-methods/chat.ts
Line: 569:575

Comment:
**Invalid injected stopReason**

In the transcript-append failure fallback, the message you broadcast still uses `stopReason: "injected"` (and the older minimal `usage` shape). This path is reachable whenever `appendAssistantTranscriptMessage(...)` fails, so the PR can still emit a non-enum Pi stopReason despite the stated fix. Consider aligning this fallback with the new injected-message shape (e.g., `stopReason: "stop"`, plus the same `usage` fields you now write in the happy path).

How can I resolve this? If you propose a fix, please make it concise.

greptile-apps

_{1 file reviewed, 1 comment}

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greptile-apps · 2026-02-09T05:07:51Z

src/gateway/server-methods/chat.inject.parentid.test.ts

+    vi.doMock("../session-utils.js", async (importOriginal) => {
+      const original = await importOriginal();
+      return {
+        ...original,


Mock may not apply

vi.doMock("../session-utils.js", ...) is declared after the file has already imported GatewayRequestContext from ./types.js. If ./types.js (or anything it imports) eagerly imports ../session-utils.js, that module will be loaded before the mock is registered, and the test will end up exercising the real loadSessionEntry instead of the mocked one. To make this deterministic, register mocks before any imports that could pull in session-utils, or switch to vi.mock at the top-level / vi.resetModules() + dynamic imports so ./chat.js and its dependencies load after the mock is installed.

Prompt To Fix With AI

This is a comment left during a code review. Path: src/gateway/server-methods/chat.inject.parentid.test.ts Line: 28:31 Comment: **Mock may not apply** `vi.doMock("../session-utils.js", ...)` is declared *after* the file has already imported `GatewayRequestContext` from `./types.js`. If `./types.js` (or anything it imports) eagerly imports `../session-utils.js`, that module will be loaded before the mock is registered, and the test will end up exercising the real `loadSessionEntry` instead of the mocked one. To make this deterministic, register mocks before any imports that could pull in `session-utils`, or switch to `vi.mock` at the top-level / `vi.resetModules()` + dynamic imports so `./chat.js` and its dependencies load after the mock is installed. How can I resolve this? If you propose a fix, please make it concise.

…12283) * Gateway: preserve Pi transcript parentId for injected messages Thread: unknown When: 2026-02-08 20:08 CST Repo: https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw.git Branch: codex/wip/2026-02-09/compact-post-compaction-parentid-fix Problem - Post-compaction turns sometimes lost the compaction summary + kept suffix in the *next* provider request. - Root cause was session graph corruption: gateway appended "stopReason: injected" transcript lines via raw JSONL writes without `parentId`. - Pi's `SessionManager.buildSessionContext()` walks the `parentId` chain from the current leaf; missing `parentId` can sever the active branch and hide the compaction entry. Fix - Use `SessionManager.appendMessage(...)` for injected assistant transcript writes so `parentId` is set to the current leaf. - Route `chat.inject` through the same helper to avoid duplicating the broken raw JSONL append logic. Why This Matters - The compaction algorithm may be correct, but if the leaf chain is broken right after compaction, the provider payload cannot include the summary/suffix "shape" Pi expects. Testing - pnpm test src/agents/pi-embedded-helpers.post-compaction-shape.test.ts src/agents/pi-embedded-runner/run.overflow-compaction.post-context.test.ts - pnpm build Notes - This is provider-shape agnostic: it fixes transcript structure so Anthropic/Gemini/etc all see the same post-compaction context. Resume - If post-compaction looks wrong again, inspect the session transcript for entries missing `parentId` immediately after `type: compaction`. * Gateway: guardrail test for transcript parentId (chat.inject) * Gateway: guardrail against raw transcript appends (chat.ts) * Gateway: add local AGENTS.md note to preserve Pi transcript parentId chain * Changelog: note gateway post-compaction amnesia fix * Gateway: store injected transcript messages with valid stopReason * Gateway: use valid stopReason in injected fallback

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]>

…12283) * Gateway: preserve Pi transcript parentId for injected messages Thread: unknown When: 2026-02-08 20:08 CST Repo: https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw.git Branch: codex/wip/2026-02-09/compact-post-compaction-parentid-fix Problem - Post-compaction turns sometimes lost the compaction summary + kept suffix in the *next* provider request. - Root cause was session graph corruption: gateway appended "stopReason: injected" transcript lines via raw JSONL writes without `parentId`. - Pi's `SessionManager.buildSessionContext()` walks the `parentId` chain from the current leaf; missing `parentId` can sever the active branch and hide the compaction entry. Fix - Use `SessionManager.appendMessage(...)` for injected assistant transcript writes so `parentId` is set to the current leaf. - Route `chat.inject` through the same helper to avoid duplicating the broken raw JSONL append logic. Why This Matters - The compaction algorithm may be correct, but if the leaf chain is broken right after compaction, the provider payload cannot include the summary/suffix "shape" Pi expects. Testing - pnpm test src/agents/pi-embedded-helpers.post-compaction-shape.test.ts src/agents/pi-embedded-runner/run.overflow-compaction.post-context.test.ts - pnpm build Notes - This is provider-shape agnostic: it fixes transcript structure so Anthropic/Gemini/etc all see the same post-compaction context. Resume - If post-compaction looks wrong again, inspect the session transcript for entries missing `parentId` immediately after `type: compaction`. * Gateway: guardrail test for transcript parentId (chat.inject) * Gateway: guardrail against raw transcript appends (chat.ts) * Gateway: add local AGENTS.md note to preserve Pi transcript parentId chain * Changelog: note gateway post-compaction amnesia fix * Gateway: store injected transcript messages with valid stopReason * Gateway: use valid stopReason in injected fallback

@Takhoffman

…ick openclaw#12283) Cherry-pick upstream fix for post-compaction amnesia caused by injected messages (like /status) breaking the session parentId chain. - Use SessionManager.appendMessage() instead of raw JSONL appends - This ensures injected messages are attached to current leaf via parentId - Fixes context reset when /status or other commands inject messages Original: 0cf93b8 by @Takhoffman

…12283) * Gateway: preserve Pi transcript parentId for injected messages Thread: unknown When: 2026-02-08 20:08 CST Repo: https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw.git Branch: codex/wip/2026-02-09/compact-post-compaction-parentid-fix Problem - Post-compaction turns sometimes lost the compaction summary + kept suffix in the *next* provider request. - Root cause was session graph corruption: gateway appended "stopReason: injected" transcript lines via raw JSONL writes without `parentId`. - Pi's `SessionManager.buildSessionContext()` walks the `parentId` chain from the current leaf; missing `parentId` can sever the active branch and hide the compaction entry. Fix - Use `SessionManager.appendMessage(...)` for injected assistant transcript writes so `parentId` is set to the current leaf. - Route `chat.inject` through the same helper to avoid duplicating the broken raw JSONL append logic. Why This Matters - The compaction algorithm may be correct, but if the leaf chain is broken right after compaction, the provider payload cannot include the summary/suffix "shape" Pi expects. Testing - pnpm test src/agents/pi-embedded-helpers.post-compaction-shape.test.ts src/agents/pi-embedded-runner/run.overflow-compaction.post-context.test.ts - pnpm build Notes - This is provider-shape agnostic: it fixes transcript structure so Anthropic/Gemini/etc all see the same post-compaction context. Resume - If post-compaction looks wrong again, inspect the session transcript for entries missing `parentId` immediately after `type: compaction`. * Gateway: guardrail test for transcript parentId (chat.inject) * Gateway: guardrail against raw transcript appends (chat.ts) * Gateway: add local AGENTS.md note to preserve Pi transcript parentId chain * Changelog: note gateway post-compaction amnesia fix * Gateway: store injected transcript messages with valid stopReason * Gateway: use valid stopReason in injected fallback

* Gateway: preserve Pi transcript parentId for injected messages Thread: unknown When: 2026-02-08 20:08 CST Repo: https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw.git Branch: codex/wip/2026-02-09/compact-post-compaction-parentid-fix Problem - Post-compaction turns sometimes lost the compaction summary + kept suffix in the *next* provider request. - Root cause was session graph corruption: gateway appended "stopReason: injected" transcript lines via raw JSONL writes without `parentId`. - Pi's `SessionManager.buildSessionContext()` walks the `parentId` chain from the current leaf; missing `parentId` can sever the active branch and hide the compaction entry. Fix - Use `SessionManager.appendMessage(...)` for injected assistant transcript writes so `parentId` is set to the current leaf. - Route `chat.inject` through the same helper to avoid duplicating the broken raw JSONL append logic. Why This Matters - The compaction algorithm may be correct, but if the leaf chain is broken right after compaction, the provider payload cannot include the summary/suffix "shape" Pi expects. Testing - pnpm test src/agents/pi-embedded-helpers.post-compaction-shape.test.ts src/agents/pi-embedded-runner/run.overflow-compaction.post-context.test.ts - pnpm build Notes - This is provider-shape agnostic: it fixes transcript structure so Anthropic/Gemini/etc all see the same post-compaction context. Resume - If post-compaction looks wrong again, inspect the session transcript for entries missing `parentId` immediately after `type: compaction`. * Gateway: guardrail test for transcript parentId (chat.inject) * Gateway: guardrail against raw transcript appends (chat.ts) * Gateway: add local AGENTS.md note to preserve Pi transcript parentId chain * Changelog: note gateway post-compaction amnesia fix * Gateway: store injected transcript messages with valid stopReason * Gateway: use valid stopReason in injected fallback

@Takhoffman

Cherry-pick upstream fix for post-compaction amnesia caused by injected messages (like /status) breaking the session parentId chain. - Use SessionManager.appendMessage() instead of raw JSONL appends - Ensures injected messages are attached to current leaf via parentId - Fixes context reset when /status or other commands inject messages Original: 0cf93b8 by @Takhoffman

…v2026.2.9 - A1: fix post-compaction amnesia — use SessionManager.appendMessage() instead of raw fs.appendFileSync in chat.ts to preserve parentId chain (openclaw#12283) - A2: recover from context overflow caused by oversized tool results — pre-emptive 400K char cap + session-level truncation fallback (openclaw#11579) - A3: fix bundled hooks broken since tsdown migration — add hook handler entries + correct dist path (openclaw#9295) - A4: prevent false positive context overflow detection — require colon in match (openclaw#2078) - A5: treat HTTP 400 as failover-eligible for model fallback (openclaw#1879)

Takhoffman added 6 commits February 8, 2026 20:12

Gateway: guardrail test for transcript parentId (chat.inject)

a93f437

Gateway: guardrail against raw transcript appends (chat.ts)

46cb186

Gateway: add local AGENTS.md note to preserve Pi transcript parentId …

f2a9034

…chain

Changelog: note gateway post-compaction amnesia fix

b6e867e

Gateway: store injected transcript messages with valid stopReason

3e3e41d

openclaw-barnacle bot added app: web-ui App: web-ui gateway Gateway runtime labels Feb 9, 2026

greptile-apps bot reviewed Feb 9, 2026

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Gateway: use valid stopReason in injected fallback

889bfcd

Takhoffman marked this pull request as draft February 9, 2026 03:31

Takhoffman marked this pull request as ready for review February 9, 2026 05:06

Takhoffman changed the title ~~Gateway: fix post-compaction amnesia for injected messages~~ Gateway: fix post-compaction amnesia for injected messages (web chat) Feb 9, 2026

Takhoffman merged commit 0cf93b8 into main Feb 9, 2026
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Takhoffman deleted the codex/wip/2026-02-09/compact-post-compaction-parentid-fix branch February 9, 2026 05:07

greptile-apps bot reviewed Feb 9, 2026

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duckshrug mentioned this pull request Feb 9, 2026

Compaction produces empty summary despite 36k tokens of content #12921

Closed

ChuckChambers mentioned this pull request Feb 10, 2026

Feature Request: Pre-compaction warning event for agents #13019

Closed

DILOmcfly mentioned this pull request Feb 10, 2026

[Bug] PR #12283 post-compaction amnesia fix causes token consumption regression #13416

Closed

slathrop referenced this pull request in slathrop/openclaw-js Feb 11, 2026

fix(gateway): fix post-compaction amnesia for injected messages (#12283)

0db6cee

openperf mentioned this pull request Feb 14, 2026

fix(gateway): add parentId to non-agent-run transcript messages #11033

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Gateway: fix post-compaction amnesia for injected messages (web chat)#12283

Gateway: fix post-compaction amnesia for injected messages (web chat)#12283
Takhoffman merged 7 commits intomainfrom
codex/wip/2026-02-09/compact-post-compaction-parentid-fix

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Problem

Fix

Guardrails

User-facing impact

Testing

Manual Test (Web Chat)

Notes

Greptile Overview

Greptile Summary

Confidence Score: 4/5

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Takhoffman commented Feb 9, 2026 •

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