Summary

Describe the problem and fix in 2–5 bullets:

• Problem: Cron jobs with delivery.mode: "announce" do not apply the responsePrefix (e.g., [Thames]) to messages, while interactive replies correctly apply it.
• Why it matters: In group chats with multiple agents delivering to the same channel, the lack of prefix makes it unclear which agent sent the message.
• What changed: Modified src/cron/isolated-agent/delivery-dispatch.ts to resolve and apply responsePrefix using the existing resolveResponsePrefix() function in both the direct delivery and announce delivery paths.
• What did NOT change (scope boundary): Other delivery mechanisms, interactive reply flow, heartbeat delivery, webhook delivery.

Change Type (select all)

• Bug fix
• Feature
• Refactor
• Docs
• Security hardening
• Chore/infra

Scope (select all touched areas)

• Gateway / orchestration
• Skills / tool execution
• Auth / tokens
• Memory / storage
• Integrations
• API / contracts
• UI / DX
• CI/CD / infra

Linked Issue/PR

• Closes Cron announce delivery does not apply responsePrefix #29600
• Related #

User-visible / Behavior Changes

Cron jobs with delivery.mode: "announce" will now prepend the configured responsePrefix (e.g., [AgentName]) to the message text, matching interactive reply behavior.

• Global messages.responsePrefix: "[BotName]" now applies to cron announce delivery
• Channel-level channels..responsePrefix now applies to cron announce delivery
• responsePrefix: "auto" resolves to [AgentName] for cron delivery
• Backward compatible: no prefix configured = no change in behavior

Security Impact (required)

• New permissions/capabilities? (No)
• Secrets/tokens handling changed? (No)
• New/changed network calls? (No)
• Command/tool execution surface changed? (No)
• Data access scope changed? (No)

Repro + Verification

Environment

• OS: macOS (tested locally)
• Runtime/container: Node 25.5.0
• Model/provider: N/A (unit tests)
• Integration/channel (if any): Telegram, WhatsApp (tested in mocks)
• Relevant config: messages.responsePrefix, channels..responsePrefix

Steps

1. Configure cron job with delivery.mode: "announce" and messages.responsePrefix: "[BotName]"
2. Run cron job that produces text output
3. Observe message delivered to channel

Expected

Message prefixed with [BotName] (or [AgentName] if auto)

Actual

Before fix: Raw text without prefix
After fix: Text with prefix applied

Evidence

Attach at least one:

• Failing test/log before + passing after
  Test Results
  5 new tests added in src/cron/isolated-agent.delivery-response-prefix.test.ts:

1. applies global responsePrefix to announce delivery
   • Config: messages: { responsePrefix: "[CronBot]" }
   • Input: "Hello from cron job"
   • Expected output: "[CronBot] Hello from cron job"
   • Status: ✅ Passed
2. resolves 'auto' responsePrefix to identity name
   • Config: messages: { responsePrefix: "auto" } with identity.name: "Thames"
   • Input: "Hello from cron job"
   • Expected output: "[Thames] Hello from cron job"
   • Status: ✅ Passed
3. does not duplicate prefix if already present in response
   • Config: messages: { responsePrefix: "[CronBot]" }
   • Input: "[CronBot] Already has prefix"
   • Expected output: "[CronBot] Already has prefix" (no duplication)
   • Status: ✅ Passed
4. works without responsePrefix configured
   • Config: {} (no responsePrefix)
   • Input: "Hello without prefix"
   • Expected output: "Hello without prefix" (unchanged)
   • Status: ✅ Passed
5. applies channel-level responsePrefix
   • Config: messages: { responsePrefix: "[Global]" }, channels.telegram.responsePrefix: "[TelegramBot]"
   • Input: "Hello from cron job"
   • Expected output: "[TelegramBot] Hello from cron job" (channel overrides global)
   • Status: ✅ Passed

Test Output
✓ src/cron/isolated-agent.delivery-response-prefix.test.ts (5 tests) 40ms
Full test suite: 959 tests passed (274 cron tests)

• Trace/log snippets
• Screenshot/recording
• Perf numbers (if relevant)

Human Verification (required)

What you personally verified (not just CI), and how:

• Verified scenarios:
  • Global responsePrefix: "[BotName]" applies to announce delivery
  • responsePrefix: "auto" resolves to [AgentName]
  • Channel-level responsePrefix takes precedence over global
  • Prefix not duplicated if already present in response
  • Works without responsePrefix configured (backward compatible)
• Edge cases checked:
  • Empty responsePrefix (no prefix applied)
  • Prefix already present in text (not duplicated)
• What you did NOT verify:
  • Live cron job execution with real messaging channel
  • Integration with actual Telegram/WhatsApp APIs

Compatibility / Migration

• Backward compatible? (Yes)
• Config/env changes? (No)
• Migration needed? (No)

Failure Recovery (if this breaks)

• How to disable/revert this change quickly: Revert commit fe95144 or e8bfb3d
• Files/config to restore: src/cron/isolated-agent/delivery-dispatch.ts
• Known bad symptoms reviewers should watch for: Cron jobs failing to deliver messages, messages appearing without expected prefix

Risks and Mitigations

List only real risks for this PR. Add/remove entries as needed. If none, write None.

• Risk: None
• Mitigation: N/A

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Implementation Plan: Fix Cron Announce Delivery responsePrefix (Issue #29600)

Issue Summary

When delivery.mode: "announce" sends a cron job's response text to a chat channel, the responsePrefix (e.g., [Thames]) is not applied to the message. Interactive replies correctly resolve responsePrefix: "auto" via resolveIdentityNamePrefix(), but cron delivery sends raw response text.

Baseline Verification

Before starting implementation, establish a test baseline:

• Run pnpm test to establish current test status
• Verify project builds with pnpm build
• Verify type checks pass with pnpm tsgo
• Verify lint/format passes with pnpm check

Step-by-Step Implementation Plan

Step 1: Fork and Branch Setup

• Ensure you are on the fix/cron-announce-response-prefix branch created earlier
• Verify branch is clean: git status

Step 2: Add Import for resolveResponsePrefix

• Modify src/cron/isolated-agent/delivery-dispatch.ts
• Add import: import { resolveResponsePrefix } from "../../agents/identity.js";
• Verify TypeScript compiles: pnpm tsgo
• Run relevant tests: pnpm test src/cron -- --run
• Commit: git add src/cron/isolated-agent/delivery-dispatch.ts && git commit -m "imports: add resolveResponsePrefix for cron delivery"

Step 3: Fix deliverViaDirect Function (Direct Delivery Path)

• Modify src/cron/isolated-agent/delivery-dispatch.ts
• In deliverViaDirect function (around line 154), add responsePrefix resolution:

  const responsePrefix = resolveResponsePrefix(params.cfgWithAgentDefaults, params.agentId, {
    channel: delivery.channel,
    accountId: delivery.accountId,
  });

• Apply prefix to synthesizedText before creating payloads (around line 159):

  const textWithPrefix = responsePrefix && synthesizedText && !synthesizedText.startsWith(responsePrefix)
    ? `${responsePrefix} ${synthesizedText}`
    : synthesizedText;
  const payloadsForDelivery =
    deliveryPayloads.length > 0
      ? deliveryPayloads
      : textWithPrefix
        ? [{ text: textWithPrefix }]
        : [];

• Verify TypeScript compiles: pnpm tsgo
• Run relevant tests: pnpm test src/cron -- --run
• Commit: git add src/cron/isolated-agent/delivery-dispatch.ts && git commit -m "fix(cron): apply responsePrefix to direct delivery path"

Step 4: Fix deliverViaAnnounce Function (Announce Delivery Path)

• Modify src/cron/isolated-agent/delivery-dispatch.ts
• In deliverViaAnnounce function (around line 229), add responsePrefix resolution after resolving announceSessionKey:

  const responsePrefix = resolveResponsePrefix(params.cfgWithAgentDefaults, params.agentId, {
    channel: delivery.channel,
    accountId: delivery.accountId,
  });

• Apply prefix to synthesizedText before passing to runSubagentAnnounceFlow (around line 311):

  const textWithPrefix = responsePrefix && synthesizedText && !synthesizedText.startsWith(responsePrefix)
    ? `${responsePrefix} ${synthesizedText}`
    : synthesizedText;
  const didAnnounce = await runSubagentAnnounceFlow({
    ...
    roundOneReply: textWithPrefix,
    ...
  });

• Verify TypeScript compiles: pnpm tsgo
• Run relevant tests: pnpm test src/cron -- --run
• Commit: git add src/cron/isolated-agent/delivery-dispatch.ts && git commit -m "fix(cron): apply responsePrefix to announce delivery path"

Step 5: Add Test Coverage

• Create new test file: src/cron/isolated-agent/delivery-dispatch.response-prefix.test.ts
• Test cases to cover:
  • Cron announce delivery with global responsePrefix: "[AgentName]" applies prefix
  • Cron announce delivery with responsePrefix: "auto" resolves to [AgentName]
  • Cron direct delivery applies responsePrefix
  • Cron delivery does not duplicate prefix if already present
  • Cron delivery with no responsePrefix configured works as before
• Run tests: pnpm test src/cron -- --run
• Verify test coverage: pnpm test:coverage -- --run src/cron
• Commit: git add src/cron/isolated-agent/delivery-dispatch.response-prefix.test.ts && git commit -m "test(cron): add responsePrefix coverage for delivery-dispatch"

Step 6: Full Verification

• Run full test suite: pnpm test
• Run build: pnpm build
• Run type checks: pnpm tsgo
• Run lint/format: pnpm check
• Commit any final changes

Step 7: Push to Remote Fork

• Add your fork as remote: git remote add fork [email protected]:<your-fork>/openclaw.git
• Push branch to fork: git push -u fork fix/cron-announce-response-prefix
• Verify push was successful

Notes

• The fix uses the existing resolveResponsePrefix() function from src/agents/identity.ts which handles:
  • Per-channel account level configuration (L1)
  • Channel level configuration (L2)
  • Global messages.responsePrefix configuration (L4)
  • "auto" value which resolves to [AgentName] via resolveIdentityNamePrefix()
• Only prepends prefix if:
  • responsePrefix is defined
  • synthesizedText exists
  • synthesizedText doesn't already start with the prefix (to avoid duplicates)

Related Files

• Modified: src/cron/isolated-agent/delivery-dispatch.ts
• Added: src/cron/isolated-agent/delivery-dispatch.response-prefix.test.ts
• Reference: src/agents/identity.ts (contains resolveResponsePrefix)
• Reference: src/agents/identity.per-channel-prefix.test.ts (example test patterns)

GitHub Issue

#29600