Summary

Fixes #92260.

This fixes heartbeat main-reply selection so reasoning payloads are not delivered as the visible heartbeat reply when includeReasoning is unset. The selector now skips flagged reasoning payloads (isReasoning: true) and the same common reasoning text forms already recognized by the shared reply-payload reasoning detector, including legacy Reasoning: / Thinking... forms and blockquoted reasoning.

The runner still preserves the explicit opt-in path: when agents.defaults.heartbeat.includeReasoning: true, reasoning-only responses continue to deliver through the separate reasoning delivery path instead of being treated as empty replies.

Patch-level comparison

I checked for competing open PRs before opening this: none were open for #92260 when this PR was prepared. The closest competing patch was closed PR #92262.

Compared with #92262, this branch is intentionally different in a few ways:

• It avoids adding a new public ResolveHeartbeatReplyPayloadOptions export through src/plugin-sdk/reply-runtime.ts.
• It handles flagged reasoning and the existing prefixed/blockquote reasoning forms recognized by isReasoningReplyPayload.
• It adds runner-level regression coverage proving default includeReasoning suppression on the actual heartbeat send path, not only selector unit tests.
• It preserves and tests the opt-in includeReasoning: true behavior for reasoning-only responses, including the regression caught during autoreview.

Maintainers should feel free to prefer another branch if it fits the intended API direction better. I kept the comparison explicit so the delta is reviewable side-by-side with #92262.

Real behavior proof (required for external PRs)

• Behavior or issue addressed: Heartbeat replies no longer select reasoning payloads as the main visible reply when reasoning is disabled by default.
• Real environment tested: Local OpenClaw checkout at 1d36bdf2ce876dc18c7644da8e308f049fa23fc8, Node 24.16.0, production runHeartbeatOnce, real temporary OpenClawConfig, real session-store JSON file, real plugin registry registration, isolated OPENCLAW_HOME / OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR under /tmp, and a local Telegram-shaped outbound adapter that records delivery attempts without contacting Telegram.
• Exact steps or command run after this patch:

OPENCLAW_PROOF_HEAD=1d36bdf2ce876dc18c7644da8e308f049fa23fc8 \
OPENCLAW_HOME=/tmp/openclaw-hb-proof-home \
OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR=/tmp/openclaw-hb-proof-home/state \
node --import tsx /tmp/openclaw-heartbeat-proof.ts

• Evidence after fix (terminal capture / copied console output):

OpenClaw heartbeat behavior proof
head=1d36bdf2ce876dc18c7644da8e308f049fa23fc8
[
  {
    "case": "default suppresses late blockquoted reasoning after HEARTBEAT_OK",
    "includeReasoning": false,
    "status": "ran",
    "deliveryCount": 0,
    "deliveredTexts": [],
    "disallowedReasoningDelivered": false,
    "sessionStore": "sessions.json"
  },
  {
    "case": "default sends visible final and ignores later reasoning",
    "includeReasoning": false,
    "status": "ran",
    "deliveryCount": 1,
    "deliveredTexts": [
      "Visible heartbeat update"
    ],
    "disallowedReasoningDelivered": false,
    "sessionStore": "sessions.json"
  },
  {
    "case": "includeReasoning true still delivers reasoning-only output",
    "includeReasoning": true,
    "status": "ran",
    "deliveryCount": 1,
    "deliveredTexts": [
      "Thinking\n\n_private chain of thought_"
    ],
    "disallowedReasoningDelivered": false,
    "sessionStore": "sessions.json"
  }
]

• Observed result after fix: With includeReasoning unset, a late blockquoted reasoning payload after HEARTBEAT_OK produced zero outbound sends, and a visible final heartbeat update followed by reasoning delivered only the visible final text. With includeReasoning: true, a reasoning-only response still delivered through the explicit reasoning path.
• What was not tested: No live xAI/OpenAI Responses model and no real Telegram network delivery were used. The model reply ordering and outbound network call were locally controlled to isolate the heartbeat payload-selection behavior.
• Proof limitations or environment constraints: Live Telegram/provider proof would require credentials and a model response ordering that reproduces the reporter's payload order; this local proof targets the heartbeat runner layer identified as the root cause in [Bug]: Heartbeat delivers reasoning payload as main reply when includeReasoning is false (resolveHeartbeatReplyPayload ignores isReasoning) #92260.

Tests and validation

Focused commands run:

node scripts/run-vitest.mjs src/auto-reply/heartbeat-reply-payload.test.ts src/infra/heartbeat-runner.returns-default-unset.test.ts src/plugin-sdk/reply-payload.test.ts
git diff --check
/Users/harjothk/.cache/codex-runtimes/codex-primary-runtime/dependencies/python/bin/python3 .agents/skills/autoreview/scripts/autoreview --mode local

Results:

• node scripts/run-vitest.mjs ... passed 3 Vitest shards: 4 selector tests, 44 infra heartbeat runner tests, and 53 plugin-sdk reply-payload tests.
• git diff --check passed.
• Autoreview initially found two regressions; both were fixed. Final autoreview result: autoreview clean: no accepted/actionable findings reported.

Regression coverage added:

• Selector tests cover late flagged reasoning, legacy-prefixed reasoning, blockquoted reasoning, reasoning-only inputs, and scan-through behavior.
• Heartbeat runner tests cover default-hidden late reasoning after HEARTBEAT_OK, legacy-prefixed and blockquoted late reasoning, and includeReasoning: true reasoning-only delivery.