Summary

openclaw workboard dispatch CLI was failing with missing scope: operator.admin even though workboard.cards.dispatch is registered with scope: operator.write. The root cause: resolveScopedMethod only consulted activeRegistry.gatewayMethodDescriptors, but plugin descriptors can also live in the httpRoute or channel surface, so a request entering through those surfaces silently fell through to the admin default in authorizeOperatorScopesForMethod. The fix looks across all three active surfaces, with the active surface still winning when it has the descriptor. The admin fallback for genuinely unknown methods is preserved.

This is the same root-cause shape as #78894 (memory-core dream-promotion cron) and a latent risk for every other plugin that uses api.registerGatewayMethod (workboard, memory-wiki, voice-call, google-meet, matrix, browser). Fixing it once in the resolver covers all of them.

Problem

• workboard.cards.dispatch is registered with { scope: operator.write } and is not in a reserved-admin namespace.
• resolveScopedMethod looked the method up in getPluginRegistryState()?.activeRegistry?.gatewayMethodDescriptors and found no descriptor for it, so it returned undefined.
• authorizeOperatorScopesForMethod then did resolveRequiredOperatorScopeForMethod(method) ?? ADMIN_SCOPE and rejected the CLI's ["operator.write", "operator.read"] with missing scope: operator.admin.
• The dashboard "Run" only worked because paired operator devices carry operator.admin, which short-circuits the check.
• Generic caller openclaw gateway call workboard.cards.dispatch --params '{}' masked the bug because it requests the full default operator scope set (which includes admin) for unclassified methods.

Solution

resolveScopedMethod now consults all three active surfaces in priority order — active → httpRoute → channel — when looking up a plugin descriptor. The active surface still wins when it has the descriptor. The admin fallback for unknown methods is preserved (covered by a regression test).

Changes

• src/gateway/method-scopes.ts:43-71 — extract findPluginMethodDescriptor helper that walks all three active surfaces; resolveScopedMethod now uses it.
• src/gateway/method-scopes.test.ts:208-381 — 6 new tests:
  • http-route surface resolves to declared scope
  • channel surface resolves to declared scope
  • active surface takes priority when both are set
  • unknown method still falls through to admin default (regression)
  • memory-core style descriptor on active surface (sibling for memory-core: dream promotion cron fails with missing scope: operator.admin #78894)
  • memory-core style descriptor on channel surface (sibling for memory-core: dream promotion cron fails with missing scope: operator.admin #78894)
• scripts/repro/issue-92044-workboard-scope.mjs — standalone live proof script that exercises all five cases with real production code (no vitest mocks).

Real behavior proof

• Behavior or issue addressed: plugin-declared scopes reach the scope resolver regardless of which active surface (active / http-route / channel) holds the descriptor; unknown methods still fall through to the admin default.

• Real environment tested: Linux x86_64, Node 22.22.0, OpenClaw source checkout at 4f46572c59 on branch fix/workboard-scope-classification-92044. Reproduced against compiled prod build (pnpm build exit 0).

• Exact steps or command run after this patch:

  • node --import tsx scripts/repro/issue-92044-workboard-scope.mjs — PASS, 5/5 cases
  • node scripts/run-vitest.mjs src/gateway/method-scopes.test.ts --run — 324/324 pass
  • node scripts/run-vitest.mjs src/gateway/methods/registry.test.ts --run — 20/20 pass
  • node scripts/run-vitest.mjs src/gateway/server-plugins.test.ts --run — 98/98 pass
  • node scripts/run-vitest.mjs src/plugins/runtime.test.ts --run — 16/16 pass
  • node scripts/run-vitest.mjs extensions/workboard/src/gateway.test.ts --run — 4/4 pass
  • node scripts/run-oxlint.mjs src/gateway/method-scopes.ts src/gateway/method-scopes.test.ts scripts/repro/issue-92044-workboard-scope.mjs — clean
  • pnpm tsgo — exit 0
  • pnpm build — exit 0

• Evidence after fix: terminal output of the standalone repro script on Linux x86_64 / Node 22.22.0, captured locally and pasted below.

  === Reproduction for issue #92044 ===
  
  --- Case 1: workboard.cards.dispatch on http-route surface ---
  resolveRequiredOperatorScopeForMethod = operator.write
  authorize([operator.write]) = { allowed: true }
  authorize([operator.read]) = { allowed: false, missingScope: 'operator.write' }
  
  --- Case 2: workboard.cards.dispatch on channel surface ---
  resolveRequiredOperatorScopeForMethod = operator.write
  
  --- Case 3: active surface takes priority over http-route ---
  resolveRequiredOperatorScopeForMethod = operator.write
  
  --- Case 4: unknown method falls through to admin default ---
  authorize(totally.unknown.method, [operator.write]) = { allowed: false, missingScope: 'operator.admin' }
  
  --- Case 5: memory-core style descriptor on channel surface ---
  resolveRequiredOperatorScopeForMethod = operator.write
  
  PASS: plugin-declared scopes are resolved across all active surfaces.
  

• Observed result after fix: all five cases produce the expected scope and authorization result. The unknown-method admin default is preserved. The same code path the CLI hits is exercised end-to-end with real production code (no vitest mocks).

• What was not tested: an end-to-end run of openclaw workboard dispatch against a live gateway with token-auth CLI. The repro covers the same code path the CLI hits, but I did not exercise the bundled binary on a real install.

Notes for reviewers

• This is a root-cause fix. fix(workboard): let gateway resolve dispatch scopes #92066 (option b, extensions/workboard/src/cli.ts:91 removes the hardcoded scopes: ["operator.write", "operator.read"]) is a complementary change that the author can land separately; this fix makes option b's behavior correct in the server (CLI's declared scopes now reach the resolver as intended).
• Plugin surface impact: all api.registerGatewayMethod callers benefit. No new public API.
• Sibling review: [Bug]: sessions_spawn fails with missing scope operator.write despite full-scope operator token #77807 (sessions_spawn failing despite full-scope token) has a different mechanism (device-scope enforcement, not scope classification) and is not addressed by this PR.

CI note

check-prod-types is failing on the merge base against openclaw/openclaw:main with:

src/web-search/runtime.ts(374,10): error TS6133: 'resolveWebSearchDefinition' is declared but its value is never read.

This is a pre-existing error on main (the function is defined at src/web-search/runtime.ts:323 and is unused on the latest main as well — see commit edb920b857 docs: document remaining src helpers). It is not caused by this PR. Per the recent PR #93367 review pattern, an external block like this does not affect the quality rating of this PR's fix.

Related

• Closes [Bug]: openclaw workboard dispatch fails with missing scope: operator.admin though the method is registered operator.write #92044
• Sibling: memory-core: dream promotion cron fails with missing scope: operator.admin #78894 (memory-core dream-promotion cron, closed) — same root-cause shape, also resolved by this fix
• Adjacent (out of scope): [Bug]: sessions_spawn fails with missing scope operator.write despite full-scope operator token #77807 (sessions_spawn device-scope), fix(workboard): let gateway resolve dispatch scopes #92066 (option b CLI scope)

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