fix(heartbeat): suppress stream-error placeholders by TurboTheTurtle · Pull Request #97364 · openclaw/openclaw

TurboTheTurtle · 2026-06-28T05:09:22Z

What Problem This Solves

Heartbeat fallback replies that echo only the internal stream-error sentinel are non-empty, so current main can normalize and deliver them as visible channel messages. This filters the placeholder-only heartbeat case before durable delivery while leaving the persisted replay sentinel untouched.

Summary

Suppress heartbeat replies whose visible text is only the internal stream-error fallback sentinel, including repeated echoes, before durable channel delivery.
Preserve normal heartbeat delivery behavior, including runner failure copy rewrite and exec-completion fallback for non-placeholder content.

Evidence

Added src/infra/heartbeat-runner.tool-response.test.ts coverage showing a repeated sentinel heartbeat reply produces no Telegram send and records an ok-token heartbeat event.
Verified the focused heartbeat runner regression suite, heartbeat token suite, formatter check, and whitespace check locally.
Redacted local heartbeat/channel proof using the real runHeartbeatOnce path and Telegram outbound adapter, with the network send hook recording attempts:

result.status=ran
telegram.send.count=0
heartbeat.event.status=ok-token
heartbeat.event.silent=true
placeholder.delivered=false

clawsweeper · 2026-06-28T05:10:27Z

Codex review: needs maintainer review before merge. Reviewed June 28, 2026, 1:25 AM ET / 05:25 UTC.

Summary
The branch imports the shared stream-error sentinel, suppresses placeholder-only heartbeat replies before durable channel delivery, preserves media and exec-completion paths, and adds Telegram heartbeat regression coverage.

PR surface: Source +35, Tests +31. Total +66 across 2 files.

Reproducibility: yes. at source level: current main treats repeated stream-error sentinel text as non-empty heartbeat reply text that can reach durable delivery. The linked issue supplies released-version field evidence, and the PR adds focused current-path regression coverage.

Review metrics: none identified.

Root-cause cluster
Relationship: fixed_by_candidate
Canonical: #97357
Summary: This PR is the candidate fix for the linked heartbeat placeholder delivery issue; adjacent sentinel/provider issues remain separate work.

Members:

canonical: Heartbeat fallback can deliver repeated internal stream-error placeholders #97357 - The PR body closes this heartbeat fallback placeholder report, and the code/test changes directly target that behavior.
partial_overlap: Cron fallback model works in normal session but LLM request fails when triggered via cron #97335 - It shares provider fallback context but concerns cron abort behavior rather than placeholder-only heartbeat delivery.
partial_overlap: Remove "assistant turn failed before producing content" log prefix from chat history #91503 - It shares the same sentinel text but concerns chat-history display rather than heartbeat delivery filtering.
partial_overlap: Heartbeat sessions report 'assistant turn failed before producing content' on model initialization failure #90049 - It shares heartbeat/model-failure wording but asks for provider/model-initialization classification rather than suppression of placeholder-only heartbeat replies.
adjacent_distinct: Bug: heartbeat transcript repair artifacts can pollute later context #85687 - It concerns heartbeat transcript repair artifacts and diagnostics, not this visible-delivery suppression path.

Proposal only: this assessment does not dispatch repair, suppress jobs, mutate sibling items, close, or merge anything.

Merge readiness
Overall: 🐚 platinum hermit
Proof: 🐚 platinum hermit
Patch quality: 🐚 platinum hermit
Result: ready for maintainer review.

Overall follows the weaker of proof and patch quality, so missing proof can cap an otherwise strong patch.

Rank-up moves:

none.

Next step before merge

No ClawSweeper repair job is needed because no actionable patch defect was found; the remaining action is ordinary maintainer review and landing.

Security
Cleared: The diff only changes heartbeat normalization and a regression test; it adds no dependencies, workflow changes, secret handling, or new code-execution surface.

Review details

Best possible solution:

Land the narrow heartbeat normalization fix after ordinary maintainer review, and leave broader provider fallback diagnostics and chat-history sentinel display work to their separate tracked items.

Do we have a high-confidence way to reproduce the issue?

Yes at source level: current main treats repeated stream-error sentinel text as non-empty heartbeat reply text that can reach durable delivery. The linked issue supplies released-version field evidence, and the PR adds focused current-path regression coverage.

Is this the best way to solve the issue?

Yes: filtering the canonical sentinel in heartbeat normalization is the narrowest maintainable layer because channel delivery should not learn provider/session sentinel semantics and the persisted replay sentinel must remain intact. The PR also handles the important exec-completion fallback edge case so suppression is not undone later in the runner.

AGENTS.md: found and applied where relevant.

Codex review notes: model internal, reasoning high; reviewed against 69af58ba2613.

Label changes

Label changes:

add proof: sufficient: Contributor real behavior proof is sufficient. The PR body includes copied redacted after-fix output from the real runHeartbeatOnce path with Telegram outbound send attempts showing no placeholder delivery.
add rating: 🐚 platinum hermit: Overall readiness is 🐚 platinum hermit; proof is 🐚 platinum hermit and patch quality is 🐚 platinum hermit.
add status: 👀 ready for maintainer look: ClawSweeper has no concrete contributor-facing blocker left for this PR. Sufficient (live_output): The PR body includes copied redacted after-fix output from the real runHeartbeatOnce path with Telegram outbound send attempts showing no placeholder delivery.
remove rating: 🧂 unranked krab: Current PR rating is rating: 🐚 platinum hermit, so this older rating label is no longer current.
remove status: 📣 needs proof: Current PR status label is status: 👀 ready for maintainer look.

Label justifications:

P2: This is a focused fix for a user-visible heartbeat/channel delivery bug with limited blast radius.
rating: 🐚 platinum hermit: Overall readiness is 🐚 platinum hermit; proof is 🐚 platinum hermit and patch quality is 🐚 platinum hermit.
status: 👀 ready for maintainer look: ClawSweeper has no concrete contributor-facing blocker left for this PR. Sufficient (live_output): The PR body includes copied redacted after-fix output from the real runHeartbeatOnce path with Telegram outbound send attempts showing no placeholder delivery.
proof: sufficient: Contributor real behavior proof is sufficient. The PR body includes copied redacted after-fix output from the real runHeartbeatOnce path with Telegram outbound send attempts showing no placeholder delivery.
mantis: telegram-visible-proof: Mantis should capture Telegram visible proof. The PR affects visible Telegram heartbeat delivery in the regression path, so a short Telegram Desktop proof is useful and the existing Mantis label is appropriate.

Evidence reviewed

PR surface:

Source +35, Tests +31. Total +66 across 2 files.

View PR surface stats

Area	Files	Added	Removed	Net
Source	1	43	8	+35
Tests	1	31	0	+31
Docs	0	0	0	0
Config	0	0	0	0
Generated	0	0	0	0
Other	0	0	0	0
Total	2	74	8	+66

What I checked:

Root policy applied: Root review policy requires whole-path source review, proof checks for channel-visible changes, and scoped guidance before verdict; those requirements shaped this review. (AGENTS.md:1, 69af58ba2613)
Scoped Telegram guidance applied: The Telegram maintainer note makes real Telegram-visible proof relevant for user-visible Telegram delivery changes; this PR remains suitable for the Telegram proof label even though the patch is in heartbeat normalization. (.agents/maintainer-notes/telegram.md:31, 69af58ba2613)
Current-main normalization gap: On current main, normalizeHeartbeatReply strips heartbeat ACK tokens and prefixes but returns repeated stream-error sentinel text as sendable non-empty text. (src/infra/heartbeat-runner.ts:842, 69af58ba2613)
Current-main durable delivery path: The heartbeat runner passes normalized text into sendDurableMessageBatch payloads unless the main reply is skipped, so placeholder-only text can reach channel delivery on main. (src/infra/heartbeat-runner.ts:2099, 69af58ba2613)
Sentinel contract: STREAM_ERROR_FALLBACK_TEXT is the canonical persisted assistant stream-error sentinel, so the PR correctly filters the visible heartbeat output path without removing the replay sentinel contract. (src/agents/stream-message-shared.ts:80, 69af58ba2613)
PR-head suppression logic: The PR classifies placeholder-only stream-error text after heartbeat token stripping and carries isInternalPlaceholderOnly through the exec-completion fallback and skip decision. (src/infra/heartbeat-runner.ts:850, 814e0fb8a1a1)

Likely related people:

tangtaizong666: Authored recent heartbeat reply selection work that changed the runner and the reply payload selector adjacent to this PR's normalization boundary. (role: recent heartbeat reply selector contributor; confidence: high; commits: 43890ebc3b25; files: src/infra/heartbeat-runner.ts, src/auto-reply/heartbeat-reply-payload.ts)
joshavant: Recent heartbeat delivery and failure-copy history touches the same runner/test surface and the adjacent failure-output path this PR preserves. (role: recent heartbeat delivery contributor; confidence: high; commits: 3643de4ba7b6, 39a9a3478f11, bd9c78f957b8; files: src/infra/heartbeat-runner.ts, src/infra/heartbeat-runner.tool-response.test.ts)
openperf: Introduced the shared stream-error sentinel contract that this PR filters from visible heartbeat delivery while preserving replay safety. (role: sentinel contract contributor; confidence: high; commits: 930d81aa41d2; files: src/agents/stream-message-shared.ts, src/agents/session-file-repair.ts)
vincentkoc: Co-authored/reviewed recent heartbeat reply selector work and previously authored plugin SDK reply payload routing used by the delivery path. (role: adjacent reviewer and reply-payload contributor; confidence: medium; commits: 43890ebc3b25, ef1346e50339; files: src/auto-reply/heartbeat-reply-payload.ts, src/plugin-sdk/reply-payload.ts)

What the crustacean ranks mean

🦀 challenger crab: rare, exceptional readiness with strong proof, clean implementation, and convincing validation.
🦞 diamond lobster: very strong readiness with only minor maintainer review expected.
🐚 platinum hermit: good normal PR, likely mergeable with ordinary maintainer review.
🦐 gold shrimp: useful signal, but proof or patch confidence is still limited.
🦪 silver shellfish: thin signal; proof, validation, or implementation needs work.
🧂 unranked krab: not merge-ready because proof is missing/unusable or there are serious correctness or safety concerns.
🌊 off-meta tidepool: rating does not apply to this item.

Shiny media proof means a screenshot, video, or linked artifact directly shows the changed behavior. Runtime, network, CSP, and security claims still need visible diagnostics.

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TurboTheTurtle · 2026-06-28T05:19:52Z

@clawsweeper re-review

clawsweeper · 2026-06-28T05:19:54Z

🦞🧹
ClawSweeper re-review requested.

I asked ClawSweeper to review this item again.
Action: item re-review queued (workflow sweep.yml, event repository_dispatch).
Result: the existing ClawSweeper review comment will be edited in place when the review finishes.

TurboTheTurtle · 2026-06-28T05:22:32Z

@openclaw-mantis telegram desktop proof: verify a heartbeat reply containing only repeated stream-error placeholder text is not delivered visibly, while normal heartbeat content still sends.

openclaw-mantis · 2026-06-28T05:46:29Z

Mantis Telegram Desktop Proof

Summary: Mantis captured Telegram Desktop before/after GIFs showing the heartbeat placeholder message on Main and no new placeholder message on this PR.

Scenario: telegram-desktop-proof
Trigger: pull_request_target
Run: https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/actions/runs/28312408122
Artifact: https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/actions/runs/28312408122/artifacts/7931519682
Baseline: pass at 69af58ba2613de7889a3d24d7813d247158df73b, expected baseline visual proof captured
Candidate: pass at 814e0fb8a1a14d5dada78c9dcb6e3a94a2bbdfce, expected candidate visual proof captured
Overall: true

Main screenshot	This PR screenshot

Main	This PR

Motion-trimmed clips:

Raw QA files: https://artifacts.openclaw.ai/mantis/telegram-desktop/pr-97364/run-28312408122-1/index.json

(cherry picked from commit b580258)

fix(heartbeat): suppress stream-error placeholders

814e0fb

openclaw-barnacle Bot added size: S triage: needs-pr-context Candidate: external PR body lacks required problem context or evidence. labels Jun 28, 2026

openclaw-barnacle Bot removed the triage: needs-pr-context Candidate: external PR body lacks required problem context or evidence. label Jun 28, 2026

clawsweeper Bot temporarily deployed to qa-live-shared June 28, 2026 05:23 Inactive

This was referenced Jun 28, 2026

fix(heartbeat): suppress stream-error fallback placeholder from visible delivery #97443

Closed

fix(heartbeat): rewrite stream-error placeholder leak replies before delivery (#97357) #97452

Closed

vincentkoc merged commit b580258 into openclaw:main Jun 28, 2026
186 of 204 checks passed

clawsweeper Bot mentioned this pull request Jun 28, 2026

fix(heartbeat): suppress fallback after route-matched message tool #84975

Open

github-actions Bot mentioned this pull request Jun 28, 2026

📡 Upstream Digest — 2026-06-28 19:05 UTC curtismercier/openclaw-mods#1168

Open

TurboTheTurtle deleted the fix/97357-heartbeat-placeholder branch June 28, 2026 21:34

github-actions Bot pushed a commit to Desicool/openclaw that referenced this pull request Jun 29, 2026

fix(heartbeat): suppress stream-error placeholders (openclaw#97364)

895ab39

clawsweeper Bot mentioned this pull request Jun 30, 2026

fix(heartbeat): suppress no-op system event replies #73785

Open

QiuYuang pushed a commit to QiuYuang/openclaw that referenced this pull request Jul 1, 2026

fix(heartbeat): suppress stream-error placeholders (openclaw#97364)

2e29b61

chenyangjun-xy pushed a commit to chenyangjun-xy/openclaw that referenced this pull request Jul 1, 2026

fix(heartbeat): suppress stream-error placeholders (openclaw#97364)

a9d11d7

Rorqualx pushed a commit to Rorqualx/cortex that referenced this pull request Jul 2, 2026

fix(heartbeat): suppress stream-error placeholders (openclaw#97364)

b6d3ae0

(cherry picked from commit b580258)

chenyangjun-xy pushed a commit to chenyangjun-xy/openclaw that referenced this pull request Jul 3, 2026

fix(heartbeat): suppress stream-error placeholders (openclaw#97364)

d785430

obviyus mentioned this pull request Jul 10, 2026

fix(embedded-runner): distinguish model initialization errors from assistant execution errors #90125

Closed

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fix(heartbeat): suppress stream-error placeholders#97364

fix(heartbeat): suppress stream-error placeholders#97364
vincentkoc merged 1 commit into
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TurboTheTurtle:fix/97357-heartbeat-placeholder

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TurboTheTurtle commented Jun 28, 2026 •

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