Best possible solution:

Merge the validation follow-up once maintainers accept the current-main-only fail-closed env semantics and leave broader QA Crabline wiring to its separate PR.

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

Yes, from source inspection: current main passes the env fallback through as a raw string, while Baileys constructs a URL from waWebSocketUrl during socket creation. The PR adds a focused invalid-env regression test, though I did not run local tests in this read-only review.

Is this the best way to solve the issue?

Yes, this is the narrowest maintainable layer for the remaining issue: validate the trusted env fallback in createWaSocket before it reaches Baileys, while preserving explicit low-level caller options.

AGENTS.md: found and applied where relevant.

Codex review notes: model internal, reasoning high; reviewed against 5f60724b6d7b.

Label changes:

• add rating: 🐚 platinum hermit: Overall readiness is 🐚 platinum hermit; proof is 🌊 off-meta tidepool and patch quality is 🐚 platinum hermit.
• add status: 👀 ready for maintainer look: ClawSweeper has no concrete contributor-facing blocker left for this PR. Not applicable: Not applicable: this is a MEMBER-authored PR with the maintainer label, so the external-contributor real behavior proof gate does not apply.
• remove rating: 🦐 gold shrimp: Current PR rating is rating: 🐚 platinum hermit, so this older rating label is no longer current.
• remove status: ⏳ waiting on author: Current PR status label is status: 👀 ready for maintainer look.

Label justifications:

• P3: This is a low-blast-radius WhatsApp QA/operator validation follow-up rather than an urgent user-facing channel outage.
• merge-risk: 🚨 compatibility: The PR changes how a trusted runtime env override is accepted, turning invalid current-main values into an early failure.
• rating: 🐚 platinum hermit: Overall readiness is 🐚 platinum hermit; proof is 🌊 off-meta tidepool and patch quality is 🐚 platinum hermit.
• status: 👀 ready for maintainer look: ClawSweeper has no concrete contributor-facing blocker left for this PR. Not applicable: Not applicable: this is a MEMBER-authored PR with the maintainer label, so the external-contributor real behavior proof gate does not apply.

PR surface:

Source +15, Tests +19. Total +34 across 2 files.

What I checked:

• Root policy read: Root AGENTS.md was read fully; its ClawSweeper policy treats env/config fallback and stricter validation as compatibility-sensitive review surfaces. (AGENTS.md:29, 5f60724b6d7b)
• Scoped extension policy read: The scoped extensions policy was read and keeps bundled plugin runtime behavior inside the plugin boundary, which matches this WhatsApp-local validation change. (extensions/AGENTS.md:1, 5f60724b6d7b)
• Current main behavior: Current main already reads explicit opts.waWebSocketUrl before the env fallback and passes the selected value to Baileys without env URL validation. (extensions/whatsapp/src/session.ts:184, 5f60724b6d7b)
• PR head validation: The PR head adds resolveEnvWaWebSocketUrl, parses the env fallback with new URL, rejects non-ws:/wss: protocols, and keeps explicit options ahead of env fallback. (extensions/whatsapp/src/session.ts:136, 8a9e23f3d93a)
• Regression coverage in diff: The PR adds tests for invalid env values and explicit-option precedence over an invalid env value. (extensions/whatsapp/src/session.test.ts:449, 8a9e23f3d93a)
• Baileys dependency contract: Baileys 7.0.0-rc13 declares waWebSocketUrl: string | URL, defaults it to wss://web.whatsapp.com/ws/chat, and constructs a URL from the configured value in socket creation.

Likely related people:

• RomneyDa: Authored the merged WhatsApp WebSocket override and this validation follow-up, so they are the most direct owner for the env fallback behavior. (role: feature owner and recent area contributor; confidence: high; commits: 0deddfa20428, 8a9e23f3d93a; files: extensions/whatsapp/src/session.ts, extensions/whatsapp/src/session.test.ts, src/infra/dotenv.test.ts)
• steipete: Recent history shows focused WhatsApp session/proxy/runtime-boundary work adjacent to the socket and proxy paths touched by this PR. (role: recent adjacent contributor; confidence: medium; commits: 380a39626687, 30a94dfd3b7c, 0195da6b0eda; files: extensions/whatsapp/src/session.ts, extensions/whatsapp/src/session.test.ts)
• scoootscooob: Moved the WhatsApp channel implementation into extensions/, establishing the current plugin ownership boundary for this session code. (role: introduced current extension placement; confidence: medium; commits: 16505718e827; files: extensions/whatsapp/src/session.ts, extensions/whatsapp/src/session.test.ts)
• Agustin Rivera: Authored nearby workspace dotenv hardening that protects OPENCLAW_* runtime-control env vars from untrusted workspace .env files. (role: dotenv trust-boundary contributor; confidence: medium; commits: dbfcef319618, dafcaf9d69d2; files: src/infra/dotenv.ts, src/infra/dotenv.test.ts)

• 🦀 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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