fix: include quoted WhatsApp media in inbound context

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 
 - Gateway/sessions: move hot transcript reads and mirror appends onto async bounded IO with serialized parent-linked writes, keeping large session histories from stalling Gateway requests and channel replies. Fixes #75656. Thanks @DerFlash.
 - Cron/TTS: run cron announce payloads through the normal TTS directive transform before outbound delivery, so scheduled `[[tts]]` replies generate voice payloads instead of leaking raw tags. Fixes #52125. Thanks @kenchen3000.
+- WhatsApp: save downloadable quoted image media from reply context as inbound media, so agents can inspect an image that a user replied to instead of only seeing `<media:image>`. Fixes #59174. Thanks @gaffner.
 - Doctor/WhatsApp: warn when Linux crontabs still run the legacy `ensure-whatsapp.sh` health check, which can misreport `Gateway inactive` when cron lacks the systemd user-bus environment. Fixes #60204. Thanks @mySebbe.
 - Slack/setup: print the generated app manifest as plain JSON instead of embedding it inside the framed setup note, so it can be copied into Slack without deleting border characters. Fixes #65751. Thanks @theDanielJLewis.
 - Channels/WhatsApp: route CLI logout through the live Gateway and stop runtime-backed listeners before channel removal, so removing a WhatsApp account does not leave the old socket replying until restart. Fixes #67746. Thanks @123Mismail.

docs/channels/whatsapp.md

@@ -293,6 +293,10 @@ When the linked self number is also present in `allowFrom`, WhatsApp self-chat s
     ```
 
     Reply metadata fields are also populated when available (`ReplyToId`, `ReplyToBody`, `ReplyToSender`, sender JID/E.164).
+    When the quoted reply target is downloadable media, OpenClaw saves it through
+    the normal inbound media store and exposes it as `MediaPath`/`MediaType` so
+    the agent can inspect the referenced image instead of only seeing
+    `<media:image>`.
 
   </Accordion>
 

extensions/whatsapp/src/inbound.media.test.ts

@@ -234,6 +234,54 @@ describe("web inbound media saves with extension", () => {
     await listener.close();
   });
 
+  it("stores quoted image media from reply context", async () => {
+    const onMessage = vi.fn();
+    const listener = await monitorWebInbox({
+      cfg: {
+        channels: { whatsapp: { allowFrom: ["*"] } },
+        messages: { messagePrefix: undefined, responsePrefix: undefined },
+      } as never,
+      verbose: false,
+      onMessage,
+      accountId: "default",
+      authDir: path.join(HOME, "wa-auth"),
+    });
+    const realSock = await getMockSocket();
+
+    realSock.ev.emit("messages.upsert", {
+      type: "notify",
+      messages: [
+        {
+          key: { id: "quote-img-reply", fromMe: false, remoteJid: "111@g.us" },
+          message: {
+            extendedTextMessage: {
+              text: "@bot what is this?",
+              contextInfo: {
+                stanzaId: "quoted-image",
+                participant: "222@s.whatsapp.net",
+                mentionedJid: ["me@s.whatsapp.net"],
+                quotedMessage: {
+                  imageMessage: { mimetype: "image/jpeg" },
+                },
+              },
+            },
+          },
+          messageTimestamp: 1_700_000_005,
+        },
+      ],
+    });
+
+    const inbound = await waitForMessage(onMessage);
+    expect(inbound.replyToBody).toBe("<media:image>");
+    expect(inbound.mediaPath).toBeDefined();
+    expect(path.extname(inbound.mediaPath as string)).toBe(".jpg");
+    expect(saveMediaBufferSpy).toHaveBeenCalled();
+    const lastCall = saveMediaBufferSpy.mock.calls.at(-1);
+    expect(lastCall?.[1]).toBe("image/jpeg");
+
+    await listener.close();
+  });
+
   it("passes mediaMaxMb to saveMediaBuffer", async () => {
     const onMessage = vi.fn();
     const listener = await monitorWebInbox({

extensions/whatsapp/src/inbound/extract.ts

@@ -197,7 +197,9 @@ function extractContextInfoFromMessage(message: proto.IMessage): proto.IContextI
   return undefined;
 }
 
-function extractContextInfo(message: proto.IMessage | undefined): proto.IContextInfo | undefined {
+export function extractContextInfo(
+  message: proto.IMessage | undefined,
+): proto.IContextInfo | undefined {
   for (const candidate of buildMessageChain(message)) {
     const contextInfo = extractContextInfoFromMessage(candidate);
     if (contextInfo) {

extensions/whatsapp/src/inbound/media.ts

@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import type { proto, WAMessage } from "@whiskeysockets/baileys";
 import { logVerbose } from "openclaw/plugin-sdk/runtime-env";
 import type { createWaSocket } from "../session.js";
+import { extractContextInfo } from "./extract.js";
 import { downloadMediaMessage, normalizeMessageContent } from "./runtime-api.js";
 
 function unwrapMessage(message: proto.IMessage | undefined): proto.IMessage | undefined {
@@ -74,3 +75,28 @@ export async function downloadInboundMedia(
     return undefined;
   }
 }
+
+export async function downloadQuotedInboundMedia(
+  msg: proto.IWebMessageInfo,
+  sock: Awaited<ReturnType<typeof createWaSocket>>,
+): Promise<{ buffer: Buffer; mimetype?: string; fileName?: string } | undefined> {
+  const message = unwrapMessage(msg.message as proto.IMessage | undefined);
+  const contextInfo = extractContextInfo(message);
+  if (!contextInfo?.quotedMessage) {
+    return undefined;
+  }
+  const quotedMessage = contextInfo.quotedMessage;
+  return downloadInboundMedia(
+    {
+      key: {
+        id: contextInfo?.stanzaId || undefined,
+        remoteJid: contextInfo.remoteJid ?? msg.key?.remoteJid ?? undefined,
+        participant: contextInfo?.participant ?? undefined,
+        fromMe: false,
+      },
+      message: quotedMessage,
+      messageTimestamp: msg.messageTimestamp,
+    },
+    sock,
+  );
+}

extensions/whatsapp/src/inbound/monitor.ts

@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ import {
   hasInboundUserContent,
 } from "./extract.js";
 import { attachEmitterListener, closeInboundMonitorSocket } from "./lifecycle.js";
-import { downloadInboundMedia } from "./media.js";
+import { downloadInboundMedia, downloadQuotedInboundMedia } from "./media.js";
 import { DisconnectReason, isJidGroup, saveMediaBuffer } from "./runtime-api.js";
 import { createWebSendApi } from "./send-api.js";
 import { normalizeWhatsAppSendResult } from "./send-result.js";
@@ -571,24 +571,33 @@ export async function attachWebInboxToSocket(
     let mediaPath: string | undefined;
     let mediaType: string | undefined;
     let mediaFileName: string | undefined;
+    const saveInboundMedia = async (
+      inboundMedia: Awaited<ReturnType<typeof downloadInboundMedia>>,
+    ) => {
+      if (!inboundMedia) {
+        return;
+      }
+      const maxMb =
+        typeof options.mediaMaxMb === "number" && options.mediaMaxMb > 0 ? options.mediaMaxMb : 50;
+      const maxBytes = maxMb * 1024 * 1024;
+      const saved = await saveMediaBuffer(
+        inboundMedia.buffer,
+        inboundMedia.mimetype,
+        "inbound",
+        maxBytes,
+        inboundMedia.fileName,
+      );
+      mediaPath = saved.path;
+      mediaType = inboundMedia.mimetype;
+      mediaFileName = inboundMedia.fileName;
+    };
     try {
       const inboundMedia = await downloadInboundMedia(msg as proto.IWebMessageInfo, sock);
-      if (inboundMedia) {
-        const maxMb =
-          typeof options.mediaMaxMb === "number" && options.mediaMaxMb > 0
-            ? options.mediaMaxMb
-            : 50;
-        const maxBytes = maxMb * 1024 * 1024;
-        const saved = await saveMediaBuffer(
-          inboundMedia.buffer,
-          inboundMedia.mimetype,
-          "inbound",
-          maxBytes,
-          inboundMedia.fileName,
+      await saveInboundMedia(inboundMedia);
+      if (!mediaPath && replyContext) {
+        await saveInboundMedia(
+          await downloadQuotedInboundMedia(msg as proto.IWebMessageInfo, sock),
         );
-        mediaPath = saved.path;
-        mediaType = inboundMedia.mimetype;
-        mediaFileName = inboundMedia.fileName;
       }
     } catch (err) {
       logWhatsAppVerbose(options.verbose, `Inbound media download failed: ${String(err)}`);