fix(tts): keep media-only no-reply payloads

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -28,6 +28,9 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 - Agents/TTS: preserve legacy `[[audio_as_voice]]` hints on trusted tool-result
   `MEDIA:` payloads so generated audio still delivers as a voice note. (#46535)
   Thanks @azade-c.
+- Agents/TTS: keep queued tool media when an assistant ends with `NO_REPLY` on
+  non-block delivery paths, so media-only generated audio replies still send.
+  (#60025) Thanks @bradlind1.
 - Telegram/STT: frame inbound voice-note transcripts as machine-generated,
   untrusted text in agent context while preserving raw transcript mention
   detection. Closes #33360. Thanks @smartchainark.

docs/concepts/messages.md

@@ -154,6 +154,8 @@ Details: [Configuration](/gateway/config-agents#messages) and channel docs.
 ## Silent replies
 
 The exact silent token `NO_REPLY` / `no_reply` means “do not deliver a user-visible reply”.
+When a turn also has pending tool media, such as generated TTS audio, OpenClaw
+strips the silent text but still delivers the media attachment.
 OpenClaw resolves that behavior by conversation type:
 
 - Direct conversations disallow silence by default and rewrite a bare silent

src/agents/pi-embedded-runner/run/attempt.spawn-workspace.test-support.ts

@@ -90,6 +90,7 @@ export function createSubscriptionMock(): SubscriptionMock {
     getMessagingToolSentTexts: () => [] as string[],
     getMessagingToolSentMediaUrls: () => [] as string[],
     getMessagingToolSentTargets: () => [] as MessagingToolSend[],
+    getPendingToolMediaReply: () => null,
     getSuccessfulCronAdds: () => 0,
     getReplayState: () => ({
       replayInvalid: false,

src/agents/pi-embedded-runner/run/attempt.ts

@@ -2044,6 +2044,7 @@ export async function runEmbeddedAttempt(
         getMessagingToolSentTexts,
         getMessagingToolSentMediaUrls,
         getMessagingToolSentTargets,
+        getPendingToolMediaReply,
         getSuccessfulCronAdds,
         getReplayState,
         didSendViaMessagingTool,
@@ -2994,6 +2995,7 @@ export async function runEmbeddedAttempt(
         messagingToolSentMediaUrls: getMessagingToolSentMediaUrls(),
         successfulCronAdds: getSuccessfulCronAdds(),
       });
+      const pendingToolMediaReply = getPendingToolMediaReply();
       const replayMetadata = replayMetadataFromState(
         observeReplayMetadata(getReplayState(), observedReplayMetadata),
       );
@@ -3077,6 +3079,8 @@ export async function runEmbeddedAttempt(
         messagingToolSentTexts: getMessagingToolSentTexts(),
         messagingToolSentMediaUrls: getMessagingToolSentMediaUrls(),
         messagingToolSentTargets: getMessagingToolSentTargets(),
+        toolMediaUrls: pendingToolMediaReply?.mediaUrls,
+        toolAudioAsVoice: pendingToolMediaReply?.audioAsVoice,
         successfulCronAdds: getSuccessfulCronAdds(),
         cloudCodeAssistFormatError: Boolean(
           lastAssistant?.errorMessage && isCloudCodeAssistFormatError(lastAssistant.errorMessage),

src/agents/pi-embedded-subscribe.handlers.lifecycle.test.ts

@@ -12,10 +12,13 @@ function createContext(
   overrides?: {
     onAgentEvent?: (event: unknown) => void;
     onBeforeLifecycleTerminal?: () => void | Promise<void>;
+    onBlockReply?: ((payload: unknown) => void) | undefined;
     onBlockReplyFlush?: () => void | Promise<void>;
   },
 ): EmbeddedPiSubscribeContext {
-  const onBlockReply = vi.fn();
+  const hasOnBlockReplyOverride = Boolean(overrides && "onBlockReply" in overrides);
+  const onBlockReply = hasOnBlockReplyOverride ? overrides?.onBlockReply : vi.fn();
+  const emitBlockReply = vi.fn();
   return {
     params: {
       runId: "run-1",
@@ -23,7 +26,7 @@ function createContext(
       sessionKey: "agent:main:main",
       onAgentEvent: overrides?.onAgentEvent,
       onBeforeLifecycleTerminal: overrides?.onBeforeLifecycleTerminal,
-      onBlockReply,
+      ...(onBlockReply ? { onBlockReply } : {}),
       onBlockReplyFlush: overrides?.onBlockReplyFlush,
     },
     state: {
@@ -43,7 +46,7 @@ function createContext(
       warn: vi.fn(),
     },
     flushBlockReplyBuffer: vi.fn(),
-    emitBlockReply: onBlockReply,
+    emitBlockReply,
     resolveCompactionRetry: vi.fn(),
     maybeResolveCompactionWait: vi.fn(),
   } as unknown as EmbeddedPiSubscribeContext;
@@ -321,6 +324,18 @@ describe("handleAgentEnd", () => {
     expect(ctx.state.pendingToolAudioAsVoice).toBe(false);
   });
 
+  it("preserves orphaned tool media when no block reply callback is configured", async () => {
+    const ctx = createContext(undefined, { onBlockReply: undefined });
+    ctx.state.pendingToolMediaUrls = ["/tmp/reply.opus"];
+    ctx.state.pendingToolAudioAsVoice = true;
+
+    await handleAgentEnd(ctx);
+
+    expect(ctx.emitBlockReply).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    expect(ctx.state.pendingToolMediaUrls).toEqual(["/tmp/reply.opus"]);
+    expect(ctx.state.pendingToolAudioAsVoice).toBe(true);
+  });
+
   it("emits orphaned tool media before the lifecycle end event", async () => {
     const onAgentEvent = vi.fn();
     const ctx = createContext(undefined, { onAgentEvent });

src/agents/pi-embedded-subscribe.handlers.lifecycle.ts

@@ -167,9 +167,11 @@ export function handleAgentEnd(ctx: EmbeddedPiSubscribeContext): void | Promise<
   };
 
   const flushPendingMediaAndChannel = () => {
-    const pendingToolMediaReply = consumePendingToolMediaReply(ctx.state);
+    if (ctx.params.onBlockReply) {
-    if (pendingToolMediaReply && hasAssistantVisibleReply(pendingToolMediaReply)) {
+      const pendingToolMediaReply = consumePendingToolMediaReply(ctx.state);
-      ctx.emitBlockReply(pendingToolMediaReply);
+      if (pendingToolMediaReply && hasAssistantVisibleReply(pendingToolMediaReply)) {
+        ctx.emitBlockReply(pendingToolMediaReply);
+      }
     }
 
     const postMediaFlushResult = ctx.flushBlockReplyBuffer();

src/agents/pi-embedded-subscribe.handlers.messages.test.ts

@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import {
   handleMessageEnd,
   handleMessageUpdate,
   hasAssistantVisibleReply,
+  readPendingToolMediaReply,
   recordPendingAssistantReplyDirectives,
   resolveSilentReplyFallbackText,
 } from "./pi-embedded-subscribe.handlers.messages.js";
@@ -394,6 +395,21 @@ describe("consumePendingToolMediaIntoReply", () => {
 });
 
 describe("consumePendingToolMediaReply", () => {
+  it("reads a media-only reply without consuming queued tool media", () => {
+    const state = {
+      pendingToolMediaUrls: ["/tmp/reply.opus"],
+      pendingToolAudioAsVoice: true,
+      pendingToolTrustedLocalMedia: false,
+    };
+
+    expect(readPendingToolMediaReply(state)).toEqual({
+      mediaUrls: ["/tmp/reply.opus"],
+      audioAsVoice: true,
+    });
+    expect(state.pendingToolMediaUrls).toEqual(["/tmp/reply.opus"]);
+    expect(state.pendingToolAudioAsVoice).toBe(true);
+  });
+
   it("builds a media-only reply for orphaned tool media", () => {
     const state = {
       pendingToolMediaUrls: ["/tmp/reply.opus"],

src/agents/pi-embedded-subscribe.handlers.messages.ts

@@ -212,6 +212,20 @@ export function consumePendingToolMediaReply(
     EmbeddedPiSubscribeState,
     "pendingToolMediaUrls" | "pendingToolAudioAsVoice" | "pendingToolTrustedLocalMedia"
   >,
+): BlockReplyPayload | null {
+  const payload = readPendingToolMediaReply(state);
+  if (!payload) {
+    return null;
+  }
+  clearPendingToolMedia(state);
+  return payload;
+}
+
+export function readPendingToolMediaReply(
+  state: Pick<
+    EmbeddedPiSubscribeState,
+    "pendingToolMediaUrls" | "pendingToolAudioAsVoice" | "pendingToolTrustedLocalMedia"
+  >,
 ): BlockReplyPayload | null {
   if (
     state.pendingToolMediaUrls.length === 0 &&
@@ -220,15 +234,13 @@ export function consumePendingToolMediaReply(
   ) {
     return null;
   }
-  const payload: BlockReplyPayload = {
+  return {
     mediaUrls: state.pendingToolMediaUrls.length
       ? Array.from(new Set(state.pendingToolMediaUrls))
       : undefined,
     audioAsVoice: state.pendingToolAudioAsVoice || undefined,
     trustedLocalMedia: state.pendingToolTrustedLocalMedia || undefined,
   };
-  clearPendingToolMedia(state);
-  return payload;
 }
 
 function hasReplyDirectiveMetadata(parsed: ReplyDirectiveParseResult | null | undefined): boolean {

src/agents/pi-embedded-subscribe.subscribe-embedded-pi-session.subscribeembeddedpisession.test.ts

@@ -414,6 +414,34 @@ describe("subscribeEmbeddedPiSession", () => {
     );
   });
 
+  it("keeps orphaned tool media available for non-block final payload assembly", () => {
+    const { emit, subscription } = createSubscribedSessionHarness({
+      runId: "run",
+      builtinToolNames: new Set(["tts"]),
+    });
+
+    emit({
+      type: "tool_execution_end",
+      toolName: "tts",
+      toolCallId: "tc-1",
+      isError: false,
+      result: {
+        details: {
+          media: {
+            mediaUrl: "/tmp/reply.opus",
+            audioAsVoice: true,
+          },
+        },
+      },
+    });
+    emit({ type: "agent_end" });
+
+    expect(subscription.getPendingToolMediaReply()).toEqual({
+      mediaUrls: ["/tmp/reply.opus"],
+      audioAsVoice: true,
+    });
+  });
+
   it.each(THINKING_TAG_CASES)(
     "suppresses <%s> blocks across chunk boundaries",
     async ({ open, close }) => {

src/agents/pi-embedded-subscribe.ts

@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import { createEmbeddedPiSessionEventHandler } from "./pi-embedded-subscribe.han
 import {
   consumePendingAssistantReplyDirectivesIntoReply,
   consumePendingToolMediaIntoReply,
+  readPendingToolMediaReply,
 } from "./pi-embedded-subscribe.handlers.messages.js";
 import type {
   EmbeddedPiSubscribeContext,
@@ -866,6 +867,7 @@ export function subscribeEmbeddedPiSession(params: SubscribeEmbeddedPiSessionPar
     getMessagingToolSentTexts: () => messagingToolSentTexts.slice(),
     getMessagingToolSentMediaUrls: () => messagingToolSentMediaUrls.slice(),
     getMessagingToolSentTargets: () => messagingToolSentTargets.slice(),
+    getPendingToolMediaReply: () => readPendingToolMediaReply(state),
     getSuccessfulCronAdds: () => state.successfulCronAdds,
     getReplayState: () => ({ ...state.replayState }),
     // Returns true if any messaging tool successfully sent a message.