fix(cron): preserve stale-reload heartbeat config

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 - Telegram/direct sessions: keep commentary-only assistant fallback payloads out of visible direct delivery, so Codex planning chatter cannot leak into Telegram DMs when a run has no `final_answer` text. (#65112) Thanks @vincentkoc.
 - Infra/net: fix multipart FormData fields (including `model`) being silently dropped when a guarded runtime fetch body crosses a FormData implementation boundary, restoring OpenAI audio transcription requests that failed with HTTP 400. (#64349) Thanks @petr-sloup.
 - Plugins/memory: restore cached memory capability public artifacts on plugin-registry cache hits so memory-backed artifact surfaces stay visible after warm loads. Thanks @sercada and @vincentkoc.
+- Gateway/cron: preserve requested isolated-agent config across runtime reloads so subagent jobs and heartbeat overrides keep the right workspace and heartbeat settings when the hot-loaded snapshot is stale. Thanks @l0cka and @vincentkoc.
 
 ## 2026.4.11
 

src/gateway/server-cron.test.ts

@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import { mergeMockedModule } from "../test-utils/vitest-module-mocks.js";
 const {
   enqueueSystemEventMock,
   requestHeartbeatNowMock,
+  runHeartbeatOnceMock,
   loadConfigMock,
   fetchWithSsrFGuardMock,
   runCronIsolatedAgentTurnMock,
@@ -16,6 +17,7 @@ const {
 } = vi.hoisted(() => ({
   enqueueSystemEventMock: vi.fn(),
   requestHeartbeatNowMock: vi.fn(),
+  runHeartbeatOnceMock: vi.fn(async () => ({ status: "ran" as const, durationMs: 1 })),
   loadConfigMock: vi.fn(),
   fetchWithSsrFGuardMock: vi.fn(),
   runCronIsolatedAgentTurnMock: vi.fn(async () => ({ status: "ok" as const, summary: "ok" })),
@@ -30,6 +32,10 @@ function requestHeartbeatNow(...args: unknown[]) {
   return requestHeartbeatNowMock(...args);
 }
 
+function runHeartbeatOnce(...args: unknown[]) {
+  return runHeartbeatOnceMock(...args);
+}
+
 vi.mock("../infra/system-events.js", () => ({
   enqueueSystemEvent,
 }));
@@ -45,6 +51,10 @@ vi.mock("../infra/heartbeat-wake.js", async () => {
   );
 });
 
+vi.mock("../infra/heartbeat-runner.js", () => ({
+  runHeartbeatOnce,
+}));
+
 vi.mock("../config/config.js", async () => {
   const actual = await vi.importActual<typeof import("../config/config.js")>("../config/config.js");
   return {
@@ -83,6 +93,7 @@ describe("buildGatewayCronService", () => {
   beforeEach(() => {
     enqueueSystemEventMock.mockClear();
     requestHeartbeatNowMock.mockClear();
+    runHeartbeatOnceMock.mockClear();
     loadConfigMock.mockClear();
     fetchWithSsrFGuardMock.mockClear();
     runCronIsolatedAgentTurnMock.mockClear();
@@ -333,4 +344,104 @@ describe("buildGatewayCronService", () => {
       state.cron.stop();
     }
   });
+
+  it("preserves agent heartbeat overrides when runtime reload config is stale", async () => {
+    const tmpDir = path.join(os.tmpdir(), `server-cron-agent-heartbeat-${Date.now()}`);
+    const startupCfg = {
+      session: {
+        mainKey: "main",
+      },
+      cron: {
+        store: path.join(tmpDir, "cron.json"),
+      },
+      agents: {
+        defaults: {
+          workspace: path.join(tmpDir, "workspace"),
+          heartbeat: {
+            target: "main",
+            deliveryFormat: "text",
+          },
+        },
+        list: [
+          { id: "main", default: true },
+          {
+            id: "yinze",
+            workspace: path.join(tmpDir, "workspace-yinze"),
+            heartbeat: {
+              target: "last",
+              deliveryFormat: "markdown",
+            },
+          },
+        ],
+      },
+    } as OpenClawConfig;
+    const reloadedCfg = {
+      session: {
+        mainKey: "main",
+      },
+      cron: {
+        store: path.join(tmpDir, "cron.json"),
+      },
+      agents: {
+        defaults: {
+          workspace: path.join(tmpDir, "workspace"),
+          heartbeat: {
+            target: "main",
+            deliveryFormat: "text",
+          },
+        },
+        list: [{ id: "main", default: true }],
+      },
+    } as OpenClawConfig;
+    loadConfigMock.mockReturnValue(reloadedCfg);
+
+    const state = buildGatewayCronService({
+      cfg: startupCfg,
+      deps: {} as CliDeps,
+      broadcast: () => {},
+    });
+    try {
+      const cronDeps = (state.cron as unknown as {
+        state?: {
+          deps?: {
+            runHeartbeatOnce?: (opts?: {
+              agentId?: string;
+              sessionKey?: string | null;
+              heartbeat?: Record<string, unknown>;
+            }) => Promise<unknown>;
+          };
+        };
+      }).state?.deps;
+      await cronDeps?.runHeartbeatOnce?.({
+        agentId: "yinze",
+        sessionKey: "agent:yinze:main",
+        heartbeat: {},
+      });
+
+      expect(runHeartbeatOnceMock).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+        expect.objectContaining({
+          agentId: "yinze",
+          cfg: expect.objectContaining({
+            agents: expect.objectContaining({
+              list: expect.arrayContaining([
+                expect.objectContaining({
+                  id: "yinze",
+                  heartbeat: expect.objectContaining({
+                    target: "last",
+                    deliveryFormat: "markdown",
+                  }),
+                }),
+              ]),
+            }),
+          }),
+          heartbeat: expect.objectContaining({
+            target: "last",
+            deliveryFormat: "markdown",
+          }),
+        }),
+      );
+    } finally {
+      state.cron.stop();
+    }
+  });
 });

src/gateway/server-cron.ts

@@ -172,16 +172,18 @@ export function buildGatewayCronService(params: {
     if (!fallbackAgentEntry) {
       return runtimeConfig;
     }
+    const startupAgents = params.cfg.agents;
+    const runtimeAgents = runtimeConfig.agents;
     return {
       ...runtimeConfig,
       agents: {
-        ...params.cfg.agents,
-        ...runtimeConfig.agents,
+        ...startupAgents,
+        ...runtimeAgents,
         defaults: {
-          ...params.cfg.agents?.defaults,
-          ...runtimeConfig.agents?.defaults,
+          ...startupAgents?.defaults,
+          ...runtimeAgents?.defaults,
         },
-        list: [...(runtimeConfig.agents?.list ?? []), fallbackAgentEntry],
+        list: [...(runtimeAgents?.list ?? []), fallbackAgentEntry],
       },
     };
   };
@@ -234,13 +236,20 @@ export function buildGatewayCronService(params: {
   };
 
   const resolveCronWakeTarget = (opts?: { agentId?: string; sessionKey?: string | null }) => {
-    const runtimeConfig = loadConfig();
-    const requestedAgentId = opts?.agentId ? resolveCronAgent(opts.agentId).agentId : undefined;
+    const requestedAgentId =
+      typeof opts?.agentId === "string" && opts.agentId.trim()
+        ? normalizeAgentId(opts.agentId)
+        : undefined;
     const derivedAgentId =
       requestedAgentId ??
       (opts?.sessionKey
         ? normalizeAgentId(resolveAgentIdFromSessionKey(opts.sessionKey))
         : undefined);
+    const runtimeConfigBase = loadConfig();
+    const runtimeConfig =
+      derivedAgentId !== undefined
+        ? mergeRuntimeAgentConfig(runtimeConfigBase, derivedAgentId)
+        : runtimeConfigBase;
     const agentId = derivedAgentId || undefined;
     const sessionKey =
       opts?.sessionKey && agentId