fix(diagnostics): make otel service restart safe

Make diagnostics-otel startup restart-safe by tearing down stale SDK, log transport, and diagnostic-event listener handles before reinitializing or disabling the service. Adds regression coverage for repeated start and disabled restart paths.\n\nThanks @vincentkoc.

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 - Diagnostics/OTEL: add a lightweight diagnostic trace-context carrier for future span correlation without adding OTEL SDK state to core. Thanks @vincentkoc.
 - Diagnostics/OTEL: attach diagnostic trace context to exported OTEL logs so log records can correlate with future spans without adding retained process state. Thanks @vincentkoc.
 - Diagnostics/OTEL: pass immutable per-run diagnostic trace context through agent and tool hook contexts, and parent exported diagnostic spans from validated context without retaining global trace state. Thanks @vincentkoc.
+- Diagnostics/OTEL: make exporter startup restart-safe so config reloads do not retain stale SDKs, log transports, or diagnostic event listeners. Thanks @vincentkoc.
 - Control UI/chat: add a Steer action on queued messages so a browser follow-up can be injected into the active run without retyping it.
 - Control UI/Talk: add browser WebRTC realtime voice sessions backed by OpenAI Realtime, with Gateway-minted ephemeral client secrets and `openclaw_agent_consult` handoff to the full OpenClaw agent.
 - Agents/tools: add optional per-call `timeoutMs` support for image, video, music, and TTS generation tools so agents can extend provider request timeouts only when a specific generation needs it.

extensions/diagnostics-otel/src/service.test.ts

@@ -166,12 +166,14 @@ function createTraceOnlyContext(endpoint: string): OpenClawPluginServiceContext
 type RegisteredLogTransport = (logObj: Record<string, unknown>) => void;
 function setupRegisteredTransports() {
   const registeredTransports: RegisteredLogTransport[] = [];
-  const stopTransport = vi.fn();
+  const stopTransports: ReturnType<typeof vi.fn>[] = [];
   registerLogTransportMock.mockImplementation((transport) => {
     registeredTransports.push(transport);
+    const stopTransport = vi.fn();
+    stopTransports.push(stopTransport);
     return stopTransport;
   });
-  return { registeredTransports, stopTransport };
+  return { registeredTransports, stopTransports };
 }
 
 async function emitAndCaptureLog(logObj: Record<string, unknown>) {
@@ -283,6 +285,73 @@ describe("diagnostics-otel service", () => {
     await service.stop?.(ctx);
   });
 
+  test("restarts without retaining prior listeners or log transports", async () => {
+    const { registeredTransports, stopTransports } = setupRegisteredTransports();
+
+    const service = createDiagnosticsOtelService();
+    const ctx = createOtelContext(OTEL_TEST_ENDPOINT, { traces: true, metrics: true, logs: true });
+    await service.start(ctx);
+    await service.start(ctx);
+
+    expect(registerLogTransportMock).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2);
+    expect(registeredTransports).toHaveLength(2);
+    expect(stopTransports[0]).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    expect(logShutdown).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    expect(sdkShutdown).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+
+    telemetryState.tracer.startSpan.mockClear();
+    emitDiagnosticEvent({
+      type: "message.processed",
+      channel: "telegram",
+      outcome: "completed",
+      durationMs: 10,
+    });
+    expect(telemetryState.tracer.startSpan).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+
+    await service.stop?.(ctx);
+    expect(stopTransports[1]).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    expect(logShutdown).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2);
+    expect(sdkShutdown).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2);
+
+    telemetryState.tracer.startSpan.mockClear();
+    emitDiagnosticEvent({
+      type: "message.processed",
+      channel: "telegram",
+      outcome: "completed",
+      durationMs: 10,
+    });
+    expect(telemetryState.tracer.startSpan).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
+
+  test("tears down active handles when restarted with diagnostics disabled", async () => {
+    const { stopTransports } = setupRegisteredTransports();
+
+    const service = createDiagnosticsOtelService();
+    const enabledCtx = createOtelContext(OTEL_TEST_ENDPOINT, {
+      traces: true,
+      metrics: true,
+      logs: true,
+    });
+    await service.start(enabledCtx);
+    await service.start({
+      ...enabledCtx,
+      config: { diagnostics: { enabled: false } },
+    });
+
+    expect(stopTransports[0]).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    expect(logShutdown).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    expect(sdkShutdown).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+
+    telemetryState.tracer.startSpan.mockClear();
+    emitDiagnosticEvent({
+      type: "message.processed",
+      channel: "telegram",
+      outcome: "completed",
+      durationMs: 10,
+    });
+    expect(telemetryState.tracer.startSpan).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
+
   test("appends signal path when endpoint contains non-signal /v1 segment", async () => {
     const service = createDiagnosticsOtelService();
     const ctx = createTraceOnlyContext("https://www.comet.com/opik/api/v1/private/otel");

extensions/diagnostics-otel/src/service.ts

@@ -176,9 +176,32 @@ export function createDiagnosticsOtelService(): OpenClawPluginService {
   let stopLogTransport: (() => void) | null = null;
   let unsubscribe: (() => void) | null = null;
 
+  const stopStarted = async () => {
+    const currentUnsubscribe = unsubscribe;
+    const currentStopLogTransport = stopLogTransport;
+    const currentLogProvider = logProvider;
+    const currentSdk = sdk;
+
+    unsubscribe = null;
+    stopLogTransport = null;
+    logProvider = null;
+    sdk = null;
+
+    currentUnsubscribe?.();
+    currentStopLogTransport?.();
+    if (currentLogProvider) {
+      await currentLogProvider.shutdown().catch(() => undefined);
+    }
+    if (currentSdk) {
+      await currentSdk.shutdown().catch(() => undefined);
+    }
+  };
+
   return {
     id: "diagnostics-otel",
     async start(ctx) {
+      await stopStarted();
+
       const cfg = ctx.config.diagnostics;
       const otel = cfg?.otel;
       if (!cfg?.enabled || !otel?.enabled) {
@@ -251,6 +274,7 @@ export function createDiagnosticsOtelService(): OpenClawPluginService {
         try {
           sdk.start();
         } catch (err) {
+          await stopStarted();
           ctx.logger.error(`diagnostics-otel: failed to start SDK: ${formatError(err)}`);
           throw err;
         }
@@ -805,18 +829,7 @@ export function createDiagnosticsOtelService(): OpenClawPluginService {
       }
     },
     async stop() {
-      unsubscribe?.();
-      unsubscribe = null;
-      stopLogTransport?.();
-      stopLogTransport = null;
-      if (logProvider) {
-        await logProvider.shutdown().catch(() => undefined);
-        logProvider = null;
-      }
-      if (sdk) {
-        await sdk.shutdown().catch(() => undefined);
-        sdk = null;
-      }
+      await stopStarted();
     },
   } satisfies OpenClawPluginService;
 }