From 92100efa04f805329ab8c1ede6e705caff357372 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Peter Steinberger <steipete@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 27 Apr 2026 11:06:18 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] fix(exec): honor default timeout for background runs

---
 CHANGELOG.md                                  |  1 +
 .../bash-tools.exec.background-abort.test.ts  | 39 ++++++++++++++-----
 src/agents/bash-tools.exec.ts                 |  6 +--
 3 files changed, 32 insertions(+), 14 deletions(-)

diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 851bc0a37e0..378952b9dd1 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 ### Fixes
 
 - Memory-core/dreaming: treat request-scoped narrative fallback as expected, skip session cleanup when no subagent run was created, and remove duplicate phase-level cleanup so fallback no longer emits warning noise. Fixes #67152. Thanks @jsompis.
+- Agents/exec: apply configured `tools.exec.timeoutSec` to background and `yieldMs` commands when no per-call timeout is set, preventing auto-backgrounded commands from running indefinitely. Fixes #67600; supersedes #67603. Thanks @dlmpx and @kagura-agent.
 - Config/doctor: stop masking unknown-key validation diagnostics such as `agents.defaults.llm`, and have `openclaw doctor --fix` remove the retired `agents.defaults.llm` timeout block. Thanks @aidiffuser.
 - CLI/plugins: preserve unversioned ClawHub install specs so `plugins update` can follow newer ClawHub releases instead of pinning to the initially resolved version. Fixes #63010; supersedes #58426. Thanks @kangsen1234 and @robinspt.
 - Memory-core/subagents: tag plugin-created subagent sessions with their plugin owner so dreaming narrative cleanup can delete its own ephemeral sessions without granting broad admin session deletion. Fixes #72712. Thanks @BSG2000.
diff --git a/src/agents/bash-tools.exec.background-abort.test.ts b/src/agents/bash-tools.exec.background-abort.test.ts
index a121dd5e9ef..ea28446d104 100644
--- a/src/agents/bash-tools.exec.background-abort.test.ts
+++ b/src/agents/bash-tools.exec.background-abort.test.ts
@@ -177,12 +177,18 @@ async function expectBackgroundSessionTimesOut(params: {
   executeParams: ExecToolExecuteParams;
   signal?: AbortSignal;
   abortAfterStart?: boolean;
+  expectedTimeoutSec?: number;
 }) {
   const abortController = new AbortController();
   const signal = params.signal ?? abortController.signal;
   const result = await params.tool.execute("toolcall", params.executeParams, signal);
   expect(result.details.status).toBe("running");
   const sessionId = (result.details as { sessionId: string }).sessionId;
+  if (typeof params.expectedTimeoutSec === "number") {
+    expect(supervisorMockState.spawnInputs.at(-1)?.timeoutMs).toBe(
+      Math.floor(params.expectedTimeoutSec * 1000),
+    );
+  }
 
   if (params.abortAfterStart) {
     abortController.abort();
@@ -223,23 +229,21 @@ test("background exec still times out after tool signal abort", async () => {
       timeout: BACKGROUND_TIMEOUT_SEC,
     },
     abortAfterStart: true,
+    expectedTimeoutSec: BACKGROUND_TIMEOUT_SEC,
   });
 });
 
-test("background exec without explicit timeout ignores default timeout", async () => {
+test("background exec without explicit timeout applies default timeout", async () => {
   const tool = createTestExecTool({
     allowBackground: true,
     backgroundMs: 0,
     timeoutSec: BACKGROUND_TIMEOUT_SEC,
   });
-  const result = await tool.execute("toolcall", { command: BACKGROUND_HOLD_CMD, background: true });
-  expect(result.details.status).toBe("running");
-  const sessionId = (result.details as { sessionId: string }).sessionId;
-  expect(supervisorMockState.spawnInputs.at(-1)?.timeoutMs).toBeUndefined();
-  expect(getFinishedSession(sessionId)).toBeUndefined();
-  expect(getSession(sessionId)?.exited).toBe(false);
-
-  cleanupRunningSession(sessionId);
+  await expectBackgroundSessionTimesOut({
+    tool,
+    executeParams: { command: BACKGROUND_HOLD_CMD, background: true },
+    expectedTimeoutSec: BACKGROUND_TIMEOUT_SEC,
+  });
 });
 
 test("yielded background exec still times out", async () => {
@@ -251,5 +255,22 @@ test("yielded background exec still times out", async () => {
       yieldMs: 5,
       timeout: BACKGROUND_TIMEOUT_SEC,
     },
+    expectedTimeoutSec: BACKGROUND_TIMEOUT_SEC,
+  });
+});
+
+test("yieldMs exec without explicit timeout applies default timeout", async () => {
+  const tool = createTestExecTool({
+    allowBackground: true,
+    backgroundMs: 10,
+    timeoutSec: BACKGROUND_TIMEOUT_SEC,
+  });
+  await expectBackgroundSessionTimesOut({
+    tool,
+    executeParams: {
+      command: BACKGROUND_HOLD_CMD,
+      yieldMs: 5,
+    },
+    expectedTimeoutSec: BACKGROUND_TIMEOUT_SEC,
   });
 });
diff --git a/src/agents/bash-tools.exec.ts b/src/agents/bash-tools.exec.ts
index 00dd918b403..196326ef1ec 100644
--- a/src/agents/bash-tools.exec.ts
+++ b/src/agents/bash-tools.exec.ts
@@ -1676,11 +1676,7 @@ export function createExecTool(
       }
 
       const explicitTimeoutSec = typeof params.timeout === "number" ? params.timeout : null;
-      const backgroundTimeoutBypass =
-        allowBackground && explicitTimeoutSec === null && (backgroundRequested || yieldRequested);
-      const effectiveTimeout = backgroundTimeoutBypass
-        ? null
-        : (explicitTimeoutSec ?? defaultTimeoutSec);
+      const effectiveTimeout = explicitTimeoutSec ?? defaultTimeoutSec;
       const getWarningText = () => (warnings.length ? `${warnings.join("\n")}\n\n` : "");
       const usePty = params.pty === true && !sandbox;