fix: preserve iMessage self-chat aliases (#61619) (thanks @neeravmakwana)

* fix(imessage): avoid DM self-chat false positives

* fix(imessage): treat blank destination caller id as missing

* fix(imessage): preserve alias self-chat

* fix: preserve iMessage self-chat aliases (#61619) (thanks @neeravmakwana)

---------

Co-authored-by: Ayaan Zaidi <hi@obviy.us>

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 
 ### Fixes
 
+- iMessage/self-chat: distinguish normal DM outbound rows from true self-chat using `destination_caller_id` plus chat participants, while preserving multi-handle self-chat aliases so outbound DM replies stop looping back as inbound messages. (#61619) Thanks @neeravmakwana.
 - fix(browser): auto-generate browser control auth token for none/trusted-proxy modes [AI]. (#63280) Thanks @pgondhi987.
 - fix(exec): replace TOCTOU check-then-read with atomic pinned-fd open in script preflight [AI]. (#62333) Thanks @pgondhi987.
 - WhatsApp/auto-reply: keep inbound reply, media, and composing sends on the current socket across reconnects, wait through reconnect gaps, and retry timeout-only send failures without dropping the active socket ref. (#62892) Thanks @mcaxtr.

extensions/imessage/src/monitor.gating.test.ts

@@ -104,6 +104,22 @@ describe("imessage monitor gating + envelope builders", () => {
     ).toBeNull();
   });
 
+  it("parseIMessageNotification preserves destination_caller_id metadata", () => {
+    expect(
+      parseIMessageNotification({
+        message: {
+          id: 1,
+          sender: "+15550001111",
+          destination_caller_id: "+15550002222",
+          is_from_me: true,
+          text: "hello",
+        },
+      }),
+    ).toMatchObject({
+      destination_caller_id: "+15550002222",
+    });
+  });
+
   it("drops group messages without mention by default", () => {
     const decision = resolve({
       message: {

extensions/imessage/src/monitor/inbound-processing.ts

@@ -170,6 +170,7 @@ export function resolveIMessageInboundDecision(params: {
   const chatId = params.message.chat_id ?? undefined;
   const chatGuid = params.message.chat_guid ?? undefined;
   const chatIdentifier = params.message.chat_identifier ?? undefined;
+  const destinationCallerId = params.message.destination_caller_id ?? undefined;
   const createdAt = params.message.created_at ? Date.parse(params.message.created_at) : undefined;
   const messageText = params.messageText.trim();
   const bodyText = params.bodyText.trim();
@@ -203,14 +204,23 @@ export function resolveIMessageInboundDecision(params: {
     text: bodyText,
     createdAt,
   };
-  // Self-chat detection: in self-chat, sender == chat_identifier (both are the
-  // user's own handle). When is_from_me=true in self-chat, the message could be
-  // either: (a) a real user message typed by the user, or (b) an agent reply
-  // echo reflected back by iMessage. We must distinguish them.
+  const chatIdentifierNormalized = normalizeIMessageHandle(chatIdentifier ?? "") || undefined;
+  const destinationCallerIdNormalized =
+    normalizeIMessageHandle(destinationCallerId ?? "") || undefined;
+  const chatParticipantHandles = new Set(
+    (params.message.participants ?? [])
+      .map((participant) => normalizeIMessageHandle(participant))
+      .filter((participant): participant is string => participant.length > 0),
+  );
+  const matchesSelfChatDestination =
+    destinationCallerIdNormalized == null ||
+    destinationCallerIdNormalized === senderNormalized ||
+    chatParticipantHandles.has(destinationCallerIdNormalized);
   const isSelfChat =
     !isGroup &&
-    chatIdentifier != null &&
-    normalizeIMessageHandle(sender) === normalizeIMessageHandle(chatIdentifier);
+    chatIdentifierNormalized != null &&
+    senderNormalized === chatIdentifierNormalized &&
+    matchesSelfChatDestination;
   // Track whether we already processed the is_from_me=true self-chat path.
   // When true, the selfChatCache.has() check below must be skipped — we just
   // called remember() and would immediately match our own entry.

extensions/imessage/src/monitor/parse-notification.ts

@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@ export function parseIMessageNotification(raw: unknown): IMessagePayload | null
     !isOptionalString(message.guid) ||
     !isOptionalNumber(message.chat_id) ||
     !isOptionalString(message.sender) ||
+    !isOptionalString(message.destination_caller_id) ||
     !isOptionalBoolean(message.is_from_me) ||
     !isOptionalString(message.text) ||
     !isOptionalStringOrNumber(message.reply_to_id) ||

extensions/imessage/src/monitor/self-chat-dedupe.test.ts

@@ -344,7 +344,6 @@ describe("self-chat is_from_me=true handling (Bruce Phase 2 fix)", () => {
   });
 
   it("processes real user self-chat message (is_from_me=true, no echo cache match)", () => {
-    // User sends "Hello" to themselves — is_from_me=true, sender==chat_identifier
     const echoCache = createSentMessageCache();
     const selfChatCache = createSelfChatCache();
 
@@ -354,6 +353,7 @@ describe("self-chat is_from_me=true handling (Bruce Phase 2 fix)", () => {
           id: 123703,
           sender: "+15551234567",
           chat_identifier: "+15551234567",
+          destination_caller_id: "+15551234567",
           text: "Hello this is a test message",
           is_from_me: true,
           is_group: false,
@@ -365,7 +365,57 @@ describe("self-chat is_from_me=true handling (Bruce Phase 2 fix)", () => {
       }),
     );
 
-    // Real user message — should be dispatched, not dropped
+    expect(decision.kind).toBe("dispatch");
+  });
+
+  it("treats blank destination_caller_id as missing for real self-chat", () => {
+    const echoCache = createSentMessageCache();
+    const selfChatCache = createSelfChatCache();
+
+    const decision = resolveIMessageInboundDecision(
+      createParams({
+        message: {
+          id: 123704,
+          sender: "+15551234567",
+          chat_identifier: "+15551234567",
+          destination_caller_id: "",
+          text: "Hello this is a test message",
+          is_from_me: true,
+          is_group: false,
+        },
+        messageText: "Hello this is a test message",
+        bodyText: "Hello this is a test message",
+        echoCache,
+        selfChatCache,
+      }),
+    );
+
+    expect(decision.kind).toBe("dispatch");
+  });
+
+  it("preserves self-chat when destination_caller_id is another local handle", () => {
+    const echoCache = createSentMessageCache();
+    const selfChatCache = createSelfChatCache();
+
+    const decision = resolveIMessageInboundDecision(
+      createParams({
+        message: {
+          id: 123705,
+          sender: "+15551234567",
+          chat_identifier: "+15551234567",
+          destination_caller_id: "me@icloud.com",
+          participants: ["+15551234567", "me@icloud.com"],
+          text: "Hello from my other local handle",
+          is_from_me: true,
+          is_group: false,
+        },
+        messageText: "Hello from my other local handle",
+        bodyText: "Hello from my other local handle",
+        echoCache,
+        selfChatCache,
+      }),
+    );
+
     expect(decision.kind).toBe("dispatch");
   });
 
@@ -575,7 +625,36 @@ describe("self-chat is_from_me=true handling (Bruce Phase 2 fix)", () => {
       }),
     );
 
-    // sender != chat_identifier → not self-chat → dropped as "from me"
+    expect(decision).toEqual({ kind: "drop", reason: "from me" });
+  });
+
+  it("uses destination_caller_id to avoid DM self-chat false positives", () => {
+    const echoCache = createSentMessageCache();
+    const selfChatCache = createSelfChatCache();
+
+    echoCache.remember("default:imessage:+15551234567", {
+      text: "Clean outbound text",
+      messageId: "p:0/GUID-outbound",
+    });
+
+    const decision = resolveIMessageInboundDecision(
+      createParams({
+        message: {
+          id: 10001,
+          sender: "+15551234567",
+          chat_identifier: "+15551234567",
+          destination_caller_id: "+15550001111",
+          text: "<22>\u0001corrupted stored text",
+          is_from_me: true,
+          is_group: false,
+        },
+        messageText: "<22>\u0001corrupted stored text",
+        bodyText: "<22>\u0001corrupted stored text",
+        echoCache,
+        selfChatCache,
+      }),
+    );
+
     expect(decision).toEqual({ kind: "drop", reason: "from me" });
   });
 

extensions/imessage/src/monitor/types.ts

@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ export type IMessagePayload = {
   guid?: string | null;
   chat_id?: number | null;
   sender?: string | null;
+  destination_caller_id?: string | null;
   is_from_me?: boolean | null;
   text?: string | null;
   reply_to_id?: number | string | null;