fix: tolerate malformed cron schedule reloads

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 
 ### Fixes
 
+- Cron: make scheduler reload schedule comparison tolerate malformed persisted jobs, so one bad cron entry no longer aborts the whole tick. Fixes #75886. Thanks @samfox-ai.
 - Control UI/chat: keep live replies visible when a raw session alias such as `main` sends the chat turn but Gateway emits events under the canonical session key for the same run. Fixes #73716. Thanks @teebes.
 - CLI/models: reject `--agent` on `openclaw models set` and `set-image` instead of silently writing agent-scoped requests to global model defaults. Fixes #68391. Thanks @derrickabellard.
 - CLI: stop treating the legacy singular `openclaw tool ...` token as a plugin id under restrictive `plugins.allow`, so it falls through as a normal unknown/reserved command instead of suggesting a stale allowlist entry. Fixes #64732. Thanks @efe-arv, @SweetSophia, and @hashtag1974.

src/cron/schedule-identity.ts

@@ -61,18 +61,6 @@ function resolveSchedulePayload(
   return schedulePayloadFromRecord(job);
 }
 
-function cronScheduleIdentity(job: Pick<CronJob, "schedule"> & { enabled?: boolean }): string {
-  const schedule = resolveSchedulePayload(job as unknown as Record<string, unknown>);
-  if (!schedule) {
-    throw new Error("Unsupported cron schedule kind");
-  }
-  return JSON.stringify({
-    version: 1,
-    enabled: job.enabled ?? true,
-    schedule,
-  });
-}
-
 export function tryCronScheduleIdentity(
   job: { schedule?: unknown; enabled?: unknown } & Record<string, unknown>,
 ): string | undefined {
@@ -88,8 +76,14 @@ export function tryCronScheduleIdentity(
 }
 
 export function cronSchedulingInputsEqual(
-  previous: Pick<CronJob, "schedule"> & { enabled?: boolean },
-  next: Pick<CronJob, "schedule"> & { enabled?: boolean },
+  previous: Pick<CronJob, "schedule"> & { enabled?: unknown },
+  next: Pick<CronJob, "schedule"> & { enabled?: unknown },
 ): boolean {
-  return cronScheduleIdentity(previous) === cronScheduleIdentity(next);
+  const previousIdentity = tryCronScheduleIdentity(previous as Record<string, unknown>);
+  const nextIdentity = tryCronScheduleIdentity(next as Record<string, unknown>);
+  return (
+    previousIdentity !== undefined &&
+    nextIdentity !== undefined &&
+    previousIdentity === nextIdentity
+  );
 }

src/cron/service/store.test.ts

@@ -279,6 +279,36 @@ describe("cron service store seam coverage", () => {
     expect(findJobOrThrow(state, "reload-cron-expr-job").state.nextRunAtMs).toBe(dueNextRunAtMs);
   });
 
+  it("clears stale nextRunAtMs without throwing when a force-reloaded schedule is malformed", async () => {
+    const { storePath } = await makeStorePath();
+    const staleNextRunAtMs = STORE_TEST_NOW + 3_600_000;
+
+    await writeSingleJobStore(storePath, {
+      ...createReloadCronJob({
+        state: { nextRunAtMs: staleNextRunAtMs },
+      }),
+    });
+
+    const state = createStoreTestState(storePath);
+    await ensureLoaded(state, { skipRecompute: true });
+
+    await writeSingleJobStore(storePath, {
+      ...createReloadCronJob({
+        updatedAtMs: STORE_TEST_NOW,
+        state: { nextRunAtMs: staleNextRunAtMs },
+      }),
+      schedule: "0 17 * * *",
+    });
+
+    await expect(ensureLoaded(state, { forceReload: true, skipRecompute: true })).resolves.toBe(
+      undefined,
+    );
+
+    const reloadedJob = findJobOrThrow(state, "reload-cron-expr-job");
+    expect(reloadedJob.schedule).toBe("0 17 * * *");
+    expect(reloadedJob.state.nextRunAtMs).toBeUndefined();
+  });
+
   it("preserves nextRunAtMs after force reload when scheduling inputs are unchanged", async () => {
     const { storePath } = await makeStorePath();
     const originalNextRunAtMs = STORE_TEST_NOW + 3_600_000;