From 9ff00ccbd2e5921ff4c0a49472695cc09b36324a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Tag <tag@austen.info>
Date: Sun, 15 Feb 2026 21:30:30 -0500
Subject: [PATCH] fix: stop LLM retry loop on browser service unavailable

---
 src/browser/client-fetch.ts | 19 ++++++++++++++-----
 1 file changed, 14 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/src/browser/client-fetch.ts b/src/browser/client-fetch.ts
index 3fe71934b3e..c8617d0f79c 100644
--- a/src/browser/client-fetch.ts
+++ b/src/browser/client-fetch.ts
@@ -90,9 +90,16 @@ function withLoopbackBrowserAuth(
 }
 
 function enhanceBrowserFetchError(url: string, err: unknown, timeoutMs: number): Error {
-  const hint = isAbsoluteHttp(url)
-    ? "If this is a sandboxed session, ensure the sandbox browser is running and try again."
-    : `Start (or restart) the OpenClaw gateway (OpenClaw.app menubar, or \`${formatCliCommand("openclaw gateway")}\`) and try again.`;
+  const isLocal = !isAbsoluteHttp(url);
+  // Human-facing hint for logs/diagnostics.
+  const operatorHint = isLocal
+    ? `Restart the OpenClaw gateway (OpenClaw.app menubar, or \`${formatCliCommand("openclaw gateway")}\`).`
+    : "If this is a sandboxed session, ensure the sandbox browser is running.";
+  // Model-facing suffix: explicitly tell the LLM NOT to retry.
+  // Without this, models see "try again" and enter an infinite tool-call loop.
+  const modelHint =
+    "Do NOT retry the browser tool — it will keep failing. " +
+    "Use an alternative approach or inform the user that the browser is currently unavailable.";
   const msg = String(err);
   const msgLower = msg.toLowerCase();
   const looksLikeTimeout =
@@ -103,10 +110,12 @@ function enhanceBrowserFetchError(url: string, err: unknown, timeoutMs: number):
     msgLower.includes("aborterror");
   if (looksLikeTimeout) {
     return new Error(
-      `Can't reach the OpenClaw browser control service (timed out after ${timeoutMs}ms). ${hint}`,
+      `Can't reach the OpenClaw browser control service (timed out after ${timeoutMs}ms). ${operatorHint} ${modelHint}`,
     );
   }
-  return new Error(`Can't reach the OpenClaw browser control service. ${hint} (${msg})`);
+  return new Error(
+    `Can't reach the OpenClaw browser control service. ${operatorHint} ${modelHint} (${msg})`,
+  );
 }
 
 async function fetchHttpJson<T>(