fix: localize whatsapp outbound sanitization

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -99,6 +99,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 - Channels/WhatsApp: detect explicit group `@mentions` again when the bot's own E.164 is in `allowFrom`, so shared-number setups no longer skip group pings that directly mention the bot. Fixes #49317. (#73453) Thanks @juan-flores077.
 - WhatsApp/reliability: publish real transport-liveness into WhatsApp channel status and force earlier reconnects on silent transport stalls, so quiet healthy sessions stay connected while wedged sockets recover before the later remote 408 path. (#72656) Thanks @Sathvik-1007.
 - Core/channels: tighten selected runtime, media, and plugin edge-case handling while preserving existing behavior. Thanks @jesse-merhi.
+- Channels/WhatsApp: strip leaked plural tool-call XML wrappers on every WhatsApp-visible outbound path and allow `channels.whatsapp.exposeErrorText` to suppress visible error text per channel or account. (#71830) Thanks @rubencu.
 
 ## 2026.4.27
 

extensions/whatsapp/src/auto-reply/deliver-reply.test.ts

@@ -199,6 +199,32 @@ describe("deliverWebReply", () => {
     expect(sentText).toContain("After");
   });
 
+  it("uses the same final sanitizer stack for auto-reply text delivery", async () => {
+    const msg = makeMsg();
+
+    await deliverWebReply({
+      replyResult: {
+        text: [
+          "Before",
+          "<function_calls>",
+          '  <invoke name="send_message">',
+          '    <parameter name="text"><b>hidden</b></parameter>',
+          "  </invoke>",
+          "</function_calls>",
+          "<div>After</div>",
+        ].join("\n"),
+      },
+      msg,
+      maxMediaBytes: 1024 * 1024,
+      textLimit: 4000,
+      replyLogger,
+      skipLog: true,
+    });
+
+    expect(msg.reply).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    expect(vi.mocked(msg.reply).mock.calls[0]?.[0]).toBe("Before\n\nAfter\n");
+  });
+
   it("keeps quote threading on every text chunk for a threaded reply", async () => {
     const msg = makeMsg();
     cacheInboundMessageMeta("work", "15551234567@s.whatsapp.net", "reply-1", {

extensions/whatsapp/src/outbound-adapter.sendpayload.test.ts

@@ -20,6 +20,36 @@ describe("whatsappOutbound sendPayload", () => {
     });
   });
 
+  it("uses the same final sanitizer stack for direct text sends", async () => {
+    const sendWhatsApp = vi.fn(async () => ({ messageId: "wa-1", toJid: "jid" }));
+
+    await whatsappOutbound.sendText!({
+      cfg: {},
+      to: "5511999999999@c.us",
+      text: [
+        "Before",
+        "<function_calls>",
+        '  <invoke name="send_message">',
+        '    <parameter name="text"><b>hidden</b></parameter>',
+        "  </invoke>",
+        "</function_calls>",
+        "<div>After</div>",
+      ].join("\n"),
+      deps: { sendWhatsApp },
+    });
+
+    expect(sendWhatsApp).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      "5511999999999@c.us",
+      "Before\n\nAfter\n",
+      expect.objectContaining({
+        verbose: false,
+        cfg: {},
+        accountId: undefined,
+        gifPlayback: undefined,
+      }),
+    );
+  });
+
   it("trims leading whitespace for direct media captions", async () => {
     const sendWhatsApp = vi.fn(async () => ({ messageId: "wa-1", toJid: "jid" }));
 

extensions/whatsapp/src/outbound-base.ts

@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@ import {
   type ChannelOutboundAdapter,
 } from "openclaw/plugin-sdk/channel-send-result";
 import type { OpenClawConfig } from "openclaw/plugin-sdk/config-types";
-import { sanitizeForPlainText } from "openclaw/plugin-sdk/outbound-runtime";
 import { resolveOutboundSendDep } from "openclaw/plugin-sdk/outbound-send-deps";
 import { sendTextMediaPayload } from "openclaw/plugin-sdk/reply-payload";
 import { resolveMergedWhatsAppAccountConfig } from "./account-config.js";
@@ -145,7 +144,7 @@ export function createWhatsAppOutboundBase({
     chunker,
     chunkerMode: "text",
     textChunkLimit: 4000,
-    sanitizeText: ({ text }) => sanitizeForPlainText(normalizeText(text)),
+    sanitizeText: ({ text }) => normalizeText(text),
     pollMaxOptions: 12,
     resolveTarget,
     ...createAttachedChannelResultAdapter({

extensions/whatsapp/src/outbound-media-contract.ts

@@ -1,11 +1,13 @@
 import fs from "node:fs/promises";
 import path from "node:path";
 import { MEDIA_FFMPEG_MAX_AUDIO_DURATION_SECS, runFfmpeg } from "openclaw/plugin-sdk/media-runtime";
+import { sanitizeForPlainText } from "openclaw/plugin-sdk/outbound-runtime";
 import { resolvePreferredOpenClawTmpDir } from "openclaw/plugin-sdk/temp-path";
 import { formatError } from "./session-errors.js";
 import {
   sanitizeAssistantVisibleText,
-  sanitizeAssistantVisibleTextWithOptions,
+  sanitizeAssistantVisibleTextWithProfile,
+  stripToolCallXmlTags,
   sleep,
 } from "./text-runtime.js";
 
@@ -34,8 +36,16 @@ const WHATSAPP_VOICE_SAMPLE_RATE_HZ = 48_000;
 const WHATSAPP_VOICE_BITRATE = "64k";
 const WHATSAPP_VOICE_MIMETYPE = "audio/ogg; codecs=opus";
 
+function stripWhatsAppPluralToolXml(text: string): string {
+  return stripToolCallXmlTags(text, { stripFunctionCallsXmlPayloads: true });
+}
+
+function finalizeWhatsAppVisibleText(text: string): string {
+  return sanitizeForPlainText(stripWhatsAppPluralToolXml(text));
+}
+
 export function normalizeWhatsAppPayloadText(text: string | undefined): string {
-  return sanitizeAssistantVisibleText(text?.trimStart() ?? "");
+  return finalizeWhatsAppVisibleText(sanitizeAssistantVisibleText(text ?? "")).trimStart();
 }
 
 function stripLeadingBlankLines(text: string): string {
@@ -45,10 +55,11 @@ function stripLeadingBlankLines(text: string): string {
 export function normalizeWhatsAppPayloadTextPreservingIndentation(
   text: string | undefined,
 ): string {
-  const sanitized = sanitizeAssistantVisibleTextWithOptions(stripLeadingBlankLines(text ?? ""), {
-    trim: "none",
-  });
-  const normalized = stripLeadingBlankLines(sanitized);
+  const sanitized = sanitizeAssistantVisibleTextWithProfile(
+    stripLeadingBlankLines(text ?? ""),
+    "history",
+  );
+  const normalized = stripLeadingBlankLines(finalizeWhatsAppVisibleText(sanitized));
   return normalized.trim() ? normalized : "";
 }
 

src/shared/text/assistant-visible-text.test.ts

@@ -529,54 +529,6 @@ describe("sanitizeAssistantVisibleText", () => {
     expect(sanitizeAssistantVisibleText(input)).toBe("Visible answer");
   });
 
-  it("strips plural tool_calls wrappers with nested tool_call blocks", () => {
-    const input = [
-      "Before",
-      "<tool_calls>",
-      '<tool_call>{"name":"read","arguments":{"path":"/tmp/x"}}</tool_call>',
-      "</tool_calls>",
-      "After",
-    ].join("\n");
-
-    expect(sanitizeAssistantVisibleText(input)).toBe("Before\n\nAfter");
-  });
-
-  it("strips plural function_calls wrappers with nested function_call blocks", () => {
-    const input = [
-      "Before",
-      "<function_calls>",
-      '<function_call>{"name":"read","arguments":{"path":"/tmp/x"}}</function_call>',
-      "</function_calls>",
-      "After",
-    ].join("\n");
-
-    expect(sanitizeAssistantVisibleText(input)).toBe("Before\n\nAfter");
-  });
-
-  it("does not close plural function_calls wrappers on matching text inside nested JSON", () => {
-    const input = [
-      "Before",
-      "<function_calls>",
-      '<function_call>{"name":"read","arguments":{"html":"</function_calls> SECRET"}}</function_call>',
-      "</function_calls>",
-      "After",
-    ].join("\n");
-
-    expect(sanitizeAssistantVisibleText(input)).toBe("Before\n\nAfter");
-  });
-
-  it("does not close plural tool_calls wrappers on matching text inside nested JSON", () => {
-    const input = [
-      "Before",
-      "<tool_calls>",
-      '<tool_call>{"name":"read","arguments":{"html":"</tool_calls> SECRET"}}</tool_call>',
-      "</tool_calls>",
-      "After",
-    ].join("\n");
-
-    expect(sanitizeAssistantVisibleText(input)).toBe("Before\n\nAfter");
-  });
-
   it("drops malformed reasoning before orphan close tags when final text follows", () => {
     expect(sanitizeAssistantVisibleText("private chain of thought </think> Visible answer")).toBe(
       "Visible answer",

src/shared/text/assistant-visible-text.ts

@@ -572,14 +572,12 @@ const ASSISTANT_VISIBLE_TEXT_PIPELINE_OPTIONS: Record<
     reasoningMode: "strict",
     reasoningTrim: "both",
     stageOrder: "reasoning-last",
-    stripFunctionCallsXmlPayloads: true,
   },
   history: {
     finalTrim: "none",
     reasoningMode: "strict",
     reasoningTrim: "none",
     stageOrder: "reasoning-last",
-    stripFunctionCallsXmlPayloads: true,
   },
   "internal-scaffolding": {
     finalTrim: "start",