fix(ui): preserve session assistant identity

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 
 ### Fixes
 
+- Control UI: keep session-specific assistant identity loads authoritative after WebSocket connect, so non-main agent chat sessions do not show the main agent name in the header after bootstrap refreshes. Fixes #72776. Thanks @rockytian-top.
 - Media-understanding/audio: migrate deprecated `{input}` placeholders in legacy `audio.transcription.command` configs to `{{MediaPath}}`, so custom audio transcribers no longer receive the literal placeholder after doctor repair. Fixes #72760. Thanks @krisfanue3-hash.
 - Ollama/onboarding: de-dupe suggested bare local models against installed `:latest` tags and skip redundant pulls, so setup shows the installed model once and no longer says it is downloading an already available model. Fixes #68952. Thanks @tleyden.
 - Control UI/Gateway: preserve WebChat client version labels across localhost, 127.0.0.1, and IPv6 loopback aliases on the same port, avoiding misleading `vcontrol-ui` connection logs while investigating duplicate-message reports. Refs #72753 and #72742. Thanks @LumenFromTheFuture and @allesgutefy.

ui/src/ui/app-gateway.node.test.ts

@@ -649,7 +649,7 @@ describe("connectGateway", () => {
     client.emitHello();
 
     expect(loadControlUiBootstrapConfigMock).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
-    expect(loadControlUiBootstrapConfigMock).toHaveBeenCalledWith(host);
+    expect(loadControlUiBootstrapConfigMock).toHaveBeenCalledWith(host, { applyIdentity: false });
   });
 
   it("sends queued chat aborts after reconnect before clearing pending state", async () => {

ui/src/ui/app-gateway.ts

@@ -431,6 +431,7 @@ export function connectGateway(host: GatewayHost, options?: ConnectGatewayOption
       applySnapshot(host, hello);
       void loadControlUiBootstrapConfig(
         host as unknown as Parameters<typeof loadControlUiBootstrapConfig>[0],
+        { applyIdentity: false },
       );
       // Process any pending abort from before the disconnect.
       if (host.pendingAbort) {

ui/src/ui/controllers/assistant-identity.test.ts

@@ -2,7 +2,60 @@
 import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
 import { createStorageMock } from "../../test-helpers/storage.ts";
 import { loadLocalAssistantIdentity } from "../storage.ts";
-import { setAssistantAvatarOverride } from "./assistant-identity.ts";
+import { loadAssistantIdentity, setAssistantAvatarOverride } from "./assistant-identity.ts";
+
+function createDeferred<T>() {
+  let resolve!: (value: T) => void;
+  const promise = new Promise<T>((next) => {
+    resolve = next;
+  });
+  return { promise, resolve };
+}
+
+describe("loadAssistantIdentity", () => {
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    vi.stubGlobal("localStorage", createStorageMock());
+  });
+  afterEach(() => {
+    vi.unstubAllGlobals();
+  });
+
+  it("ignores stale identity responses after the active session changes", async () => {
+    const first = createDeferred<unknown>();
+    const second = createDeferred<unknown>();
+    const request = vi.fn().mockReturnValueOnce(first.promise).mockReturnValueOnce(second.promise);
+    const state: Parameters<typeof loadAssistantIdentity>[0] = {
+      client: { request } as never,
+      connected: true,
+      sessionKey: "agent:main:main",
+      assistantName: "Main",
+      assistantAvatar: null,
+      assistantAgentId: "main",
+    };
+
+    const firstLoad = loadAssistantIdentity(state);
+    state.sessionKey = "agent:worker:main";
+    const secondLoad = loadAssistantIdentity(state);
+
+    second.resolve({ agentId: "worker", name: "Worker", avatar: "W" });
+    await secondLoad;
+    expect(state.assistantName).toBe("Worker");
+    expect(state.assistantAgentId).toBe("worker");
+
+    first.resolve({ agentId: "main", name: "Main After", avatar: "M" });
+    await firstLoad;
+
+    expect(state.assistantName).toBe("Worker");
+    expect(state.assistantAvatar).toBe("W");
+    expect(state.assistantAgentId).toBe("worker");
+    expect(request).toHaveBeenNthCalledWith(1, "agent.identity.get", {
+      sessionKey: "agent:main:main",
+    });
+    expect(request).toHaveBeenNthCalledWith(2, "agent.identity.get", {
+      sessionKey: "agent:worker:main",
+    });
+  });
+});
 
 describe("setAssistantAvatarOverride", () => {
   beforeEach(() => {

ui/src/ui/controllers/assistant-identity.ts

@@ -21,6 +21,26 @@ export type AssistantAvatarOverrideState = {
   assistantAvatarReason?: string | null;
 };
 
+const assistantIdentityRequestVersions = new WeakMap<object, number>();
+
+function beginAssistantIdentityRequest(state: AssistantIdentityState): number {
+  const key = state as object;
+  const nextVersion = (assistantIdentityRequestVersions.get(key) ?? 0) + 1;
+  assistantIdentityRequestVersions.set(key, nextVersion);
+  return nextVersion;
+}
+
+function shouldApplyAssistantIdentityResult(
+  state: AssistantIdentityState,
+  version: number,
+  sessionKey: string,
+): boolean {
+  return (
+    assistantIdentityRequestVersions.get(state as object) === version &&
+    state.sessionKey.trim() === sessionKey
+  );
+}
+
 export async function loadAssistantIdentity(
   state: AssistantIdentityState,
   opts?: { sessionKey?: string },
@@ -30,8 +50,12 @@ export async function loadAssistantIdentity(
   }
   const sessionKey = opts?.sessionKey?.trim() || state.sessionKey.trim();
   const params = sessionKey ? { sessionKey } : {};
+  const requestVersion = beginAssistantIdentityRequest(state);
   try {
     const res = await state.client.request("agent.identity.get", params);
+    if (!shouldApplyAssistantIdentityResult(state, requestVersion, sessionKey)) {
+      return;
+    }
     if (!res) {
       return;
     }

ui/src/ui/controllers/control-ui-bootstrap.test.ts

@@ -58,6 +58,49 @@ describe("loadControlUiBootstrapConfig", () => {
     vi.unstubAllGlobals();
   });
 
+  it("can refresh runtime bootstrap settings without clobbering session identity", async () => {
+    const fetchMock = vi.fn().mockResolvedValue({
+      ok: true,
+      json: async () => ({
+        basePath: "",
+        assistantName: "Main",
+        assistantAvatar: "M",
+        assistantAgentId: "main",
+        serverVersion: "2026.4.27",
+        localMediaPreviewRoots: ["/tmp/openclaw"],
+        embedSandbox: "trusted",
+        allowExternalEmbedUrls: true,
+      }),
+    });
+    vi.stubGlobal("fetch", fetchMock as unknown as typeof fetch);
+
+    const state = {
+      basePath: "",
+      assistantName: "Worker",
+      assistantAvatar: "W",
+      assistantAvatarSource: null,
+      assistantAvatarStatus: null,
+      assistantAvatarReason: null,
+      assistantAgentId: "worker",
+      localMediaPreviewRoots: [],
+      embedSandboxMode: "scripts" as const,
+      allowExternalEmbedUrls: false,
+      serverVersion: null,
+    };
+
+    await loadControlUiBootstrapConfig(state, { applyIdentity: false });
+
+    expect(state.assistantName).toBe("Worker");
+    expect(state.assistantAvatar).toBe("W");
+    expect(state.assistantAgentId).toBe("worker");
+    expect(state.serverVersion).toBe("2026.4.27");
+    expect(state.localMediaPreviewRoots).toEqual(["/tmp/openclaw"]);
+    expect(state.embedSandboxMode).toBe("trusted");
+    expect(state.allowExternalEmbedUrls).toBe(true);
+
+    vi.unstubAllGlobals();
+  });
+
   it("ignores failures", async () => {
     const fetchMock = vi.fn().mockResolvedValue({ ok: false });
     vi.stubGlobal("fetch", fetchMock as unknown as typeof fetch);

ui/src/ui/controllers/control-ui-bootstrap.ts

@@ -25,7 +25,10 @@ export type ControlUiBootstrapState = {
   password?: string | null;
 };
 
-export async function loadControlUiBootstrapConfig(state: ControlUiBootstrapState) {
+export async function loadControlUiBootstrapConfig(
+  state: ControlUiBootstrapState,
+  opts?: { applyIdentity?: boolean },
+) {
   if (typeof window === "undefined") {
     return;
   }
@@ -66,27 +69,29 @@ export async function loadControlUiBootstrapConfig(state: ControlUiBootstrapStat
       return;
     }
     const parsed = (await res.json()) as ControlUiBootstrapConfig;
-    const normalized = normalizeAssistantIdentity({
-      agentId: parsed.assistantAgentId ?? null,
-      name: parsed.assistantName,
-      avatar: parsed.assistantAvatar ?? null,
-      avatarSource: parsed.assistantAvatarSource ?? null,
-      avatarStatus: parsed.assistantAvatarStatus ?? null,
-      avatarReason: parsed.assistantAvatarReason ?? null,
-    });
-    state.assistantName = normalized.name;
-    state.assistantAvatar = normalized.avatar;
-    state.assistantAvatarSource = normalized.avatarSource ?? null;
-    state.assistantAvatarStatus = normalized.avatarStatus ?? null;
-    state.assistantAvatarReason = normalized.avatarReason ?? null;
-    state.assistantAgentId = normalized.agentId ?? null;
-    // Local override always wins — same pattern as the user avatar.
-    const localAvatar = loadLocalAssistantIdentity().avatar;
-    if (localAvatar) {
-      state.assistantAvatar = localAvatar;
-      state.assistantAvatarSource = localAvatar;
-      state.assistantAvatarStatus = "data";
-      state.assistantAvatarReason = null;
+    if (opts?.applyIdentity !== false) {
+      const normalized = normalizeAssistantIdentity({
+        agentId: parsed.assistantAgentId ?? null,
+        name: parsed.assistantName,
+        avatar: parsed.assistantAvatar ?? null,
+        avatarSource: parsed.assistantAvatarSource ?? null,
+        avatarStatus: parsed.assistantAvatarStatus ?? null,
+        avatarReason: parsed.assistantAvatarReason ?? null,
+      });
+      state.assistantName = normalized.name;
+      state.assistantAvatar = normalized.avatar;
+      state.assistantAvatarSource = normalized.avatarSource ?? null;
+      state.assistantAvatarStatus = normalized.avatarStatus ?? null;
+      state.assistantAvatarReason = normalized.avatarReason ?? null;
+      state.assistantAgentId = normalized.agentId ?? null;
+      // Local override always wins — same pattern as the user avatar.
+      const localAvatar = loadLocalAssistantIdentity().avatar;
+      if (localAvatar) {
+        state.assistantAvatar = localAvatar;
+        state.assistantAvatarSource = localAvatar;
+        state.assistantAvatarStatus = "data";
+        state.assistantAvatarReason = null;
+      }
     }
     state.serverVersion = parsed.serverVersion ?? null;
     state.localMediaPreviewRoots = Array.isArray(parsed.localMediaPreviewRoots)