# Session: 2026-03-24 21:39:20 UTC - **Session Key**: agent:main:telegram:direct:8032472383 - **Session ID**: c85e9b66-51a0-4c7e-9210-5aa0b741b6eb - **Source**: telegram ## Conversation Summary assistant: [[reply_to_current]]The immediate cause is simple: the `openai-codex` OAuth profile is no longer being used for some calls, so OpenClaw is falling back to the paid `OPENAI_API_KEY` environment credential instead. Most likely causes: 1. The ChatGPT OAuth usage bucket was exhausted for the current window. 2. The OAuth token/session became invalid or expired. 3. A subset of calls is being routed through a provider/model path that does not resolve cleanly to the `openai-codex` OAuth profile, so fallback engages. Why I say that: - I can see repeated recent status output showing `openai-codex:default ok expires in 5d`, which suggests the credential itself is still present and not fully expired. - That points more strongly to quota exhaustion / usage-limit behavior than token deletion. - You also have prior session evidence of “You have hit your ChatGPT usage limit (plus plan)” on codex-family jobs, which is consistent with this warning. So the likely root cause is: - OAuth auth still exists - but the ChatGPT-backed usage allowance for `openai-codex` is currently unavailable for some requests - therefore OpenClaw falls back to the paid env key to keep execution working Risk: - Silent cost leakage if fallback continues for background jobs or cron traffic. Best next checks: 1. Verify whether this is quota exhaustion vs routing mismatch. 2. Identify which jobs/session types are currently triggering fallback. 3. Decide whether fallback should stay enabled, be narrowed, or be disabled for some workloads. If you want, I can inspect the relevant config and logs now and tell you exactly which path is triggering the paid fallback. user: Conversation info (untrusted metadata): ```json { "message_id": "3108", "reply_to_id": "3106", "sender_id": "8032472383", "sender": "Braden McLeish", "timestamp": "Tue 2026-03-24 14:16 PDT", "has_reply_context": true } ``` Sender (untrusted metadata): ```json { "label": "Braden McLeish (8032472383)", "id": "8032472383", "name": "Braden McLeish" } ``` Replied message (untrusted, for context): ```json { "sender_label": "Dorian", "body": "The immediate cause is simple: the openai-codex OAuth profile is no longer being used for some calls, so OpenClaw is falling back to the paid OPENAI_API_KEY environment credential instead.\n\nMost likely causes:\n\n1. The ChatGPT OAuth usage bucket was exhausted for the current window.\n2. The OAuth token/session became invalid or expired.\n3. A subset of calls is being routed through a provider/model path that does not resolve cleanly to the openai-codex OAuth profile, so fallback engages.\n\nWhy I say that:\n\n• I can see repeated recent status output showing openai-codex:default ok expires in 5d, which suggests the credential itself is still present and not fully expired.\n• That points more strongly to quota exhaustion / usage-limit behavior than token deletion.\n• You also have prior session evidence of “You have hit your ChatGPT usage limit (plus plan)” on codex-family jobs, which is consistent with this warning.\n\nSo the likely root cause is:\n\n• OAuth auth still exists\n• but the ChatGPT-backed usage allowance for openai-codex is currently unavailable for some requests\n• therefore OpenClaw falls back to the paid env key to keep execution working\n\nRisk:\n\n• Silent cost leakage if fallback continues for background jobs or cron traffic.\n\nBest next checks:\n\n1. Verify whether this is quota exhaustion vs routing mismatch.\n2. Identify which jobs/session types are currently triggering fallback.\n3. Decide whether fallback should stay enabled, be narrowed, or be disabled for some workloads.\n\nIf you want, I can inspect the relevant config and logs now and tell you exactly which path is triggering the paid fallback." } ``` Everything currently is on the OAuth and nothing should be on the paid API usage. So my guess is that this is a red herring and whatever is prompting it is looking for the wrong thing. Can you look into that for me? assistant: I’m going to inspect the config schema and current config for the model/auth routing path, then trace where that warning is coming from and whether it’s keying off the wrong provider. assistant: [[reply_to_current]]Yes — I think your guess is correct. This looks like a bad detector, not actual paid-model routing. What I found: - Your configured agent models are all `openai-codex/...` only. - Your auth profile explicitly sets `openai-codex:default` to OAuth. - There are no configured model fallbacks to `openai/...` in the OpenClaw config. - The warning text is being emitted by a local watchdog script, not by OpenClaw’s real model-routing layer. The actual trigger is here: - `/Users/openclaw/.openclaw/workspace/scripts/gateway-watchdog.sh` And the relevant logic is: - It runs `openclaw models` - Greps for the line containing `openai-codex usage` - If that line is unreadable, or matches `0%|expired|error`, it sends: `[COST WARN] openai-codex OAuth quota exhausted or expired. Calls falling back to paid env key.` That is the bug. Why this is a red herring: 1. The script is inferring “paid env key fallback” from a coarse status line. 2. It does not verify any real model/provider switch occurred. 3. It does not inspect actual request routing. 4. It assumes that OAuth trouble implies fallback to paid API usage. 5. In your current config, all active agent models remain on `openai-codex/...`, and config fallbacks are empty. So the alert is overclaiming. It may be detecting: - a transient issue reading usage, - a temporary codex quota/auth status condition, - or just a parse mismatch, but it is not proving that live traffic moved onto paid API usage. Bottom line: - The prompt is almost certainly looking for the wrong thing. - The misleading part is specifically the phrase: “Calls falling back to paid env key.” - That conclusion is not supported by the check being run. What I recommend: 1. Change the watchdog alert text so it reports only what it actually knows: - OAuth status unreadable, or - codex usage appears exhausted/expired 2. Remove the paid-fallback claim unless routing evidence is captured. 3. If you want true paid-usage detection, add a separate check based on actual resolved provider/model or real request-path telemetry. Suggested corrected wording: - `[AUTH WARN] openai-codex OAuth status unreadable. Verify auth/routing state.` - `[AUTH WARN] openai-codex usage appears exhausted or expired. Verify whether any requests are degrading or rerouting.` Risk: - Right now the alert can cause false cost panic and send you hunting a billing problem that may not exist. If you want, I can prepare the exact patch to fix the watchdog wording and logic. That is state-changing, so per your policy I would first show the exact change and ask for CONFIRM before applying it. user: Conversation info (untrusted metadata): ```json { "message_id": "3112", "reply_to_id": "3110", "sender_id": "8032472383", "sender": "Braden McLeish", "timestamp": "Tue 2026-03-24 14:21 PDT", "has_reply_context": true } ``` Sender (untrusted metadata): ```json { "label": "Braden McLeish (8032472383)", "id": "8032472383", "name": "Braden McLeish" } ``` Replied message (untrusted, for context): ```json { "sender_label": "Dorian", "body": "Yes — I think your guess is correct. This looks like a bad detector, not actual paid-model routing.\n\nWhat I found:\n\n• Your configured agent models are all openai-codex/... only.\n• Your auth profile explicitly sets openai-codex:default to OAuth.\n• There are no configured model fallbacks to openai/... in the OpenClaw config.\n• The warning text is being emitted by a local watchdog script, not by OpenClaw’s real model-routing layer.\n\nThe actual trigger is here:\n\n• /Users/openclaw/.openclaw/workspace/scripts/gateway-watchdog.sh\n\nAnd the relevant logic is:\n\n• It runs openclaw models\n• Greps for the line containing openai-codex usage\n• If that line is unreadable, or matches 0%|expired|error, it sends:\n[COST WARN] openai-codex OAuth quota exhausted or expired. Calls falling back to paid env key.\n\nThat is the bug.\n\nWhy this is a red herring:\n\n1. The script is inferring “paid env key fallback” from a coarse status line.\n2. It does not verify any real model/provider switch occurred.\n3. It does not inspect actual request routing.\n4. It assumes that OAuth trouble implies fallback to paid API usage.\n5. In your current config, all active agent models remain on openai-codex/..., and config fallbacks are empty.\n\nSo the alert is overclaiming.\nIt may be detecting:\n\n• a transient issue reading usage,\n• a temporary codex quota/auth status condition,\n• or just a parse mismatch,\nbut it is not proving that live traffic moved onto paid API usage.\n\nBottom line:\n\n• The prompt is almost certainly looking for the wrong thing.\n• The misleading part is specifically the phrase: “Calls falling back to paid env key.”\n• That conclusion is not supported by the check being run.\n\nWhat I recommend:\n\n1. Change the watchdog alert text so it reports only what it actually knows:\n\n• OAuth status unreadable, or\n• codex usage appears exhausted/expired\n\n2. Remove the paid-fallback claim unless routing evidence is captured.\n3. If you want true paid-usage detection, add a separate check based on actual resolved provider/model or real request-path telemetry.\n\nSuggested corrected wording:\n\n• [AUTH WARN] openai-codex OAuth status unreadable. Verify auth/routing state.\n• [AUTH WARN] openai-codex usage appears exhausted or expired. Verify whether any requests are degrading or rerouting.\n\nRisk:\n\n• Right now the alert can cause false cost panic and send you hunting a billing problem that may not exist.\n\nIf you want, I can prepare the exact patch to fix the watchdog wording and logic. That is state-changing, so per your policy I would first show the exact change and ask for CONFIRM before applying it." } ``` Confirm assistant: I’m applying a narrow fix: only the watchdog alert wording/logic so it stops claiming paid fallback without evidence. Then I’ll verify the exact diff. assistant: [[reply_to_current]]Done. What changed: - I updated `scripts/gateway-watchdog.sh`. - It no longer claims “falling back to paid env key” based only on `openclaw models` output. - It now emits auth-state warnings only: - `[AUTH WARN] openai-codex OAuth status unreadable. Verify auth/routing state.` - `[AUTH WARN] openai-codex usage appears exhausted or expired. Verify whether requests are degrading or rerouting.` Verification: - I checked the diff after the edit. - I committed it in the workspace. Git: - Commit: `42ab1c4` - Message: `Fix misleading OAuth fallback watchdog alert` Net effect: - Future alerts from this watchdog should stop falsely implying paid API usage. - The underlying auth-status check is still active; only the misleading conclusion was removed. One important note: - I changed the script in the workspace, but whether the currently running watchdog process picks it up immediately depends on how it is launched. If it executes this script fresh each run, you’re covered now. If it is running an older copied path or cached process wrapper, we may need to verify the LaunchAgent target path. If you want, I can do one more read-only check to confirm the live watchdog is actually using this exact script path. user: Conversation info (untrusted metadata): ```json { "message_id": "3115", "sender_id": "8032472383", "sender": "Braden McLeish", "timestamp": "Tue 2026-03-24 14:23 PDT" } ``` Sender (untrusted metadata): ```json { "label": "Braden McLeish (8032472383)", "id": "8032472383", "name": "Braden McLeish" } ``` Proceed assistant: I’ll verify the live LaunchAgent/watchdog wiring read-only: which script path is executed, whether it points at the edited file, and whether a restart is needed for the change to take effect. assistant: [[reply_to_current]]Confirmed. What I verified: - The live LaunchAgent points directly at the file I edited: `/Users/openclaw/.openclaw/workspace/scripts/gateway-watchdog.sh` - LaunchAgent plist: `/Users/openclaw/Library/LaunchAgents/ai.openclaw.gateway-watchdog.plist` - It runs every 300 seconds. - The job is not persistent between runs; it is currently `state = not running` between intervals. What that means: - No restart is needed. - The next scheduled run will use the updated script automatically. Evidence: - LaunchAgent `program` matches the edited script path exactly. - The watchdog is run-on-interval, not a long-lived cached process. - Last old alert entries in the log were at: - 14:10:27 PDT - 14:15:34 PDT - The 14:20:40 PDT run occurred after the script edit and produced no OAuth alert. Conclusion: - The fix is live for future runs. - If another alert fires, it should use the new `[AUTH WARN]` wording rather than the misleading paid-fallback message. user: Conversation info (untrusted metadata): ```json { "message_id": "3119", "reply_to_id": "3118", "sender_id": "8032472383", "sender": "Braden McLeish", "timestamp": "Tue 2026-03-24 14:37 PDT", "has_reply_context": true } ``` Sender (untrusted metadata): ```json { "label": "Braden McLeish (8032472383)", "id": "8032472383", "name": "Braden McLeish" } ``` Replied message (untrusted, for context): ```json { "sender_label": "Dorian", "body": "Session agent:main:telegram:direct:8032472383 (telegram) at 49.9% — summarize + prep rollover." } ``` Rollover, then verify assistant: I’ll capture the current thread context into memory, then do a read-only verification pass so the rollover is clean and the key fixes are confirmed. assistant: [[reply_to_current]]Rollover prep is done, and verification is clean. Completion Contract Done: - Captured this thread’s key context into `memory/2026-03-24.md`. - Verified gateway reachability. - Verified the live LaunchAgent still points at the patched watchdog script. - Verified recent watchdog runs after the patch are no longer emitting the old misleading cost alert. Findings: - Gateway probe is healthy: reachable, RPC OK. - Live watchdog path is still: `/Users/openclaw/.openclaw/workspace/scripts/gateway-watchdog.sh` - LaunchAgent interval remains 300s. - Log shows old misleading alerts at 14:10 and 14:15 only. - Subsequent runs at 14:20, 14:25, 14:30, and 14:35 had no OAuth alert. - Current workspace git HEAD is `42ab1c4`. - Unrelated workspace change still present: `M memory/heartbeat-state.json` Decision needed: - None for rollover itself. Next step: - Start the fresh thread/session and continue from: 1. specialist architecture discussion, 2. Notion webhook scope/debugging, 3. OAuth/auth-warning hardening if you want a more precise detector later. user: Conversation info (untrusted metadata): ```json { "message_id": "3122", "sender_id": "8032472383", "sender": "Braden McLeish", "timestamp": "Tue 2026-03-24 14:39 PDT" } ``` Sender (untrusted metadata): ```json { "label": "Braden McLeish (8032472383)", "id": "8032472383", "name": "Braden McLeish" } ``` Do I just do a ”/reset” assistant: [[reply_to_current]]Yes. Use `/reset` here. That will start a fresh session while keeping this thread, and I’ve already written the rollover context so I can pick back up cleanly on the other side.