From 5c4a665fb96cbb61533fb06e49b2a1ac604eb5e9 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Xen <xen@openclaw.ai>
Date: Tue, 10 Mar 2026 08:38:24 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] fix: ghost watch false-positive reactivation on trailing
 writes
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When the lock file is deleted (turn complete) and triggerIdle fires,
the transcript file continues receiving writes (the agent's own reply
being appended). The ghost watch was firing session-reactivate on these
trailing writes, causing an immediate complete→reactivate→complete loop
within the same turn.

Fix: only emit session-reactivate from ghost watch if the lock file
currently exists. A JSONL write without a lock file is a trailing write
from the completed turn, not a new user message.
---
 src/status-watcher.js | 14 +++++++++++++-
 1 file changed, 13 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/src/status-watcher.js b/src/status-watcher.js
index e8c3a20..4a8ee6b 100644
--- a/src/status-watcher.js
+++ b/src/status-watcher.js
@@ -341,9 +341,21 @@ class StatusWatcher extends EventEmitter {
     // Ghost watch: file changed for a completed session — signal immediate re-detection
     if (sessionKey.startsWith('\x00ghost:')) {
       const originalKey = sessionKey.slice(7);
+      // Only trigger reactivation if the lock file currently exists.
+      // A JSONL write without a lock file is a trailing write from the just-completed
+      // turn — not a new user message. Emitting reactivation here causes a false
+      // complete→reactivate→complete loop within the same turn.
+      const lockFile = fullPath + '.lock';
+      const lockExists = (() => { try { fs.statSync(lockFile); return true; } catch (_) { return false; } })();
+      if (!lockExists) {
+        if (this.logger) {
+          this.logger.debug({ sessionKey: originalKey }, 'fs.watch: ghost file change but no lock file — skipping reactivation (trailing write)');
+        }
+        return;
+      }
       // Do NOT delete ghost entry here — let caller clean up after pollNow confirms the session
       if (this.logger) {
-        this.logger.info({ sessionKey: originalKey }, 'fs.watch: file change on completed session — triggering reactivation');
+        this.logger.info({ sessionKey: originalKey }, 'fs.watch: file change on completed session (lock file present) — triggering reactivation');
       }
       this.emit('session-reactivate', originalKey, fullPath);
       return;