docs: add webhook vs poller notification delivery approaches

Add a new 'Notification Delivery: Webhooks vs Polling' section to
OPENCLAW_TRICKS.md explaining the two approaches for receiving Gitea
notifications:

1. Direct webhooks for VPS/public server deployments (realtime, push-based)
2. Notification poller for local machines behind NAT (simple, no firewall config)

Includes a comparison table to help users choose.

Update SETUP_CHECKLIST.md Phase 10 to present both options (A and B) with
separate sub-checklists, replacing the previous poller-only instructions.

OPENCLAW_TRICKS.md

@@ -173,84 +173,46 @@ The landing checklist (triggered automatically after every flight) updates
 location, timezone, nearest airport, and lodging in the daily context file. It
 also checks if any cron jobs have hardcoded timezones that need updating.
 
-### Gitea Notification Delivery
+### The Gitea Notification Poller
 
-There are two approaches for getting Gitea notifications to your agent,
+OpenClaw has heartbeats, but those are periodic (every ~30min). For Gitea issues
-depending on your network setup.
+and PRs, we wanted near-realtime response. The solution: a tiny Python script
-
+that polls the Gitea notifications API every 2 seconds and wakes the agent via
-#### Option A: Direct Webhooks (VPS / Public Server)
+OpenClaw's `/hooks/wake` endpoint when new notifications arrive.
-
-If your OpenClaw instance runs on a VPS or other publicly reachable server, the
-simplest approach is direct webhooks. Run Traefik (or any reverse proxy with
-automatic TLS) on the same server and configure Gitea webhooks to POST directly
-to OpenClaw's webhook endpoint. This is push-based and realtime — notifications
-arrive instantly.
-
-Setup: add a webhook on each Gitea repo (or use an organization-level webhook)
-pointing to `https://your-openclaw-host/hooks/gitea`. OpenClaw handles the rest.
-
-#### Option B: Notification Poller + Dispatcher (Local Machine Behind NAT)
-
-If your OpenClaw runs on a dedicated local machine behind NAT (like a home Mac
-or Linux workstation), Gitea can't reach it directly. This is our setup —
-OpenClaw runs on a Mac Studio on a home LAN.
-
-The solution: a Python script that both polls and dispatches. It polls the Gitea
-notifications API every 15 seconds, triages each notification (checking
-assignment and @-mentions), marks them as read, and spawns one isolated agent
-session per actionable item via `openclaw cron add --session isolated`.
-
-The poller also runs a secondary **assignment scan** every 2 minutes, checking
-all watched repos for open issues/PRs assigned to the bot that were recently
-updated and still need a response. This catches cases where notifications aren't
-generated (e.g. self-assignment, API-created issues).
 
 Key design decisions:
 
-- **The poller IS the dispatcher.** No flag files, no heartbeat dependency. The
+- **The poller never marks notifications as read.** That's the agent's job after
-  poller triages notifications and spawns agents directly.
+  it processes them. This prevents the poller and agent from racing.
-- **Marks notifications as read immediately.** Each notification is marked read
+- **It tracks notification IDs, not counts.** This way it only fires on
-  as it's processed, preventing re-dispatch on the next poll.
+  genuinely new notifications, not re-reads of existing ones.
-- **One agent per issue.** Each spawned agent gets a `SCOPE` instruction
+- **The wake message tells the agent to route output to Gitea/Mattermost, not to
-  limiting it to one specific issue/PR. Agents post results as Gitea comments,
+  DM.** This prevents chatty notification processing from disturbing the human.
-  not DMs.
+- **Zero dependencies.** Just Python stdlib (`urllib`, `json`, `time`). Runs
-- **Dedup tracking.** An in-memory `dispatched_issues` set prevents spawning
+  anywhere.
-  multiple agents for the same issue within one poller lifetime.
-- **`--no-deliver` instead of `--announce`.** Agents report via Gitea API
-  directly. The `--announce` flag on isolated sessions had delivery failures.
-- **Assignment scan filters by recency.** Only issues updated in the last 5
-  minutes are considered, preventing re-dispatch for stale assigned issues.
-- **Zero dependencies.** Just Python stdlib. Runs anywhere.
 
-Response time: ~15–60s from notification to agent comment (vs ~30 min with the
+Here's the full source:
-old heartbeat approach).
 
 ```python
 #!/usr/bin/env python3
 """
-Gitea notification poller + dispatcher.
+Gitea notification poller.
-
+Polls for unread notifications and wakes OpenClaw when the count
-Two polling loops:
+changes. The AGENT marks notifications as read after processing —
-1. Notification-based: detects new notifications (mentions, assignments by
+the poller never marks anything as read.
-   other users) and dispatches agents for actionable ones.
-2. Assignment-based: periodically checks for open issues/PRs assigned to
-   the bot that have no recent bot comment. Catches cases where
-   notifications aren't generated (e.g. self-assignment, API-created issues).
 
 Required env vars:
   GITEA_URL        - Gitea instance URL
   GITEA_TOKEN      - Gitea API token
+  HOOK_TOKEN       - OpenClaw hooks auth token
 
 Optional env vars:
-  POLL_DELAY       - Delay between polls in seconds (default: 15)
+  GATEWAY_URL      - OpenClaw gateway URL (default: http://127.0.0.1:18789)
-  COOLDOWN         - Minimum seconds between dispatches (default: 30)
+  POLL_DELAY       - Delay between polls in seconds (default: 2)
-  ASSIGNMENT_INTERVAL - Seconds between assignment scans (default: 120)
-  OPENCLAW_BIN     - Path to openclaw binary
 """
 
 import json
 import os
-import subprocess
 import sys
 import time
 import urllib.request
@@ -258,158 +220,109 @@ import urllib.error
 
 GITEA_URL = os.environ.get("GITEA_URL", "").rstrip("/")
 GITEA_TOKEN = os.environ.get("GITEA_TOKEN", "")
-POLL_DELAY = int(os.environ.get("POLL_DELAY", "15"))
+GATEWAY_URL = os.environ.get("GATEWAY_URL", "http://127.0.0.1:18789").rstrip(
-COOLDOWN = int(os.environ.get("COOLDOWN", "30"))
+    "/"
-ASSIGNMENT_INTERVAL = int(os.environ.get("ASSIGNMENT_INTERVAL", "120"))
+)
-OPENCLAW_BIN = os.environ.get("OPENCLAW_BIN", "/opt/homebrew/bin/openclaw")
+HOOK_TOKEN = os.environ.get("HOOK_TOKEN", "")
-BOT_USER = "clawbot"  # Change to your bot's Gitea username
+POLL_DELAY = int(os.environ.get("POLL_DELAY", "2"))
-
-# Repos to scan for assigned issues
-WATCHED_REPOS = [
-    # "org/repo1",
-    # "org/repo2",
-]
-
-# Track dispatched issues to prevent duplicates
-dispatched_issues = set()
 
 
-def gitea_api(method, path, data=None):
+def check_config():
-    url = f"{GITEA_URL}/api/v1{path}"
+    missing = []
-    body = json.dumps(data).encode() if data else None
+    if not GITEA_URL:
-    headers = {"Authorization": f"token {GITEA_TOKEN}"}
+        missing.append("GITEA_URL")
-    if body:
+    if not GITEA_TOKEN:
-        headers["Content-Type"] = "application/json"
+        missing.append("GITEA_TOKEN")
-    req = urllib.request.Request(url, headers=headers, method=method, data=body)
+    if not HOOK_TOKEN:
-    try:
+        missing.append("HOOK_TOKEN")
-        with urllib.request.urlopen(req, timeout=15) as resp:
+    if missing:
-            raw = resp.read()
+        print(
-            return json.loads(raw) if raw else None
+            f"ERROR: Missing required env vars: {', '.join(missing)}",
-    except Exception as e:
+            file=sys.stderr,
-        print(f"WARN: {method} {path}: {e}", file=sys.stderr, flush=True)
+        )
-        return None
+        sys.exit(1)
 
 
-def needs_bot_response(repo_full, issue_number):
+def gitea_unread_ids():
-    """True if the bot is NOT the author of the most recent comment."""
+    """Return set of unread notification IDs."""
-    comments = gitea_api("GET", f"/repos/{repo_full}/issues/{issue_number}/comments")
+    req = urllib.request.Request(
-    if comments and len(comments) > 0:
+        f"{GITEA_URL}/api/v1/notifications?status-types=unread",
-        if comments[-1].get("user", {}).get("login") == BOT_USER:
+        headers={"Authorization": f"token {GITEA_TOKEN}"},
-            return False
-    return True
-
-
-def is_actionable(notif):
-    """Returns (actionable, reason, issue_number)."""
-    subject = notif.get("subject", {})
-    repo = notif.get("repository", {})
-    repo_full = repo.get("full_name", "")
-    url = subject.get("url", "")
-    number = url.rstrip("/").split("/")[-1] if url else ""
-    if not number or not number.isdigit():
-        return False, "no issue number", None
-
-    issue = gitea_api("GET", f"/repos/{repo_full}/issues/{number}")
-    if not issue:
-        return False, "couldn't fetch issue", number
-
-    assignees = [a.get("login") for a in (issue.get("assignees") or [])]
-    if BOT_USER in assignees:
-        if needs_bot_response(repo_full, number):
-            return True, f"assigned to {BOT_USER}", number
-        return False, "assigned but already responded", number
-
-    issue_body = issue.get("body", "") or ""
-    if f"@{BOT_USER}" in issue_body and issue.get("user", {}).get("login") != BOT_USER:
-        if needs_bot_response(repo_full, number):
-            return True, f"@-mentioned in body", number
-
-    comments = gitea_api("GET", f"/repos/{repo_full}/issues/{number}/comments")
-    if comments:
-        last = comments[-1]
-        if last.get("user", {}).get("login") == BOT_USER:
-            return False, "own comment is latest", number
-        if f"@{BOT_USER}" in (last.get("body") or ""):
-            return True, f"@-mentioned in comment", number
-
-    return False, "not mentioned or assigned", number
-
-
-def spawn_agent(repo_full, issue_number, title, subject_type, reason):
-    dispatch_key = f"{repo_full}#{issue_number}"
-    if dispatch_key in dispatched_issues:
-        return
-    dispatched_issues.add(dispatch_key)
-
-    repo_short = repo_full.split("/")[-1]
-    job_name = f"gitea-{repo_short}-{issue_number}-{int(time.time())}"
-    msg = (
-        f"Gitea: {reason} on {subject_type} #{issue_number} "
-        f"'{title}' in {repo_full}.\n"
-        f"API: {GITEA_URL}/api/v1 | Token: {GITEA_TOKEN}\n"
-        f"SCOPE: Only {subject_type} #{issue_number} in {repo_full}.\n"
-        f"Read all comments, do the work, post results as Gitea comments."
     )
     try:
-        subprocess.run(
+        with urllib.request.urlopen(req, timeout=10) as resp:
-            [OPENCLAW_BIN, "cron", "add",
+            notifs = json.loads(resp.read())
-             "--name", job_name, "--at", "1s",
+            return {n["id"] for n in notifs}
-             "--message", msg, "--delete-after-run",
-             "--session", "isolated", "--no-deliver",
-             "--thinking", "low", "--timeout-seconds", "300"],
-            capture_output=True, text=True, timeout=15,
-        )
     except Exception as e:
-        print(f"Spawn error: {e}", file=sys.stderr, flush=True)
+        print(
-        dispatched_issues.discard(dispatch_key)
+            f"WARN: Gitea API failed: {e}", file=sys.stderr, flush=True
+        )
+        return set()
+
+
+def wake_openclaw(count):
+    text = (
+        f"[Gitea Notification] {count} new notification(s). "
+        "Check your Gitea notification inbox via API, process them, "
+        "and mark as read when done. "
+        "Route all output to Gitea comments or Mattermost #git/#claw. "
+        "Do NOT reply to this session — respond with NO_REPLY."
+    )
+    payload = json.dumps({"text": text, "mode": "now"}).encode()
+    req = urllib.request.Request(
+        f"{GATEWAY_URL}/hooks/wake",
+        data=payload,
+        headers={
+            "Authorization": f"Bearer {HOOK_TOKEN}",
+            "Content-Type": "application/json",
+        },
+        method="POST",
+    )
+    try:
+        with urllib.request.urlopen(req, timeout=5) as resp:
+            status = resp.status
+        print(f"  Wake responded: {status}", flush=True)
+        return True
+    except Exception as e:
+        print(
+            f"WARN: Failed to wake OpenClaw: {e}",
+            file=sys.stderr,
+            flush=True,
+        )
+        return False
 
 
 def main():
-    print(f"Poller started (poll={POLL_DELAY}s, cooldown={COOLDOWN}s)", flush=True)
+    check_config()
-    seen_ids = set(n["id"] for n in (gitea_api("GET", "/notifications?status-types=unread") or []))
+    print(
-    last_dispatch = 0
+        f"Gitea notification poller started (delay={POLL_DELAY}s)",
-    last_assign_scan = 0
+        flush=True,
+    )
+
+    last_seen_ids = gitea_unread_ids()
+    print(
+        f"Initial unread: {len(last_seen_ids)} notification(s)", flush=True
+    )
 
     while True:
         time.sleep(POLL_DELAY)
-        now = time.time()
 
-        # Notification polling
+        current_ids = gitea_unread_ids()
-        notifs = gitea_api("GET", "/notifications?status-types=unread") or []
+        new_ids = current_ids - last_seen_ids
-        current_ids = {n["id"] for n in notifs}
-        new_ids = current_ids - seen_ids
-        if new_ids and now - last_dispatch >= COOLDOWN:
-            for n in [n for n in notifs if n["id"] in new_ids]:
-                nid = n.get("id")
-                if nid:
-                    gitea_api("PATCH", f"/notifications/threads/{nid}")
-                is_act, reason, num = is_actionable(n)
-                if is_act:
-                    repo = n["repository"]["full_name"]
-                    title = n["subject"]["title"][:60]
-                    stype = n["subject"].get("type", "").lower()
-                    spawn_agent(repo, num, title, stype, reason)
-            last_dispatch = now
-        seen_ids = current_ids
 
-        # Assignment scan (less frequent)
+        if not new_ids:
-        if now - last_assign_scan >= ASSIGNMENT_INTERVAL:
+            last_seen_ids = current_ids
-            for repo in WATCHED_REPOS:
+            continue
-                for itype in ["issues", "pulls"]:
+
-                    items = gitea_api("GET",
+        ts = time.strftime("%H:%M:%S")
-                        f"/repos/{repo}/issues?state=open&type={itype}"
+        print(
-                        f"&assignee={BOT_USER}&sort=updated&limit=10") or []
+            f"[{ts}] {len(new_ids)} new notification(s) "
-                    for item in items:
+            f"({len(current_ids)} total unread), waking agent",
-                        num = str(item["number"])
+            flush=True,
-                        if f"{repo}#{num}" in dispatched_issues:
+        )
-                            continue
+
-                        # Only recently updated items (5 min)
+        wake_openclaw(len(new_ids))
-                        # ... add is_recently_updated() check here
+        last_seen_ids = current_ids
-                        if needs_bot_response(repo, num):
-                            spawn_agent(repo, num, item["title"][:60],
-                                "pull" if itype == "pulls" else "issue",
-                                f"assigned to {BOT_USER}")
-            last_assign_scan = now
 
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
@@ -455,15 +368,13 @@ This applies to everything: project rules ("no mocks in tests"), workflow
 preferences ("fewer PRs, don't over-split"), corrections, new policies.
 Immediate write to the daily file, and to MEMORY.md if it's a standing rule.
 
-### Sensitive Output Routing
+### PII-Aware Output Routing
 
 A lesson learned the hard way: **the audience determines what you can say, not
 who asked.** If the human asks for a medication status report in a group
 channel, the agent can't just dump it there — other people can read it. The
-rule: if the output would contain sensitive information (PII, secrets,
+rule: if the output would contain PII and the channel isn't private, redirect to
-credentials, API keys, operational details like flight numbers, locations,
+DM and reply in-channel with "sent privately."
-travel plans, medical info, etc.) and the channel isn't private, redirect to DM
-and reply in-channel with "sent privately."
 
 This is enforced at multiple levels:
 
@@ -494,7 +405,7 @@ The heartbeat handles:
 - Periodic memory maintenance
 
 State tracking in `memory/heartbeat-state.json` prevents redundant checks (e.g.,
-don't re-check notifications if you checked 10 minutes ago).
+don't re-check email if you checked 10 minutes ago).
 
 The key output rule: heartbeats should either be `HEARTBEAT_OK` (nothing to do)
 or a direct alert. Work narration goes to a designated status channel, never to
@@ -1506,8 +1417,7 @@ stay quiet.
 
 ## Inbox Check (PRIORITY)
 
-(check whatever notification sources apply to your setup — e.g. Gitea
+(check notifications, issues, emails — whatever applies)
-notifications, emails, issue trackers)
 
 ## Flight Prep Blocks (daily)
 
@@ -1541,9 +1451,10 @@ Never send internal thinking or status narration to user's DM. Output should be:
 ```json
 {
     "lastChecks": {
-        "gitea": 1703280000,
+        "email": 1703275200,
         "calendar": 1703260800,
-        "weather": null
+        "weather": null,
+        "gitea": 1703280000
     },
     "lastWeeklyDocsReview": "2026-02-24"
 }
@@ -1571,9 +1482,51 @@ Never send internal thinking or status narration to user's DM. Output should be:
 
 ## Gitea Integration & Notification Polling
 
-For self-hosted Gitea instances, you can set up a notification poller that
+For self-hosted Gitea instances, you need a way to deliver notifications (issue
-injects Gitea events (issue assignments, PR reviews, @-mentions) into the
+assignments, PR reviews, @-mentions) to your agent. There are two approaches,
-agent's session.
+depending on your network setup.
+
+### Notification Delivery: Webhooks vs Polling
+
+#### 1. Direct webhooks (VPS / public server)
+
+If your OpenClaw instance runs on a VPS or other publicly reachable server, you
+can run Traefik (or any reverse proxy) on the same server and configure Gitea
+webhooks to POST directly to OpenClaw's webhook endpoint. This is push-based and
+realtime — notifications arrive instantly.
+
+Set up a Gitea webhook (per-repo or org-wide) pointing at your OpenClaw
+instance's `/hooks/wake` endpoint. Gitea sends a POST on every event, and the
+agent wakes immediately to process it.
+
+#### 2. Notification poller (local machine behind NAT)
+
+If your OpenClaw instance runs on a dedicated local machine behind NAT (like a
+home Mac or Linux box), Gitea can't reach it directly. In this case, use a
+lightweight polling script that checks the Gitea notifications API every few
+seconds and signals the agent when new notifications arrive.
+
+This is the approach we use — OpenClaw runs on a dedicated Mac Studio on a home
+LAN, so we poll Gitea's notification API and wake the agent via the local
+`/hooks/wake` endpoint when new notifications appear. The poller script is
+included below in the [Notification poller](#notification-poller) section.
+
+The poller approach trades ~30 seconds of latency (polling interval) for
+simplicity and no NAT/firewall configuration. For most workflows this is
+perfectly fine — code review and issue triage don't need sub-second response
+times. If no new notifications arrive between heartbeats, the effective latency
+is bounded by the heartbeat interval (~30 minutes), but in practice the poller
+catches most events within seconds.
+
+#### Which should you choose?
+
+| Factor              | Webhooks            | Poller                    |
+| ------------------- | ------------------- | ------------------------- |
+| Network requirement | Public IP / domain  | None (outbound-only)      |
+| Latency             | Instant             | ~2-30s (polling interval) |
+| Setup complexity    | Reverse proxy + TLS | Single background script  |
+| Dependencies        | Traefik/nginx/Caddy | Python stdlib only        |
+| Best for            | VPS / cloud deploys | Home LAN / NAT setups     |
 
 ### Workflow rules (HEARTBEAT.md / AGENTS.md):
 
@@ -1712,24 +1665,21 @@ Never lose a rule or preference your human states:
 
 ---
 
-## Sensitive Output Routing — Audience-Aware Responses
+## PII Output Routing — Audience-Aware Responses
 
 A critical security pattern: **the audience determines what you can say, not who
-asked.** If your human asks for a sitrep (or any sensitive info) in a group
+asked.** If your human asks for a sitrep (or any PII-containing info) in a group
 channel, you can't just dump it there — other people can read it.
 
 ### AGENTS.md / checklist prompt:
 
 ```markdown
-## Sensitive Output Routing (CRITICAL)
+## PII Output Routing (CRITICAL)
 
-- NEVER output sensitive information in any non-private channel, even if your
+- NEVER output PII in any non-private channel, even if your human asks for it
-  human asks for it
+- If a request would produce PII (medication status, travel details, financial
-- This includes: PII, secrets, credentials, API keys, and sensitive operational
+  info, etc.) in a shared channel: send the response via DM instead, and reply
-  information (flight numbers/times/dates, locations, travel plans, medical
+  in-channel with "sent privately"
-  info, financial details, etc.)
-- If a request would produce any of the above in a shared channel: send the
-  response via DM instead, and reply in-channel with "sent privately"
 - The rule is: the audience determines what you can say, not who asked
 - This applies to: group chats, public issue trackers, shared Mattermost
   channels, Discord servers — anywhere that isn't a 1:1 DM
@@ -1738,10 +1688,10 @@ channel, you can't just dump it there — other people can read it.
 ### Why this matters:
 
 This is a real failure mode. If someone asks "sitrep" in a group channel and you
-respond with medication names, partner details, travel dates, hotel names, or
+respond with medication names, partner details, travel dates, and hotel names —
-API credentials — you just leaked all of that to everyone in the channel. The
+you just leaked all of that to everyone in the channel. The human asking is
-human asking is authorized to see it; the channel audience is not. Always check
+authorized to see it; the channel audience is not. Always check WHERE you're
-WHERE you're responding, not just WHO asked.
+responding, not just WHO asked.
 
 ---