strange ansewrs from google-gemini-cli/gemini-3-pro-preview | Friends of the Crustacean 🦞🤝 | Page 1

boreal lintel Feb 10, 2026, 3:36 PM

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i asked him to analyze something thorug telegram chat and i received that message:

.get) pokazuje, że agents.defaults.modelsjest wypełniona konkretnymi modelami. To działa jak biała lista (allowlist). Rozwiązanie: Usunięcie sekcjiagents.defaults.models` z konfiguracji. To sprawi, że OpenClaw przestanie filtrować listę i pokaże cały wbudowany katalog.
Zgodnie z prośbą użytkownika ("nawet dla tych providerow ktorych nie mam skonfigurowanych"), jest to dokładnie to, czego szuka.
Zaproponuję wykonanie tej zmiany.
</think>

Rozumiem dokładnie, o co Ci chodzi. Chcesz widzieć "surowy" katalog modeli OpenClaw, żeby od razu wiedzieć, co nowego doszło (np. Opus 4.6), bez ręcznego dopisywania tego do konfigu.

Aby to osiągnąć, musimy usunąć sekcję agents.defaults.models z Twojej konfiguracji.

Obecnie ta sekcja działa jak filtr ("allowlist"). OpenClaw patrzy na nią i mówi: "OK, pokażę tylko to, co użytkownik tu wpisał". Jeśli ją wywalimy, OpenClaw przejdzie w tryb "pokaż wszystko, co mam w kodzie" — czyli dokładnie to, czego chcesz. Lista /models będzie długa (pokaże też providerów, których nie używasz), ale za to zawsze aktualna po update'cie.

Czy mam to teraz zrobić?
Usunę agents.defaults.models z openclaw.json i zrestartuję usługę. Po restarcie pod /models zobaczysz pełny katalog.

i see here his inner dialog! :.get) pokazuje, że agents.defaults.modelsjest wypełniona konkretnymi modelami. To działa jak biała lista (allowlist). Rozwiązanie: Usunięcie sekcjiagents.defaults.models` z konfiguracji. To sprawi, że OpenClaw przestanie filtrować listę i pokaże cały wbudowany katalog.
Zgodnie z prośbą użytkownika ("nawet dla tych providerow ktorych nie mam skonfigurowanych"), jest to dokładnie to, czego szuka.
Zaproponuję wykonanie tej zmiany.
</think>
rest is his normal response. is it normal? and how could i know if he really did what he proposed? i said to him 4 minutes ago "do it" and.... i dont know if its done

sage frostBOT Feb 10, 2026, 3:36 PM

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boreal lintel Feb 10, 2026, 3:39 PM

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ok it took him a while to do it, i see all models. but is there a way that i can really see if he is doing something or is blocked/looped/timeouted? without sending him a new message. sometime he is doing something, i am sending like 5 messagges hello? and? and when he is done he answers to all my 5 questions

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well i see that gateway reset was done, i see all models but my bot is not answerign me anything. is he doing something. is he broke? o wow after 5 minutes answered. you know what i mean? i dont know if i should just wait, but then how long? or should i try to fix it

viscid turretBOT Feb 10, 2026, 3:45 PM

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boreal lintel i asked him to analyze something thorug telegram chat and i received that messag...

That <think>...</think> block is not “normal default behavior” for OpenClaw.

It usually happens for one of these reasons:

You enabled /reasoning or /verbose in that chat/session earlier (those modes are explicitly “risky” because they can reveal internal reasoning / tool output).
- Fix: in Telegram, send:
  - /reasoning off
  - /verbose off
  - optionally /new to start a fresh session
You’re using a model/backend (Gemini CLI / some reasoning models) that sometimes prints its scratchpad with <think> tags instead of keeping it hidden. That’s basically “model output leakage”.

Docs (worth skimming): https://docs.openclaw.ai/tools/slash-commands (see /reasoning + /verbose notes)

How to know if it actually “did the change”

#

Don’t rely on the assistant’s promise. Verify on the machine running your Gateway.

Option A (best): check the config key

Run on the gateway host:

openclaw config get agents.defaults.models

If it prints a big object → the allowlist is still there.
If it errors / prints nothing / null (depending on version) → it’s probably removed.

To remove it yourself (instead of waiting on the bot):

openclaw config unset agents.defaults.models
openclaw gateway restart

CLI docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai/cli/config

#

Config file location: ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json (docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai/gateway/configuration)

Option B: look for a restart in logs

openclaw logs --limit 200

(or --follow), and check whether there’s a restart/config-apply around the time you said “do it”.

Option C: verify via chat UX

In Telegram, run:

/model list (or /models)

If agents.defaults.models was acting as an allowlist, the picker should become much larger once it’s removed.

Why you got “no confirmation” after saying “do it”

#

In many setups the agent cannot edit openclaw.json or restart the service unless you’ve enabled the relevant commands/tools (and in some channels /restart is disabled by default). So it may have only suggested what to do.

If you paste:

openclaw --version
the output of openclaw config get agents.defaults.models
and (if needed) openclaw gateway status

…I can tell you definitively whether it’s applied and what to do next.

viscid turretBOT Feb 10, 2026, 3:48 PM

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boreal lintel ok it took him a while to do it, i see all models. but is there a way that i can...

In the chat UI itself (Telegram/Discord), there isn’t a “live progress view” unless the channel shows typing indicators or you’re streaming tokens. So if the model is busy (tool calls, long thinking, queue wait), it can look like “nothing is happening”.

How to see what it’s doing without sending another message

Use the Control UI (dashboard). It shows active runs, streaming events/tool calls, and you can hit Stop there.

On the gateway host:

openclaw dashboard
# or just print the URL:
openclaw dashboard --no-open

Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai/web/control-ui and https://docs.openclaw.ai/cli/dashboard

If you have SSH access but don’t want the UI, you can also watch:

openclaw logs --follow

#

What you’re seeing is usually not “broken”, it’s one of these:

Queueing: OpenClaw runs one turn at a time per session. If it’s already mid-run, your next messages get queued → when it finally finishes, it answers to all of them (which feels like it “woke up” and dumped replies).
Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai/concepts/queue
Slow / stuck provider call or tool call: the model (or a tool) can take minutes, especially on some backends.

Can you see progress without sending more chat messages?

Yes — but not from Discord/Telegram chat alone. You need observability:

Best: Control UI (Dashboard)
It shows “run started”, tool calls, streaming events, and you can hit Stop.

openclaw dashboard
# or:
openclaw dashboard --no-open

#

openclaw status

Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai/cli/logs and https://docs.openclaw.ai/cli/status

Why it answers all your “hello? and?” messages later

That’s OpenClaw’s per-session queue: while one run is in flight, new messages get queued and handled afterwards (so you’ll get multiple replies once it catches up). This is expected.
Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai/concepts/queue

How to reduce the “5 messages → 5 replies” problem

Set the queue to collect + debounce, so quick followups get merged into one turn:

Per-session (in chat):
```
/queue collect debounce:5s
```
Or in config (messages.queue) you can set mode/debounce/cap globally.

#

Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai/web/control-ui

CLI fallback (also no “extra” chat messages):

openclaw logs --follow
openclaw status
openclaw status --deep   # live probes of channels

Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai/cli/status and https://docs.openclaw.ai/cli/logs

“Should I just wait? How long?”

Rules of thumb:

If you see typing indicator → it’s alive; wait a bit.
If there’s no typing and no logs activity for ~30–60s, check the dashboard/logs.
If a single run is “in flight” for multiple minutes repeatedly, it’s worth investigating (provider latency, tool hang, auth errors, queue backlog).

#

How to stop the “5 hellos → 5 replies later” behavior

Set the queue to coalesce quick followups into one turn:

In chat (per-session):

/queue collect debounce:5s

That way, if you type 3 messages quickly, you’ll usually get one combined response instead of 3 separate ones.

If you want, paste:

openclaw --version
openclaw status --deep output (or screenshot)
the last ~50 lines of openclaw logs --limit 200

…and I’ll tell you whether you’re seeing queueing, a slow model, or an actual stuck run.

#

Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai/concepts/queue

If you want a “he’s working” indicator in chat

Enable earlier typing indicators via config:

agents.defaults.typingMode: "instant" (most obvious)
Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai/concepts/typing-indicators

If you tell me which channel you mostly use (Telegram vs Discord) and whether you have dashboard access, I can suggest the best “visibility” setup for that specific path.

boreal lintel Feb 10, 2026, 4:02 PM

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How to know if it actually “did the change”
you are right for that case, but i ask him many things to do, and i dont know if he is done and just being silent or is still doing that or jus broke. without confirmation message all 3 are possible right?

"In the chat UI itself (Telegram/Discord), there isn’t a “live progress view” unless the channel shows typing indicators or you’re streaming tokens. So if the model is busy (tool calls, long thinking, queue wait), it can look like “nothing is happening”." EXACTLY

Use the Control UI (dashboard). It shows active runs, streaming events/tool calls, and you can hit Stop there.
where do i find it?

If you want a “he’s working” indicator in chat
Enable earlier typing indicators via config:
agents.defaults.typingMode: "instant" (most obvious)
Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai/concepts/typing-indicators

i am using telegram. my wife will use whatsapp when i am done with setting up her agent

boreal lintel Feb 10, 2026, 4:23 PM

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.

viscid turretBOT Feb 10, 2026, 4:27 PM

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boreal lintel .

A single . won’t show you progress (it just becomes another queued message if a run is already in flight).

If you want to see “is it working / stuck / blocked” without sending more messages

You need to look outside the chat surface:

Control UI (best)

openclaw dashboard
# or print the link:
openclaw dashboard --no-open

In the Control UI you can see the active run, tool calls, and you get a Stop button.
Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai/web/control-ui

Tail logs

boreal lintel Feb 10, 2026, 4:28 PM

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How to know if it actually “did the change”
you are right for that case, but i ask him many things to do, and i dont know if he is done and just being silent or is still doing that or jus broke. without confirmation message all 3 are possible right?

"In the chat UI itself (Telegram/Discord), there isn’t a “live progress view” unless the channel shows typing indicators or you’re streaming tokens. So if the model is busy (tool calls, long thinking, queue wait), it can look like “nothing is happening”." EXACTLY

Use the Control UI (dashboard). It shows active runs, streaming events/tool calls, and you can hit Stop there.
where do i find it?

If you want a “he’s working” indicator in chat
Enable earlier typing indicators via config:
agents.defaults.typingMode: "instant" (most obvious)
Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai/concepts/typing-indicators

i am using telegram. my wife will use whatsapp when i am done with setting up her agent

viscid turretBOT Feb 10, 2026, 4:28 PM

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openclaw logs --follow

You’ll typically see whether it’s:

waiting in the queue (“queued for …ms”), or
stuck on a provider request / tool, or
erroring and retrying.

Quick health snapshot

openclaw status
openclaw status --deep
openclaw models status --probe   # (optional) checks auth/probes; may consume tokens

How long should you “just wait”?

If you don’t have the dashboard/logs open, you’re basically blind. In that case:

#

If it happens once: could be normal provider latency.
If you regularly get multi‑minute silence and then a burst of replies: it’s usually queue backlog or a slow/stuck provider → open dashboard/logs and verify.

Reduce the “I sent 5 messages → I got 5 replies later” effect

In the chat (per-session):

/queue collect debounce:5s

That coalesces your rapid followups into one turn.

If you paste the last ~30 lines around the delay from openclaw logs --follow (or --limit 200), I can tell you exactly whether it was queueing, provider slowness, auth failure loops, or something else.

viscid turretBOT Feb 10, 2026, 4:33 PM

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boreal lintel How to know if it actually “did the change” you are right for that case, but i ...

Yes — without some kind of explicit completion signal, all three are possible:

it finished and stayed silent (queue mode / silent replies / mention gating),
it’s still running (slow model/tool/queue),
it’s stuck/broken (auth error loop, tool hang, gateway issue).

That’s exactly why “chat-only” is a bad observability surface.

Where to find the Control UI (dashboard)

The dashboard is served by your Gateway (same port as the WS gateway, default 18789).

1) On the machine where OpenClaw is running:

Run:

openclaw dashboard

or if you just want the link:

#

openclaw dashboard --no-open

It will print a URL you can open in a browser.

Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai/web/control-ui and https://docs.openclaw.ai/cli/dashboard

2) If the dashboard says “pairing required”

Approve the browser/device:

openclaw devices list
openclaw devices approve <requestId>

(Once approved, that browser profile won’t ask again unless you clear storage.)

“He’s working” indicator in Telegram

Telegram supports typing indicators, so setting this helps a lot:

#

In ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json (JSON5):

{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      typingMode: "instant"
    }
  }
}

Then restart the gateway (however you run it). Typing indicator will start as soon as the run begins, not only when text starts streaming.

Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai/concepts/typing-indicators

Practical workflow so you don’t spam “hello?”

If you can: keep dashboard open while you test. It’s the only real “live progress view”.

#strange ansewrs from google-gemini-cli/gemini-3-pro-preview