gemini cli quota fail prevention

[lilac acorn]

I am working with my agent on prompt detection.
"David — 21:53
Test gemini-quota-rotator 6
Max
APP
— 21:53
⚠️ Agent failed before reply: All models failed (2): google-gemini-cli/gemini-2.5-flash: Provider google-gemini-cli is in cooldown (all profiles unavailable) (rate_limit) | openrouter/qwen/qwen3-vl-30b-a3b-thinking: Provider openrouter is in cooldown (all profiles unavailable) (rate_limit).
Logs: openclaw logs --follow"
As you are already aware, the CLI quota is a real constraint. Each email address has a limited number of actions per day. I am developing a skill for the AI agent that reports failures. When it fails, I receive a message on Discord. The message I receive is similar to the example message I provided. In our current method, we have created a script that monitors the agent's logs for failures. As soon as the script detects the phrase "agent failed" in the log, it triggers and immediately switches the model for that specific agent. Unfortunately, it doesn't work out as I need it to. So, I need you to examine the actual method and let me know if you can improve it. Soon, I will provide you with in-depth details of our current system, along with feedback from my agent on the system we've built.

How the Logic WorksThe core logic resides in rotate_quota.sh and functions as a circular queue:State Retrieval:The script checks a local file (references/state.json) to see which email address was last assigned to an agent.Next Profile Calculation:It compares the last used email against a hardcoded list of three [e-mail][e-mail][e-mail] selects the next email in the list. If it reaches the end of the list, it loops back to the first email (Circular Rotation).Agent Identification:It takes an _AGENT_ID (passed as an argument $1) and queries the OpenClaw configuration (openclaw config get agents.list) to find the specific numeric index of that agent.Configuration Update:It uses the openclaw config set command to inject the new authProfileId (the new email) into the agent's model configuration.Notification:Finally, it sends a message to the user "David" via the "webchat" channel, confirming that the switch occurred and identifying the new active profile.## Key Technical ComponentsComponentFunctionopenclaw CLIThe main orchestration tool used to read and write agent configurations (config get, config set) and send messages.jqA command-line JSON processor used extensively here to parse the agents.list and state.json files to extract specific values (IDs, indices).state.jsonA persistent storage file that tracks the last_assigned_profile so the rotation remains consistent across different script executions.Cron JobWhile not in the code, the documentation notes this script is intended to be triggered by an external monitoring system (cron) when a 429 error is detected.## Potential ImprovementsHardcoded Emails: The email list is hardcoded inside the Bash script. Moving this to a configuration file (like a JSON array) would make it easier to add or remove accounts without editing the code.Error Handling: The script assumes the openclaw command always returns valid JSON. Adding checks for malformed JSON output could make it more robust.

[rich vine]

You can definitely improve this — and in most cases you can remove the “scrape logs → switch model” loop entirely, because OpenClaw already has the two mechanisms you’re trying to re-implement:

1. Auth profile rotation (multiple Gemini CLI emails)
2. Model fallback (switch providers/models when a provider is rate-limited)

Docs (worth skimming first): https://docs.openclaw.ai/concepts/model-failover

Why your current “detect agent failed then switch model” tends to disappoint

That Discord line:

Provider google-gemini-cli is in cooldown (all profiles unavailable) (rate_limit)

is OpenClaw saying: “I already tried what I’m allowed to try, and every profile for that provider is temporarily skipped.”

So if your script “switches the model” but you switch to:

• the same provider (google-gemini-cli) → it’ll still be in cooldown
• a fallback provider that’s also in cooldown (like your OpenRouter example) → still fails

• or you switch inside the same session while the session has a pinned profile/model → rotation may not behave how you expect (OpenClaw is intentionally “sticky” per session)

Also: OpenClaw does not rotate auth profiles on every request; it pins one per session for cache-friendliness, and rotates when that profile hits cooldown/disabled. (That detail is usually the “aha” when people build an external rotator.)
Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai/concepts/model-failover#session-stickiness-cache-friendly

What I’d do instead (higher reliability, less glue code)

A) Stop parsing text logs; use JSON logs (if you still need external automation)

Your matcher on "agent failed" is brittle. If you keep a supervisor script, switch to:

• openclaw logs --json --follow
  Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai/cli/logs

Then trigger on structured fields / known message signatures (“All models failed”, provider cooldown, etc.) and capture which provider/profile actually failed from the preceding lines (the final “All models failed …” line is often too aggregated to make good decisions).

B) Lean on built-in failover: multiple Gemini CLI accounts + fallbacks

Make sure you’re actually using OpenClaw’s native path:

• Multiple Gemini CLI OAuth profiles (one per email)
• agents.defaults.model.fallbacks includes at least one provider that won’t hit the same quota wall

The failover chain is: rotate profiles within provider → then fallback to next model.
FAQ section: https://docs.openclaw.ai/help/faq#model-failover-and-all-models-failed

C) Don’t “pin” profiles/models in a way that prevents rotation

If you’re doing /model something@someProfile (or your script sets an explicit profile), that can disable intra-provider rotation (OpenClaw will prefer model fallback instead). That’s good when you want it — but it breaks “quota rotator” designs.

What I need from you to give a precise improved design

When you’re ready, paste these (redact tokens, but keep structure):

1. openclaw --version
2. openclaw models status --json (or at least the auth.unusableProfiles part)
3. ~30–60 seconds of logs around a failure using:
   openclaw logs --json --limit 200
4. How your script “switches the model” (does it send /model …, run openclaw models set …, edit config, restart gateway, etc.?)

Once I see how you switch + what the gateway thinks is in cooldown, I can suggest either:

• a “pure config” solution (best), or
• a supervisor that makes decisions based on models status --json + JSON logs (second best), without fighting session stickiness/cooldowns.

Two big things jump out from your design that explain the “it doesn’t work like I need” outcome — and there’s a cleaner way that avoids the whole state.json + circular queue + config edits approach.

1) openclaw config set … won’t affect the running Gateway until restart

Per the CLI docs, config edits require a Gateway restart to take effect. If your script “switches” the profile but you don’t restart, you’ve only changed the file on disk.

Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai/cli/config (“Restart the gateway after edits.”)

So if you keep the current approach, at minimum:

• after openclaw config set … run openclaw gateway restart
• and verify you’re editing the same config the service is using via openclaw gateway status (it will show if Config (cli) vs Config (service) differ)

This alone fixes a ton of “script says switched but nothing changed”.

2) You’re re-implementing OpenClaw’s built-in rotation (and fighting stickiness)

OpenClaw already does failover in the exact two stages you want:

1. rotate auth profiles within a provider
2. fallback to the next model/provider

Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai/concepts/model-failover

Instead of writing authProfileId into agent model config (which effectively pins things), use the built-in auth ordering:

Prefer this: set auth profile rotation order (per agent)

Use:

• openclaw models auth order set --provider google-gemini-cli --agent <AGENT_ID> <profileId1> <profileId2> <profileId3>

This is designed for “try these accounts in this order”. It also avoids needing to locate the agent list index and avoids config-file edits.

CLI reference section: https://docs.openclaw.ai/cli (search “models auth order get|set|clear”)

Also: make sure you’re using the real profile IDs (usually provider:<email> style), not just raw emails. You can inspect them with:

• openclaw models status --json
• and/or by looking at ~/.openclaw/agents/<agentId>/agent/auth-profiles.json

3) “all profiles unavailable” means your rotation can’t help (so detect that and stop thrashing)

Your example error:

Provider google-gemini-cli is in cooldown (all profiles unavailable) (rate_limit)

…means OpenClaw considers every profile for that provider unusable right now. In that situation, switching to the “next email” cannot fix it — you either:

• wait until the soonest cooldown expires, or
• have a real fallback model/provider configured

So a key improvement to your monitor/rotator is:

• Before switching anything, query openclaw models status --json and check auth.unusableProfiles (docs mention this in the FAQ).
• If all Gemini CLI profiles are unusable, do not rotate (it’s just churn). Notify + backoff until the earliest retry time.

FAQ reference: https://docs.openclaw.ai/help/faq#model-failover-and-all-models-failed

What I’d change in your script (concrete)

1. Replace hardcoded email list with “discover profiles from auth-profiles.json for provider google-gemini-cli”.
2. Replace state.json with OpenClaw’s own usageStats (it already tracks lastUsed + cooldown/disabled).
3. Replace openclaw config set … with openclaw models auth order set … --agent … (no agent index lookup).
4. Add a guard: if provider says “all profiles unavailable”, don’t rotate; either sleep/backoff or switch to a configured fallback.

Next info to make this exact (and avoid guessing)

Can you paste:

• openclaw --version
• openclaw models status --json (redact tokens; keep the auth sections)
• and one failure window from openclaw logs --json --limit 200

Then I can tell you precisely whether your current “switch” is failing because (a) no restart, (b) wrong profile IDs, (c) config mismatch (cli vs service), or (d) you’re simply hitting the “all profiles unusable” case where only fallback/wait helps.

[lilac acorn]

Create a prompt for my AI agent to implement a locally created script that monitors message logs every minute to detect failing agents. The script should rotate to the next available email address in the sequence upon detecting a failure, without using tokens. The AI agent should directly take over this task and update our current state to ensure that messages sent on Discord with my bot are recognized and handled properly, even when the initial agent fails. Please directly prompt my agent, and I will have the response from my agent relayed back to you.

[rich vine]

Paste this as-is to your AI agent (edit the ALL_CAPS placeholders as needed):

You are an implementation agent. Build a LOCAL “quota failover rotator” that monitors OpenClaw logs every minute and rotates the Gemini CLI OAuth email/profile for a specific OpenClaw agent when the agent fails before replying — WITHOUT making any LLM/model calls (no token usage).

Goal
- If an inbound Discord message triggers an OpenClaw failure like:
  “⚠️ Agent failed before reply: … google-gemini-cli … rate_limit … cooldown …”
  then automatically rotate to the next available Gemini CLI email/profile and send a human-readable notice back to the SAME Discord thread/channel so the user knows what happened and what to do next.

Hard constraints
- Must NOT call any model/LLM endpoints. Avoid anything that probes providers (do NOT use `openclaw models status --probe`).
- Must NOT rely on editing `openclaw.json` + restarting the Gateway (that’s slow and error-prone).
- Rotation should work even if the previous run crashed; keep durable state locally.
- No @mentions/pings in Discord messages.

Preferred approach (use OpenClaw’s built-in auth order, not config edits)
- Use: `openclaw models auth order set --provider google-gemini-cli --agent <AGENT_ID> <profileIds...>`
  This updates per-agent auth rotation order without touching gateway config.
- IMPORTANT: profile IDs are typically provider-prefixed (example: `google-gemini-cli:[e-mail]`), not raw emails. Discover the exact IDs from `openclaw models status --json --agent <AGENT_ID>`.

Inputs (configure at top of script)
- AGENT_ID = "YOUR_AGENT_ID"
- PROVIDER = "google-gemini-cli"
- PROFILE_SEQUENCE = [
    "google-gemini-cli:[e-mail]",
    "google-gemini-cli:[e-mail]",
    "google-gemini-cli:[e-mail]"
  ]
- DISCORD_TARGET = "channel:DISCORD_THREAD_OR_CHANNEL_ID"
  (Threads are channels; use the thread id. Example from this thread: channel:1472698215458672680)

What to build (deliverables)
1) A script (Python preferred) named something like `gemini_quota_rotator.py`
2) A tiny state file `state.json` storing at minimum:
   - last_processed_log_cursor (timestamp or last log line id/hash)
   - last_assigned_profile (profileId)
   - per-profile blacklistUntil timestamps (so we don’t keep retrying an exhausted daily-quota account)
3) A cron example (runs every minute) OR a systemd timer unit.
4) A README with setup + troubleshooting steps.

Core logic (every minute)
A) Acquire a lock
- Use `flock` or a pidfile so concurrent cron invocations can’t race.

B) Fetch new logs (JSON)

- Use `openclaw logs --json --limit 500` (or similar).
- Parse JSON lines.
- Only process lines newer than `last_processed_log_cursor` from state.
- Update cursor at end (even if no failure) so we don’t re-trigger.

C) Detect failure events relevant to AGENT_ID
Trigger rotation when a log line indicates the run failed before reply. Match at least:
- contains: "Agent failed before reply"
AND/OR structured fields indicating a model/provider failure with rate_limit/cooldown.
Also record whether it involved PROVIDER=google-gemini-cli.

If the logs don’t include agentId/session info, implement a best-effort heuristic:
- look for nearby lines mentioning the agent id / route / session key.
- keep a short rolling window (e.g., last 50 lines) to correlate.

D) Before rotating: check which profiles are usable
- Run: `openclaw models status --json --agent <AGENT_ID>`
- From the JSON, read which profiles exist for PROVIDER and whether any are currently unusable (docs mention `auth.unusableProfiles`).
- Also apply our own `blacklistUntil` (daily quota) from state.json.
- If ALL profiles are unusable/blacklisted:
  - Do NOT churn order repeatedly.
  - Send a Discord message saying all Gemini CLI accounts appear exhausted/in cooldown; suggest waiting or switching provider.

E) Choose “next available” profile
- Use PROFILE_SEQUENCE as a circular queue.
- Starting after `last_assigned_profile`, find the next profile that is:
  - present in the auth store for this agent/provider
  - not in unusableProfiles (cooldown/disabled)
  - not blacklisted by our state
- If none found, handle as in (D).

F) Apply rotation (no gateway restart)
- Set provider auth order so the chosen profile is first:
  `openclaw models auth order set --provider google-gemini-cli --agent <AGENT_ID> <chosen> <rest_in_sequence_order>`
- Persist `last_assigned_profile` and any blacklist update.
  (If the detected failure looks like daily quota exhaustion, blacklist that profile until local midnight or +24h.)

G) Notify Discord (no tokens)
- Use OpenClaw’s outbound message CLI:
  `openclaw message send --channel discord --target <DISCORD_TARGET> --message "<text>"`
Message content should include:
- that a failure was detected
- that rotation was applied (old → new profileId)
- what the user should do next (e.g., “please resend your last message”, and optionally “send /new to start a fresh session”)
Do NOT @mention anyone.

Implementation notes / gotchas
- Do not use `openclaw config set ...` for authProfileId; config changes require gateway restart and are easy to apply to the wrong profile. Prefer `openclaw models auth order set`.
- Do not run any “probe” flags; those can consume tokens.
- Make logging very explicit (stdout + a local log file) so we can debug why it rotated or skipped.
- Include a `--dry-run` mode that prints what it WOULD do.

Acceptance criteria
- When an “Agent failed before reply” occurs due to Gemini CLI quota/rate limiting, within 60 seconds:
  1) the script selects the next usable profile from PROFILE_SEQUENCE
  2) updates auth order for that agent/provider
  3) sends a Discord notice to DISCORD_TARGET
- The script never makes an LLM request (no token usage).
- State persists across runs; no duplicate rotations for the same failure event.

Start by:
1) printing the schema of `openclaw logs --json` lines you observe
2) printing the relevant parts of `openclaw models status --json --agent <AGENT_ID>`
3) then implement robust parsing + rotation.

Return to me:
- the full script
- the state.json schema example
- the cron/systemd timer snippet
- and a short README.

If your agent comes back with its plan/output, paste it here and I’ll help you tighten the detection logic and the “usable profile” checks (that part is where most rotators go wrong).

[lilac acorn]

Okay, David, here's a summary of our progress and current status for external help:

Achievements:
We've diagnosed Max's google-gemini-cli quota issue, identifying that OpenClaw manages Gemini auth via auth.profiles. We have all three email profiles (02, 03, 04) configured. I've developed a Python script (gemini_quota_rotator.py) for the core rotation logic and a Bash script (monitor_gemini_quota.sh) for log monitoring. Crucially, we've set up an external OS crontab to run monitor_gemini_quota.sh every minute, making the monitoring token-free for scheduling and execution. The monitor script now reports its findings directly to Discord.

Current Status & Next Steps:
The system is implemented and configured with AGENT_ID="max" and Discord target channel:1469813619951796437. Max continues to hit quota errors, but our monitoring script is not yet successfully detecting these errors and triggering rotation. The core rotation logic (profile usability checks, next profile selection, applying changes) within gemini_quota_rotator.py is still a placeholder, as we're stuck at the detection phase.

We are currently debugging why the monitor_gemini_quota.sh script isn't detecting the quota errors. The script is designed to output detailed debug information to /tmp/monitor_gemini_quota.log. I urgently need access to the contents of this log file to understand what openclaw logs is actually returning in that context and how the jq filtering is behaving. Without it, I cannot pinpoint the exact cause of the detection failure.

We're ready for another test run with Max as soon as we resolve this detection issue. My immediate next step is to analyze /tmp/monitor_gemini_quota.log.

reply to my agent

[rich vine]

I can’t read /tmp/monitor_gemini_quota.log from here, so the next move is: paste it (or at least the relevant tail) into this thread so we can see what your cron-run environment is actually getting back.

That said, based on what usually breaks these “log monitor in cron” setups, here’s what I’d tell your agent to check/fix next:

1) Verify what openclaw logs returns under cron (env mismatch is #1 cause)

Cron often runs with a different HOME, different PATH, and sometimes a different OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR, so openclaw logs --json … might be:

• hitting the wrong gateway
• failing auth (no token loaded)
• outputting an error to stderr (and your jq is reading nothing)

Have the monitor script log this every run near the top:

• whoami, id, pwd
• echo "HOME=$HOME OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR=$OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR PATH=$PATH"
• openclaw gateway status 2>&1 | head -n 50
• openclaw logs --json --limit 20 2>&1 | sed -n '1,80p'

If jq filtering is failing, 80% of the time it’s because the input isn’t the JSON you think it is.

2) Don’t depend on jq knowing the log schema (it changes); extract message text defensively

Until you paste a sample line, make the filter tolerant, e.g. treat each line as “maybe JSON, maybe not”:

• If NDJSON: jq -r '(.msg // .message // .text // "")'
• If not JSON: fallback to raw grep.

So: … | (jq -r 'try (.msg // .message // .text) catch empty' || true) | rg -n "Agent failed before reply|cooldown|rate_limit|429"

3) Consider skipping openclaw logs entirely and parse the gateway file logs

This is the simplest “token-free and cron-proof” approach on the gateway host:

LOG_FILE="$(ls -t /tmp/openclaw/openclaw-*.log | head -1)"
tail -n 500 "$LOG_FILE"

It avoids RPC URL/token/env resolution issues completely. (OpenClaw docs even recommend this fallback when RPC log tail isn’t working.)

4) Paste this right now (so we can stop guessing)

Ask your agent to run:

tail -n 200 /tmp/monitor_gemini_quota.log

and paste it here (or have the monitor script send the last ~60 lines to Discord). Once we see the exact openclaw logs output + what jq is doing, we can give a precise fix to the detection stage.

If you paste the tail, I’ll respond with the exact jq (or Python) extraction that will match your real log lines reliably.

[lilac acorn]

"Okay, here's a concise update on the project:

Achievements:

Problem Understood: We've thoroughly diagnosed Max's google-gemini-cli quota failures and confirmed OpenClaw's auth.profiles manage all three Gemini email accounts.
Script Development: Developed gemini_quota_rotator.py (Python) for core rotation and monitor_gemini_quota.sh (Bash) for log monitoring.
Token-Free Monitoring: Switched to an external OS crontab running monitor_gemini_quota.sh every minute, making scheduling/execution token-free.
Debug Access: Configured monitor_gemini_quota.sh to log all debug output to /home/ubuntu/.openclaw/workspace/monitor_debug.log, a file I can now directly read.
Current Status & Remaining:

Current: Ready for you to initiate another test with Max.
Remaining:
Diagnose Detection Failure: I need to analyze the monitor_debug.log after your next test to pinpoint why monitor_gemini_quota.sh isn't yet detecting the error.
Implement Rotation Logic: Once detection is verified, I'll complete the profile usability checks, next profile selection, openclaw models auth order set logic in gemini_quota_rotator.py.
Implement Notification: Set up the Discord failure/rotation notices.
Final Deliverables: state.json schema, cron example, and a README.
"
reply to my agent directly

[rich vine]

Good progress. Here’s what I need you to do next, in a very specific order, so we stop guessing and get detection working reliably under cron.

0) Before the test: add “environment + raw outputs” to the debug log

In monitor_gemini_quota.sh, at the very top (before any jq/grep), append this to /home/ubuntu/.openclaw/workspace/monitor_debug.log every run:

1. Runtime context

• timestamp (UTC), hostname
• whoami, id, pwd
• echo "HOME=$HOME OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR=$OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR PATH=$PATH"

2. Gateway reachability

• openclaw gateway status 2>&1 | head -n 60

3. Raw log sample

• openclaw logs --limit 50 2>&1 | sed -n '1,120p'
• openclaw logs --json --limit 50 2>&1 | sed -n '1,120p'

Do not filter yet. I need to see what openclaw logs returns in this exact cron context.

1) After the next Max failure: capture the evidence window

Immediately after you trigger Max and it fails, do:

• Append a marker line like:
  ===== TEST MARKER: <timestamp> =====
• Then capture a bigger slice:
  • openclaw logs --limit 400
  • openclaw logs --json --limit 400

All of that goes into monitor_debug.log.

2) Detection strategy: stop assuming a specific JSON schema

Your detection must work whether the output is:

• NDJSON where the message is in .msg or .message or .text
• or plain text (if --json fails and prints an error)

Implement detection like this:

• Try JSON extraction:
  jq -r 'try (.msg // .message // .text // .event.message // "") catch ""'
• If that yields empty for most lines, fall back to raw grep.

Match on multiple signatures (case-insensitive):

• Agent failed before reply
• All models failed
• Provider google-gemini-cli is in cooldown
• rate_limit
• 429

Also log counts:

• number of lines fetched
• number of JSON-parseable lines
• number of matched lines

• show the first 3 matched lines verbatim in debug

3) Correlation: confirm it’s the right agent (“max”)

Detection must include a sanity check that the failure belongs to AGENT_ID="max".

If logs don’t directly include agentId:

• keep a rolling window (e.g. last 50 lines) and look for nearby mentions of agent=max, sessionKey tied to max, or routing info.
• If you can’t reliably correlate yet, still trigger rotation, but log clearly: “unscoped failure match; rotating anyway”.

4) Only after detection is solid: implement rotation core in Python

Once you have at least one confirmed match in monitor_debug.log, implement in gemini_quota_rotator.py:

• Read openclaw models status --json --agent max (NO --probe)
• Extract auth.unusableProfiles for provider google-gemini-cli
• Choose next usable profile from the configured sequence
• Apply via:
  openclaw models auth order set --provider google-gemini-cli --agent max <chosen> <rest...>

• Persist state.json (last_assigned_profile, blacklistUntil, last_processed_cursor)

5) Report back to me with exactly these snippets

After the next test run, paste into this chat:

1. The last ~200 lines of /home/ubuntu/.openclaw/workspace/monitor_debug.log
2. The exact command line your cron runs (full path, env, etc.)
3. The raw output of:
   • openclaw logs --json --limit 50 (from the same cron user)
   • openclaw gateway status

Once I see the real log format in your environment, I’ll tell you the exact jq/Python parsing that will make detection bulletproof.

Proceed with the test now, then analyze monitor_debug.log and report back.

[lilac acorn]

Project: Token-Free Local Quota Rotator for OpenClaw

Goal: Develop a script (gemini_quota_rotator.py) to monitor OpenClaw logs via cron and automatically rotate Gemini profiles using openclaw models auth order set when rate limits are hit.

Current Setup:

• Environment: Ubuntu, monitoring via monitor_gemini_quota.sh triggered by * * * * * crontab.
• Target: Agent "max" using google-gemini-cli.
• Detection Logic: Searching for "Agent failed" or "API provider" + "google-gemini-cli".

The Problem:
Despite the error appearing in the raw logs, the jq filtering logic in the shell script fails to trigger the rotation. The logs are accessible in the cron environment, but the extraction of .message and the timestamp comparison are not syncing with the actual JSON structure.

Technical Context for Debugging:

1. Cron Environment: whoami: ubuntu, HOME=/home/ubuntu. openclaw gateway status reports RPC probe: ok.
2. Raw Log Sample (JSON): The logs contain entries such as:
   {"level":"error","msg":"⚠️ Agent failed before reply: All models failed (2): google-gemini-cli/gemini-2.5-flash: ... rate_limit ...","agentId":"max","time":"2026-02-15T..."}
   Current Script logic (Simplified):
   The script attempts to use jq to filter logs from the last 60 seconds where .agentId == "max" and the .msg or .message matches the error criteria.
   Request:
   I need a robust jq filter that:
3. Correctly handles the OpenClaw JSON log format (specifically the msg vs message fields).
4. Efficiently compares the log's ISO8601 timestamp against the current system time in a shell environment.
5. Successfully identifies the "rate_limit" or "Agent failed" strings within that specific agent's context.

Relevant Command Outputs:

• openclaw logs --json --limit 50: Now populating correctly in cron.
• openclaw --version: Returns empty in cron (potential PATH/alias issue), but gateway remains reachable.
  reply to my agent directly

[rich vine]

You’re very close — the raw JSON sample you pasted tells us the exact schema you should key off:

• message field is msg (not message)
• agent scoping is agentId:"max"
• time is ISO8601 in time (string)

So the fix is: stop trying to “guess” .message, and stop doing brittle shell-side timestamp math. Do one of these two robust approaches:

---

Option A (recommended): don’t do timestamp comparison in jq at all

Just keep a cursor (last processed time or a hash of the last line) in your state file, and only process “new” lines. This is much more reliable than “last 60 seconds” in cron.

But if you insist on time windows, do Option B.

---

Option B: robust jq filter for last 60 seconds (works with msg + ISO8601)

Use jq’s fromdateiso8601 to convert timestamps safely.

1) Set up the window in bash

NOW_EPOCH="$(date -u +%s)"
SINCE_EPOCH=$((NOW_EPOCH - 60))

2) Run openclaw logs and filter with jq

This filter:

• accepts msg (falls back to message just in case)
• requires agentId == "max"
• requires the message to contain your failure markers
• requires time to be parseable ISO8601 and within the last 60s

openclaw logs --json --limit 400 2>/dev/null | jq -r --arg agent "max" --argjson since "$SINCE_EPOCH" '
  def getmsg: (.msg // .message // .text // "");
  def epochtime:
    (try (.time | fromdateiso8601) catch null);

  select(.agentId? == $agent)
  | select(getmsg | test("Agent failed before reply|All models failed|rate_limit|cooldown|429"; "i"))
  | select((epochtime != null) and (epochtime >= $since))
  | getmsg
'

If that prints at least one line, your detection should trigger rotation.

Debug variant (keep this while stabilizing)

This shows you exactly what jq thinks the fields are:

openclaw logs --json --limit 50 2>/dev/null | jq -r '
  {time, level, agentId, msg: (.msg // .message // .text // "")}
'

---

Why your current jq likely fails

1. You filtered on .message but the field is .msg.
2. Timestamp compare: if you were comparing strings, ISO8601 string compare is not guaranteed unless identical format + timezone; use fromdateiso8601.
3. Some lines may not have agentId or time; always use ? and try/catch.

---

Fix your “openclaw --version returns empty” in cron (important)

That’s almost certainly PATH. In the monitor script, log:

command -v openclaw || echo "openclaw not in PATH"
which openclaw || true
openclaw --version 2>&1 | cat

And in crontab, set PATH explicitly, e.g.:

PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/home/ubuntu/.npm-global/bin
* * * * * /home/ubuntu/.../monitor_gemini_quota.sh

(Adjust the npm global bin to wherever openclaw actually lives.)

---

Next step for you

Update monitor_gemini_quota.sh to use the jq filter above, and in monitor_debug.log record:

• SINCE_EPOCH and NOW_EPOCH
• the count of matched lines (even just | wc -l)
• the first matched message (so we know it triggered)

Once you confirm it matches, you can wire the match → call gemini_quota_rotator.py rotate.

If you paste 5–10 raw JSON lines from openclaw logs --json (including a failure + a normal line), I can tailor the exact jq to your real mix (some installs emit extra wrapper fields).

[lilac acorn]

"I'm on it! The gemini-quota-rotator skill automatically manages Google Gemini CLI authentication profiles to prevent service interruptions due to quota exhaustion (429 errors). When a rate limit error is detected, the skill switches the active Gemini CLI profile to the next available authorized email account in a predefined rotation.

Here's how it generally works:

Error Detection: It monitors Gemini CLI command outputs for specific 429 (rate limit) error messages.
Profile Rotation: Upon detection, it identifies the current active profile and selects the next one from a configured list of email accounts, each pre-authorized for Gemini CLI access.
Authentication: It updates the environment or configuration to use the new profile, allowing subsequent Gemini CLI calls to proceed with a fresh quota.
Continuous Operation: This ensures your agent can continue using Gemini without manual intervention, even if one account hits its rate limit.
The core script likely involves:

Parsing Gemini CLI output for error codes.
Reading and managing a list of gemini CLI authentication profiles (e.g., stored in a file or environment variables).
Switching the active profile using gemini auth login --credential-file <file> or similar commands.
Since you're experiencing issues, understanding which part of this process is failing (detection, rotation, or authentication) will be key.

"
This issue is still not resolved. Please provide the actual agent with a step-by-step guide to identify the reason it's not working and the necessary steps to achieve a resolution.

[rich vine]

Paste this to your agent verbatim. It’s a step-by-step debug + fix playbook to get the rotator working end-to-end.

You are the implementation agent for “Token-Free Local Quota Rotator for OpenClaw”.

The current problem is NOT “rotation logic” yet — it’s “detection logic under cron”. Your job: identify exactly why detection isn’t firing, then implement rotation + notification using OpenClaw’s built-in auth ordering (NOT gemini CLI credential hacks).

Non-negotiable constraints
- Token-free: no model calls, no provider probes. Do NOT use `openclaw models status --probe`.
- Don’t edit gateway config to switch profiles. Use `openclaw models auth order set`.
- Cron-safe: must behave the same from interactive shell and cron.
- No Discord @mentions.

========================
PHASE 1 — Prove the cron runtime is correct (15 minutes)
========================

1) In monitor_gemini_quota.sh, log this at the top on EVERY run to:
   /home/ubuntu/.openclaw/workspace/monitor_debug.log

   - UTC timestamp
   - `whoami`, `id`, `pwd`
   - `echo "HOME=$HOME"`
   - `echo "PATH=$PATH"`
   - `command -v openclaw || echo "openclaw missing"`
   - `which openclaw || true`
   - `openclaw --version 2>&1 || true`

   If `openclaw --version` is empty, you likely have a PATH / wrapper issue. Fix cron PATH explicitly.

2) Confirm the gateway is reachable from cron:

   - `openclaw gateway status 2>&1 | head -n 80`
   If RPC probe is NOT ok, stop here (wrong gateway URL/token/env).

3) Capture RAW logs (no jq/grep yet):
   Append both outputs to the debug log:
   - `openclaw logs --limit 80 2>&1 | sed -n '1,120p'`
   - `openclaw logs --json --limit 80 2>&1 | sed -n '1,120p'`

   You must see NDJSON lines like:
   {"level":"error","msg":"⚠️ Agent failed before reply: ...","agentId":"max","time":"2026-..."}
   If you see errors instead (unauthorized, connect failed), that’s why jq sees nothing.

========================
PHASE 2 — Make detection bulletproof (don’t fight timestamps)
========================

Stop doing “last 60 seconds” filtering until the basics work. Prefer a cursor.

4) Implement cursor-based detection:
   - Store `last_seen_time` (ISO string) in state.json.
   - Every run: fetch the last ~400 JSON lines:
     `openclaw logs --json --limit 400`
   - Parse lines, keep only entries where `.time` > last_seen_time (lexicographic works for same-format ISO8601).
   - Update `last_seen_time` to the max `.time` you processed.

   This avoids timezone issues, cron delays, and jq time math.

5) JSON parsing robustness:
   `openclaw logs --json` may still include non-JSON lines sometimes. In bash+jq you can do:
   - `jq -R 'fromjson? | select(.)'` to ignore non-JSON safely.

6) Detection rule:
   Trigger if:
   - `.agentId == "max"`
   AND
   - message text (use `.msg` primarily) matches one of:
     "Agent failed before reply"
     "All models failed"
     "rate_limit"
     "cooldown"
     "429"

   Important: message field is `msg`, not `message` in your sample. Always use:
   (.msg // .message // .text // "")

7) If you still insist on a “last 60 seconds” window, do it correctly:
   - Use jq `fromdateiso8601` on `.time`, never string compare, never custom parsing.

   Example correct filter:
   NOW=$(date -u +%s); SINCE=$((NOW-60))
   openclaw logs --json --limit 400 \
   | jq -R 'fromjson? | select(.)' \
   | jq -r --arg agent "max" --argjson since "$SINCE" '
       def m: (.msg // .message // .text // "");
       def t: (try (.time | fromdateiso8601) catch null);
       select(.agentId? == $agent)
       | select(m | test("Agent failed before reply|All models failed|rate_limit|cooldown|429"; "i"))
       | select((t != null) and (t >= $since))
       | m
     '

8) Add instrumentation (mandatory):
   Every run, log:
   - count of JSON lines parsed
   - count of lines with agentId==max
   - count of matches
   - print the first 2 matching messages verbatim

   If matches=0 but the raw logs show the failure, your jq is wrong (field name, JSON parse, or you filtered out everything).

========================
PHASE 3 — Implement rotation properly (OpenClaw-native)
========================

9) Discover actual profile IDs (do not assume raw emails):

   `openclaw models status --json --agent max`
   Extract provider = "google-gemini-cli" profile IDs that exist.
   Your configured rotation list MUST match those IDs exactly (often "google-gemini-cli:<email>").

10) Determine unusable profiles (no probing):
   In the same JSON, check `auth.unusableProfiles` and filter to provider google-gemini-cli.
   If all profiles are unusable:
   - do NOT rotate (it won’t help)
   - write a Discord notice: “all Gemini CLI profiles are in cooldown/disabled; waiting/backing off”
   - set a backoff in state.json so you don’t spam.

11) Apply rotation:
   Use:
   `openclaw models auth order set --provider google-gemini-cli --agent max <chosen> <rest...>`

12) Verify rotation applied:
   - `openclaw models auth order get --provider google-gemini-cli --agent max`
   Log the result.

========================
PHASE 4 — Notify Discord (token-free)
========================

13) Send a message to the target thread/channel (threads are channels):
   `openclaw message send --channel discord --target channel:1469813619951796437 --message "Detected Gemini rate limit for agent max. Rotated profile: old → new. Please resend your last message (or send /new to start fresh)."`

No @mentions.

========================
PHASE 5 — End-to-end test procedure

========================

14) Run the monitor script manually FIRST:
   - `bash -x monitor_gemini_quota.sh`
   Confirm it detects and prints matches.

15) Then run from cron (every minute). Trigger a known failure. Confirm:
   - debug shows match
   - auth order changes
   - Discord notice is sent

========================
What you must report back to David (so we can finish fast)
========================

After one test failure, paste these (redact tokens, keep structure):
- Last 200 lines of /home/ubuntu/.openclaw/workspace/monitor_debug.log
- Output of: `openclaw logs --json --limit 20` (run as the cron user)
- Output of: `openclaw models status --json --agent max` (only the auth/profile sections are enough)
- Output of: `openclaw models auth order get --provider google-gemini-cli --agent max`

Do NOT describe. Paste the raw outputs so we can see the real schema and fix quickly.

End.

If you share a small excerpt of your current monitor_gemini_quota.sh (especially the jq line + timestamp logic), I can rewrite it into a minimal, reliable version (either pure bash+jq with a cursor, or Python-only to avoid jq entirely).

[lilac acorn]

still failing "Okay, I've analyzed all the outputs.

The monitor_debug.log from my manual run confirms the script itself is correctly set up and can communicate with the gateway. However, it didn't detect the All models failed error because that specific log entry occurred after my script had already finished its log scan.

The openclaw models status output clearly shows that google-gemini-cli:[e-mail] is in cooldown. Crucially, openclaw models auth order get confirms that google-gemini-cli:[e-mail] is the currently configured override, meaning the agent is repeatedly trying to use an unavailable profile.

This is the exact problem my script is designed to fix!

To properly test the full detection and rotation logic, we need to:

Set up the monitor_gemini_quota.sh script as a cron job to run periodically (e.g., every minute).
Trigger another failure (as you did previously) so a fresh error log is generated while the cron job is active.
Once a new failure occurs, the cron job should detect it, rotate the profile to one of the available ones ([e-mail] or [e-mail] if their expiresAt means they are now valid), and send the Discord notification.

Are you ready to set up the cron job for monitor_gemini_quota.sh?"
help the agent to execute this!

[rich vine]

Your agent’s diagnosis is correct: the monitor script is doing a one-shot scan and exits before the failure line lands, so it misses it. The fix is not “more jq” — it’s make the monitor persistent or cursor-based, so it never “finishes too early”.

Also, if google-gemini-cli:03… is pinned as the override, you should unpin it immediately (set a sane rotation order) so Max stops repeatedly hammering a profile that’s already in cooldown.

Below is a step-by-step execution plan you can paste to your agent.

---

Step-by-step for the agent (do this exactly)

A) First: unstick the pinned cooldown profile (immediate remediation)

Right now the agent is pinned to an unusable profile. Fix that now:

1. Show current order:

openclaw models auth order get --provider google-gemini-cli --agent max

2. Set a full rotation order (puts a usable profile first). Example:

openclaw models auth order set --provider google-gemini-cli --agent max \
  google-gemini-cli:[e-mail] \
  google-gemini-cli:[e-mail] \
  google-gemini-cli:[e-mail]

3. Verify:

openclaw models auth order get --provider google-gemini-cli --agent max

If you’re not 100% sure those profile IDs exist, derive them from:

openclaw models status --json --agent max

(Do not use --probe.)

This alone should reduce failures even before cron is perfect.

---

B) Fix the monitor so it can’t “miss” the log line

You have two solid options. Pick ONE.

Option 1 (best): Make the monitor a persistent loop (no cron needed)

Change monitor_gemini_quota.sh to run forever:

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail

while true; do
  /path/to/monitor_once.sh   # your existing logic as a single pass
  sleep 60
done

Then run it under systemd (recommended) so it survives reboots.

This guarantees it’s “watching” when the error happens.

Option 2: Keep cron, but implement a cursor (so each minute processes “new since last run”)

Do NOT do “scan last 60 seconds and hope”. Instead:

• state file stores last_seen_time (ISO string)
• each minute:
  • fetch last 400 JSON lines

• filter to .time > last_seen_time
  • if any matches, rotate + notify
  • update last_seen_time to newest processed time

This prevents timing races where the error appears right after your script exits.

---

C) If David wants cron specifically: set up cron properly

1. Ensure scripts are executable:

chmod +x /home/ubuntu/.openclaw/workspace/monitor_gemini_quota.sh
chmod +x /home/ubuntu/.openclaw/workspace/gemini_quota_rotator.py

2. Add a cron entry with a known PATH and logging:

PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/home/ubuntu/.npm-global/bin
* * * * * /home/ubuntu/.openclaw/workspace/monitor_gemini_quota.sh >> /home/ubuntu/.openclaw/workspace/monitor_cron.log 2>&1

3. Confirm cron is running it:

tail -n 50 /home/ubuntu/.openclaw/workspace/monitor_cron.log

4. In the script itself, log start/end timestamps every run so you can prove it’s executing.

---

D) Testing procedure (so you can prove it works)

1. Start cron (or persistent loop).
2. Trigger a message that causes Max to run and fail (quota).

3. Within 60s you should see in logs:

• detection matched (“Agent failed before reply” / “rate_limit”)
• rotation applied (openclaw models auth order set …)
• Discord notification sent

If detection still misses, increase your scan window from --limit 400 to --limit 1000 temporarily.

---

One important clarification for your agent

“the log entry occurred after my script had already finished its log scan”

That means your detection is fundamentally racey. The only real fixes are:

• persistent follower, or
• cursor-based incremental processing

Everything else is whack-a-mole.