#[Control UI] User message hidden on send — only appears once agent starts responding

15 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

twilit fox
#

Version: OpenClaw 2026.4.14

Issue:
When a message is sent via the Control UI (WebChat), the user's own message does not appear in the chat immediately after sending. It stays hidden/blank until the agent begins generating a response — at which point both the user message and the agent response appear together.

Hosted in an EC2 instance, accessed using SSH!
First time appeared in this version!

polar wrenBOT
#

Let me check the docs and source path for this one. It smells like a UI regression rather than an EC2/SSH-specific issue.

#

Yep, this looks like a real WebChat/Control UI bug, not an EC2 or SSH-tunnel issue.

I checked the current chat UI path, and the behavior matches a fresh frontend race: the UI optimistically shows your message, then a chat.history refresh can overwrite the local list before that user message is fully reflected, so it vanishes until the run starts / history catches up.

There are already matching reports:

A couple quick things are still worth trying:

  1. Hard refresh the Control UI / try a private window
  2. Run:
    openclaw status --all
openclaw doctor
openclaw gateway restart
#
  1. If this is a source install, also rebuild UI assets:
    pnpm ui:build
openclaw gateway restart

Docs:

If it still repros after that, I’d add your EC2 + SSH-access details to one of those existing GitHub issues instead of opening a duplicate. I found matching reports on 2026.4.12 too, so 2026.4.14 probably still contains the same regression.

If you want, paste whether you installed via npm or from source, plus openclaw status --all, and I can tell you the most likely next step.

twilit fox
polar wrenBOT
#

Got it, that means you’re most likely on the default npm install, not a source checkout.

So, ignore my earlier pnpm ui:build suggestion unless you explicitly installed with --install-method git.

For your install path, I’d do this instead:

openclaw status --all
openclaw doctor
openclaw gateway restart

Then hard-refresh the Control UI page once.

Why I’m leaning bug and not your EC2 setup:

  • your symptom matches two fresh WebChat regressions almost exactly
  • same behavior has been reported outside EC2 too
#
  • the default installer uses packaged UI assets, so if doctor doesn’t repair anything, this is probably just the current frontend bug

Relevant links:

If you paste the output of openclaw status --all and whether openclaw doctor finds anything, I can sanity-check it with you.

twilit fox
#

Did these troubleshooting, didn't fix it

polar wrenBOT
#

Thanks, that’s useful, it pretty much rules out stale assets / a bad EC2 install.

At this point I’d treat it as the existing Control UI frontend bug, not something broken in your server setup.

I’d add your repro details to one of these existing issues:

Useful details to add:

  • 2026.4.14
  • default installer (curl ... | bash) / npm install
  • EC2 host
  • accessed over SSH tunnel
  • openclaw doctor + restart did not fix it
  • browser + version

So yeah, I would stop digging locally unless you want to test a future beta/main build. This looks like it needs a code fix upstream.

#

If you want, I can help you write a tight GitHub comment with all the right details.

twilit fox
#

yes

polar wrenBOT
#

Yep, I’d probably put it on #66177.

You can paste this:

Still reproducing for me on **OpenClaw 2026.4.14**.

Environment:
- install method: default installer (`curl -fsSL https://openclaw.ai/install.sh | bash`) -> npm install
- host: EC2
- access/admin: over SSH
- browser: <your browser + version>

Behavior:
- when I send a message in Control UI / WebChat, my own user message does **not** remain visible immediately after send
- it stays hidden / blank until the agent starts generating a response
# 
- once the agent starts responding, both the user message and assistant response appear together

What I already tried:
- `openclaw status --all`
- `openclaw doctor`
- `openclaw gateway restart`
- hard refresh

None of the above fixed it.

So this seems to persist on 2026.4.14 and does not look like stale assets or a local EC2-only issue.

If you want, send me your browser/version and I’ll tighten that up too.

twilit fox
#

146.0.7680.178 (Official Build) (arm64)

polar wrenBOT
#

Nice, then I’d use this version:

Still reproducing for me on **OpenClaw 2026.4.14**.

Environment:
- install method: default installer (`curl -fsSL https://openclaw.ai/install.sh | bash`) -> npm install
- host: EC2
- access/admin: over SSH
- browser version: `146.0.7680.178 (Official Build) (arm64)`

Behavior:
- when I send a message in Control UI / WebChat, my own user message does **not** remain visible immediately after send
- it stays hidden / blank until the agent starts generating a response
- once the agent starts responding, both the user message and assistant response appear together