steel escarp
Hi,
Regression with group message routing after upgrading to 2026.5.3-1.
Setup
Mac Mini (local) + VPS (Docker) — two completely different projects
Upgraded from working 2026.4.x
Symptoms
Group messages (Telegram + WhatsApp) arrive at the gateway (inbound is correctly logged)
No session is created for the bound agent
The agent is never triggered
DMs still work normally
On VPS: bots only respond when mentioned with @
On Mac Mini: used to respond in groups without @ before the upgrade
Telegram groups are almost completely silent in the logs
Evidence
openclaw sessions shows many active sessions, but none for the agents bound to the affected groups
Bindings look correct when checked with openclaw agents list --bindings
No errors after the inbound log
What was tried
Multiple gateway restart
Re-adding bots as admin + BotFather privacy disabled
Forcing groupPolicy, requireMention and dmPolicy to open
Downgrade to 2026.4.21 (broke model resolution)
Expected vs Actual
Expected: Group messages should create a session and trigger the bound agent when groupPolicy=open + requireMention=false.
Actual: Messages stop at the gateway. No agent session is spawned.
Same behavior on both environments.
Anyone else seeing this with group routing / agent session creation in 2026.5.x?
Thanks!
twilit ore
fringe swallow