fix(control-ui): coalesce duplicate chat submits

steipete · steipete · commit f6b2ba4a10af · 2026-04-27T20:45:28.000+01:00
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 - Sessions: ignore future-dated session activity timestamps during reset freshness checks and cap future `updatedAt` values at the merge boundary so clock-skewed messages cannot keep stale sessions alive forever. Fixes #72989. Thanks @martingarramon.
 - Plugins/CLI: allow managed plugin installs when the active extensions root is a symlink to a real state directory, while keeping nested target symlinks blocked and suppressing misleading hook-pack fallback errors for install-boundary failures. Fixes #72946. Thanks @mayank6136.
 - Gateway/startup: keep hot Gateway boot paths on leaf config imports and add max-RSS reporting to the gateway startup bench so low-memory startup regressions are visible before release. Thanks @vincentkoc.
+- WebChat: read `chat.history` from active transcript branches, drop stale streamed assistant tails once final history catches up, and coalesce duplicate in-flight Control UI submits, so rewritten prompts, completed replies, and rapid send events no longer render or process twice. Fixes #72975, #72963, and #72974. Thanks @dmagdici, @lhtpluto, and @Benjamin5281999.
 - WebChat/TTS: persist automatic final-mode TTS audio as a supplemental audio-only transcript update instead of adding a second assistant message with the same visible text. Fixes #72830. Thanks @lhtpluto.
 - Agents/LSP: terminate bundled stdio LSP process trees during runtime disposal and Gateway shutdown, so nested children such as `tsserver` do not survive stop or restart. Fixes #72357. Thanks @ai-hpc and @bittoby.
 - Diagnostics/OTEL: capture privacy-safe model-call request payload bytes, streamed response bytes, first-response latency, and total duration in diagnostic events, plugin hooks, stability snapshots, and OTEL model-call spans/metrics without logging raw model content. Fixes #33832. Thanks @wwh830.
diff --git a/docs/web/webchat.md b/docs/web/webchat.md
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@ Status: the macOS/iOS SwiftUI chat UI talks directly to the Gateway WebSocket.
 
 - The UI connects to the Gateway WebSocket and uses `chat.history`, `chat.send`, and `chat.inject`.
 - `chat.history` is bounded for stability: Gateway may truncate long text fields, omit heavy metadata, and replace oversized entries with `[chat.history omitted: message too large]`.
+- `chat.history` follows the active transcript branch for modern append-only session files, so abandoned rewrite branches and superseded prompt copies are not rendered in WebChat.
+- Control UI coalesces duplicate in-flight submits for the same session, message, and attachments before generating a new `chat.send` run id; the Gateway still dedupes repeated requests that reuse the same idempotency key.
 - `chat.history` is also display-normalized: runtime-only OpenClaw context,
   inbound envelope wrappers, inline delivery directive tags
   such as `[[reply_to_*]]` and `[[audio_as_voice]]`, plain-text tool-call XML
diff --git a/ui/src/ui/app-chat.test.ts b/ui/src/ui/app-chat.test.ts
@@ -41,10 +41,12 @@ function requestUrl(input: string | URL | Request): string {
 }
 
 function makeHost(overrides?: Partial<ChatHost>): ChatHost {
-  return {
+  const host = {
     client: null,
     chatMessages: [],
     chatStream: null,
+    chatStreamSegments: [],
+    chatToolMessages: [],
     connected: true,
     chatLoading: false,
     chatMessage: "",
@@ -71,9 +73,13 @@ function makeHost(overrides?: Partial<ChatHost>): ChatHost {
     chatModelsLoading: false,
     chatModelCatalog: [],
     refreshSessionsAfterChat: new Set<string>(),
+    toolStreamById: new Map(),
+    toolStreamOrder: [],
+    toolStreamSyncTimer: null,
     updateComplete: Promise.resolve(),
     ...overrides,
   };
+  return host as ChatHost;
 }
 
 function createSessionsResult(sessions: GatewaySessionRow[]): SessionsListResult {
@@ -548,6 +554,32 @@ describe("handleSendChat", () => {
     expect(host.chatMessage).toBe("queued while busy");
   });
 
+  it("coalesces duplicate in-flight chat submits before the gateway acknowledges them", async () => {
+    const sent = createDeferred<unknown>();
+    const request = vi.fn((method: string) => {
+      if (method === "chat.send") {
+        return sent.promise;
+      }
+      throw new Error(`Unexpected request: ${method}`);
+    });
+    const host = makeHost({
+      client: { request } as unknown as ChatHost["client"],
+    });
+
+    const first = handleSendChat(host, "same prompt");
+    const second = handleSendChat(host, "same prompt");
+
+    expect(request).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    expect(host.chatQueue).toEqual([]);
+    expect(host.chatMessages).toHaveLength(1);
+
+    sent.resolve({ runId: host.chatRunId, status: "started" });
+    await Promise.all([first, second]);
+
+    expect(request).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    expect(host.chatMessages).toHaveLength(1);
+  });
+
   it("restores the BTW draft when detached send fails", async () => {
     const host = makeHost({
       client: {
diff --git a/ui/src/ui/app-chat.ts b/ui/src/ui/app-chat.ts
@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@ export type ChatHost = ChatInputHistoryState & {
   updateComplete?: Promise<unknown>;
   refreshSessionsAfterChat: Set<string>;
   pendingAbort?: { runId: string; sessionKey: string } | null;
+  chatSubmitGuards?: Map<string, Promise<void>>;
   /** Callback for slash-command side effects that need app-level access. */
   onSlashAction?: (action: string) => void;
 };
@@ -225,6 +226,54 @@ async function sendChatMessageNow(
   return ok;
 }
 
+function attachmentSubmitSignature(attachment: ChatAttachment): string {
+  return JSON.stringify([
+    attachment.id,
+    attachment.mimeType,
+    attachment.fileName ?? "",
+    attachment.dataUrl.length,
+    attachment.dataUrl.slice(0, 64),
+  ]);
+}
+
+function chatSubmitKey(
+  host: ChatHost,
+  kind: "btw" | "message",
+  message: string,
+  attachments: ChatAttachment[],
+): string {
+  return JSON.stringify([
+    kind,
+    host.sessionKey,
+    message.trim(),
+    attachments.map(attachmentSubmitSignature),
+  ]);
+}
+
+async function withChatSubmitGuard<T>(
+  host: ChatHost,
+  key: string,
+  run: () => Promise<T>,
+): Promise<T | undefined> {
+  const guards = (host.chatSubmitGuards ??= new Map<string, Promise<void>>());
+  if (guards.has(key)) {
+    return undefined;
+  }
+  let releaseGuard!: () => void;
+  const guard = new Promise<void>((resolve) => {
+    releaseGuard = resolve;
+  });
+  guards.set(key, guard);
+  try {
+    return await run();
+  } finally {
+    releaseGuard();
+    if (guards.get(key) === guard) {
+      guards.delete(key);
+    }
+  }
+}
+
 async function sendDetachedBtwMessage(
   host: ChatHost,
   message: string,
@@ -362,16 +411,19 @@ export async function handleSendChat(
   }
 
   if (isBtwCommand(message)) {
-    if (messageOverride == null) {
-      recordNonTranscriptInputHistory(host, message);
-      host.chatMessage = "";
-      host.chatAttachments = [];
-      resetChatInputHistoryNavigation(host);
-    }
-    await sendDetachedBtwMessage(host, message, {
-      previousDraft: messageOverride == null ? previousDraft : undefined,
-      attachments: hasAttachments ? attachmentsToSend : undefined,
-      previousAttachments: messageOverride == null ? attachments : undefined,
+    const submitKey = chatSubmitKey(host, "btw", message, attachmentsToSend);
+    await withChatSubmitGuard(host, submitKey, async () => {
+      if (messageOverride == null) {
+        recordNonTranscriptInputHistory(host, message);
+        host.chatMessage = "";
+        host.chatAttachments = [];
+        resetChatInputHistoryNavigation(host);
+      }
+      await sendDetachedBtwMessage(host, message, {
+        previousDraft: messageOverride == null ? previousDraft : undefined,
+        attachments: hasAttachments ? attachmentsToSend : undefined,
+        previousAttachments: messageOverride == null ? attachments : undefined,
+      });
     });
     return;
   }
@@ -407,27 +459,30 @@ export async function handleSendChat(
   }
 
   const refreshSessions = isChatResetCommand(message);
-  if (messageOverride == null) {
-    host.chatMessage = "";
-    host.chatAttachments = [];
-    resetChatInputHistoryNavigation(host);
-  }
-
-  if (isChatBusy(host)) {
+  const submitKey = chatSubmitKey(host, "message", message, attachmentsToSend);
+  await withChatSubmitGuard(host, submitKey, async () => {
     if (messageOverride == null) {
-      recordNonTranscriptInputHistory(host, message);
+      host.chatMessage = "";
+      host.chatAttachments = [];
+      resetChatInputHistoryNavigation(host);
+    }
+
+    if (isChatBusy(host)) {
+      if (messageOverride == null) {
+        recordNonTranscriptInputHistory(host, message);
+      }
+      enqueueChatMessage(host, message, attachmentsToSend, refreshSessions);
+      return;
     }
-    enqueueChatMessage(host, message, attachmentsToSend, refreshSessions);
-    return;
-  }
 
-  await sendChatMessageNow(host, message, {
-    previousDraft: messageOverride == null ? previousDraft : undefined,
-    restoreDraft: Boolean(messageOverride && opts?.restoreDraft),
-    attachments: hasAttachments ? attachmentsToSend : undefined,
-    previousAttachments: messageOverride == null ? attachments : undefined,
-    restoreAttachments: Boolean(messageOverride && opts?.restoreDraft),
-    refreshSessions,
+    await sendChatMessageNow(host, message, {
+      previousDraft: messageOverride == null ? previousDraft : undefined,
+      restoreDraft: Boolean(messageOverride && opts?.restoreDraft),
+      attachments: hasAttachments ? attachmentsToSend : undefined,
+      previousAttachments: messageOverride == null ? attachments : undefined,
+      restoreAttachments: Boolean(messageOverride && opts?.restoreDraft),
+      refreshSessions,
+    });
   });
 }
 
diff --git a/ui/src/ui/controllers/chat.test.ts b/ui/src/ui/controllers/chat.test.ts
@@ -624,6 +624,28 @@ describe("loadChatHistory", () => {
 });
 
 describe("sendChatMessage", () => {
+  it("does not start a second chat.send while the first send is awaiting ack", async () => {
+    const sent = createDeferred<unknown>();
+    const request = vi.fn(() => sent.promise);
+    const state = createState({
+      connected: true,
+      client: { request } as unknown as ChatState["client"],
+    });
+
+    const first = sendChatMessage(state, "hello");
+    const activeRunId = state.chatRunId;
+    const second = sendChatMessage(state, "hello");
+
+    expect(request).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    expect(state.chatMessages).toHaveLength(1);
+    await expect(second).resolves.toBe(activeRunId);
+
+    sent.resolve({ runId: activeRunId, status: "started" });
+    await expect(first).resolves.toBe(activeRunId);
+    expect(request).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    expect(state.chatMessages).toHaveLength(1);
+  });
+
   it("serializes non-image chat attachments as files", async () => {
     const request = vi.fn().mockResolvedValue({ runId: "run-1", status: "started" });
     const state = createState({
