Summary

After upgrading from an older OpenClaw version to 2026.2.26, cron jobs configured with sessionTarget: "main" and payload.kind: "systemEvent" suddenly started creating NEW Telegram chat sessions instead of delivering to the existing main session. User reports they never received any data from what the cron job output was supposed to send.

Steps to reproduce

1. Configure cron job with sessionTarget: "main" and payload.kind: "systemEvent"
2. Upgrade OpenClaw to version 2026.2.26 (from older version)
3. Observe that job runs successfully but creates new Telegram session instead of delivering to existing main session
4. User never receives expected cron job output in their main Telegram chat

Expected behavior

Cron jobs with sessionTarget: "main" should deliver output to the EXISTING main session (same Telegram chat where user receives regular OpenClaw responses), not create a new separate session.

Actual behavior

After upgrade to 2026.2.26, cron jobs create new Telegram chat sessions (different session IDs) instead of using the existing main session. Job executes successfully but user never receives the output in their expected main session.

OpenClaw version

2026.2.26

Operating system

Ubuntu 24.04 (WSL2 on Windows 11)

Install method

pnpm global

Logs, screenshots, and evidence

Impact and severity

Affected: All users with sessionTarget: "main" cron jobs using systemEvent payload type who upgraded to 2026.2.26
Severity: High (blocks all cron job delivery)
Frequency: 100% reproducible (every cron job with systemEvent payload)
Consequence: User cannot receive automated cron job outputs (social_media_manager, maintainer, etc.)

Additional information

This appears to be a regression introduced in version 2026.2.26 where sessionTarget: "main" behavior changed from delivering to existing session to creating new sessions. The regression affects:

social_media_manager cron job
openclaw_maintainer cron job
All other systemEvent payload jobs
Direct messages from the main session work correctly, but cron job outputs never reach the user.