Summary

openclaw doctor reports that cron jobs "need payload kind normalization" even when ~/.openclaw/cron/jobs.json already stores payload.kind: "agentTurn" correctly.

This creates false urgency after upgrading to 2026.3.11 because the warning implies scheduled tasks may silently break, but the cron store appears already normalized.

Environment

• OpenClaw: 2026.3.11
• Install: Homebrew global npm install on macOS
• Cron store path: ~/.openclaw/cron/jobs.json

Doctor output

◇  Cron

Legacy cron job storage detected at ~/.openclaw/cron/jobs.json.
- 14 jobs needs payload kind normalization
Repair with openclaw doctor --fix to normalize the store before the next scheduler run.

What I checked

I inspected ~/.openclaw/cron/jobs.json directly after running the suggested repair flow. All jobs already had normalized payload kinds like:

{
  "payload": {
    "kind": "agentTurn",
    "message": "...",
    "model": "haiku"
  }
}

I also tested the repair paths:

• openclaw doctor --fix --non-interactive --yes
• openclaw doctor --repair --yes

The warning still remained afterward.

Likely cause

From inspecting the built code, this looks like the legacy detector is lowercasing payload.kind and then treating already-correct camelCase values as legacy:

function normalizePayloadKind(payload) {
  const raw = typeof payload.kind === "string" ? payload.kind.trim().toLowerCase() : "";
  if (raw === "agentturn") {
    payload.kind = "agentTurn";
    return true;
  }
  if (raw === "systemevent") {
    payload.kind = "systemEvent";
    return true;
  }
  return false;
}

Because "agentTurn".toLowerCase() === "agentturn", the normalizer reports a mutation even when the stored value is already correct.

Expected behavior

If payload.kind is already agentTurn / systemEvent, doctor should not report legacy payload kind normalization as needed.

Actual behavior

Doctor reports a legacy cron normalization issue on already-normalized jobs, which makes the 2026.3.11 migration warning appear unresolved when it may already be fine.

Impact

• unnecessary alarm after upgrading
• users may distrust openclaw doctor
• users may attempt risky manual cron edits even when no real migration is needed