Description

Since upgrading from 3.8 to 3.12, openclaw message send --channel whatsapp fails to reach the active WhatsApp Web listener, returning No active WhatsApp Web listener.

Telegram sends via the same CLI command work correctly. In-session WhatsApp replies (agent → WhatsApp) also continue to work. The issue is specific to CLI-initiated WhatsApp sends.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Start gateway with WhatsApp linked and active
2. Confirm in-session WhatsApp replies work (they do)
3. Confirm openclaw message send --channel telegram works (it does)
4. Run openclaw message send --channel whatsapp --target <number> --media <file.mp3>
5. Observe: No active WhatsApp Web listener error

Expected Behaviour

CLI message send should route to the active WhatsApp listener the same way in-session replies and Telegram sends do.

Actual Behaviour

GatewayClientRequestError: Error: No active WhatsApp Web listener (account: default).
Start the gateway, then link WhatsApp with: openclaw channels login --channel whatsapp --account default.

Gateway is running, WhatsApp is linked, and in-session replies work fine.

Suspected Cause

Likely a side effect of the realpath hardening introduced in #44437 (Hooks/loader fix in 3.12). The CLI-initiated RPC path to locate the WhatsApp listener socket may now fail closed on path resolution where it previously fell back gracefully. Telegram's listener uses a different path and is unaffected.

Version

• Broken on: 3.12
• Working on: 3.8
• OS: macOS (Darwin arm64)