Bug type

Behavior bug (incorrect output/state without crash)

Beta release blocker

No

Summary

Summary

Dreaming still appears to trigger from heartbeat activity on OpenClaw 2026.4.11 (769908e).

I am seeing this even after simplifying HEARTBEAT.md and testing different heartbeat frequencies. Each heartbeat creates new empty sessions, and dreaming appears to run alongside heartbeat instead of only on the managed dreaming schedule.

Version

• OpenClaw: 2026.4.11 (769908e)

What I expected

• Heartbeat should run independently
• Dreaming should only run on its configured dreaming schedule
• Empty light / rem / heartbeat sessions should not be created on every heartbeat tick

What actually happens

On every heartbeat, I get 3 new empty sessions:

• one heartbeat
• one light
• one rem
  Dreaming consistently triggers with heartbeat, even when I remove the actual work/instructions from HEARTBEAT.md.

What I tried

• Removed all commands/instructions from HEARTBEAT.md
• Changed heartbeat frequency
• Verified the behavior still happens
• Ran:
  • openclaw doctor --fix
  • openclaw memory status --fix --agent main

Those did not resolve it.

Additional evidence

I also see entries like:
json
{
"ts": 1776043096994,
"status": "skipped",
"reason": "duplicate",
"preview": "NO_REPLY",
"durationMs": 25898,
"hasMedia": false,
"channel": "matrix"
}

Notes

This does not appear to be caused by HEARTBEAT.md contents alone. I can reproduce it even after stripping heartbeat instructions down.

This looks related to heartbeat-triggered dreaming replay / duplicate handling, because:

• dreaming always lines up with heartbeat
• light and rem sessions are created repeatedly
• the behavior persists on 2026.4.11

Repro steps

1. Enable heartbeat
2. Enable dreaming
3. Let the system run normally
4. Observe that each heartbeat creates:
   • a heartbeat session
   • a light session
   • a rem session
5. Observe dreaming behavior firing with each heartbeat

If helpful, I can provide

• sanitized config
• openclaw cron list
• heartbeat config
• session screenshots
• additional logs

Steps to reproduce

Let heartbeat run

Expected behavior

• Heartbeat should run independently
• Dreaming should only run on its configured dreaming schedule
• Empty light / rem / heartbeat sessions should not be created on every heartbeat tick

Actual behavior

• Heartbeat should run independently
• Dreaming should only run on its configured dreaming schedule
• Empty light / rem / heartbeat sessions should not be created on every heartbeat tick
  Dreaming consistently triggers with heartbeat, even when I remove the actual work/instructions from HEARTBEAT.md.

OpenClaw version

2026.4.11 (769908e)

Operating system

Debian 13

Install method

No response

Model

GPT-5.4

Provider / routing chain

openclaw - openai

Additional provider/model setup details

No response

Logs, screenshots, and evidence

Impact and severity

No response

Additional information

No response