Bug: cron.add tool call systematically fails due to schema mismatch & infinite retry loop

Summary

What went wrong?
The cron.add tool call fails systematically due to a schema mismatch between the LLM's perception (the tool definition) and the Gateway's internal validator. The LLM (e.g., Qwen 3 Coder) attempts to send a nested job: { ... } object, but the Gateway validator rejects it, explicitly requiring properties (name, schedule, sessionTarget, payload) at the top level. Additionally, the Gateway/Agent fails to handle the INVALID_REQUEST error as a fatal exception, causing the agent to enter an infinite retry loop, which results in a continuous stream of validation errors in the logs.

Steps to reproduce

1. Start OpenClaw Gateway (v2026.2.2-3) from a local npm build.
2. Use an LLM agent and ask it to: "Create a cron job named 'test' to run 'echo hello' every day at 5am".
3. Observe the Gateway logs: the tool call is sent with a nested job object as per the LLM's system instructions/tool schema.
4. The Gateway returns errorCode=INVALID_REQUEST with the message: must have required property 'name'; ....
5. The agent retries the call immediately, looping indefinitely every ~3 seconds with the same payload.

Expected behavior

• The cron.add tool call should succeed when provided with valid parameters, aligning with the flat structure used by the CLI:

  openclaw cron add --name "test" --cron "0 5 * * *" --session main --system-event "echo hello"

• The tool definition (JSON Schema) provided to the LLM should be synchronized with the Gateway's internal validator (either both should be nested or both should be flat).
• The agent should stop and report a fatal error upon receiving an INVALID_REQUEST (validation error) instead of retrying the same invalid payload.

Actual behavior

The tool call is rejected by the validator because it expects root-level properties instead of a nested job object. This triggers an infinite loop of failed tool calls, flooding the logs and preventing the task from ever finishing.

Environment

• OpenClaw version: 2026.2.2-3 (9c5941b)
• Node version: v25.5.0
• OS: Linux 6.8.0-94-generic (x64) / Ubuntu 24.04
• Install method: Local build / npm
• Model used: Local GPU / QWEN 3 CODER NEXT Q4_KXL

Logs or screenshots

02:18:03 info gateway/ws ⇄ res ✗ cron.add 0ms errorCode=INVALID_REQUEST errorMessage=invalid cron.add params: must have required property 'name'; must have required property 'schedule'; must have required property 'sessionTarget'; must have required property 'payload' conn=0021d9e7…2bd1 id=33fff351…dab1
02:18:03 error [tools] cron failed: invalid cron.add params: must have required property 'name'; must have required property 'schedule'; must have required property 'sessionTarget'; must have required property 'payload'
02:18:06 debug agent/embedded embedded run tool start: tool=cron
02:18:06 info gateway/ws ⇄ res ✗ cron.add 0ms errorCode=INVALID_REQUEST ...

Diagnosis

• The CLI openclaw cron add works with flat flags (--name, --cron, --session, --system-event).
• The tool call schema (as received by the LLM) expects nested job: { ... }.
• The Gateway validator expects flat top-level fields (name, schedule, sessionTarget, payload).
• The agent retries validation failures, causing the infinite loop.

Suggested Fix

1. Align tool schema with validator
   Update the cron.add tool definition to match the Gateway's internal validator — use flat, top-level fields (name, schedule, sessionTarget, payload) instead of nested job: { ... }.

2. Prevent infinite retry on INVALID_REQUEST
   Modify the agent to treat INVALID_REQUEST errors as terminal (no retry), since they indicate a user/tool mistake rather than a transient failure.

3. Improve error messages
   When validation fails, return a working CLI equivalent in the error response so users can work around the issue:

   Example usage:
   openclaw cron add --name "test" --cron "0 5 * * *" --session main --system-event "echo hello"
   

4. Add tool call test suite
   Include a test for cron.add to ensure the tool schema and Gateway validator stay in sync during future changes.