Tasks: allow `openclaw tasks cancel` for CLI runtime (#62419) by neeravmakwana · Pull Request #62506 · openclaw/openclaw

neeravmakwana · 2026-04-07T12:59:39Z

Summary

Problem: openclaw tasks cancel returned "Task runtime does not support cancellation yet" for CLI-tracked tasks (for example gateway agent runs), so operators could not clear stuck running rows.
Why it matters: CLI tasks can remain running when follow-up bookkeeping never runs; without a working cancel path there was no supported way to mark them terminal.
What changed: cancelTaskById treats runtime === "cli" like other local cancellations: record cancelled in the task registry (CLI uses the main session as childSessionKey; there is no separate ACP/subagent session to stop). Docs and changelog updated; unit test covers the path.
What did NOT change: Cron and any other non-ACP/subagent/CLI runtimes still return the unsupported message. Maintenance/audit behavior for stale_running is unchanged (audit remains informational).

Change Type

Bug fix

Scope

Gateway / orchestration

Linked Issue/PR

Closes Bug: tasks cancel returns 'Task runtime does not support cancellation yet' - no way to clear stale_running CLI tasks #62419
This PR fixes a bug or regression

Root Cause

Root cause: cancelTaskById only wired teardown for ACP and subagent runtimes; CLI fell through to the unsupported branch despite using a normal session key.
Missing detection / guardrail: Unit tests only covered ACP and subagent cancellation.

Regression Test Plan

Coverage: Unit test (src/tasks/task-registry.test.ts) asserts CLI cancel updates the task to cancelled, does not call ACP/subagent hooks, and delivers the expected terminal message when delivery is pending.

User-visible / Behavior Changes

openclaw tasks cancel succeeds for active CLI-tracked tasks and sets status to cancelled with operator error text.

Diagram

N/A

Security Impact

New permissions/capabilities? No
Secrets/tokens handling changed? No
New/changed network calls? No
Command/tool execution surface changed? No (registry state only for CLI cancel)
Data access scope changed? No

Repro + Verification

Environment

Unit test run: pnpm test src/tasks/task-registry.test.ts -t "cancels"

Steps

Create a running CLI task record with childSessionKey set.
Call cancelTaskById.
Expect cancelled: true and no ACP/subagent control calls.

Expected

Task transitions to cancelled.

Actual

Matches test expectations.

Evidence

New unit test for CLI cancel path

Human Verification

Verified scenarios: Scoped Vitest for cancel tests in task-registry.test.ts.
Edge cases checked: Confirms ACP/subagent mocks are not invoked for CLI.
What I did not verify: Full pnpm check / pnpm build (local tree has unrelated TS/build failures on this checkout).

Review Conversations

I replied to or resolved every bot review conversation I addressed in this PR.

Compatibility / Migration

Backward compatible? Yes
Config/env changes? No
Migration needed? No

Risks and Mitigations

Risk: Cancelling while a CLI run is still live does not abort the agent run; it only updates task registry state (same class of limitation as other operator-driven terminal updates if completion races).
- Mitigation: Matches prior behavior for non-CLI paths that only had registry + session kill where applicable; documented in docs/automation/tasks.md.

Made with Cursor

greptile-apps · 2026-04-07T13:04:37Z

Greptile Summary

Adds cli as a supported runtime in cancelTaskById so openclaw tasks cancel no longer returns "Task runtime does not support cancellation yet" for CLI-tracked tasks. The implementation is correct for the normal case and is well-tested and documented. Two minor P2 issues noted below.

Confidence Score: 5/5

Safe to merge; all findings are P2 style/edge-case issues that do not affect the primary cancel path.

The core logic change is correct, covered by a focused new test, and properly documented. Remaining comments are a changelog placement policy violation and a defensive guard-ordering concern for an edge case the PR author acknowledges is not exercised in production.

CHANGELOG.md (entry placement); src/tasks/task-registry.ts (childSessionKey guard ordering for the CLI branch).

Comments Outside Diff (1)

src/tasks/task-registry.ts, line 1721-1728 (link)

childSessionKey guard fires before the CLI branch

This guard returns early for any task whose childSessionKey is absent, including cli tasks. For the cli runtime there is no separate process to kill — childSessionKey is only a session reference — so a CLI task without this field could still be safely cancelled. If a legacy record or a partial-write leaves childSessionKey unset on a CLI task, the operator gets "Task has no cancellable child session" instead of a successful cancellation, even though there is nothing to stop. Consider either evaluating the cli branch before this guard, or exempting runtime === "cli" from the guard entirely.

Prompt To Fix With AI

This is a comment left during a code review.
Path: src/tasks/task-registry.ts
Line: 1721-1728

Comment:
**`childSessionKey` guard fires before the CLI branch**

This guard returns early for any task whose `childSessionKey` is absent, including `cli` tasks. For the `cli` runtime there is no separate process to kill — `childSessionKey` is only a session reference — so a CLI task without this field could still be safely cancelled. If a legacy record or a partial-write leaves `childSessionKey` unset on a CLI task, the operator gets "Task has no cancellable child session" instead of a successful cancellation, even though there is nothing to stop. Consider either evaluating the `cli` branch before this guard, or exempting `runtime === "cli"` from the guard entirely.

How can I resolve this? If you propose a fix, please make it concise.

Prompt To Fix All With AI

This is a comment left during a code review.
Path: CHANGELOG.md
Line: 32

Comment:
**Changelog entry at top of section**

This entry is placed immediately after the `### Fixes` heading, making it the first entry in the section. The repo rule in `CLAUDE.md` says to append new entries to the **end** of the target section; do not insert at the top. Move this line to after the last existing entry in the `### Fixes` block.

How can I resolve this? If you propose a fix, please make it concise.

---

This is a comment left during a code review.
Path: src/tasks/task-registry.ts
Line: 1721-1728

Comment:
**`childSessionKey` guard fires before the CLI branch**

This guard returns early for any task whose `childSessionKey` is absent, including `cli` tasks. For the `cli` runtime there is no separate process to kill — `childSessionKey` is only a session reference — so a CLI task without this field could still be safely cancelled. If a legacy record or a partial-write leaves `childSessionKey` unset on a CLI task, the operator gets "Task has no cancellable child session" instead of a successful cancellation, even though there is nothing to stop. Consider either evaluating the `cli` branch before this guard, or exempting `runtime === "cli"` from the guard entirely.

How can I resolve this? If you propose a fix, please make it concise.

_{Reviews (1): Last reviewed commit: "Tasks: allow openclaw tasks cancel for C..." | Re-trigger Greptile}

neeravmakwana · 2026-04-07T13:07:24Z

Follow-up (review feedback)

Greptile / changelog

Moved the Unreleased → Fixes changelog line to the end of the ### Fixes block per repo policy (append, not prepend).

Greptile / `childSessionKey` guard

The early return for a missing childSessionKey now does not apply to runtime === "cli", so operator cancel can still clear legacy or partial CLI rows with no session key. ACP/subagent behavior is unchanged (they still require a key).
Added unit test: cancels CLI-tracked tasks without childSessionKey.

Aisle (lifecycle vs operator cancel)

The agent lifecycle listener no longer applies a patch.status update when the task is already terminal (isTerminalTaskStatus). That prevents a late lifecycle end from overwriting cancelled with succeeded after operator cancel (or any other terminal row from being “revived” by lifecycle).
Added unit test: does not overwrite operator-cancelled terminal status with lifecycle end.

Verification

pnpm test src/tasks/task-registry.test.ts (full file) — all green.

Commit: 42fcba7dd7 on fix/cli-tasks-cancel-62419.

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obviyus

Reviewed latest changes; landing now.

obviyus · 2026-04-09T11:46:26Z

Landed on main.

Landed source commit: 0f4dd0b
Merge commit: 7f71460

Thanks @neeravmakwana.

…@neeravmakwana

…@neeravmakwana) * Tasks: allow openclaw tasks cancel for CLI runtime (#62419) Made-with: Cursor * Tasks: address review — changelog order, CLI cancel without session, lock terminal status Made-with: Cursor * fix: freeze terminal task listener updates * fix: clean changelog block for CLI task cancel (#62506) (thanks @neeravmakwana) --------- Co-authored-by: Ayaan Zaidi <hi@obviy.us>

@neeravmakwana

… (thanks @neeravmakwana) * Tasks: allow openclaw tasks cancel for CLI runtime (openclaw#62419) Made-with: Cursor * Tasks: address review — changelog order, CLI cancel without session, lock terminal status Made-with: Cursor * fix: freeze terminal task listener updates * fix: clean changelog block for CLI task cancel (openclaw#62506) (thanks @neeravmakwana) --------- Co-authored-by: Ayaan Zaidi <hi@obviy.us>

@neeravmakwana

… (thanks @neeravmakwana) * Tasks: allow openclaw tasks cancel for CLI runtime (openclaw#62419) Made-with: Cursor * Tasks: address review — changelog order, CLI cancel without session, lock terminal status Made-with: Cursor * fix: freeze terminal task listener updates * fix: clean changelog block for CLI task cancel (openclaw#62506) (thanks @neeravmakwana) --------- Co-authored-by: Ayaan Zaidi <hi@obviy.us>

@neeravmakwana

… (thanks @neeravmakwana) * Tasks: allow openclaw tasks cancel for CLI runtime (openclaw#62419) Made-with: Cursor * Tasks: address review — changelog order, CLI cancel without session, lock terminal status Made-with: Cursor * fix: freeze terminal task listener updates * fix: clean changelog block for CLI task cancel (openclaw#62506) (thanks @neeravmakwana) --------- Co-authored-by: Ayaan Zaidi <hi@obviy.us>

@neeravmakwana

… (thanks @neeravmakwana) * Tasks: allow openclaw tasks cancel for CLI runtime (openclaw#62419) Made-with: Cursor * Tasks: address review — changelog order, CLI cancel without session, lock terminal status Made-with: Cursor * fix: freeze terminal task listener updates * fix: clean changelog block for CLI task cancel (openclaw#62506) (thanks @neeravmakwana) --------- Co-authored-by: Ayaan Zaidi <hi@obviy.us>

@neeravmakwana

… (thanks @neeravmakwana) * Tasks: allow openclaw tasks cancel for CLI runtime (openclaw#62419) Made-with: Cursor * Tasks: address review — changelog order, CLI cancel without session, lock terminal status Made-with: Cursor * fix: freeze terminal task listener updates * fix: clean changelog block for CLI task cancel (openclaw#62506) (thanks @neeravmakwana) --------- Co-authored-by: Ayaan Zaidi <hi@obviy.us>

neeravmakwana mentioned this pull request Apr 7, 2026

Bug: tasks cancel returns 'Task runtime does not support cancellation yet' - no way to clear stale_running CLI tasks #62419

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openclaw-barnacle Bot added docs Improvements or additions to documentation size: S labels Apr 7, 2026

greptile-apps Bot reviewed Apr 7, 2026

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neeravmakwana and others added 3 commits April 9, 2026 16:49

Tasks: allow openclaw tasks cancel for CLI runtime (openclaw#62419)

04cdda9

Made-with: Cursor

Tasks: address review — changelog order, CLI cancel without session, …

6cb24c1

…lock terminal status Made-with: Cursor

fix: freeze terminal task listener updates

189fc01

obviyus force-pushed the fix/cli-tasks-cancel-62419 branch from 43f3f12 to 189fc01 Compare April 9, 2026 11:21

chatgpt-codex-connector Bot reviewed Apr 9, 2026

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obviyus self-assigned this Apr 9, 2026

fix: clean changelog block for CLI task cancel (openclaw#62506) (thanks

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@neeravmakwana)

obviyus approved these changes Apr 9, 2026

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obviyus merged commit 7f71460 into openclaw:main Apr 9, 2026
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📡 Upstream Digest — 2026-04-09 13:04 UTC curtismercier/openclaw-mods#520

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Tasks: allow `openclaw tasks cancel` for CLI runtime (#62419)#62506

Tasks: allow `openclaw tasks cancel` for CLI runtime (#62419)#62506
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neeravmakwana commented Apr 7, 2026

Summary

Change Type

Scope

Linked Issue/PR

Root Cause

Regression Test Plan

User-visible / Behavior Changes

Diagram

Security Impact

Repro + Verification

Environment

Steps

Expected

Actual

Evidence

Human Verification

Review Conversations

Compatibility / Migration

Risks and Mitigations

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Greptile Summary

Confidence Score: 5/5

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neeravmakwana commented Apr 7, 2026

Follow-up (review feedback)

Greptile / changelog

Greptile / childSessionKey guard

Aisle (lifecycle vs operator cancel)

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