WhatsApp Auto-Reply Bug Silently Drops Media Images in OpenClaw 2026.4.2

WhatsApp Auto-Reply Media Delivery Failure

A user has identified a bug in OpenClaw version 2026.4.2 where WhatsApp auto-replies containing media attachments fail to deliver images. The issue occurs specifically when using the MEDIA:./path/to/image.png format in auto-reply responses.

Problem Details

The bug manifests only under specific conditions:

• WhatsApp auto-reply with MEDIA: format → image silently dropped ❌
• WhatsApp auto-reply with text only → works ✅
• Same MEDIA: format on Telegram auto-reply → image delivered ✅
• openclaw agent --deliver → image delivered on WhatsApp ✅
• openclaw message send --media → image delivered ✅

The exact same agent configuration, OpenClaw version, and chart-mpl skill work perfectly on Telegram, indicating the issue is WhatsApp-specific.

Root Cause

Code tracing reveals the problem originates in the WhatsApp deliver callback function in login-DW2Orybl.js. The function filters out all non-final payloads:

deliver: async (payload, info) => { if (info.kind !== "final") return;

This filtering logic appears to be preventing media attachments from being processed in auto-reply scenarios on WhatsApp.

This type of platform-specific delivery bug is common when working with multiple messaging APIs, as each service has different payload handling requirements and webhook behaviors.