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Session tracking and OPENCLAW_SESSION preamble not gated by telemetry config #1150
Description
Problem
Enterprise security scanners flag gstack installations due to strings in every generated SKILL.md preamble:
mkdir -p ~/.gstack/sessions
touch ~/.gstack/sessions/"$PPID"
_SESSIONS=$(find ~/.gstack/sessions -mmin -120 -type f 2>/dev/null | wc -l | tr -d ' ')
find ~/.gstack/sessions -mmin +120 -type f -exec rm {} + 2>/dev/null || true[ -n "$OPENCLAW_SESSION" ] && echo "SPAWNED_SESSION: true" || trueThese run regardless of the telemetry: off config setting. The telemetry config only gates remote data sending and local JSONL analytics, but session file creation, session cleanup via find, and the OPENCLAW_SESSION env var check are unconditional in the preamble.
At my company, a custom security rule monitoring for OpenClaw strings and suspicious find commands in shell initialization scripts triggered an alert, requiring investigation and remediation.
Current behavior
scripts/resolvers/preamble.tsembeds session tracking andOPENCLAW_SESSIONdetection into every SKILL.md- Setting
telemetry: offin~/.gstack/config.yamldoes not disable these - 765+ references across all generated SKILL.md files (every host variant × every skill)
Suggested improvement
- Gate session tracking behind telemetry config — wrap
mkdir/touch/findfor~/.gstack/sessions/in the same_TEL != "off"guard used for analytics - Gate
OPENCLAW_SESSIONdetection behind a config flag — or remove it from the preamble entirely since it's only relevant when running inside OpenClaw - Document what
telemetry: offactually disables — current config comments imply it controls all data collection, but session files are still created on disk
This would let enterprise users set telemetry: off and have confidence that no session tracking artifacts are created on disk.
Workaround
Manually strip the patterns from all generated SKILL.md files after installation. This works but gets overwritten on gstack-upgrade.
Activity
hui-zheng commentedon Apr 22, 2026
Note: After filing this, I found these closely related existing issues:
telemetry: offThis issue is essentially a real-world enterprise case of what #467 predicted — security tooling flagging the
find ~/.gstack/sessionsandOPENCLAW_SESSIONpatterns. Happy to close as duplicate if maintainers prefer to track under #467 or #1080.hui-zheng commentedon Apr 22, 2026
Closing as duplicate of #467 and #1080 which already track these concerns. This issue adds a real-world enterprise scanner trigger as additional evidence — see the cross-references above.
hui-zheng commentedon Apr 22, 2026
Reopening — after checking upstream
main, the session tracking andOPENCLAW_SESSIONpatterns are still present and ungated inscripts/resolvers/preamble/generate-preamble-bash.ts:And in
generate-spawned-session-check.ts:#467 was closed as "partially addressed" — local JSONL writes were gated, but session file creation and
OPENCLAW_SESSIONdetection were not. These are the specific patterns that trigger enterprise security scanners.What's still needed:
mkdir/touch/findfor~/.gstack/sessions/behind_TEL != "off"(or a separatesession_trackingconfig flag)OPENCLAW_SESSIONenv var check from the default preamblegstack-timeline-logbehind telemetry configThese are distinct from #1080 (local JSONL) and #1081 (update-check network calls) — this is about on-disk session file artifacts and string patterns that security tooling flags.
jbetala7 commentedon Apr 24, 2026
Opened PR #1188 to address the ungated preamble tracking and direct OPENCLAW_SESSION preamble string: #1188
fix(telemetry): gate preamble session tracking on telemetry config
time-attack commentedon Jul 15, 2026
@hui-zheng The distinction between telemetry and functional session or timeline state remains unresolved and must be defined before changing persistence when telemetry is off.
v1.91.92.0 feat(outside-voice): enforce codex_reviews consent in the …
capy-ai commentedon Oct 11, 2026
Fixed in v1.91.92.0 (3b7254a, #3144). The README's Privacy & Telemetry section and the telemetry consent text now match what gstack does: the update check's network call, what telemetry sends, the session tracking that isn't gated, and outside-review egress (on by default, with a first-send notice and
codex_reviewsto turn it off). Thanks for flagging the gap.capy-ai commentedon Oct 11, 2026
A correction to my close note, to be precise about what changed. #3144 fixed the disclosure, not the behavior. The README now documents session markers and the timeline as local-only state, which never leaves the machine. They still run when telemetry is off, because they power local features. If you'd like them gated behind the telemetry setting as well, reopen this and we'll treat that as a behavior change.
v1.91.92.0 feat(outside-voice): enforce codex_reviews consent in the …