OpenClaw merged PR #101271, "fix: keep owner tools available in WebChat", a capability-boundary fix for authenticated owners using Control UI and WebChat.
The issue affected installations with a restrictive default sender policy. Those policies are meant to limit what unidentified or external senders can do. In this case, they could also reduce an authenticated owner inside WebChat to a much smaller web/media tool set.
What Changed
Trusted owner turns on the internal WebChat channel now bypass the wildcard sender policy intended for unidentified senders. External channels still apply that wildcard policy, and plugin harness selection now uses the same owner-aware capability decision.
The important distinction is not "more tools everywhere." It is "owner tools for owner WebChat turns."
The PR keeps the boundary narrow:
- Authenticated owner in WebChat keeps configured shell, filesystem, and other owner tools.
- Unidentified senders remain governed by the wildcard sender policy.
- Owner turns through external channels such as Discord stay restricted when policy says they should.
- Harness selection follows the same owner-aware rule instead of drifting into a different capability profile.
Why It Matters
Control UI is where many operators expect the full owner experience. If WebChat silently falls back to an external-sender profile, the UI can look broken: commands disappear, filesystem work is unavailable, and ordinary owner workflows fail even though the operator is authenticated.
At the same time, relaxing sender policy too broadly would be dangerous. OpenClaw installations often expose channel plugins to people, groups, or automations that should not receive owner-grade tools.
This PR fixes the owner experience without turning the wildcard sender policy into a global bypass.
Proof From The PR
The PR body reports live authenticated Control UI/WebChat verification where the fixed session compiled 28 tools, including exec, read, write, and process, then successfully executed a shell command. Before the fix, the same WebChat session compiled only 6 restricted tools.
Regression coverage also checks that owner WebChat bypasses the wildcard sender policy while owner turns on Discord remain restricted.
Validation
The reported test evidence includes 68 focused tests across conversation capability profile and harness selection, a passing core typecheck, a full build, and a branch-mode autoreview with no actionable findings.
Bottom Line
OpenClaw now preserves the tool boundary operators expect: WebChat owners keep owner tools, while external and unidentified senders remain constrained by sender policy.