fix(tasks): prefer ACP spawn metadata on merge

src/agents/acp-spawn.ts

@@ -962,6 +962,7 @@ export async function spawnAcpDirect(
         runId: childRunId,
         label: params.label,
         task: params.task,
+        preferMetadata: true,
         status: "running",
         deliveryStatus: requesterInternalKey.trim() ? "pending" : "parent_missing",
         startedAt: Date.now(),
@@ -993,6 +994,7 @@ export async function spawnAcpDirect(
       runId: childRunId,
       label: params.label,
       task: params.task,
+      preferMetadata: true,
       status: "running",
       deliveryStatus: requesterInternalKey.trim() ? "pending" : "parent_missing",
       startedAt: Date.now(),

src/tasks/task-registry.test.ts

@@ -548,6 +548,7 @@ describe("task-registry", () => {
         childSessionKey: "agent:main:acp:child",
         runId: "run-shared-delivery",
         task: "Spawn ACP child",
+        preferMetadata: true,
         status: "succeeded",
         deliveryStatus: "pending",
       });
@@ -561,11 +562,56 @@ describe("task-registry", () => {
       );
       expect(findTaskByRunId("run-shared-delivery")).toMatchObject({
         taskId: directTask.taskId,
+        task: "Spawn ACP child",
         deliveryStatus: "delivered",
       });
     });
   });
 
+  it("adopts preferred ACP spawn metadata when collapsing onto an earlier direct record", async () => {
+    await withTempDir({ prefix: "openclaw-task-registry-" }, async (root) => {
+      process.env.OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR = root;
+      resetTaskRegistryForTests();
+
+      const directTask = createTaskRecord({
+        runtime: "acp",
+        requesterSessionKey: "agent:main:main",
+        requesterOrigin: {
+          channel: "telegram",
+          to: "telegram:123",
+        },
+        childSessionKey: "agent:main:acp:child",
+        runId: "run-collapse-preferred",
+        task: "Direct ACP child",
+        status: "running",
+        deliveryStatus: "pending",
+      });
+
+      const spawnedTask = createTaskRecord({
+        runtime: "acp",
+        requesterSessionKey: "agent:main:main",
+        requesterOrigin: {
+          channel: "telegram",
+          to: "telegram:123",
+        },
+        childSessionKey: "agent:main:acp:child",
+        runId: "run-collapse-preferred",
+        label: "Quant patch",
+        task: "Implement the feature and report back",
+        preferMetadata: true,
+        status: "running",
+        deliveryStatus: "pending",
+      });
+
+      expect(spawnedTask.taskId).toBe(directTask.taskId);
+      expect(findTaskByRunId("run-collapse-preferred")).toMatchObject({
+        taskId: directTask.taskId,
+        label: "Quant patch",
+        task: "Implement the feature and report back",
+      });
+    });
+  });
+
   it("collapses ACP run-owned task creation onto the existing spawned task", async () => {
     await withTempDir({ prefix: "openclaw-task-registry-" }, async (root) => {
       process.env.OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR = root;

src/tasks/task-registry.ts

@@ -247,6 +247,7 @@ function mergeExistingTaskForCreate(
     agentId?: string;
     label?: string;
     task: string;
+    preferMetadata?: boolean;
     deliveryStatus?: TaskDeliveryStatus;
     notifyPolicy?: TaskNotifyPolicy;
   },
@@ -265,8 +266,17 @@ function mergeExistingTaskForCreate(
   if (params.agentId?.trim() && !existing.agentId?.trim()) {
     patch.agentId = params.agentId.trim();
   }
-  if (params.label?.trim() && !existing.label?.trim()) {
-    patch.label = params.label.trim();
+  const nextLabel = params.label?.trim();
+  if (params.preferMetadata) {
+    if (nextLabel && normalizeComparableText(existing.label) !== nextLabel) {
+      patch.label = nextLabel;
+    }
+    const nextTask = params.task.trim();
+    if (nextTask && normalizeComparableText(existing.task) !== nextTask) {
+      patch.task = nextTask;
+    }
+  } else if (nextLabel && !existing.label?.trim()) {
+    patch.label = nextLabel;
   }
   if (params.deliveryStatus === "pending" && existing.deliveryStatus !== "delivered") {
     patch.deliveryStatus = "pending";
@@ -752,6 +762,7 @@ export function createTaskRecord(params: {
   runId?: string;
   label?: string;
   task: string;
+  preferMetadata?: boolean;
   status?: TaskStatus;
   deliveryStatus?: TaskDeliveryStatus;
   notifyPolicy?: TaskNotifyPolicy;