fix: strip sentence-ending heartbeat token punctuation (openclaw#15847) thanks @Spacefish

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 
 - Agents/Heartbeat: stop auto-creating `HEARTBEAT.md` during workspace bootstrap so missing files continue to run heartbeat as documented. (#11766) Thanks @shadril238.
 - CLI: lazily load outbound provider dependencies and remove forced success-path exits so commands terminate naturally without killing intentional long-running foreground actions. (#12906) Thanks @DrCrinkle.
+- Auto-reply/Heartbeat: strip sentence-ending `HEARTBEAT_OK` tokens even when followed by up to 4 punctuation characters, while preserving surrounding sentence punctuation. (#15847) Thanks @Spacefish.
 - Clawdock: avoid Zsh readonly variable collisions in helper scripts. (#15501) Thanks @nkelner.
 - Discord: route autoThread replies to existing threads instead of the root channel. (#8302) Thanks @gavinbmoore, @thewilloftheshadow.
 - Discord/Agents: apply channel/group `historyLimit` during embedded-runner history compaction to prevent long-running channel sessions from bypassing truncation and overflowing context windows. (#11224) Thanks @shadril238.

src/auto-reply/heartbeat.test.ts

@@ -127,8 +127,8 @@ describe("stripHeartbeatToken", () => {
     });
   });
 
-  it("does not strip trailing punctuation from unrelated text containing the token", () => {
-    // Token is in the middle — trailing dot belongs to surrounding sentence, not the token
+  it("strips a sentence-ending token and keeps trailing punctuation", () => {
+    // Token appears at sentence end with trailing punctuation.
     expect(
       stripHeartbeatToken(`I should not respond ${HEARTBEAT_TOKEN}.`, {
         mode: "message",
@@ -140,11 +140,24 @@ describe("stripHeartbeatToken", () => {
     });
   });
 
+  it("strips sentence-ending token with emphasis punctuation in heartbeat mode", () => {
+    expect(
+      stripHeartbeatToken(
+        `There is nothing todo, so i should respond with ${HEARTBEAT_TOKEN} !!!`,
+        {
+          mode: "heartbeat",
+        },
+      ),
+    ).toEqual({
+      shouldSkip: true,
+      text: "",
+      didStrip: true,
+    });
+  });
+
   it("preserves trailing punctuation on text before the token", () => {
     // Token at end, preceding text has its own punctuation — only the token is stripped
-    expect(
-      stripHeartbeatToken(`All clear. ${HEARTBEAT_TOKEN}`, { mode: "message" }),
-    ).toEqual({
+    expect(stripHeartbeatToken(`All clear. ${HEARTBEAT_TOKEN}`, { mode: "message" })).toEqual({
       shouldSkip: false,
       text: "All clear.",
       didStrip: true,

src/auto-reply/heartbeat.ts

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-import { HEARTBEAT_TOKEN } from "./tokens.js";
 import { escapeRegExp } from "../utils.js";
+import { HEARTBEAT_TOKEN } from "./tokens.js";
 
 // Default heartbeat prompt (used when config.agents.defaults.heartbeat.prompt is unset).
 // Keep it tight and avoid encouraging the model to invent/rehash "open loops" from prior chat context.
@@ -66,6 +66,9 @@ function stripTokenAtEdges(raw: string): { text: string; didStrip: boolean } {
   }
 
   const token = HEARTBEAT_TOKEN;
+  const tokenAtEndWithOptionalTrailingPunctuation = new RegExp(
+    `${escapeRegExp(token)}[^\\w]{0,4}$`,
+  );
   if (!text.includes(token)) {
     return { text, didStrip: false };
   }
@@ -84,12 +87,17 @@ function stripTokenAtEdges(raw: string): { text: string; didStrip: boolean } {
     }
     // Strip the token when it appears at the end of the text.
     // Also strip up to 4 trailing non-word characters the model may have appended
-    // (e.g. ".", "!!!", "---"), but only when the token is the entire remaining text
-    // (^ anchor). This prevents mangling sentences like "I should not respond HEARTBEAT_OK."
-    // where the punctuation belongs to the surrounding text.
-    if (new RegExp(`${escapeRegExp(token)}[^\\w]{0,4}$`).test(next)) {
+    // (e.g. ".", "!!!", "---"). Keep trailing punctuation only when real
+    // sentence text exists before the token.
+    if (tokenAtEndWithOptionalTrailingPunctuation.test(next)) {
       const idx = next.lastIndexOf(token);
-      text = `${next.slice(0, idx).trimEnd()}${next.slice(idx + token.length)}`.trimEnd();
+      const before = next.slice(0, idx).trimEnd();
+      if (!before) {
+        text = "";
+      } else {
+        const after = next.slice(idx + token.length).trimStart();
+        text = `${before}${after}`.trimEnd();
+      }
       didStrip = true;
       changed = true;
     }