fix: stop leaking reply tags in iMessage outbound text (#39512) (thanks @mvanhorn)

* fix: stop leaking reply tags in iMessage outbound text (#39512) (thanks @mvanhorn)

* fix: preserve iMessage outbound whitespace without directive tags (#39512) (thanks @mvanhorn)

---------

Co-authored-by: Ayaan Zaidi <hi@obviy.us>

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 - Feishu: use the original message `create_time` instead of `Date.now()` for inbound timestamps so offline-retried messages carry the correct authoring time, preventing mis-targeted agent actions on stale instructions. (#52809) Thanks @schumilin.
 - Plugins/SDK: thread `moduleUrl` through plugin-sdk alias resolution so user-installed plugins outside the openclaw directory (e.g. `~/.openclaw/extensions/`) correctly resolve `openclaw/plugin-sdk/*` subpath imports, and gate `plugin-sdk:check-exports` in `release:check`. (#54283) Thanks @xieyongliang.
 - Telegram/pairing: ignore self-authored DM `message` updates so bot-pinned status cards and similar service updates do not trigger bogus pairing requests or re-enter inbound dispatch. (#54530) thanks @huntharo
+- iMessage: stop leaking inline `[[reply_to:...]]` tags into delivered text by sending `reply_to` as RPC metadata and stripping stray directive tags from outbound messages. (#39512) Thanks @mvanhorn.
 
 ## 2026.3.24
 

extensions/imessage/src/channel.outbound.test.ts

@@ -269,18 +269,19 @@ describe("sendMessageIMessage", () => {
     expect(result.messageId).toBe("123");
   });
 
-  it("prepends reply tag as the first token when replyToId is provided", async () => {
+  it("passes replyToId as separate reply_to param instead of embedding in text", async () => {
     requestMock.mockClear().mockResolvedValue({ ok: true });
     stopMock.mockClear().mockResolvedValue(undefined);
 
-    await sendWithDefaults("chat_id:123", "  hello\nworld", {
+    await sendWithDefaults("chat_id:123", "hello world", {
       replyToId: "abc-123",
     });
     const params = getSentParams();
-    expect(params.text).toBe("[[reply_to:abc-123]] hello\nworld");
+    expect(params.text).toBe("hello world");
+    expect(params.reply_to).toBe("abc-123");
   });
 
-  it("rewrites an existing leading reply tag to keep the requested id first", async () => {
+  it("strips inline reply tags from text and passes replyToId as reply_to param", async () => {
     requestMock.mockClear().mockResolvedValue({ ok: true });
     stopMock.mockClear().mockResolvedValue(undefined);
 
@@ -288,10 +289,11 @@ describe("sendMessageIMessage", () => {
       replyToId: "new-id",
     });
     const params = getSentParams();
-    expect(params.text).toBe("[[reply_to:new-id]] hello");
+    expect(params.text).toBe("hello");
+    expect(params.reply_to).toBe("new-id");
   });
 
-  it("sanitizes replyToId before writing the leading reply tag", async () => {
+  it("sanitizes replyToId before passing as reply_to param", async () => {
     requestMock.mockClear().mockResolvedValue({ ok: true });
     stopMock.mockClear().mockResolvedValue(undefined);
 
@@ -299,10 +301,11 @@ describe("sendMessageIMessage", () => {
       replyToId: " [ab]\n\u0000c\td ] ",
     });
     const params = getSentParams();
-    expect(params.text).toBe("[[reply_to:abcd]] hello");
+    expect(params.text).toBe("hello");
+    expect(params.reply_to).toBe("abcd");
   });
 
-  it("skips reply tagging when sanitized replyToId is empty", async () => {
+  it("omits reply_to param when sanitized replyToId is empty", async () => {
     requestMock.mockClear().mockResolvedValue({ ok: true });
     stopMock.mockClear().mockResolvedValue(undefined);
 
@@ -311,6 +314,35 @@ describe("sendMessageIMessage", () => {
     });
     const params = getSentParams();
     expect(params.text).toBe("hello");
+    expect(params.reply_to).toBeUndefined();
+  });
+
+  it("strips stray [[reply_to:...]] tags from text even without replyToId option", async () => {
+    requestMock.mockClear().mockResolvedValue({ ok: true });
+    stopMock.mockClear().mockResolvedValue(undefined);
+
+    await sendWithDefaults("chat_id:123", "[[reply_to:65]] Great question");
+    const params = getSentParams();
+    expect(params.text).toBe("Great question");
+    expect(params.reply_to).toBeUndefined();
+  });
+
+  it("strips [[audio_as_voice]] tags from outbound text", async () => {
+    requestMock.mockClear().mockResolvedValue({ ok: true });
+    stopMock.mockClear().mockResolvedValue(undefined);
+
+    await sendWithDefaults("chat_id:123", "hello [[audio_as_voice]] world");
+    const params = getSentParams();
+    expect(params.text).toBe("hello world");
+  });
+
+  it("throws when text is only directive tags and no media", async () => {
+    requestMock.mockClear().mockResolvedValue({ ok: true });
+    stopMock.mockClear().mockResolvedValue(undefined);
+
+    await expect(sendWithDefaults("chat_id:123", "[[reply_to:65]]")).rejects.toThrow(
+      "iMessage send requires text or media",
+    );
   });
 
   it("normalizes string message_id values from rpc result", async () => {

extensions/imessage/src/send.ts

@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import { resolveMarkdownTableMode } from "openclaw/plugin-sdk/config-runtime";
 import { kindFromMime } from "openclaw/plugin-sdk/media-runtime";
 import { resolveOutboundAttachmentFromUrl } from "openclaw/plugin-sdk/media-runtime";
 import { convertMarkdownTables } from "openclaw/plugin-sdk/text-runtime";
+import { stripInlineDirectiveTagsForDelivery } from "openclaw/plugin-sdk/text-runtime";
 import { resolveIMessageAccount, type ResolvedIMessageAccount } from "./accounts.js";
 import { createIMessageRpcClient, type IMessageRpcClient } from "./client.js";
 import { formatIMessageChatTarget, type IMessageService, parseIMessageTarget } from "./targets.js";
@@ -34,7 +35,6 @@ export type IMessageSendResult = {
   messageId: string;
 };
 
-const LEADING_REPLY_TAG_RE = /^\s*\[\[\s*reply_to\s*:\s*([^\]\n]+)\s*\]\]\s*/i;
 const MAX_REPLY_TO_ID_LENGTH = 256;
 
 function stripUnsafeReplyTagChars(value: string): string {
@@ -64,21 +64,6 @@ function sanitizeReplyToId(rawReplyToId?: string): string | undefined {
   return sanitized;
 }
 
-function prependReplyTagIfNeeded(message: string, replyToId?: string): string {
-  const resolvedReplyToId = sanitizeReplyToId(replyToId);
-  if (!resolvedReplyToId) {
-    return message;
-  }
-  const replyTag = `[[reply_to:${resolvedReplyToId}]]`;
-  const existingLeadingTag = message.match(LEADING_REPLY_TAG_RE);
-  if (existingLeadingTag) {
-    const remainder = message.slice(existingLeadingTag[0].length).trimStart();
-    return remainder ? `${replyTag} ${remainder}` : replyTag;
-  }
-  const trimmedMessage = message.trimStart();
-  return trimmedMessage ? `${replyTag} ${trimmedMessage}` : replyTag;
-}
-
 function resolveMessageId(result: Record<string, unknown> | null | undefined): string | null {
   if (!result) {
     return null;
@@ -147,13 +132,19 @@ export async function sendMessageIMessage(
     });
     message = convertMarkdownTables(message, tableMode);
   }
-  message = prependReplyTagIfNeeded(message, opts.replyToId);
-
+  message = stripInlineDirectiveTagsForDelivery(message).text;
+  if (!message.trim() && !filePath) {
+    throw new Error("iMessage send requires text or media");
+  }
+  const resolvedReplyToId = sanitizeReplyToId(opts.replyToId);
   const params: Record<string, unknown> = {
     text: message,
     service: service || "auto",
     region,
   };
+  if (resolvedReplyToId) {
+    params.reply_to = resolvedReplyToId;
+  }
   if (filePath) {
     params.file = filePath;
   }

src/plugin-sdk/text-runtime.ts

@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ export * from "../shared/text/reasoning-tags.js";
 export * from "../shared/text/strip-markdown.js";
 export * from "../shared/scoped-expiring-id-cache.js";
 export * from "../terminal/safe-text.js";
+export * from "../utils/directive-tags.js";
 export * from "../utils.js";
 export * from "../utils/chunk-items.js";
 export * from "../utils/fetch-timeout.js";

src/utils/directive-tags.test.ts

@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import { describe, expect, test } from "vitest";
 import {
+  stripInlineDirectiveTagsForDelivery,
   stripInlineDirectiveTagsForDisplay,
   stripInlineDirectiveTagsFromMessageForDisplay,
 } from "./directive-tags.js";
@@ -27,6 +28,29 @@ describe("stripInlineDirectiveTagsForDisplay", () => {
   });
 });
 
+describe("stripInlineDirectiveTagsForDelivery", () => {
+  test("removes directives and surrounding whitespace for outbound text", () => {
+    const input = "hello [[reply_to_current]] world [[audio_as_voice]]";
+    const result = stripInlineDirectiveTagsForDelivery(input);
+    expect(result.changed).toBe(true);
+    expect(result.text).toBe("hello world");
+  });
+
+  test("preserves intentional multi-space formatting away from directives", () => {
+    const input = "a  b [[reply_to:123]] c   d";
+    const result = stripInlineDirectiveTagsForDelivery(input);
+    expect(result.changed).toBe(true);
+    expect(result.text).toBe("a  b c   d");
+  });
+
+  test("does not trim plain text when no directive tags are present", () => {
+    const input = "  keep leading and trailing whitespace  ";
+    const result = stripInlineDirectiveTagsForDelivery(input);
+    expect(result.changed).toBe(false);
+    expect(result.text).toBe(input);
+  });
+});
+
 describe("stripInlineDirectiveTagsFromMessageForDisplay", () => {
   test("strips inline directives from text content blocks", () => {
     const input = {

src/utils/directive-tags.ts

@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@ type InlineDirectiveParseOptions = {
 
 const AUDIO_TAG_RE = /\[\[\s*audio_as_voice\s*\]\]/gi;
 const REPLY_TAG_RE = /\[\[\s*(?:reply_to_current|reply_to\s*:\s*([^\]\n]+))\s*\]\]/gi;
+const INLINE_DIRECTIVE_TAG_WITH_PADDING_RE =
+  /\s*(?:\[\[\s*audio_as_voice\s*\]\]|\[\[\s*(?:reply_to_current|reply_to\s*:\s*[^\]\n]+)\s*\]\])\s*/gi;
 
 function normalizeDirectiveWhitespace(text: string): string {
   return text
@@ -52,6 +54,18 @@ export function stripInlineDirectiveTagsForDisplay(text: string): StripInlineDir
   };
 }
 
+export function stripInlineDirectiveTagsForDelivery(text: string): StripInlineDirectiveTagsResult {
+  if (!text) {
+    return { text, changed: false };
+  }
+  const stripped = text.replace(INLINE_DIRECTIVE_TAG_WITH_PADDING_RE, " ");
+  const changed = stripped !== text;
+  return {
+    text: changed ? stripped.trim() : text,
+    changed,
+  };
+}
+
 function isMessageTextPart(part: MessagePart): part is MessageTextPart {
   return Boolean(part) && part?.type === "text" && typeof part.text === "string";
 }