config: dedupe validate formatting and add io regression coverage

src/cli/config-cli.test.ts

@@ -198,7 +198,7 @@ describe("config cli", () => {
 
     it("prints issues and exits 1 when config is invalid", async () => {
       setSnapshotOnce({
-        path: "/tmp/openclaw.json",
+        path: "/tmp/custom-openclaw.json",
         exists: true,
         raw: "{}",
         parsed: {},
@@ -226,7 +226,7 @@ describe("config cli", () => {
 
     it("returns machine-readable JSON with --json for invalid config", async () => {
       setSnapshotOnce({
-        path: "/tmp/openclaw.json",
+        path: "/tmp/custom-openclaw.json",
         exists: true,
         raw: "{}",
         parsed: {},
@@ -250,7 +250,7 @@ describe("config cli", () => {
         issues: Array<{ path: string; message: string }>;
       };
       expect(payload.valid).toBe(false);
-      expect(payload.path).toContain("openclaw.json");
+      expect(payload.path).toBe("/tmp/custom-openclaw.json");
       expect(payload.issues).toEqual([{ path: "gateway.bind", message: "Invalid enum value" }]);
       expect(mockError).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
     });

src/cli/config-cli.ts

@@ -16,6 +16,10 @@ type PathSegment = string;
 type ConfigSetParseOpts = {
   strictJson?: boolean;
 };
+type ConfigIssue = {
+  path: string;
+  message: string;
+};
 
 const OLLAMA_API_KEY_PATH: PathSegment[] = ["models", "providers", "ollama", "apiKey"];
 const OLLAMA_PROVIDER_PATH: PathSegment[] = ["models", "providers", "ollama"];
@@ -98,6 +102,21 @@ function hasOwnPathKey(value: Record<string, unknown>, key: string): boolean {
   return Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty.call(value, key);
 }
 
+function normalizeConfigIssues(issues: ReadonlyArray<ConfigIssue>): ConfigIssue[] {
+  return issues.map((issue) => ({
+    path: issue.path || "<root>",
+    message: issue.message,
+  }));
+}
+
+function formatConfigIssueLines(issues: ReadonlyArray<ConfigIssue>, marker: string): string[] {
+  return normalizeConfigIssues(issues).map((issue) => `${marker} ${issue.path}: ${issue.message}`);
+}
+
+function formatDoctorHint(message: string): string {
+  return `Run \`${formatCliCommand("openclaw doctor")}\` ${message}`;
+}
+
 function validatePathSegments(path: PathSegment[]): void {
   for (const segment of path) {
     if (!isIndexSegment(segment) && isBlockedObjectKey(segment)) {
@@ -230,10 +249,10 @@ async function loadValidConfig(runtime: RuntimeEnv = defaultRuntime) {
     return snapshot;
   }
   runtime.error(`Config invalid at ${shortenHomePath(snapshot.path)}.`);
-  for (const issue of snapshot.issues) {
-    runtime.error(`- ${issue.path || "<root>"}: ${issue.message}`);
+  for (const line of formatConfigIssueLines(snapshot.issues, "-")) {
+    runtime.error(line);
   }
-  runtime.error(`Run \`${formatCliCommand("openclaw doctor")}\` to repair, then retry.`);
+  runtime.error(formatDoctorHint("to repair, then retry."));
   runtime.exit(1);
   return snapshot;
 }
@@ -338,15 +357,16 @@ export async function runConfigFile(opts: { runtime?: RuntimeEnv }) {
 
 export async function runConfigValidate(opts: { json?: boolean; runtime?: RuntimeEnv } = {}) {
   const runtime = opts.runtime ?? defaultRuntime;
-  const configPath = CONFIG_PATH ?? "openclaw.json";
-  const shortPath = shortenHomePath(configPath);
+  let outputPath = CONFIG_PATH ?? "openclaw.json";
 
   try {
     const snapshot = await readConfigFileSnapshot();
+    outputPath = snapshot.path;
+    const shortPath = shortenHomePath(outputPath);
 
     if (!snapshot.exists) {
       if (opts.json) {
-        runtime.log(JSON.stringify({ valid: false, path: configPath, error: "file not found" }));
+        runtime.log(JSON.stringify({ valid: false, path: outputPath, error: "file not found" }));
       } else {
         runtime.error(danger(`Config file not found: ${shortPath}`));
       }
@@ -355,35 +375,30 @@ export async function runConfigValidate(opts: { json?: boolean; runtime?: Runtim
     }
 
     if (!snapshot.valid) {
-      const issues = snapshot.issues.map((iss) => ({
-        path: iss.path || "<root>",
-        message: iss.message,
-      }));
+      const issues = normalizeConfigIssues(snapshot.issues);
 
       if (opts.json) {
-        runtime.log(JSON.stringify({ valid: false, path: configPath, issues }, null, 2));
+        runtime.log(JSON.stringify({ valid: false, path: outputPath, issues }, null, 2));
       } else {
         runtime.error(danger(`Config invalid at ${shortPath}:`));
-        for (const issue of issues) {
-          runtime.error(`  ${danger("×")} ${issue.path}: ${issue.message}`);
+        for (const line of formatConfigIssueLines(issues, danger("×"))) {
+          runtime.error(`  ${line}`);
         }
         runtime.error("");
-        runtime.error(
-          `Run \`${formatCliCommand("openclaw doctor")}\` to repair, or fix the keys above manually.`,
-        );
+        runtime.error(formatDoctorHint("to repair, or fix the keys above manually."));
       }
       runtime.exit(1);
       return;
     }
 
     if (opts.json) {
-      runtime.log(JSON.stringify({ valid: true, path: configPath }));
+      runtime.log(JSON.stringify({ valid: true, path: outputPath }));
     } else {
       runtime.log(success(`Config valid: ${shortPath}`));
     }
   } catch (err) {
     if (opts.json) {
-      runtime.log(JSON.stringify({ valid: false, path: configPath, error: String(err) }));
+      runtime.log(JSON.stringify({ valid: false, path: outputPath, error: String(err) }));
     } else {
       runtime.error(danger(`Config validation error: ${String(err)}`));
     }

src/config/io.compat.test.ts

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import fs from "node:fs/promises";
 import os from "node:os";
 import path from "node:path";
-import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import { describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
 import { createConfigIO } from "./io.js";
 
 async function withTempHome(run: (home: string) => Promise<void>): Promise<void> {
@@ -137,4 +137,33 @@ describe("config io paths", () => {
       expect(cfg.agents?.list?.[0]?.tools?.exec?.safeBinTrustedDirs).toEqual(["/ops/bin"]);
     });
   });
+
+  it("logs invalid config path details and returns empty config", async () => {
+    await withTempHome(async (home) => {
+      const configDir = path.join(home, ".openclaw");
+      await fs.mkdir(configDir, { recursive: true });
+      const configPath = path.join(configDir, "openclaw.json");
+      await fs.writeFile(
+        configPath,
+        JSON.stringify({ gateway: { port: "not-a-number" } }, null, 2),
+      );
+
+      const logger = {
+        warn: vi.fn(),
+        error: vi.fn(),
+      };
+
+      const io = createConfigIO({
+        env: {} as NodeJS.ProcessEnv,
+        homedir: () => home,
+        logger,
+      });
+
+      expect(io.loadConfig()).toEqual({});
+      expect(logger.error).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+        expect.stringContaining(`Invalid config at ${configPath}:\\n`),
+      );
+      expect(logger.error).toHaveBeenCalledWith(expect.stringContaining("- gateway.port:"));
+    });
+  });
 });