fix: report subagent timeout as 'timed out' instead of 'completed successfully' (#13996)

* fix: report subagent timeout as 'timed out' instead of 'completed successfully'

* fix: propagate subagent timeout status across agent.wait (#13996) (thanks @dario-github)

---------

Co-authored-by: Sebastian <19554889+sebslight@users.noreply.github.com>

src/agents/openclaw-tools.subagents.sessions-spawn-announces-agent-wait-lifecycle-events.test.ts

@@ -146,4 +146,77 @@ describe("openclaw-tools: subagents", () => {
     // Session should be deleted
     expect(deletedKey?.startsWith("agent:main:subagent:")).toBe(true);
   });
+
+  it("sessions_spawn reports timed out when agent.wait returns timeout", async () => {
+    resetSubagentRegistryForTests();
+    callGatewayMock.mockReset();
+    const calls: Array<{ method?: string; params?: unknown }> = [];
+    let agentCallCount = 0;
+
+    callGatewayMock.mockImplementation(async (opts: unknown) => {
+      const request = opts as { method?: string; params?: unknown };
+      calls.push(request);
+      if (request.method === "agent") {
+        agentCallCount += 1;
+        return {
+          runId: `run-${agentCallCount}`,
+          status: "accepted",
+          acceptedAt: 5000 + agentCallCount,
+        };
+      }
+      if (request.method === "agent.wait") {
+        const params = request.params as { runId?: string } | undefined;
+        return {
+          runId: params?.runId ?? "run-1",
+          status: "timeout",
+          startedAt: 6000,
+          endedAt: 7000,
+        };
+      }
+      if (request.method === "chat.history") {
+        return {
+          messages: [
+            {
+              role: "assistant",
+              content: [{ type: "text", text: "still working" }],
+            },
+          ],
+        };
+      }
+      return {};
+    });
+
+    const tool = createOpenClawTools({
+      agentSessionKey: "discord:group:req",
+      agentChannel: "discord",
+    }).find((candidate) => candidate.name === "sessions_spawn");
+    if (!tool) {
+      throw new Error("missing sessions_spawn tool");
+    }
+
+    const result = await tool.execute("call-timeout", {
+      task: "do thing",
+      runTimeoutSeconds: 1,
+      cleanup: "keep",
+    });
+    expect(result.details).toMatchObject({
+      status: "accepted",
+      runId: "run-1",
+    });
+
+    await sleep(0);
+    await sleep(0);
+    await sleep(0);
+
+    const mainAgentCall = calls
+      .filter((call) => call.method === "agent")
+      .find((call) => {
+        const params = call.params as { lane?: string } | undefined;
+        return params?.lane !== "subagent";
+      });
+    const mainMessage = (mainAgentCall?.params as { message?: string } | undefined)?.message ?? "";
+
+    expect(mainMessage).toContain("timed out");
+    expect(mainMessage).not.toContain("completed successfully");
+  });
 });

src/agents/subagent-registry.ts

@@ -214,6 +214,8 @@ function ensureListener() {
     if (phase === "error") {
       const error = typeof evt.data?.error === "string" ? evt.data.error : undefined;
       entry.outcome = { status: "error", error };
+    } else if (evt.data?.aborted) {
+      entry.outcome = { status: "timeout" };
     } else {
       entry.outcome = { status: "ok" };
     }
@@ -336,7 +338,7 @@ async function waitForSubagentCompletion(runId: string, waitTimeoutMs: number) {
       },
       timeoutMs: timeoutMs + 10_000,
     });
-    if (wait?.status !== "ok" && wait?.status !== "error") {
+    if (wait?.status !== "ok" && wait?.status !== "error" && wait?.status !== "timeout") {
       return;
     }
     const entry = subagentRuns.get(runId);
@@ -358,7 +360,11 @@ async function waitForSubagentCompletion(runId: string, waitTimeoutMs: number) {
     }
     const waitError = typeof wait.error === "string" ? wait.error : undefined;
     entry.outcome =
-      wait.status === "error" ? { status: "error", error: waitError } : { status: "ok" };
+      wait.status === "error"
+        ? { status: "error", error: waitError }
+        : wait.status === "timeout"
+          ? { status: "timeout" }
+          : { status: "ok" };
     mutated = true;
     if (mutated) {
       persistSubagentRuns();