fix: cancel compaction instead of truncating history when summarization fails (#10711)

* fix: cancel compaction instead of truncating history when summarization fails

When the compaction safeguard cannot generate a summary (no model, no API
key, or LLM error), it previously returned a "Summary unavailable" fallback
string and still truncated history. This caused irreversible data loss -
older messages were discarded even though no meaningful summary was produced.

Now returns `{ cancel: true }` in all three failure paths so the framework
aborts compaction entirely and preserves the full conversation history.

Fixes #10332

Co-authored-by: Cursor <cursoragent@cursor.com>

* fix: use deterministic timestamps in compaction safeguard tests

Replace Date.now() with fixed timestamp (0) in test data to prevent
nondeterministic behavior in snapshot-based or order-dependent tests.

Co-authored-by: Cursor <cursoragent@cursor.com>

* Changelog: note compaction cancellation safeguard fix

---------

Co-authored-by: Cursor <cursoragent@cursor.com>
Co-authored-by: Vincent Koc <vincentkoc@ieee.org>

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 - Config/Write: apply `unsetPaths` with immutable path-copy updates so config writes never mutate caller-provided objects, and harden `openclaw config get/set/unset` path traversal by rejecting prototype-key segments and inherited-property traversal. (#24134) thanks @frankekn.
 - Agents/Compaction: pass model metadata through the embedded runtime so safeguard summarization can run when `ctx.model` is unavailable, avoiding repeated `"Summary unavailable due to context limits"` fallback summaries. (#3479) Thanks @battman21, @hanxiao and @vincentkoc.
 - Agents/Overflow: detect additional provider context-overflow error shapes (including `input length` + `max_tokens` exceed-context variants) so failures route through compaction/recovery paths instead of leaking raw provider errors to users. (#9951) Thanks @echoVic and @Glucksberg.
+- Agents/Compaction: cancel safeguard compaction when summary generation cannot run (missing model/API key or summarization failure), preserving history instead of truncating to fallback `"Summary unavailable"` text. (#10711) Thanks @DukeDeSouth and @vincentkoc.
 - Agents/Failover: treat HTTP 502/503/504 errors as failover-eligible transient timeouts so fallback chains can switch providers/models during upstream outages instead of retrying the same failing target. (#20999) Thanks @taw0002 and @vincentkoc.
 
 ## 2026.2.23

src/agents/pi-extensions/compaction-safeguard.test.ts

@@ -388,22 +388,17 @@ describe("compaction-safeguard extension model fallback", () => {
       model: undefined, // ctx.model is undefined (simulates compact.ts workflow)
       sessionManager,
       modelRegistry: {
-        getApiKey: getApiKeyMock, // No API key, should use fallback
+        getApiKey: getApiKeyMock, // No API key should now cancel compaction
       },
     } as unknown as Partial<ExtensionContext>;
 
     // Call the handler and wait for result
     // oxlint-disable-next-line typescript/no-non-null-assertion
     const result = (await compactionHandler!(mockEvent, mockContext)) as {
-      compaction?: { summary?: string; firstKeptEntryId?: string };
+      cancel?: boolean;
     };
-    const compactionResult = result?.compaction;
 
-    // Verify that compaction returned a result (even with null API key, should use fallback)
+    expect(result).toEqual({ cancel: true });
-    expect(compactionResult).toBeDefined();
-    expect(compactionResult?.summary).toBeDefined();
-    expect(compactionResult?.summary).toContain("Summary unavailable");
-    expect(compactionResult?.firstKeptEntryId).toBe("entry-1");
 
     // KEY ASSERTION: Prove the fallback path was exercised
     // The handler should have called getApiKey with runtime.model (via ctx.model ?? runtime?.model)
@@ -414,7 +409,7 @@ describe("compaction-safeguard extension model fallback", () => {
     expect(retrieved?.model).toEqual(model);
   });
 
-  it("returns fallback summary when both ctx.model and runtime.model are undefined", async () => {
+  it("cancels compaction when both ctx.model and runtime.model are undefined", async () => {
     const sessionManager = stubSessionManager();
 
     // Do NOT set runtime.model (both ctx.model and runtime.model will be undefined)
@@ -464,15 +459,10 @@ describe("compaction-safeguard extension model fallback", () => {
 
     // oxlint-disable-next-line typescript/no-non-null-assertion
     const result = (await compactionHandler!(mockEvent, mockContext)) as {
-      compaction?: { summary?: string; firstKeptEntryId?: string };
+      cancel?: boolean;
     };
-    const compactionResult = result?.compaction;
 
-    expect(compactionResult).toBeDefined();
+    expect(result).toEqual({ cancel: true });
-    expect(compactionResult?.summary).toBe(
-      "Summary unavailable due to context limits. Older messages were truncated.",
-    );
-    expect(compactionResult?.firstKeptEntryId).toBe("entry-1");
 
     // Verify early return: getApiKey should NOT have been called when both models are missing
     expect(getApiKeyMock).not.toHaveBeenCalled();

src/agents/pi-extensions/compaction-safeguard.ts

@@ -20,8 +20,6 @@ import { collectTextContentBlocks } from "../content-blocks.js";
 import { getCompactionSafeguardRuntime } from "./compaction-safeguard-runtime.js";
 
 const log = createSubsystemLogger("compaction-safeguard");
-const FALLBACK_SUMMARY =
-  "Summary unavailable due to context limits. Older messages were truncated.";
 
 // Track session managers that have already logged the missing-model warning to avoid log spam.
 const missedModelWarningSessions = new WeakSet<object>();
@@ -200,7 +198,6 @@ export default function compactionSafeguardExtension(api: ExtensionAPI): void {
       ...preparation.turnPrefixMessages,
     ]);
     const toolFailureSection = formatToolFailuresSection(toolFailures);
-    const fallbackSummary = `${FALLBACK_SUMMARY}${toolFailureSection}${fileOpsSummary}`;
 
     // Model resolution: ctx.model is undefined in compact.ts workflow (extensionRunner.initialize() is never called).
     // Fall back to runtime.model which is explicitly passed when building extension paths.
@@ -217,26 +214,15 @@ export default function compactionSafeguardExtension(api: ExtensionAPI): void {
             "was not called and model was not passed through runtime registry.",
         );
       }
-      return {
+      return { cancel: true };
-        compaction: {
-          summary: fallbackSummary,
-          firstKeptEntryId: preparation.firstKeptEntryId,
-          tokensBefore: preparation.tokensBefore,
-          details: { readFiles, modifiedFiles },
-        },
-      };
     }
 
     const apiKey = await ctx.modelRegistry.getApiKey(model);
     if (!apiKey) {
-      return {
+      console.warn(
-        compaction: {
+        "Compaction safeguard: no API key available; cancelling compaction to preserve history.",
-          summary: fallbackSummary,
+      );
-          firstKeptEntryId: preparation.firstKeptEntryId,
+      return { cancel: true };
-          tokensBefore: preparation.tokensBefore,
-          details: { readFiles, modifiedFiles },
-        },
-      };
     }
 
     try {
@@ -375,18 +361,11 @@ export default function compactionSafeguardExtension(api: ExtensionAPI): void {
       };
     } catch (error) {
       log.warn(
-        `Compaction summarization failed; truncating history: ${
+        `Compaction summarization failed; cancelling compaction to preserve history: ${
           error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error)
         }`,
       );
-      return {
+      return { cancel: true };
-        compaction: {
-          summary: fallbackSummary,
-          firstKeptEntryId: preparation.firstKeptEntryId,
-          tokensBefore: preparation.tokensBefore,
-          details: { readFiles, modifiedFiles },
-        },
-      };
     }
   });
 }