fix(discord): preserve non-reasoning replies with reasoning prefix text

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 
 ### Fixes
 
+- Discord/reply normalization parity: strip `<think>/<final>` reasoning tags from final/block outbound payload text before preview-finalization and delivery so user-visible replies stay aligned with cleaned final-answer policy even when transcripts contain raw tagged content. (#38291)
 - Onboarding/headless Linux daemon probe hardening: treat `systemctl --user is-enabled` probe failures as non-fatal during daemon install flow so onboarding no longer crashes on SSH/headless VPS environments before showing install guidance. (#37297) Thanks @acarbajal-web.
 - Memory/QMD mcporter Windows spawn hardening: when `mcporter.cmd` launch fails with `spawn EINVAL`, retry via bare `mcporter` shell resolution so QMD recall can continue instead of falling back to builtin memory search. (#27402) Thanks @i0ivi0i.
 - Tools/web_search Brave language-code validation: align `search_lang` handling with Brave-supported codes (including `zh-hans`, `zh-hant`, `en-gb`, and `pt-br`), map common alias inputs (`zh`, `ja`) to valid Brave values, and reject unsupported codes before upstream requests to prevent 422 failures. (#37260) Thanks @heyanming.

src/agents/tools/agent-step.test.ts

@@ -46,4 +46,24 @@ describe("readLatestAssistantReply", () => {
 
     expect(result).toBe("older output");
   });
+
+  it("normalizes reasoning tags when reading from transcript history", async () => {
+    callGatewayMock.mockResolvedValue({
+      messages: [
+        {
+          role: "assistant",
+          content: [
+            {
+              type: "text",
+              text: "<think>private reasoning</think><final>Clean answer</final>",
+            },
+          ],
+        },
+      ],
+    });
+
+    const result = await readLatestAssistantReply({ sessionKey: "agent:main:child" });
+
+    expect(result).toBe("Clean answer");
+  });
 });

src/discord/monitor/message-handler.process.test.ts

@@ -527,6 +527,45 @@ describe("processDiscordMessage draft streaming", () => {
     expect(editMessageDiscord).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
   });
 
+  it("strips reasoning tags from final payload delivery", async () => {
+    dispatchInboundMessage.mockImplementationOnce(async (params?: DispatchInboundParams) => {
+      await params?.dispatcher.sendFinalReply({
+        text: "<think>internal chain of thought</think><final>Visible answer</final>",
+      });
+      return { queuedFinal: true, counts: { final: 1, tool: 0, block: 0 } };
+    });
+
+    await processStreamOffDiscordMessage();
+
+    expect(deliverDiscordReply).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    expect(deliverDiscordReply).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      expect.objectContaining({
+        replies: [expect.objectContaining({ text: "Visible answer" })],
+      }),
+    );
+  });
+
+  it("does not drop non-reasoning final payloads that start with Reasoning prefix text", async () => {
+    dispatchInboundMessage.mockImplementationOnce(async (params?: DispatchInboundParams) => {
+      await params?.dispatcher.sendFinalReply({
+        text: "Reasoning:\nThis heading is intentional user-facing content",
+      });
+      return { queuedFinal: true, counts: { final: 1, tool: 0, block: 0 } };
+    });
+
+    await processStreamOffDiscordMessage();
+
+    expect(deliverDiscordReply).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      expect.objectContaining({
+        replies: [
+          expect.objectContaining({
+            text: "Reasoning:\nThis heading is intentional user-facing content",
+          }),
+        ],
+      }),
+    );
+  });
+
   it("delivers non-reasoning block payloads to Discord", async () => {
     mockDispatchSingleBlockReply({ text: "hello from block stream" });
     await processStreamOffDiscordMessage();

src/discord/monitor/message-handler.process.ts

@@ -592,6 +592,13 @@ export async function processDiscordMessage(ctx: DiscordMessagePreflightContext)
     await draftStream.flush();
   };
 
+  const sanitizeVisibleReplyText = (text?: string) => {
+    if (typeof text !== "string") {
+      return text;
+    }
+    return stripReasoningTagsFromText(text, { mode: "strict", trim: "both" });
+  };
+
   // When draft streaming is active, suppress block streaming to avoid double-streaming.
   const disableBlockStreamingForDraft = draftStream ? true : undefined;
 
@@ -609,10 +616,15 @@ export async function processDiscordMessage(ctx: DiscordMessagePreflightContext)
           // Reasoning/thinking payloads should not be delivered to Discord.
           return;
         }
+        const visiblePayload =
+          typeof payload.text === "string"
+            ? { ...payload, text: sanitizeVisibleReplyText(payload.text) }
+            : payload;
         if (draftStream && isFinal) {
           await flushDraft();
-          const hasMedia = Boolean(payload.mediaUrl) || (payload.mediaUrls?.length ?? 0) > 0;
+          const hasMedia =
-          const finalText = payload.text;
+            Boolean(visiblePayload.mediaUrl) || (visiblePayload.mediaUrls?.length ?? 0) > 0;
+          const finalText = visiblePayload.text;
           const previewFinalText = resolvePreviewFinalText(finalText);
           const previewMessageId = draftStream.messageId();
 
@@ -622,7 +634,7 @@ export async function processDiscordMessage(ctx: DiscordMessagePreflightContext)
             !hasMedia &&
             typeof previewFinalText === "string" &&
             typeof previewMessageId === "string" &&
-            !payload.isError;
+            !visiblePayload.isError;
 
           if (canFinalizeViaPreviewEdit) {
             await draftStream.stop();
@@ -657,7 +669,7 @@ export async function processDiscordMessage(ctx: DiscordMessagePreflightContext)
               typeof messageIdAfterStop === "string" &&
               typeof previewFinalText === "string" &&
               !hasMedia &&
-              !payload.isError
+              !visiblePayload.isError
             ) {
               try {
                 await editMessageDiscord(
@@ -688,7 +700,7 @@ export async function processDiscordMessage(ctx: DiscordMessagePreflightContext)
 
         const replyToId = replyReference.use();
         await deliverDiscordReply({
-          replies: [payload],
+          replies: [visiblePayload],
           target: deliverTarget,
           token,
           accountId,