github-actions-sessions.md

title	GitHub Actions Sessions
layout	default
permalink	/github-actions-sessions/
description	Durable, resumable, browser-steerable GitHub Actions sessions.

GitHub Actions Sessions

Crabfleet can represent a GitHub Actions job as a durable interactive session. The Action remains the execution host; Crabfleet supplies identity, status, terminal relay, browser steering, event history, and terminal finalization.

This document defines the Crabfleet side of the integration. The ClawSweeper workflow, repair policy, GitCrawl intake, mutation gates, and operator flow are documented in openclaw/clawsweeper/docs/steerable-repair-automation.md.

Why This Exists

A normal GitHub Actions job has useful logs but no durable interactive identity. It is also difficult to answer:

• Which logical task does this rerun belong to?
• Is Codex waiting, running, validating, blocked, or complete?
• Which Codex thread and turn are active?
• Can an operator steer the active turn without moving execution to a laptop?
• Does a later planning or execution runner continue the same work?
• Why did the work stop?

GitHub Actions sessions add those capabilities without turning Crabfleet into the workflow runner.

Architecture

flowchart LR
  A[OpenClaw service] -->|register work key| B[Crabfleet Worker]
  B --> C[(D1 interactive session)]
  B --> D[SessionControlDO]
  E[GitHub Actions runner] -->|outbound WebSocket| D
  F[Browser Ghostty viewer] -->|terminal hub| D
  F -->|input| D
  D -->|CFR1 input frame| E
  E -->|CFR1 acknowledgement| D
  E -->|Codex turn/steer| G[Codex app-server]
  E -->|heartbeat and work state| B
  B --> H[(R2 event archives)]

Loading

Components:

• D1 interactive session: canonical metadata, work state, phase, heartbeat, thread and turn IDs, event rows, and archive pointers.
• SessionControlDO: one current outbound runner and multiple authenticated browser viewers.
• Terminal hub: existing browser multiplex transport used by the Ghostty session grid.
• R2: periodically refreshed event NDJSON, transcript, and summary snapshots when the SESSION_LOGS binding is configured, finalized at terminal completion.

Session Identity

The caller supplies a stable workKey, for example:

openclaw/openclaw:issue-openclaw-openclaw-123
openclaw/openclaw:automerge-openclaw-openclaw-456
openclaw/openclaw:gitcrawl-157024-autonomous-smoke

workKey is unique across interactive sessions. Registering the same key:

• returns the same logical IS-<number> session;
• updates repository, branch, purpose, summary, source URL, and run URL;
• rotates the agent token;
• resets work to registered / waiting_for_runner;
• clears stale stop, failure, terminal finalization, and credential-cleanup state;
• disconnects the previous runner relay;
• appends a resumed event.

The stable work key is what lets a disposable Action runner participate in a longer logical task.

Registration API

Internal OpenClaw services register or resume work with:

POST /api/openclaw/action-sessions
Authorization: Bearer CRABBOX_OPENCLAW_TOKEN
Content-Type: application/json

Example:

{
  "workKey": "openclaw/openclaw:issue-openclaw-openclaw-123",
  "workKind": "issue_to_pr",
  "repo": "openclaw/openclaw",
  "branch": "clawsweeper/issue-openclaw-openclaw-123",
  "owner": "operator@example.test",
  "sourceUrl": "https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/issues/123",
  "runUrl": "https://github.com/openclaw/clawsweeper/actions/runs/123456",
  "purpose": "Convert issue to pull request",
  "summary": "GitHub Actions work for issue-openclaw-openclaw-123"
}

Required fields for both new registrations and resumes:

• workKey
• workKind
• repo
• owner, resolved to exactly one active Crabfleet user by login, email, or stable subject

When a request reuses an existing workKey, Crabfleet treats it as a resume only after the supplied owner resolves to the same stable owner subject already recorded on that work key. Ownerless resumes fail closed with owner is required for GitHub Actions work and do not rotate the agent token.

Optional fields:

• branch, default main
• sourceUrl
• runUrl
• purpose
• summary

The repository must be enabled in Crabfleet. Identifier fields use a bounded, restricted grammar; source and run links must be HTTP(S).

Response:

{
  "session": {
    "id": "IS-123",
    "runtime": "github_actions",
    "workState": "registered",
    "workPhase": "waiting_for_runner"
  },
  "agentToken": "rotated-session-token",
  "runnerPtyUrl": "wss://crabfleet.openclaw.ai/api/agent/interactive-sessions/IS-123/runner-pty?agentToken=...",
  "browserUrl": "https://crabfleet.openclaw.ai/app/sessions/IS-123"
}

The actual response also includes the decorated session object. The runner PTY credential is stored only as a hash in D1 and is not returned through viewer session APIs.

Work Kinds

Crabfleet treats workKind as an operator-facing classifier:

Work kind	Fleet label
issue_to_pr	Issue to PR
pr_repair	PR repair
repair_cluster	Repair cluster

The value does not grant permissions. The calling workflow remains responsible for target authorization and mutation policy.

Work-State API

The current Action runner posts updates to:

POST /api/agent/interactive-sessions/:id/work-state
Authorization: Bearer <agentToken>
Content-Type: application/json

Example:

{
  "state": "running",
  "phase": "codex",
  "summary": "Codex turn active",
  "codexThreadId": "thread-id",
  "codexTurnId": "turn-id"
}

Every accepted update refreshes lastHeartbeatAt.

Active states:

• registered
• running

Terminal states:

• completed
• blocked
• failed
• canceled

phase is intentionally open-ended so the workflow can expose useful steps such as waiting_for_runner, codex, validating, post_flight, requeued, or done.

completionReason should be present for terminal states. Example reasons from ClawSweeper include:

• plan_complete
• gates_passed
• action_failed
• workflow_canceled

Crabfleet records the state transition as a session event and exposes the latest state in Fleet, Sessions, API, CLI, and logs.

Structured Action Events

The Action runner can append durable machine-readable events without changing the work-state heartbeat:

POST /api/agent/interactive-sessions/:id/events
Authorization: Bearer <agentToken>
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "eventKey": "clawsweeper:run:123:pull:42:update",
  "type": "clawsweeper.action",
  "message": "updated pull request 42",
  "payload": {
    "version": 1,
    "action": "pull_request_updated",
    "number": 42,
    "headSha": "0123456789abcdef"
  }
}

The payload must be a JSON object with a positive integer version. Crabfleet keeps all additional fields so ClawSweeper can extend action metadata without a coordinated schema migration. Payloads are bounded to 64 KiB serialized, 16 levels, 1,024 aggregate members, and 16 KiB per UTF-8 string or object key. Each session is also capped atomically at 2,048 structured events and 8 MiB of aggregate UTF-8 event data, keeping API and archive reads bounded.

eventKey is unique within the session. An exact semantic replay succeeds and returns the original event with duplicate: true; changed content under the same key returns 409. This lets retried workflow steps publish once without a separate read-before-write race. The endpoint only appends the event ledger: it does not update workState, workPhase, lastHeartbeatAt, or lastEvent. Credential-shaped payload fields are recursively replaced with [redacted], and embedded credential text is scrubbed from payload strings and message before D1/R2 persistence. Once the session is terminal, the endpoint accepts only side-effect-free exact replays of already-persisted events for five minutes and rejects new history. The endpoint rejects that credential after the retry window so completed sessions do not retain indefinite event access. An exact replay of a row written before credential redaction repairs the D1 row, forces archive replacement, durably requeues terminal archive finalization, and returns only the sanitized event.

Runner PTY

The Action connects outbound to the returned runnerPtyUrl. Node's global WebSocket can open the URL without custom headers.

The returned URL opens a legacy raw-input/raw-output socket. A runner offers cfr1-framed-io-v2 as a WebSocket subprotocol and switches to collision-free framed I/O only when the upgrade response selects it. The relay records that mode and a relay-owned runner generation before accepting the connection. Viewer input then arrives in a binary CFR1 frame carrying a correlation ID and that generation, and runner output uses a distinct CFR1 output frame. The runner copies the generation into its correlated acknowledgement only after its restricted steering handler accepts the input.

Complete Node framing adapter around a restricted Codex steering handler:

import {
  closeSteering,
  deliverSteeringInput,
  subscribeSteeringExit,
  subscribeSteeringOutput,
} from "./restricted-codex-steering.js";

const runnerPtyUrl = process.env.CRABFLEET_RUNNER_PTY_URL;
if (!runnerPtyUrl) throw new Error("CRABFLEET_RUNNER_PTY_URL is required");

const magic = new Uint8Array([0x43, 0x46, 0x52, 0x31]); // CFR1
const inputIdDecoder = new TextDecoder();
const encoder = new TextEncoder();
const maxAdmittedInputBytes = 16 * 1024;
const maxAdmittedInputFrames = 32;
const maxPendingInputAgeMs = 1_000;
let admittedInputBytes = 0;
let admittedInputFrames = 0;
let pendingInputs = [];
let pendingInputBytes = 0;
let pendingInputTimer;
let inputQueue = Promise.resolve();
let terminalClosed = false;
let activeGeneration;
const terminal = new WebSocket(runnerPtyUrl, "cfr1-framed-io-v2");
terminal.binaryType = "arraybuffer";

await new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
  terminal.addEventListener("open", resolve, { once: true });
  terminal.addEventListener("error", reject, { once: true });
});
const framed = terminal.protocol === "cfr1-framed-io-v2";
// An empty protocol means an older relay kept this socket in legacy raw mode.

subscribeSteeringOutput((outputText) => {
  terminal.send(framed ? encodeUtf8Output(outputText) : outputText);
});

subscribeSteeringExit(() => {
  if (terminal.readyState < WebSocket.CLOSING) terminal.close(1000, "pty exited");
});

terminal.addEventListener("message", (event) => {
  const input = admitInput(event.data);
  if (!input) return;
  inputQueue = inputQueue.then(() => {
    if (!inputIsActive(input)) {
      releaseInputs([input]);
      return;
    }
    return acceptInput(input);
  });
});

async function acceptInput(input) {
  pendingInputs.push(input);
  pendingInputBytes += input.payload.byteLength;

  const payload = new Uint8Array(pendingInputBytes);
  let offset = 0;
  for (const pending of pendingInputs) {
    payload.set(pending.payload, offset);
    offset += pending.payload.byteLength;
  }

  let text;
  try {
    text = decodeCompleteUtf8(payload);
  } catch {
    rejectInputs(takePendingInputs(), 1007, "invalid UTF-8 input");
    return;
  }
  if (text === null) {
    armPendingInputTimer();
    return;
  }
  const inputs = takePendingInputs();
  try {
    await deliverSteeringInput(text);
    settleInputs(inputs, true);
  } catch {
    rejectInputs(inputs, 1011, "steering rejected input");
  }
}

function admitInput(data) {
  if (!framed && typeof data === "string" && data.length > maxAdmittedInputBytes) {
    closeRawOverflow();
    return null;
  }
  const input = framed ? decodeInput(data) : decodeRawInput(data);
  if (!input) return null;
  if (framed) {
    if (activeGeneration === undefined) {
      activeGeneration = input.generation;
    } else if (input.generation !== activeGeneration) {
      sendAck(input, false);
      return null;
    }
  }
  const nextBytes = admittedInputBytes + input.payload.byteLength;
  const nextFrames = admittedInputFrames + 1;
  if (nextBytes > maxAdmittedInputBytes || nextFrames > maxAdmittedInputFrames) {
    if (framed) {
      sendAck(input, false);
    } else {
      closeRawOverflow();
    }
    return null;
  }
  admittedInputBytes = nextBytes;
  admittedInputFrames = nextFrames;
  return input;
}

function inputIsActive(input) {
  return (
    !terminalClosed &&
    terminal.readyState === WebSocket.OPEN &&
    (!framed || input.generation === activeGeneration)
  );
}

function decodeRawInput(data) {
  if (typeof data === "string") return { payload: encoder.encode(data) };
  if (data instanceof ArrayBuffer) return { payload: new Uint8Array(data) };
  return null;
}

function decodeCompleteUtf8(payload) {
  const decoder = new TextDecoder("utf-8", { fatal: true, ignoreBOM: true });
  const text = decoder.decode(payload, { stream: true });
  return encoder.encode(text).byteLength === payload.byteLength ? text : null;
}

function armPendingInputTimer() {
  if (pendingInputTimer) return;
  pendingInputTimer = setTimeout(() => {
    rejectInputs(takePendingInputs(), 1007, "incomplete UTF-8 input");
  }, maxPendingInputAgeMs);
}

function takePendingInputs() {
  if (pendingInputTimer) clearTimeout(pendingInputTimer);
  pendingInputTimer = undefined;
  const inputs = pendingInputs;
  pendingInputs = [];
  pendingInputBytes = 0;
  return inputs;
}

function settleInputs(inputs, accepted) {
  releaseInputs(inputs);
  if (!framed) return;
  for (const input of inputs) {
    sendAck(input, accepted);
  }
}

function rejectInputs(inputs, rawCloseCode, rawCloseReason) {
  settleInputs(inputs, false);
  if (!framed && terminal.readyState < WebSocket.CLOSING) {
    terminal.close(rawCloseCode, rawCloseReason);
  }
}

function releaseInputs(inputs) {
  for (const input of inputs) {
    admittedInputBytes -= input.payload.byteLength;
  }
  admittedInputFrames -= inputs.length;
}

function sendAck(input, accepted) {
  if (terminal.readyState !== WebSocket.OPEN) return;
  try {
    terminal.send(encodeAck(input.inputId, input.generation, accepted));
  } catch {
    closeSteering();
  }
}

function closeRawOverflow() {
  if (terminal.readyState < WebSocket.CLOSING) {
    terminal.close(1009, "input backlog exceeded");
  }
}

function decodeInput(data) {
  if (!(data instanceof ArrayBuffer)) return null;
  const frame = new Uint8Array(data);
  if (frame.byteLength < 7 || !magic.every((value, index) => frame[index] === value)) {
    return null;
  }
  if (frame[4] !== 0x05) return null;
  const inputIdBytes = frame[5];
  if (!inputIdBytes || inputIdBytes > 80 || 6 + inputIdBytes > frame.byteLength) {
    return null;
  }
  const inputId = inputIdDecoder.decode(frame.subarray(6, 6 + inputIdBytes));
  if (!/^[A-Za-z0-9_-]+$/.test(inputId)) return null;
  const generationOffset = 6 + inputIdBytes;
  const generationBytes = frame[generationOffset];
  if (
    !generationBytes ||
    generationBytes > 80 ||
    generationOffset + 1 + generationBytes > frame.byteLength
  ) {
    return null;
  }
  const generation = inputIdDecoder.decode(
    frame.subarray(generationOffset + 1, generationOffset + 1 + generationBytes),
  );
  if (!/^[A-Za-z0-9_-]+$/.test(generation)) return null;
  return {
    inputId,
    generation,
    payload: frame.subarray(generationOffset + 1 + generationBytes),
  };
}

function encodeAck(inputId, generation, accepted) {
  const inputIdBytes = encoder.encode(inputId);
  const generationBytes = encoder.encode(generation);
  const frame = new Uint8Array(8 + inputIdBytes.byteLength + generationBytes.byteLength);
  frame.set(magic);
  frame[4] = 0x06;
  frame[5] = inputIdBytes.byteLength;
  frame.set(inputIdBytes, 6);
  const generationOffset = 6 + inputIdBytes.byteLength;
  frame[generationOffset] = generationBytes.byteLength;
  frame.set(generationBytes, generationOffset + 1);
  frame[generationOffset + 1 + generationBytes.byteLength] = accepted ? 1 : 0;
  return frame;
}

function encodeUtf8Output(outputText) {
  const payload = encoder.encode(outputText);
  const frame = new Uint8Array(6 + payload.byteLength);
  frame.set(magic);
  frame[4] = 0x04;
  frame[5] = 0;
  frame.set(payload, 6);
  return frame;
}

function deactivateTerminal() {
  if (terminalClosed) return;
  terminalClosed = true;
  activeGeneration = undefined;
  rejectInputs(takePendingInputs(), 1001, "terminal closed");
  closeSteering();
}

terminal.addEventListener("close", deactivateTerminal);
terminal.addEventListener("error", deactivateTerminal);

Set CRABFLEET_RUNNER_PTY_URL to the runnerPtyUrl returned by registration. Implement restricted-codex-steering.js as the integration's narrow turn/steer and turn/interrupt adapter. deliverSteeringInput must consume browser input as steering instructions; it must never forward that input to a shell or subprocess, and the adapter must not expose the GitHub Actions environment. Await the steering acceptance signal before sending encodeAck(..., true). Do not acknowledge when the WebSocket merely queues the input frame. This Node adapter buffers a valid incomplete UTF-8 suffix together with every affected input ID. It delivers and positively acknowledges those frames only after a later frame completes the sequence. Invalid UTF-8 rejects the buffered group without delivering any of it. Every message is decoded and admitted against the shared 16 KiB and 32-frame limits before it enters the serialized delivery tail. Those counters retain ownership while input is pending, queued, or blocked in deliverSteeringInput, so a stalled steering call cannot retain an unbounded sequence of MessageEvent payloads. Framed overflow receives a negative acknowledgement; raw overflow closes the socket because legacy mode has no acknowledgement channel. An incomplete UTF-8 group expires after one second. The first framed input pins the relay-owned generation for that socket. Every admitted input rechecks both that generation and socket liveness before entering the restricted steering handler; close or error invalidates the generation and releases buffered or queued input instead of delivering it through a replacement runner.

WebSocket subprotocol selection is fixed during the opening handshake. There is no capability message or mode transition after the socket opens. Older relays that ignore the offered subprotocol leave WebSocket.protocol empty; the adapter then receives raw input and sends raw string output. The runnerProtocol query remains compatibility-only for already-deployed runners. New runners must not add it, close, or reconnect solely because WebSocket.protocol is empty: a query cannot confirm that the relay selected framed I/O, while the existing socket is the required raw fallback. Each CFR1 frame occupies one binary WebSocket message. At the wire level, input and output payloads are opaque terminal bytes. The example is deliberately a UTF-8 text adapter for the integration's string-based steering surface: it rejects input that is not complete valid UTF-8 and encodes each output string as UTF-8. Deployments that require lossless arbitrary terminal bytes must use a byte-oriented restricted steering adapter instead.

Offset	Size	Value
0	4	ASCII CFR1
4	1	v2 0x05 input, 0x06 acknowledgement, 0x07 lifecycle event, or shared 0x04 output
5	1	input ID byte length
6	variable	input ID, then one generation-length byte, the relay generation, and the type-specific payload; output omits the generation envelope

Input payloads are raw terminal bytes after the generation envelope. An acknowledgement payload starts with the generation envelope, then 1 for accepted or 0 for rejected, followed by optional UTF-8 error text. Lifecycle events use an empty input ID, the generation envelope, and event code 0x01 for runner connected, 0x02 for runner disconnected, or 0x03 for runner waiting. Output uses an empty input ID followed by raw terminal bytes.

The earlier cfr1-framed-io-v1 mode remains accepted during rolling upgrades. Its 0x01, 0x02, and 0x03 frames omit generations. The relay translates between v1 and v2 at each socket boundary. A v2 viewer must send the generation from its latest lifecycle event; stale-generation input is rejected before it can reach the replacement runner. The full wire contract is also specified in API.

Properties:

• Authentication is the session-scoped agentToken query value.
• Only one runner is current.
• A new runner connection replaces the previous runner.
• Multiple browser viewers may remain connected.
• Legacy runners open the returned URL unchanged, receive raw viewer input, and send raw output.
• Framed runners offer the exact WebSocket subprotocol before connecting, confirm its selection through WebSocket.protocol, and wrap every output payload in a 0x04 frame.
• Generation-fenced viewers add viewerProtocol=cfr1-framed-io-v2 before connecting. They receive CFR1 output plus relay-generated lifecycle and acknowledgement frames regardless of the runner's mode.
• Existing v1 runners and viewers remain interoperable through relay-side frame translation.
• Legacy viewers omit that query. They receive raw terminal output plus JSON lifecycle and input-acknowledgement messages for compatibility.
• Negotiated input produces input-accepted only after the correlated runner acknowledgement. A definitive negative acknowledgement produces input-rejected. If the terminal hub's acknowledgement deadline expires while the runner write may still be in flight, it produces input-delivery-unknown, not input-rejected, because that write may still complete. Legacy input reports acceptance after relay delivery. The unknown-delivery JSON control event carries {"type":"input-delivery-unknown","error":"terminal input delivery outcome is unknown; the runner may still complete it"}.
• Runner replacement also marks unresolved old-generation input as input-delivery-unknown; a write that already entered the old PTY cannot be proven absent. A runner-side PTY write that exceeds the bounded write deadline retires that runner socket, so queued frames cannot execute behind a wedged write.
• Framed viewer lifecycle events remain typed binary frames while no runner is connected. Legacy viewers receive the JSON fallback.
• When runner and viewer modes differ, the relay wraps or unwraps terminal output at the viewer boundary.

The relay does not interpret Codex JSON-RPC. The runner-side integration decides how accepted terminal input maps to model steering.

Browser Attach

Authorized signed-in session owners, maintainers/owners, or delegated controllers attach through the normal Crabfleet terminal hub. A github_actions session advertises:

{
  "terminal": true,
  "takeover": true,
  "vnc": false,
  "desktop": false,
  "logs": true,
  "artifacts": false
}

The Fleet page shows:

• session ID;
• repository and branch;
• GitHub Actions runtime;
• work kind;
• work state and phase;
• summary;
• event and log count;
• source and Actions links;
• terminal affordance.

The Sessions page and focused /sessions/:id route render the live Ghostty terminal. When the runner is absent, the tile shows the waiting or replay state instead of inventing a local shell.

Steering Semantics

Crabfleet forwards negotiated terminal input inside correlated CFR1 frames. In the ClawSweeper integration, the runner:

1. Accepts the framed bytes into its input handler and acknowledges that input ID.
2. Collects printable input until Enter.
3. Echoes [steer] <instruction> to the terminal as UTF-8 terminal output.
4. Calls Codex turn/steer with the active thread and expected turn ID.
5. Reports rejection or no-active-turn conditions in the terminal.

Ctrl-C maps to turn/interrupt.

This distinction matters: browser input does not become a general shell on the GitHub-hosted runner. It is consumed by the registered runner process and translated into the integration's explicit steering protocol.

Resumption

Crabfleet resumption and Codex thread resumption are complementary.

Crabfleet preserves:

• logical IS-<number> session;
• work key;
• event history and archive identity;
• current source and Actions links;
• latest reported thread and turn IDs.

ClawSweeper preserves:

• the Codex app-server sessions directory;
• the thread state file;
• the durable repair job and result artifacts.

On a new Action attempt:

1. ClawSweeper registers the same work key.
2. Crabfleet rotates credentials and marks the session waiting.
3. The runner restores its cached Codex state.
4. Codex attempts thread/resume.
5. The runner connects the new outbound PTY.
6. Work-state updates replace stale phase and heartbeat data.

If Codex cannot resume the stored thread, the runner can start a new thread without creating a new Crabfleet session.

Heartbeats

The ClawSweeper runner posts active work state every 60 seconds while a Codex turn is running. Crabfleet records:

• lastHeartbeatAt;
• state and phase;
• summary;
• Codex thread ID;
• Codex turn ID.

Crabfleet does not declare a GitHub Actions task successful merely because a heartbeat stops. The workflow must post a terminal state and completion reason. The GitHub Actions run conclusion remains an independent source of truth.

Completion

A session is logically complete when the caller posts a terminal work state. Crabfleet exposes the final state, phase, and reason and closes the runner-side relay as the workflow exits.

For ClawSweeper:

• completed / done / plan_complete means planning and deterministic result review passed.
• completed / done / gates_passed means repair and all configured deterministic gates passed.
• blocked / action_failed means required workflow gates did not complete.
• A user-ended Crabfleet terminal session does not claim a terminal workflow state. The GitHub run remains authoritative and may continue.

Crabfleet completion is status evidence, not GitHub mutation authority. The ClawSweeper result ledger and target repository state describe what was actually changed.

Ending the Crabfleet terminal session

GitHub Actions sessions use a dedicated terminal-session end lifecycle. This does not call GitHub's workflow-cancellation API.

An authorized End action:

1. Atomically appends the terminal-session event and updates the session.
2. Sets status = stopped.
3. Clears Crabfleet's synthetic work state instead of claiming the workflow was canceled.
4. Sets workPhase = session_ended.
5. Records that the Crabfleet terminal ended without canceling the workflow.
6. Clears the agent token, attach URL, and control state.
7. Disconnects the current runner.
8. Archives and finalizes terminal logs.

The browser, CLI, and SSH surfaces warn that the GitHub Actions workflow run may continue. Cancel the run in GitHub when provider-side cancellation is required.

github_actions sessions are excluded from runtime-adapter workspace reconciliation. They do not have a provider workspace lease for that reconciler to release.

Registration after an earlier terminal state explicitly clears stale terminal and cleanup markers before accepting the resumed runner.

Authentication

Service Authentication

POST /api/openclaw/action-sessions requires the configured CRABBOX_OPENCLAW_TOKEN. This credential is for trusted OpenClaw services and must not be exposed to Codex or browsers.

Agent Authentication

Each registration generates a fresh random agent token. Crabfleet stores its SHA-256 hash and accepts the plaintext token only through:

• bearer auth for work-state updates;
• the scoped query parameter for the runner WebSocket.

Re-registering the work key invalidates the old agent token.

Viewer Authentication

Normal Fleet and terminal viewers use Crabfleet browser authentication and allowlist roles. The browser never receives the service or agent token.

Read-only share links use a separate hashed share token and do not grant input. Writable terminal input requires an authenticated authorized viewer.

Data Model

Relevant interactive-session fields:

• runtime = github_actions
• profile = github-actions
• work_key
• work_kind
• work_state
• work_phase
• source_url
• github_run_url
• codex_thread_id
• codex_turn_id
• last_heartbeat_at
• completion_reason
• hashed agent token

GitHub Actions sessions do not use:

• a provider workspace ID;
• a runtime-adapter control plane;
• a sandbox lease;
• VNC or desktop capability.

Events and Archives

Typical event timeline:

GitHub Actions work registered
GitHub Actions runner connected
running: codex
running: validating
completed: done

A rerun starts with:

GitHub Actions work resumed

Viewer terminal attaches are also recorded.

When SESSION_LOGS is configured, session events periodically refresh:

• NDJSON event archive with eventKey, type, and structured payload;
• Markdown transcript;
• JSON summary.

D1 keeps the compact event list and archive pointers used by the app and API. Legacy message events remain in the same stream with a null key and payload and the message type. Terminal completion forces a current snapshot before finalization clears.

Operational Checks

Verify Registration

Open Fleet or fetch:

GET /api/interactive-sessions/:id/logs

Confirm:

• runtime is github_actions;
• workKey and workKind are correct;
• githubRunUrl points to the current attempt;
• workState is registered;
• workPhase is waiting_for_runner.

Verify Runner Attach

Confirm:

• event GitHub Actions runner connected;
• terminal tile shows Attached or Live PTY;
• work state advances to running;
• heartbeat and thread or turn IDs appear.

Verify Steering

During an active turn:

1. Open the focused session terminal.
2. Type a narrow instruction and press Enter.
3. Confirm the terminal echoes [steer].
4. Confirm the Codex response reflects the instruction.
5. Confirm the workflow continues to deterministic validation after the turn.

Verify Completion

Confirm:

• GitHub Actions run conclusion;
• terminal workState;
• workPhase = done for success;
• expected completionReason;
• final event in the session timeline;
• target-side ClawSweeper result evidence.

Troubleshooting

Stuck at waiting_for_runner

Likely causes:

• the Action registered but has not started the Codex wrapper;
• the runner PTY connection failed;
• the job failed between registration and worker startup.

Check the exact GitHub Actions job step, then inspect session events.

Runner Attached but No Heartbeat

The PTY relay and work-state API are separate. Check that the runner has both runnerPtyUrl and workStateUrl, and that the current agent token was not rotated by another registration.

Steering Says No Active Turn

The Codex turn has not started or has already completed. Deterministic workflow steps may still be running.

Old Runner Stops Receiving Input

A newer registration or runner connection replaced it. This is expected. One logical session has one current runner.

Session Shows an Old Failure After Rerun

Registration should clear terminal failure and finalization state. Verify the caller reused the same work key and that production includes the dedicated GitHub Actions resume lifecycle.

Repeated Legacy Stop Events

This indicates a lifecycle regression. GitHub Actions sessions must be excluded from non-adapter stopping reconciliation and must not carry a synthetic workspace lease.

Action Succeeded but Session Is Not Complete

The workflow did not post its terminal work-state update. Fix the caller's success and failure completion steps; do not infer success from socket disconnect alone.

Integration Invariants

• workKey is stable and unique for logical work.
• Re-registration rotates the agent token.
• Only one runner is current.
• Viewer credentials and runner credentials never cross.
• Work-state and PTY transports are independent.
• Terminal input is interpreted by the runner integration.
• Terminal states require explicit caller updates.
• Cancellation is separate from provider workspace teardown.
• github_actions sessions never enter runtime-adapter workspace reconciliation.
• Crabfleet reports status and control; the caller owns task policy and external mutations.