fix: Codex turns stop showing typing during tool work (#95844)

* fix: bridge harness execution phases to typing

* docs: clarify typing indicator activity triggers

docs/concepts/typing-indicators.md

@@ -15,7 +15,8 @@ When `agents.defaults.typingMode` is **unset**, OpenClaw keeps the legacy behavi
 
 - **Direct chats**: typing starts immediately once the model loop begins.
 - **Group chats with a mention**: typing starts immediately.
-- **Group chats without a mention**: typing starts only when message text begins streaming.
+- **Group chats without a mention**: typing starts when the admitted run has
+  user-visible activity, such as harness execution activity or message text.
 - **Heartbeat runs**: typing starts when the heartbeat run begins if the
   resolved heartbeat target is a typing-capable chat and typing is not disabled.
 
@@ -26,13 +27,14 @@ Set `agents.defaults.typingMode` to one of:
 - `never` - no typing indicator, ever.
 - `instant` - start typing **as soon as the model loop begins**, even if the run
   later returns only the silent reply token.
-- `thinking` - start typing on the **first reasoning delta** (requires
-  `reasoningLevel: "stream"` for the run).
-- `message` - start typing on the **first non-silent text delta** (ignores
-  the `NO_REPLY` silent token).
+- `thinking` - start typing on the **first reasoning delta** or on active
+  harness execution after the turn is accepted.
+- `message` - start typing on the **first user-visible reply activity**, such as
+  active harness execution or a non-silent text delta. Silent reply tokens such
+  as `NO_REPLY` do not count as text activity.
 
 Order of "how early it fires":
-`never` → `message` → `thinking` → `instant`
+`never` → `message`/`thinking` → `instant`
 
 ## Configuration
 
@@ -62,11 +64,10 @@ Override mode or cadence per session:
 
 ## Notes
 
-- `message` mode won't show typing for silent-only replies when the whole
-  payload is the exact silent token (for example `NO_REPLY` / `no_reply`,
-  matched case-insensitively).
-- `thinking` only fires if the run streams reasoning (`reasoningLevel: "stream"`).
-  If the model doesn't emit reasoning deltas, typing won't start.
+- `message` mode does not start from silent reply tokens, but active execution
+  can still show typing before any assistant text is available.
+- `thinking` still reacts to streamed reasoning (`reasoningLevel: "stream"`),
+  and it can also start from active execution before reasoning deltas arrive.
 - Heartbeat typing is a liveness signal for the resolved delivery target. It
   starts at heartbeat run start instead of following `message` or `thinking`
   stream timing. Set `typingMode: "never"` to disable it.

src/auto-reply/reply/agent-runner-execution.test.ts

@@ -327,6 +327,31 @@ type FallbackRunnerParams = {
 type EmbeddedAgentParams = {
   lifecycleGeneration?: string;
   onExecutionStarted?: (info?: { lifecycleGeneration?: string }) => void;
+  onExecutionPhase?: (info: {
+    phase:
+      | "runner_entered"
+      | "workspace"
+      | "runtime_plugins"
+      | "before_agent_reply"
+      | "model_resolution"
+      | "auth"
+      | "context_engine"
+      | "attempt_dispatch"
+      | "context_assembled"
+      | "turn_accepted"
+      | "process_spawned"
+      | "tool_execution_started"
+      | "assistant_output_started"
+      | "model_call_started";
+    provider?: string;
+    model?: string;
+    backend?: string;
+    source?: string;
+    tool?: string;
+    toolCallId?: string;
+    itemId?: string;
+    firstModelCallStarted?: boolean;
+  }) => void;
   onBlockReply?: (payload: { text?: string; mediaUrls?: string[] }) => Promise<void> | void;
   onToolResult?: (payload: { text?: string; mediaUrls?: string[] }) => Promise<void> | void;
   onItemEvent?: (payload: {
@@ -361,6 +386,7 @@ function createMockTypingSignaler(): TypingSignaler {
     signalTextDelta: vi.fn(async () => {}),
     signalReasoningDelta: vi.fn(async () => {}),
     signalToolStart: vi.fn(async () => {}),
+    signalExecutionActivity: vi.fn(async () => {}),
   };
 }
 
@@ -515,6 +541,7 @@ function createMinimalRunAgentTurnParams(overrides?: {
   opts?: GetReplyOptions;
   replyOperation?: ReplyOperation;
   sessionCtx?: TemplateContext;
+  typingSignals?: TypingSignaler;
 }) {
   return {
     commandBody: "fix it",
@@ -527,7 +554,7 @@ function createMinimalRunAgentTurnParams(overrides?: {
       } as unknown as TemplateContext),
     opts: overrides?.opts ?? ({} satisfies GetReplyOptions),
     replyOperation: overrides?.replyOperation,
-    typingSignals: createMockTypingSignaler(),
+    typingSignals: overrides?.typingSignals ?? createMockTypingSignaler(),
     blockReplyPipeline: null,
     blockStreamingEnabled: false,
     resolvedBlockStreamingBreak: "message_end" as const,
@@ -1327,6 +1354,73 @@ describe("runAgentTurnWithFallback", () => {
     });
   });
 
+  it("signals typing from embedded harness execution phases before assistant text", async () => {
+    const typingSignals = createMockTypingSignaler();
+    const onAgentRunStart = vi.fn();
+    state.runEmbeddedAgentMock.mockImplementationOnce(async (params: EmbeddedAgentParams) => {
+      params.onExecutionPhase?.({
+        phase: "model_call_started",
+        provider: "openai",
+        model: "gpt-5.4",
+        firstModelCallStarted: true,
+      });
+      return { payloads: [{ text: "final" }], meta: {} };
+    });
+
+    const runAgentTurnWithFallback = await getRunAgentTurnWithFallback();
+    const result = await runAgentTurnWithFallback({
+      ...createMinimalRunAgentTurnParams({
+        opts: {
+          onAgentRunStart,
+        } satisfies GetReplyOptions,
+      }),
+      typingSignals,
+    });
+
+    expect(result.kind).toBe("success");
+    expect(typingSignals.signalExecutionActivity).toHaveBeenCalledOnce();
+    expect(typingSignals.signalRunStart).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    expect(onAgentRunStart).toHaveBeenCalledOnce();
+  });
+
+  it("forwards CLI harness execution phases into typing signals", async () => {
+    state.isCliProviderMock.mockReturnValue(true);
+    state.runWithModelFallbackMock.mockImplementationOnce(async (params: FallbackRunnerParams) => ({
+      result: await params.run("codex-cli", "gpt-5.4"),
+      provider: "codex-cli",
+      model: "gpt-5.4",
+      attempts: [],
+    }));
+    state.runCliAgentMock.mockImplementationOnce(async (params: EmbeddedAgentParams) => {
+      params.onExecutionPhase?.({
+        phase: "process_spawned",
+        provider: "codex-cli",
+        model: "gpt-5.4",
+        backend: "codex",
+      });
+      return { payloads: [{ text: "final" }], meta: {} };
+    });
+    const followupRun = createFollowupRun();
+    followupRun.run.provider = "codex-cli";
+    followupRun.run.model = "gpt-5.4";
+    const typingSignals = createMockTypingSignaler();
+
+    const runAgentTurnWithFallback = await getRunAgentTurnWithFallback();
+    const result = await runAgentTurnWithFallback(
+      createMinimalRunAgentTurnParams({
+        followupRun,
+        typingSignals,
+      }),
+    );
+
+    expect(result.kind).toBe("success");
+    expect(typingSignals.signalExecutionActivity).toHaveBeenCalledOnce();
+    expectMockCallArgFields(state.runCliAgentMock, 0, "CLI run params", {
+      provider: "codex-cli",
+      model: "gpt-5.4",
+    });
+  });
+
   it("registers run ownership before asynchronous image preflight", async () => {
     const agentEvents = await import("../../infra/agent-events.js");
     const registerAgentRunContext = vi.mocked(agentEvents.registerAgentRunContext);

src/auto-reply/reply/agent-runner-execution.ts

@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ import {
 import { sanitizeUserFacingText } from "../../agents/embedded-agent-helpers/sanitize-user-facing-text.js";
 import { isMessagingToolSendAction } from "../../agents/embedded-agent-messaging.js";
 import { mergeEmbeddedAgentRunResultForModelFallbackExhaustion } from "../../agents/embedded-agent-runner/result-fallback-classifier.js";
+import type { RunEmbeddedAgentParams } from "../../agents/embedded-agent-runner/run/params.js";
 import { runEmbeddedAgent } from "../../agents/embedded-agent.js";
 import { isFailoverError } from "../../agents/failover-error.js";
 import type { FastModeAutoProgressState } from "../../agents/fast-mode.js";
@@ -1731,6 +1732,25 @@ export async function runAgentTurnWithFallback(params: {
     didNotifyAgentRunStart = true;
     params.opts?.onAgentRunStart?.(runId);
   };
+  const signalExecutionPhaseForTyping = (
+    info: Parameters<NonNullable<RunEmbeddedAgentParams["onExecutionPhase"]>>[0],
+  ) => {
+    const isUserVisibleExecutionActivity =
+      info.phase === "turn_accepted" ||
+      info.phase === "process_spawned" ||
+      info.phase === "model_call_started" ||
+      info.phase === "tool_execution_started" ||
+      info.phase === "assistant_output_started";
+    if (!isUserVisibleExecutionActivity) {
+      return;
+    }
+    notifyAgentRunStart();
+    void (
+      params.typingSignals.signalExecutionActivity?.() ?? params.typingSignals.signalRunStart()
+    ).catch((err: unknown) => {
+      logVerbose(`execution phase typing signal failed: ${String(err)}`);
+    });
+  };
   const currentMessageId = params.sessionCtx.MessageSidFull ?? params.sessionCtx.MessageSid;
   const notifyUserAboutCompaction = shouldNotifyUserAboutCompaction(runtimeConfig);
   const deliverCompactionNoticePayload = async (noticePayload: ReplyPayload, label: string) => {
@@ -2424,6 +2444,7 @@ export async function runAgentTurnWithFallback(params: {
                     toolsAllow: params.opts?.toolsAllow,
                     disableTools: params.opts?.disableTools,
                     abortSignal: runAbortSignal,
+                    onExecutionPhase: signalExecutionPhaseForTyping,
                     replyOperation: params.replyOperation,
                   },
                 }),
@@ -2571,6 +2592,7 @@ export async function runAgentTurnWithFallback(params: {
                         lifecycleGeneration = info.lifecycleGeneration;
                       }
                     },
+                    onExecutionPhase: signalExecutionPhaseForTyping,
                     blockReplyBreak: params.resolvedBlockStreamingBreak,
                     blockReplyChunking: params.blockReplyChunking,
                     onPartialReply: async (payload) => {

src/auto-reply/reply/reply-utils.test.ts

@@ -880,6 +880,19 @@ describe("createTypingSignaler", () => {
     }
   });
 
+  it("starts typing on execution activity for active reply modes", async () => {
+    for (const mode of ["instant", "message", "thinking"] as const) {
+      const typing = createMockTypingController();
+      const signaler = createTypingSignaler({ typing, mode, isHeartbeat: false });
+
+      await signaler.signalExecutionActivity?.();
+
+      expect(typing.startTypingLoop, `mode=${mode}`).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+      expect(typing.refreshTypingTtl, `mode=${mode}`).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+      expect(typing.startTypingOnText, `mode=${mode}`).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    }
+  });
+
   it("suppresses typing when disabled", async () => {
     const disabledCases = [
       { mode: "instant" as const, isHeartbeat: true },
@@ -892,6 +905,7 @@ describe("createTypingSignaler", () => {
       await signaler.signalRunStart();
       await signaler.signalTextDelta("hi");
       await signaler.signalReasoningDelta();
+      await signaler.signalExecutionActivity?.();
 
       expect(typing.startTypingLoop, `mode=${params.mode}`).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
       expect(typing.startTypingOnText, `mode=${params.mode}`).not.toHaveBeenCalled();

src/auto-reply/reply/typing-mode.ts

@@ -63,6 +63,7 @@ export type TypingSignaler = {
   signalTextDelta: (text?: string) => Promise<void>;
   signalReasoningDelta: () => Promise<void>;
   signalToolStart: () => Promise<void>;
+  signalExecutionActivity?: () => Promise<void>;
 };
 
 /** Creates a typing signaler that starts or refreshes typing from stream events. */
@@ -156,6 +157,16 @@ export function createTypingSignaler(params: {
     typing.refreshTypingTtl();
   };
 
+  const signalExecutionActivity = async () => {
+    if (disabled) {
+      return;
+    }
+    if (!typing.isActive()) {
+      await typing.startTypingLoop();
+    }
+    typing.refreshTypingTtl();
+  };
+
   return {
     mode,
     shouldStartImmediately,
@@ -167,5 +178,6 @@ export function createTypingSignaler(params: {
     signalTextDelta,
     signalReasoningDelta,
     signalToolStart,
+    signalExecutionActivity,
   };
 }