fix: harden approvals get timeout handling (openclaw#66239) (thanks @neeravmakwana)

* fix(cli): harden approvals get timeout handling

* fix(cli): sanitize approvals timeout notes

* fix(cli): distill approvals timeout note

---------

Co-authored-by: Ayaan Zaidi <hi@obviy.us>

Author: neeravmakwana

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -59,6 +59,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 - Outbound/relay-status: suppress internal relay-status placeholder payloads (`No channel reply.`, `Replied in-thread.`, `Replied in #...`, wiki-update status variants ending in `No channel reply.`) before channel delivery so internal housekeeping text does not leak to users.
 - Slack/doctor: add a dedicated doctor-contract sidecar so config warmup paths such as `openclaw cron` no longer fall back to Slack's broader contract surface, which could trigger Slack-related config-read crashes on affected setups. (#63192) Thanks @shhtheonlyperson.
 - Hooks/session-memory: pass the resolved agent workspace into gateway `/new` and `/reset` session-memory hooks so reset snapshots stay scoped to the right agent workspace instead of leaking into the default workspace. (#64735) Thanks @suboss87 and @vincentkoc.
+- CLI/approvals: raise the default `openclaw approvals get` gateway timeout and report config-load timeouts explicitly, so slow hosts stop showing a misleading `Config unavailable.` note when the approvals snapshot succeeds but the follow-up config RPC needs more time. (#66239) Thanks @neeravmakwana.
 
 ## 2026.4.12
 

src/cli/exec-approvals-cli.test.ts

@@ -141,19 +141,32 @@ describe("exec approvals CLI", () => {
     expect(callGatewayFromCli).toHaveBeenNthCalledWith(
       1,
       "exec.approvals.get",
-      expect.anything(),
+      expect.objectContaining({ timeout: "60000" }),
+      {},
+    );
+    expect(callGatewayFromCli).toHaveBeenNthCalledWith(
+      2,
+      "config.get",
+      expect.objectContaining({ timeout: "60000" }),
       {},
     );
-    expect(callGatewayFromCli).toHaveBeenNthCalledWith(2, "config.get", expect.anything(), {});
     expect(runtimeErrors).toHaveLength(0);
     callGatewayFromCli.mockClear();
 
     await runApprovalsCommand(["approvals", "get", "--node", "macbook"]);
 
-    expect(callGatewayFromCli).toHaveBeenCalledWith("exec.approvals.node.get", expect.anything(), {
-      nodeId: "node-1",
-    });
-    expect(callGatewayFromCli).toHaveBeenCalledWith("config.get", expect.anything(), {});
+    expect(callGatewayFromCli).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      "exec.approvals.node.get",
+      expect.objectContaining({ timeout: "60000" }),
+      {
+        nodeId: "node-1",
+      },
+    );
+    expect(callGatewayFromCli).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      "config.get",
+      expect.objectContaining({ timeout: "60000" }),
+      {},
+    );
     expect(runtimeErrors).toHaveLength(0);
   });
 
@@ -346,6 +359,38 @@ describe("exec approvals CLI", () => {
     expect(runtimeErrors).toHaveLength(0);
   });
 
+  it("reports gateway config timeout explicitly", async () => {
+    callGatewayFromCli.mockImplementation(
+      async (method: string, _opts: unknown, params?: unknown) => {
+        if (method === "config.get") {
+          throw new Error("gateway timeout after 10000ms\u001b[2K\u0007\nRPC config.get");
+        }
+        if (method === "exec.approvals.get") {
+          return {
+            path: "/tmp/exec-approvals.json",
+            exists: true,
+            hash: "hash-1",
+            file: { version: 1, agents: {} },
+          };
+        }
+        return { method, params };
+      },
+    );
+
+    await runApprovalsCommand(["approvals", "get", "--gateway", "--timeout", "10000", "--json"]);
+
+    expect(defaultRuntime.writeJson).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      expect.objectContaining({
+        effectivePolicy: {
+          note: "Config fetch timed out. Re-run with a higher --timeout to inspect Effective Policy.",
+          scopes: [],
+        },
+      }),
+      0,
+    );
+    expect(runtimeErrors).toHaveLength(0);
+  });
+
   it("keeps node approvals output when gateway config is unavailable", async () => {
     callGatewayFromCli.mockImplementation(
       async (method: string, _opts: unknown, params?: unknown) => {

src/cli/exec-approvals-cli.ts

@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ import {
 import { formatTimeAgo } from "../infra/format-time/format-relative.ts";
 import { defaultRuntime } from "../runtime.js";
 import { normalizeOptionalString } from "../shared/string-coerce.js";
+import { sanitizeForLog } from "../terminal/ansi.js";
 import { formatDocsLink } from "../terminal/links.js";
 import { getTerminalTableWidth, renderTable } from "../terminal/table.js";
 import { isRich, theme } from "../terminal/theme.js";
@@ -33,11 +34,16 @@ type ExecApprovalsSnapshot = {
 type ConfigSnapshotLike = {
   config?: OpenClawConfig;
 };
+type ConfigLoadResult = {
+  config: OpenClawConfig | null;
+  timedOut: boolean;
+};
 type ApprovalsTargetSource = "gateway" | "node" | "local";
 type EffectivePolicyReport = {
   scopes: ExecPolicyScopeSnapshot[];
   note?: string;
 };
+const APPROVALS_GET_DEFAULT_TIMEOUT_MS = 60_000;
 
 type ExecApprovalsCliOpts = NodesRpcOpts & {
   node?: string;
@@ -159,59 +165,73 @@ async function saveSnapshotTargeted(params: {
 
 function formatCliError(err: unknown): string {
   const msg = formatErrorMessage(err);
-  return msg.includes("\n") ? msg.split("\n")[0] : msg;
+  const firstLine = msg.includes("\n") ? msg.split("\n")[0] : msg;
+  const safe = sanitizeForLog(firstLine);
+  return safe.length > 300 ? `${safe.slice(0, 300)}...` : safe;
 }
 
 async function loadConfigForApprovalsTarget(params: {
   opts: ExecApprovalsCliOpts;
   source: ApprovalsTargetSource;
-}): Promise<OpenClawConfig | null> {
+}): Promise<ConfigLoadResult> {
   try {
     if (params.source === "local") {
-      return await readBestEffortConfig();
+      return { config: await readBestEffortConfig(), timedOut: false };
     }
     const snapshot = (await callGatewayFromCli(
       "config.get",
       params.opts,
       {},
     )) as ConfigSnapshotLike;
-    return snapshot.config && typeof snapshot.config === "object" ? snapshot.config : null;
-  } catch {
-    return null;
+    return {
+      config: snapshot.config && typeof snapshot.config === "object" ? snapshot.config : null,
+      timedOut: false,
+    };
+  } catch (err) {
+    return {
+      config: null,
+      timedOut: /^gateway timeout after \d+ms\b/i.test(formatCliError(err)),
+    };
   }
 }
 
 function buildEffectivePolicyReport(params: {
-  cfg: OpenClawConfig | null;
+  configLoad: ConfigLoadResult;
   source: ApprovalsTargetSource;
   approvals: ExecApprovalsFile;
   hostPath: string;
 }): EffectivePolicyReport {
+  const cfg = params.configLoad.config;
+  const timeoutNote = params.configLoad.timedOut
+    ? "Config fetch timed out. Re-run with a higher --timeout to inspect Effective Policy."
+    : null;
   if (params.source === "node") {
-    if (!params.cfg) {
+    if (!cfg) {
       return {
         scopes: [],
-        note: "Gateway config unavailable. Node output above shows host approvals state only, and final runtime policy still intersects with gateway tools.exec.",
+        note:
+          timeoutNote ??
+          "Gateway config unavailable. Node output above shows host approvals state only, and final runtime policy still intersects with gateway tools.exec.",
       };
     }
     return {
       scopes: collectExecPolicyScopeSnapshots({
-        cfg: params.cfg,
+        cfg,
         approvals: params.approvals,
         hostPath: params.hostPath,
       }),
       note: "Effective exec policy is the node host approvals file intersected with gateway tools.exec policy.",
     };
   }
-  if (!params.cfg) {
+  if (!cfg) {
     return {
       scopes: [],
-      note: "Config unavailable.",
+      note: timeoutNote ?? "Config unavailable.",
     };
   }
   return {
     scopes: collectExecPolicyScopeSnapshots({
-      cfg: params.cfg,
+      cfg,
       approvals: params.approvals,
       hostPath: params.hostPath,
     }),
@@ -473,9 +493,9 @@ export function registerExecApprovalsCli(program: Command) {
     .action(async (opts: ExecApprovalsCliOpts) => {
       try {
         const { snapshot, nodeId, source } = await loadSnapshotTarget(opts);
-        const cfg = await loadConfigForApprovalsTarget({ opts, source });
+        const configLoad = await loadConfigForApprovalsTarget({ opts, source });
         const effectivePolicy = buildEffectivePolicyReport({
-          cfg,
+          configLoad,
           source,
           approvals: snapshot.file,
           hostPath: snapshot.path,
@@ -498,7 +518,7 @@ export function registerExecApprovalsCli(program: Command) {
         defaultRuntime.exit(1);
       }
     });
-  nodesCallOpts(getCmd);
+  nodesCallOpts(getCmd, { timeoutMs: APPROVALS_GET_DEFAULT_TIMEOUT_MS });
 
   const setCmd = approvals
     .command("set")