fix(avatar): check ui.assistant.avatar in resolveAvatarSource (openclaw#60778)

Merged via squash.

Prepared head SHA: df8d953
Co-authored-by: hannasdev <4538260+hannasdev@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: altaywtf <9790196+altaywtf@users.noreply.github.com>
Reviewed-by: @altaywtf

Author: hannasdev

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -110,6 +110,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 - Agents/exec: restore `host=node` routing for node-pinned and `host=auto` sessions, while still blocking sandboxed `auto` sessions from jumping to gateway. (#60788) Thanks @openperf.
 - Agents/compaction: keep assistant tool calls and displaced tool results in the same compaction chunk so strict summarization providers stop rejecting orphaned tool pairs. (#58849) Thanks @openperf.
 - Outbound/sanitizer: strip leaked `<tool_call>`, `<function_calls>`, and model special tokens from shared user-visible assistant text, including truncated tool-call streams, so internal scaffolding no longer bleeds into replies across surfaces. (#60619) Thanks @oliviareid-svg.
+- Control UI/avatar: honor `ui.assistant.avatar` when serving `/avatar/:agentId` so Appearance UI avatar paths stop falling back to initials placeholders. (#60778) Thanks @hannasdev.
 
 ## 2026.4.2
 

src/agents/identity-avatar.test.ts

@@ -15,9 +15,10 @@ async function expectLocalAvatarPath(
   cfg: OpenClawConfig,
   workspace: string,
   expectedRelativePath: string,
+  opts?: Parameters<typeof resolveAgentAvatar>[2],
 ) {
   const workspaceReal = await fs.realpath(workspace);
-  const resolved = resolveAgentAvatar(cfg, "main");
+  const resolved = resolveAgentAvatar(cfg, "main", opts);
   expect(resolved.kind).toBe("local");
   if (resolved.kind === "local") {
     const resolvedReal = await fs.realpath(resolved.filePath);
@@ -164,4 +165,72 @@ describe("resolveAgentAvatar", () => {
     const data = resolveAgentAvatar(cfg, "data");
     expect(data.kind).toBe("data");
   });
+
+  it("resolves local avatar from ui.assistant.avatar when no agents.list identity is set", async () => {
+    const root = await createTempAvatarRoot();
+    const workspace = path.join(root, "work");
+    const avatarPath = path.join(workspace, "ui-avatar.png");
+    await writeFile(avatarPath);
+
+    const cfg: OpenClawConfig = {
+      ui: { assistant: { avatar: "ui-avatar.png" } },
+      agents: { list: [{ id: "main", workspace }] },
+    };
+
+    await expectLocalAvatarPath(cfg, workspace, "ui-avatar.png", { includeUiOverride: true });
+  });
+
+  it("ui.assistant.avatar ignored without includeUiOverride (outbound callers)", async () => {
+    const root = await createTempAvatarRoot();
+    const workspace = path.join(root, "work");
+    const uiAvatarPath = path.join(workspace, "ui-avatar.png");
+    const cfgAvatarPath = path.join(workspace, "cfg-avatar.png");
+    await writeFile(uiAvatarPath);
+    await writeFile(cfgAvatarPath);
+
+    const cfg: OpenClawConfig = {
+      ui: { assistant: { avatar: "ui-avatar.png" } },
+      agents: { list: [{ id: "main", workspace, identity: { avatar: "cfg-avatar.png" } }] },
+    };
+
+    // Without the opt-in, outbound callers get the per-agent identity avatar, not the UI override.
+    await expectLocalAvatarPath(cfg, workspace, "cfg-avatar.png");
+  });
+
+  it("ui.assistant.avatar takes priority over agents.list identity.avatar with includeUiOverride", async () => {
+    const root = await createTempAvatarRoot();
+    const workspace = path.join(root, "work");
+    const uiAvatarPath = path.join(workspace, "ui-avatar.png");
+    const cfgAvatarPath = path.join(workspace, "cfg-avatar.png");
+    await writeFile(uiAvatarPath);
+    await writeFile(cfgAvatarPath);
+
+    const cfg: OpenClawConfig = {
+      ui: { assistant: { avatar: "ui-avatar.png" } },
+      agents: { list: [{ id: "main", workspace, identity: { avatar: "cfg-avatar.png" } }] },
+    };
+
+    await expectLocalAvatarPath(cfg, workspace, "ui-avatar.png", { includeUiOverride: true });
+  });
+
+  it("ui.assistant.avatar takes priority over IDENTITY.md avatar with includeUiOverride", async () => {
+    const root = await createTempAvatarRoot();
+    const workspace = path.join(root, "work");
+    const uiAvatarPath = path.join(workspace, "ui-avatar.png");
+    const identityAvatarPath = path.join(workspace, "identity-avatar.png");
+    await writeFile(uiAvatarPath);
+    await writeFile(identityAvatarPath);
+    await fs.writeFile(
+      path.join(workspace, "IDENTITY.md"),
+      "- Avatar: identity-avatar.png\n",
+      "utf-8",
+    );
+
+    const cfg: OpenClawConfig = {
+      ui: { assistant: { avatar: "ui-avatar.png" } },
+      agents: { list: [{ id: "main", workspace }] },
+    };
+
+    await expectLocalAvatarPath(cfg, workspace, "ui-avatar.png", { includeUiOverride: true });
+  });
 });

src/agents/identity-avatar.ts

@@ -24,7 +24,17 @@ function normalizeAvatarValue(value: string | undefined | null): string | null {
   return trimmed ? trimmed : null;
 }
 
-function resolveAvatarSource(cfg: OpenClawConfig, agentId: string): string | null {
+function resolveAvatarSource(
+  cfg: OpenClawConfig,
+  agentId: string,
+  opts?: { includeUiOverride?: boolean },
+): string | null {
+  if (opts?.includeUiOverride) {
+    const fromUiConfig = normalizeAvatarValue(cfg.ui?.assistant?.avatar);
+    if (fromUiConfig) {
+      return fromUiConfig;
+    }
+  }
   const fromConfig = normalizeAvatarValue(resolveAgentIdentity(cfg, agentId)?.avatar);
   if (fromConfig) {
     return fromConfig;
@@ -73,8 +83,12 @@ function resolveLocalAvatarPath(params: {
   return { ok: true, filePath: realPath };
 }
 
-export function resolveAgentAvatar(cfg: OpenClawConfig, agentId: string): AgentAvatarResolution {
-  const source = resolveAvatarSource(cfg, agentId);
+export function resolveAgentAvatar(
+  cfg: OpenClawConfig,
+  agentId: string,
+  opts?: { includeUiOverride?: boolean },
+): AgentAvatarResolution {
+  const source = resolveAvatarSource(cfg, agentId, opts);
   if (!source) {
     return { kind: "none", reason: "missing" };
   }

src/gateway/server-http.ts

@@ -946,7 +946,8 @@ export function createGatewayHttpServer(opts: {
           run: () =>
             handleControlUiAvatarRequest(req, res, {
               basePath: controlUiBasePath,
-              resolveAvatar: (agentId) => resolveAgentAvatar(configSnapshot, agentId),
+              resolveAvatar: (agentId) =>
+                resolveAgentAvatar(configSnapshot, agentId, { includeUiOverride: true }),
             }),
         });
         requestStages.push({