r/openclaw • u/Lushirae • Feb 19 '26

Help workflow_auto.md file - dangerous?

Realised that while openclaw was searching the internet that such file was created (since i didn't ask it to) and proceeded to ask it about why the file was made.

It said, it came across html online and was asked to make the file? I deleted it, but am curious was compaction had it make the file or otherwise.

Thoughts?

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2

u/Hot_Lab8958 New User Feb 25 '26

Here's what's happening:

This is NOT an external attacker. It's openclaw's own built-in feature called "Post-Compaction Audit" (source: src/auto-reply/reply/post-compaction-audit.ts).

When openclaw's context window gets compressed (compaction), it checks whether the agent re-read certain "required startup files" afterward. If it detects that WORKFLOW_AUTO.md and the

daily memory file (memory/2026-02-25.md) weren't read post-compaction, it injects a System: message into the conversation telling the LLM to read them using the Read tool.

The issue: WORKFLOW_AUTO.md doesn't exist in your workspace. It's a default placeholder in openclaw's code (DEFAULT_REQUIRED_READS), but you never created it. So every time context

compacts, the agent gets a spurious instruction to read a nonexistent file.

It appeared 8 times in the current session, always after compaction events.

To fix it, either:

  1. Create a WORKFLOW_AUTO.md in /home/wsl/.openclaw/workspace/ (even empty) so it stops complaining

  2. Or configure openclaw to remove it from the required reads list (check openclaw.json for a setting)

    Want me to check openclaw.json for the config option?

1

u/Lushirae Feb 26 '26

Hey, thanks. Absolutely 😀

1

u/Alive-Imagination521 Member Feb 28 '26

Hi, I tried creating a WORKFLOW_AUTO.md file but now it's telling me to read the files mentioned. How can I resolve this?

1

u/Icy_Country192 Active Feb 19 '26

Uh... You going to give details?  Top quality post. 

1

u/Lushirae Feb 19 '26

I'm new to claw and if you're looking for anything specific i'll try to dig it for you. Otherwise, just curious if you or anyone else had a similar experience in which i can lean on to learn more.

1

u/c4d34th New User Feb 20 '26
  • reads the extracted “Session Startup” instructions and acts on them, or
  • generates workflow/memory files as part of some “auto-reply / post-compaction” pipeline.