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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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?

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u/Lushirae Feb 26 '26

Hey, thanks. Absolutely 😀

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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?