refactor: remove stale transcript locator references

docs/concepts/context-engine.md

@@ -210,8 +210,9 @@ Required members:
 </ParamField>
 
 `compact` returns a `CompactResult`. When compaction rotates the active
-transcript, `result.sessionId` and `result.sessionFile` identify the successor
-session that the next retry or turn must use.
+transcript, `result.sessionId` identifies the successor session that the next
+retry or turn must use. Transcript rows stay in SQLite; compaction does not
+handoff a transcript file or locator.
 
 Optional members:
 

docs/concepts/session-tool.md

@@ -81,8 +81,8 @@ The returned view is intentionally bounded and safety-filtered:
 Both tools accept either a **session key** (like `"main"`) or a **session ID**
 from a previous list call.
 
-If you need the exact byte-for-byte transcript, inspect the transcript file on
-disk instead of treating `sessions_history` as a raw dump.
+If you need the exact byte-for-byte transcript for debugging, export it from
+SQLite instead of treating `sessions_history` as a raw dump.
 
 ## Sending cross-session messages
 

docs/tools/subagents.md

@@ -501,7 +501,7 @@ Announce payloads include a stats line at the end (even when wrapped):
 - Runtime (e.g. `runtime 5m12s`).
 - Token usage (input/output/total).
 - Estimated cost when model pricing is configured (`models.providers.*.models[].cost`).
-- `sessionKey`, `sessionId`, and transcript path so the main agent can fetch history via `sessions_history` or inspect the file on disk.
+- `sessionKey` and `sessionId` so the main agent can fetch history via `sessions_history` or inspect the SQLite transcript rows.
 
 Internal metadata is meant for orchestration only; user-facing replies
 should be rewritten in normal assistant voice.

src/agents/pi-embedded-helpers.buildbootstrapcontextfiles.test.ts

@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ describe("ensureSessionHeader", () => {
   it("creates the transcript header in SQLite without writing a JSONL file", async () => {
     const tempDir = await fs.mkdtemp(path.join(os.tmpdir(), "openclaw-session-header-"));
     try {
-      const transcriptLocator = path.join(tempDir, "nested", "session.jsonl");
+      const legacyTranscriptPath = path.join(tempDir, "nested", "session.jsonl");
       const env = {
         ...process.env,
         OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR: path.join(tempDir, "state"),
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ describe("ensureSessionHeader", () => {
         env,
       });
 
-      await expect(fs.access(transcriptLocator)).rejects.toThrow();
+      await expect(fs.access(legacyTranscriptPath)).rejects.toThrow();
       const events = loadSqliteSessionTranscriptEvents({
         agentId: "main",
         sessionId: "session-1",

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

@@ -53,10 +53,7 @@ async function createCompactionSessionFixture(entry: SessionEntry) {
   return { sessionKey, sessionStore };
 }
 
-async function rotateCompactionTranscriptLocator(params: {
-  tempPrefix: string;
-  newSessionId: string;
-}) {
+async function rotateCompactionSessionId(params: { tempPrefix: string; newSessionId: string }) {
   const tmp = await fs.mkdtemp(path.join(os.tmpdir(), params.tempPrefix));
   tempDirs.push(tmp);
   vi.stubEnv("OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR", tmp);
@@ -547,8 +544,8 @@ describe("incrementCompactionCount", () => {
     expect(stored[sessionKey].totalTokensFresh).toBe(true);
   });
 
-  it("updates sessionId without persisting transcript locators when compaction rotated transcripts", async () => {
-    const { stored, sessionKey } = await rotateCompactionTranscriptLocator({
+  it("updates sessionId without persisting transcript locators when compaction rotates sessions", async () => {
+    const { stored, sessionKey } = await rotateCompactionSessionId({
       tempPrefix: "openclaw-compact-rotate-",
       newSessionId: "s2",
     });
@@ -556,8 +553,8 @@ describe("incrementCompactionCount", () => {
     expect(stored[sessionKey]).not.toHaveProperty("transcriptLocator");
   });
 
-  it("drops legacy fork transcript filenames when compaction rotates transcripts", async () => {
-    const { stored, sessionKey } = await rotateCompactionTranscriptLocator({
+  it("drops legacy fork transcript filenames when compaction rotates sessions", async () => {
+    const { stored, sessionKey } = await rotateCompactionSessionId({
       tempPrefix: "openclaw-compact-fork-",
       newSessionId: "s2",
     });
@@ -565,8 +562,8 @@ describe("incrementCompactionCount", () => {
     expect(stored[sessionKey]).not.toHaveProperty("transcriptLocator");
   });
 
-  it("replaces absolute transcriptLocator paths with sqlite locators during compaction rotation", async () => {
-    const { stored, sessionKey } = await rotateCompactionTranscriptLocator({
+  it("drops legacy transcript locator paths during compaction rotation", async () => {
+    const { stored, sessionKey } = await rotateCompactionSessionId({
       tempPrefix: "openclaw-compact-unsafe-",
       newSessionId: "s2",
     });

src/commands/agent.test.ts

@@ -217,41 +217,16 @@ vi.mock("../agents/command/delivery.runtime.js", () => {
 });
 
 vi.mock("../config/sessions/transcript-resolve.runtime.js", () => {
-  const joinPath = (...parts: string[]): string => {
-    const separator = parts.some((part) => part.includes("\\")) ? "\\" : "/";
-    const normalizedParts: string[] = [];
-    for (const [index, part] of parts.entries()) {
-      const normalized =
-        index === 0 ? part.replace(/[\\/]+$/u, "") : part.replace(/^[\\/]+|[\\/]+$/gu, "");
-      if (normalized.length > 0) {
-        normalizedParts.push(normalized);
-      }
-    }
-    return normalizedParts.join(separator);
-  };
-  const resolveTranscriptLocator = (
-    sessionId: string,
-    agentId: string,
-    sessionsDir?: string,
-  ): string =>
-    joinPath(sessionsDir ?? ".openclaw", "agents", agentId, "sessions", `${sessionId}.jsonl`);
-
   return {
     resolveSessionTranscriptTarget: vi.fn(
       async (params: {
         sessionId: string;
         sessionKey: string;
-        sessionEntry?: { transcriptLocator?: string; sessionId?: string };
-        sessionStore?: Record<string, { transcriptLocator?: string; sessionId?: string }>;
+        sessionEntry?: { sessionId?: string };
+        sessionStore?: Record<string, { sessionId?: string }>;
         agentId: string;
         threadId?: string | number;
       }) => {
-        const transcriptLocatorFromStorePath =
-          params.sessionEntry?.transcriptLocator ??
-          resolveTranscriptLocator(params.sessionId, params.agentId);
-        const transcriptLocator = params.sessionEntry?.transcriptLocator
-          ? transcriptLocatorFromStorePath
-          : resolveTranscriptLocator(params.sessionId, params.agentId);
         let sessionEntry = params.sessionEntry;
         if (params.sessionStore && params.sessionKey) {
           const existingEntry =
@@ -261,12 +236,11 @@ vi.mock("../config/sessions/transcript-resolve.runtime.js", () => {
           sessionEntry = {
             ...existingEntry,
             sessionId: params.sessionId,
-            transcriptLocator,
           };
           params.sessionStore[params.sessionKey] = sessionEntry;
           await replaceTestSessionRows(params.agentId, params.sessionStore as never);
         }
-        return { transcriptLocator, sessionEntry };
+        return { agentId: params.agentId, sessionId: params.sessionId, sessionEntry };
       },
     ),
   };