refactor: dedupe reply lowercase helpers

src/agents/mcp-transport-config.ts

@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import { logWarn } from "../logger.js";
+import { normalizeLowercaseStringOrEmpty } from "../shared/string-coerce.js";
 import {
   describeHttpMcpServerLaunchConfig,
   resolveHttpMcpServerLaunchConfig,
@@ -58,7 +59,7 @@ function getRequestedTransport(rawServer: unknown): string {
   ) {
     return "";
   }
-  return ((rawServer as { transport?: string }).transport ?? "").trim().toLowerCase();
+  return normalizeLowercaseStringOrEmpty((rawServer as { transport?: string }).transport);
 }
 
 function resolveHttpTransportConfig(

src/agents/pi-embedded-runner/compact-reasons.ts

@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
+import { normalizeLowercaseStringOrEmpty } from "../../shared/string-coerce.js";
+
 function isGenericCompactionCancelledReason(reason: string): boolean {
-  const normalized = reason.trim().toLowerCase();
+  const normalized = normalizeLowercaseStringOrEmpty(reason);
   return normalized === "compaction cancelled" || normalized === "error: compaction cancelled";
 }
 
@@ -14,7 +16,7 @@ export function resolveCompactionFailureReason(params: {
 }
 
 export function classifyCompactionReason(reason?: string): string {
-  const text = (reason ?? "").trim().toLowerCase();
+  const text = normalizeLowercaseStringOrEmpty(reason);
   if (!text) {
     return "unknown";
   }

src/agents/tools/sessions-access.ts

@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import type { OpenClawConfig } from "../../config/config.js";
 import { isSubagentSessionKey, resolveAgentIdFromSessionKey } from "../../routing/session-key.js";
+import { normalizeLowercaseStringOrEmpty } from "../../shared/string-coerce.js";
 import {
   listSpawnedSessionKeys,
   resolveInternalSessionKey,
@@ -23,7 +24,7 @@ export type SessionAccessResult =
 export function resolveSessionToolsVisibility(cfg: OpenClawConfig): SessionToolsVisibility {
   const raw = (cfg.tools as { sessions?: { visibility?: unknown } } | undefined)?.sessions
     ?.visibility;
-  const value = typeof raw === "string" ? raw.trim().toLowerCase() : "";
+  const value = normalizeLowercaseStringOrEmpty(raw);
   if (value === "self" || value === "tree" || value === "agent" || value === "all") {
     return value;
   }

src/auto-reply/command-auth.ts

@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import { getChannelPlugin, listChannelPlugins } from "../channels/plugins/index.
 import type { ChannelId, ChannelPlugin } from "../channels/plugins/types.js";
 import { normalizeAnyChannelId } from "../channels/registry.js";
 import type { OpenClawConfig } from "../config/config.js";
+import { normalizeLowercaseStringOrEmpty } from "../shared/string-coerce.js";
 import { normalizeStringEntries } from "../shared/string-normalization.js";
 import {
   INTERNAL_MESSAGE_CHANNEL,
@@ -466,7 +467,7 @@ function shouldUseFromAsSenderFallback(params: {
   if (!from) {
     return false;
   }
-  const chatType = (params.chatType ?? "").trim().toLowerCase();
+  const chatType = normalizeLowercaseStringOrEmpty(params.chatType);
   if (chatType && chatType !== "direct") {
     return false;
   }

src/auto-reply/reply/commands-context.ts

@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import type { OpenClawConfig } from "../../config/config.js";
+import { normalizeLowercaseStringOrEmpty } from "../../shared/string-coerce.js";
 import { resolveCommandAuthorization } from "../command-auth.js";
 import { normalizeCommandBody } from "../commands-registry.js";
 import type { MsgContext } from "../templating.js";
@@ -20,8 +21,8 @@ export function buildCommandContext(params: {
     cfg,
     commandAuthorized: params.commandAuthorized,
   });
-  const surface = (ctx.Surface ?? ctx.Provider ?? "").trim().toLowerCase();
-  const channel = (ctx.Provider ?? surface).trim().toLowerCase();
+  const surface = normalizeLowercaseStringOrEmpty(ctx.Surface ?? ctx.Provider);
+  const channel = normalizeLowercaseStringOrEmpty(ctx.Provider ?? surface);
   const abortKey = sessionKey ?? (auth.from || undefined) ?? (auth.to || undefined);
   const rawBodyNormalized = triggerBodyNormalized;
   const commandBodyNormalized = normalizeCommandBody(

src/auto-reply/reply/session-delivery.ts

@@ -1,7 +1,10 @@
 import type { SessionEntry } from "../../config/sessions.js";
 import { buildAgentMainSessionKey } from "../../routing/session-key.js";
 import { parseAgentSessionKey } from "../../sessions/session-key-utils.js";
-import { normalizeOptionalString } from "../../shared/string-coerce.js";
+import {
+  normalizeLowercaseStringOrEmpty,
+  normalizeOptionalString,
+} from "../../shared/string-coerce.js";
 import {
   deliveryContextFromSession,
   deliveryContextKey,
@@ -34,9 +37,9 @@ function resolveSessionKeyChannelHint(sessionKey?: string): string | undefined {
 function isMainSessionKey(sessionKey?: string): boolean {
   const parsed = parseAgentSessionKey(sessionKey);
   if (!parsed) {
-    return (sessionKey ?? "").trim().toLowerCase() === "main";
+    return normalizeLowercaseStringOrEmpty(sessionKey) === "main";
   }
-  return parsed.rest.trim().toLowerCase() === "main";
+  return normalizeLowercaseStringOrEmpty(parsed.rest) === "main";
 }
 
 const DIRECT_SESSION_MARKERS = new Set(["direct", "dm"]);
@@ -59,7 +62,7 @@ function hasStrictDirectSessionTail(parts: string[], markerIndex: number): boole
 }
 
 function isDirectSessionKey(sessionKey?: string): boolean {
-  const raw = (sessionKey ?? "").trim().toLowerCase();
+  const raw = normalizeLowercaseStringOrEmpty(sessionKey);
   if (!raw) {
     return false;
   }

src/auto-reply/tool-meta.ts

@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import { formatToolSummary, resolveToolDisplay } from "../agents/tool-display.js";
+import { normalizeLowercaseStringOrEmpty } from "../shared/string-coerce.js";
 import { shortenHomeInString, shortenHomePath } from "../utils.js";
 
 type ToolAggregateOptions = {
@@ -80,7 +81,7 @@ function formatMetaForDisplay(
   meta: string,
   markdown?: boolean,
 ): string {
-  const normalized = (toolName ?? "").trim().toLowerCase();
+  const normalized = normalizeLowercaseStringOrEmpty(toolName);
   if (normalized === "exec" || normalized === "bash") {
     const { flags, body } = splitExecFlags(meta);
     if (flags.length > 0) {