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Session permission modes set one session’s filesystem boundary and exec escalation reviewer. The boundary is the session’s recorded canonical sessionRoot, or the selected agent’s canonical workspace when no root is recorded. The mode determines what may happen inside or outside that boundary. These tool-visibility and exec rules describe OpenClaw-managed tools. Native harnesses can retain their own tool surface under their permission controls; see Codex runtime policy. full requires operator.admin. The other modes require operator.write.

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Session root and defaults

A permission mode can be set on any session. When a session has a recorded sessionRoot, that canonical path is its filesystem boundary. An explicit working directory and a managed worktree each pin their session’s root. When no root is recorded, the boundary defaults to the selected agent’s canonical workspace when the run is prepared. Managed worktree sessions use the worktree checkout as sessionRoot. A nested working directory remains the runtime cwd, so relative paths start there while filesystem containment covers the whole checkout. File tools recognize aliases of the session’s trusted root and working directory, including absolute paths using those aliases. This does not expand the boundary: unrelated external symlinks pointing inward remain denied, as do symlinks and raw symlink/.. traversal that escape the root. In read-only mode, OpenClaw-managed mutation tools remain omitted. New sessions, including managed worktree sessions, inherit the configured global or per-agent tool/exec policy when no mode is specified. Creating a worktree pins the working directory without selecting a permission mode. Explicit modes and modes already saved on existing sessions remain unchanged. The Control UI permission picker labels Default with the agent’s resolved exec posture when it matches a session mode, for example Default (Guarded) for tools.exec.mode: "ask" without a stricter host approval policy. Resolution includes global settings, agent overrides, and host approval floors. Without those settings or sandboxing, the default is full access. Allowlist-only policy and non-equivalent security/ask pairs, including ask: "always", keep the plain Default label. Agents whose sandbox configuration could apply to their sessions also keep plain Default, because effective policy cannot be stated at agent scope. This is display metadata, not an authorization decision or a filesystem-access guarantee; tool policy still applies. Selecting Default clears the session override; it does not save the displayed mode into the session.

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Delegated setup and repair

When a regular agent delegates a persistent change through its openclaw tool, the host applies the requesting run’s effective permission policy to the exact proposed operation. Full Access applies it automatically without an approval prompt, including when Full Access comes from the configured default rather than an explicit session mode. Restricted runs still require human approval in the OpenClaw operator UI; conversational claims of approval never authorize the change. The requesting tool waits for the human decision and application outcome. Stopping the run cancels its pending approval; approving later cannot revive that run. Independent filesystem and sandbox boundaries, tool policy, and system-agent operation restrictions still apply. The host also checks that the requesting run and verified inference route remain valid. Interactive setup wizards and agent handoffs still need a direct operator session. See OpenClaw operations and approval.

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Change permissions during a task

Choose a mode from the chat composer’s Permissions menu. The picker immediately shows the selected mode’s icon and label while the change settles, and temporarily blocks another selection for that session. Other clients see the mode after the Gateway publishes the updated session. If the change fails, the picker reconciles with the authoritative session state and shows an error; if that state cannot be refreshed yet, it keeps the optimistic selection until the next session update rather than restoring a potentially stale mode.
  • Codex: OpenClaw interrupts the active native turn and stops its background terminals, then continues in the same conversation with the new permissions and an internal Permission change notice. It does not reset the conversation or replay the original request.
  • OpenClaw native runtime: OpenClaw refreshes the active tool policy without restarting the conversation. Subsequent tool calls use the updated permissions.
Pending approvals from the old permissions are canceled, not granted. Changing permissions does not undo completed writes or other side effects. Commands and background processes that have already started are not rolled back. Active CLI-backed runs and runs whose entire agent executes on a worker (worker-turn) do not support live permission changes. OpenClaw rejects the change before saving it. Stop the task, change permissions, then continue in the same session. Worker placements that run only remote commands (remote-exec) follow the behavior of their locally running agent runtime.

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Policy precedence and clamping

Session-wide exec policy belongs to the permission mode. When the mode is unset, normal global or per-agent configuration applies. /exec security=... ask=... applies only to its message and can only tighten an explicit session mode; host and node remain session placement defaults. See Exec session overrides. Before resuming sessions after upgrading a store with legacy session exec policy, run openclaw doctor --fix; the runtime no longer reads that policy. Missing policy values inherit the layered global and per-agent exec policy. When historical sandbox availability is unknown, migration uses the stricter sandbox base for automatic host selection. Restrictive policies migrate without broadening exec access to read-only or guarded. Existing permission modes remain unchanged. Legacy full-access policy is removed with a notice so configuration applies, never converted into a full permission grant. The retired execSecurity and execAsk fields remain in the protocol v4 schemas for sessions.patch and sessions.patchMany. Requests containing either field, including null, are rejected with INVALID_REQUEST and guidance to set permissionMode (read-only, guarded, workspace, or full) or use /exec for one run. Neither field is stored as runtime session policy. An explicit full mode is the admin-authorized exception to host approval-file floors: its OpenClaw exec policy remains full with approvals off unless a turn-scoped override tightens it. Approval-file floors continue to tighten config-driven exec policy, unset modes, and every non-full session mode. Tightening a full session’s security restores those floors; tightening only ask does not. Sandbox restrictions and tool allow/deny policy remain independent, and a harness may clamp an unsupported mode to a compatible safer policy tuple. Codex also continues to honor externally enforced requirements.toml constraints. For the independent sandbox, tool-policy, and elevated-exec controls, see Sandbox vs tool policy vs elevated.