fix: reduce auto-pair timeout and add skip/configure env vars

[brianwtaylor]

Summary

• Reduce default auto-pair watcher timeout from 5 minutes to 2 minutes
• Add NEMOCLAW_AUTOPAIR_TIMEOUT env var to configure timeout
• Add NEMOCLAW_AUTOPAIR_SKIP env var to skip auto-pair entirely
• Add subprocess timeout to watcher run() helper to prevent indefinite blocking
• Echo timeout value before nohup redirect for observability

Continuation of closed #145.

Related to #430 — the indefinite blocking during sandbox startup is partly caused by the auto-pair watcher having no timeout; this adds configurable timeouts and a skip option

Test plan

Automated Tests

npm test -- --grep "auto-pair"

Summary by CodeRabbit

• New Features

  • Background auto-pair watcher can be disabled via an environment variable.
  • Auto-pair timeout duration is now configurable via an environment variable (default: 120s).

• Improvements

  • Watcher now enforces a global deadline so background jobs cannot exceed the configured timeout.
  • Subprocess invocations respect the remaining deadline and return explicit timeout results when exceeded.

[coderabbitai]

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📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

start_auto_pair() in scripts/nemoclaw-start.sh keeps the skip/timeout env handling and now enforces the watcher's global deadline in the embedded Python watcher: each subprocess call is bounded by the remaining time, the watcher returns exit code 124 with a clear message when the deadline has passed, and TimeoutExpired is handled to return code 124 with a timeout message.

Changes

Cohort / File(s)

Summary

Auto-pair watcher scripts/nemoclaw-start.sh

Kept NEMOCLAW_SKIP_AUTO_PAIR early-skip and NEMOCLAW_AUTO_PAIR_TIMEOUT read/validate/echo behavior. In the embedded Python watcher, compute DEADLINE = time.time() + timeout; the run(*args) helper now: if remaining = DEADLINE - time.time() <= 0, return (124, '', 'watcher deadline exceeded'); otherwise call subprocess.run(..., timeout=remaining) and on subprocess.TimeoutExpired return (124, '', f'subprocess timed out after {remaining:.0f}s').

Sequence Diagram(s)

sequenceDiagram
    participant Shell as Shell (scripts/nemoclaw-start.sh)
    participant Watcher as Python Watcher (nohup python3 -)
    participant CLI as External CLI (openclaw)
    participant Devices as Devices / JSON

    Shell->>Shell: Check NEMOCLAW_SKIP_AUTO_PAIR\nIf set -> return
    Shell->>Shell: Read & validate NEMOCLAW_AUTO_PAIR_TIMEOUT\nExport & echo TIMEOUT
    Shell->>Watcher: Launch watcher with TIMEOUT env
    Watcher->>Watcher: Compute DEADLINE = now + TIMEOUT\nPrint startup message
    loop until DEADLINE or approvals complete
        Watcher->>Watcher: remaining = DEADLINE - time.time()
        alt remaining <= 0
            Watcher->>Watcher: return (124, '', 'watcher deadline exceeded')
        else
            Watcher->>CLI: run("openclaw devices", timeout=remaining)
            CLI-->>Watcher: devices JSON or (TimeoutExpired)
            alt TimeoutExpired
                Watcher->>Watcher: return (124, '', 'subprocess timed out after Xs')
            else
                Watcher->>Watcher: parse devices JSON
                alt pending approvals found
                    Watcher->>CLI: run("openclaw approve ...", timeout=remaining)
                    CLI-->>Watcher: approve result or (TimeoutExpired)
                end
            end
        end
        Watcher->>Watcher: sleep then retry
    end
    Watcher-->>Shell: exit when DEADLINE reached or all approvals done

Loading

Estimated code review effort

🎯 2 (Simple) | ⏱️ ~10 minutes

Poem

🐰 I tightened the timer, kept skips in sight,
Subprocesses bounded, no endless night.
If time runs out, I tap with a paw,
Code 124 — tidy, neat, no thaw.
Hop, hop, the watcher nibbles the log light.

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 3 | ❌ 2

❌ Failed checks (2 warnings)

Check name	Status	Explanation	Resolution
Linked Issues check	⚠️ Warning	The changeset implements the core requirement of adding subprocess timeout handling [#145], but does not include environment variable support for NEMOCLAW_AUTO_PAIR_TIMEOUT or NEMOCLAW_SKIP_AUTO_PAIR, nor the timeout reduction from 600s to 120s.	Implement NEMOCLAW_AUTO_PAIR_TIMEOUT and NEMOCLAW_SKIP_AUTO_PAIR environment variable support, reduce default timeout from 600s to 120s, and add observability logging for the configured timeout.
Docstring Coverage	⚠️ Warning	Docstring coverage is 66.67% which is insufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%.	Write docstrings for the functions missing them to satisfy the coverage threshold.

✅ Passed checks (3 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Description Check	✅ Passed	Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title directly matches the PR objectives and linked issue #145 requirements: reducing auto-pair timeout and adding environment variable configuration.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	The changes are limited to adding subprocess timeout handling within the internal run() helper, which is directly related to the linked issue #145 requirement for per-subprocess timeouts.

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✨ Finishing Touches

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests

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[coderabbitai]

Actionable comments posted: 1

🤖 Prompt for all review comments with AI agents

Verify each finding against the current code and only fix it if needed.

Inline comments:
In `@scripts/nemoclaw-start.sh`:
- Around line 123-137: The echo currently prints pair_timeout from the shell
which can differ from the Python-normalized timeout (the Python code coerces
invalid/<=0 values to 120 using timeout and DEADLINE); update the script so the
logged timeout reflects the effective value — either validate/coerce
NEMOCLAW_AUTO_PAIR_TIMEOUT in the shell before setting pair_timeout or move the
echo after the Python normalization and have the Python block print the
effective timeout (use the same environment key NEMOCLAW_AUTO_PAIR_TIMEOUT and
the Python variable timeout/DEADLINE to produce the logged value) so the message
shows the actual watcher timeout.

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ℹ️ Review info

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: Path: .coderabbit.yaml

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro

Run ID: 087d654f-9b57-41ec-acee-f885a765801f

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 867f27d and 0e79d1a.

📒 Files selected for processing (1)

• scripts/nemoclaw-start.sh

[wscurran]

Thanks for the proposed fix to reduce the auto-pair timeout and add configuration options, which could help improve the security and usability of our CLI.

[coderabbitai]

Actionable comments posted: 1

🤖 Prompt for all review comments with AI agents

Verify each finding against the current code and only fix it if needed.

Inline comments:
In `@scripts/nemoclaw-start.sh`:
- Around line 103-110: The run function currently computes remaining = max(1,
int(DEADLINE - time.time())) which becomes 1 after the deadline and still
launches subprocesses; change run to compute remaining = DEADLINE - time.time()
and if remaining <= 0 immediately return (124, '', f'subprocess timed out after
0s') instead of calling subprocess.run, otherwise call subprocess.run with
timeout=remaining (or int(max(1, remaining)) if an int is required). Update the
TimeoutExpired handling to preserve the existing return format; references:
function run, variable DEADLINE, subprocess.run, and subprocess.TimeoutExpired.

---

ℹ️ Review info

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: Path: .coderabbit.yaml

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro

Run ID: 9cb34af1-182e-4ec2-8e1f-f977d26ae541

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 19111ce and ba72b64.

📒 Files selected for processing (1)

• scripts/nemoclaw-start.sh