Fix Docker OpenClaw HMAC persistence and privacy-core build warnings.

Persist OPENCLAW_HMAC_SECRET to data/openclaw.env so empty Docker env vars no longer block auth after UI bootstrap. Add verify_hmac.py, silence Rust warnings (#423), and document Docker signing (#424).

Co-authored-by: Cursor <cursoragent@cursor.com>

backend/routers/ai_intel.py

@@ -2988,6 +2988,12 @@ def _write_env_value(key: str, value: str) -> None:
     # Also set in current process env so Settings picks it up
     os.environ[key] = value
 
+    try:
+        from services.api_settings import persist_openclaw_env_value
+        persist_openclaw_env_value(key, value)
+    except Exception:
+        pass
+
 
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Agent Identity Management (Ed25519 keypair — used for mesh signing;

backend/services/api_settings.py

@@ -19,6 +19,10 @@ if not DATA_DIR.is_absolute():
 OPERATOR_KEYS_ENV_PATH = Path(
     os.environ.get("SHADOWBROKER_OPERATOR_KEYS_ENV", str(DATA_DIR / "operator_api_keys.env"))
 )
+OPENCLAW_ENV_PATH = Path(
+    os.environ.get("SHADOWBROKER_OPENCLAW_ENV", str(DATA_DIR / "openclaw.env"))
+)
+OPENCLAW_PERSISTED_KEYS = frozenset({"OPENCLAW_HMAC_SECRET", "OPENCLAW_ACCESS_TIER"})
 _ENV_KEY_RE = re.compile(r"^[A-Z][A-Z0-9_]*$")
 
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -285,6 +289,34 @@ def load_persisted_api_keys_into_environ() -> None:
             os.environ[key] = value
 
 
+def load_persisted_openclaw_into_environ() -> None:
+    """Load OpenClaw secrets from the data volume when env is unset/empty.
+
+    Docker Compose often injects ``OPENCLAW_HMAC_SECRET=`` as an empty string,
+    which blocks pydantic from reading backend/.env. Persisting bootstrap output
+    under ``data/openclaw.env`` (on the backend_data volume) keeps remote HMAC
+    working across container restarts (#424).
+    """
+    persisted = _parse_env_file(OPENCLAW_ENV_PATH)
+    if not persisted.get("OPENCLAW_HMAC_SECRET"):
+        # One-time migration from legacy backend/.env writes inside the image.
+        persisted = {**_parse_env_file(ENV_PATH), **persisted}
+
+    for key, value in persisted.items():
+        if key not in OPENCLAW_PERSISTED_KEYS:
+            continue
+        cleaned = str(value or "").strip()
+        if cleaned and not str(os.environ.get(key, "")).strip():
+            os.environ[key] = cleaned
+
+
+def persist_openclaw_env_value(key: str, value: str) -> None:
+    """Persist OpenClaw runtime settings to the data volume."""
+    if key not in OPENCLAW_PERSISTED_KEYS:
+        return
+    _write_env_values(OPENCLAW_ENV_PATH, {key: value})
+
+
 def get_env_path_info() -> dict:
     """Return absolute paths for the backend .env and .env.example template.
 
@@ -305,6 +337,10 @@ def get_env_path_info() -> dict:
         "operator_keys_env_path_exists": OPERATOR_KEYS_ENV_PATH.exists(),
         "operator_keys_env_path_writable": os.access(OPERATOR_KEYS_ENV_PATH.parent, os.W_OK)
             and (not OPERATOR_KEYS_ENV_PATH.exists() or os.access(OPERATOR_KEYS_ENV_PATH, os.W_OK)),
+        "openclaw_env_path": str(OPENCLAW_ENV_PATH.resolve()),
+        "openclaw_env_path_exists": OPENCLAW_ENV_PATH.exists(),
+        "openclaw_env_path_writable": os.access(OPENCLAW_ENV_PATH.parent, os.W_OK)
+            and (not OPENCLAW_ENV_PATH.exists() or os.access(OPENCLAW_ENV_PATH, os.W_OK)),
     }
 
 

backend/services/config.py

@@ -370,8 +370,12 @@ class Settings(BaseSettings):
 @lru_cache
 def get_settings() -> Settings:
     try:
-        from services.api_settings import load_persisted_api_keys_into_environ
+        from services.api_settings import (
+            load_persisted_api_keys_into_environ,
+            load_persisted_openclaw_into_environ,
+        )
         load_persisted_api_keys_into_environ()
+        load_persisted_openclaw_into_environ()
     except Exception:
         pass
     return Settings()

backend/tests/test_openclaw_persisted_env.py

@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+import hashlib
+import hmac as hmac_mod
+import json
+import os
+import secrets
+import time
+
+import pytest
+from starlette.requests import Request
+
+
+def test_persisted_openclaw_secret_loads_when_docker_env_blank(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+    from services import api_settings
+    from services.config import get_settings
+
+    openclaw_env = tmp_path / "openclaw.env"
+    openclaw_env.write_text('OPENCLAW_HMAC_SECRET="persisted-hmac-secret"\n', encoding="utf-8")
+    monkeypatch.setattr(api_settings, "OPENCLAW_ENV_PATH", openclaw_env)
+    monkeypatch.setenv("OPENCLAW_HMAC_SECRET", "")
+    get_settings.cache_clear()
+
+    api_settings.load_persisted_openclaw_into_environ()
+
+    assert os.environ["OPENCLAW_HMAC_SECRET"] == "persisted-hmac-secret"
+    assert get_settings().OPENCLAW_HMAC_SECRET == "persisted-hmac-secret"
+
+
+def test_persist_openclaw_env_value_writes_data_volume(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+    from services import api_settings
+
+    openclaw_env = tmp_path / "openclaw.env"
+    monkeypatch.setattr(api_settings, "OPENCLAW_ENV_PATH", openclaw_env)
+
+    api_settings.persist_openclaw_env_value("OPENCLAW_HMAC_SECRET", "minted-secret")
+
+    assert 'OPENCLAW_HMAC_SECRET="minted-secret"' in openclaw_env.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_hmac_verify_accepts_canonical_json_from_docker_host(monkeypatch):
+    import auth
+
+    secret = "docker-hmac-test-secret"
+    monkeypatch.setattr(auth, "_openclaw_hmac_secret", lambda: secret)
+
+    body = json.dumps({"args": {}, "cmd": "channel_status"}, separators=(",", ":"), sort_keys=True).encode(
+        "utf-8"
+    )
+    ts = str(int(time.time()))
+    nonce = secrets.token_hex(16)
+    digest = hashlib.sha256(body).hexdigest()
+    message = f"POST|/api/ai/channel/command|{ts}|{nonce}|{digest}"
+    signature = hmac_mod.new(secret.encode(), message.encode(), hashlib.sha256).hexdigest()
+
+    async def receive():
+        return {"type": "http.request", "body": body}
+
+    req = Request(
+        {
+            "type": "http",
+            "method": "POST",
+            "path": "/api/ai/channel/command",
+            "headers": [
+                (b"x-sb-timestamp", ts.encode()),
+                (b"x-sb-nonce", nonce.encode()),
+                (b"x-sb-signature", signature.encode()),
+            ],
+            "query_string": b"",
+            "root_path": "",
+            "server": ("172.17.0.1", 80),
+            "client": ("172.17.0.1", 12345),
+        },
+        receive,
+    )
+
+    assert await auth._verify_openclaw_hmac(req) is True