From 21370fc09ba0cb7d218eef3baa718e50abdc389e Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Peter Steinberger <steipete@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2026 19:23:06 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] fix: allow fallback on timeout aborts

Co-authored-by: Larus Ivarsson <larusivar@gmail.com>
---
 CHANGELOG.md                      |  1 +
 src/agents/model-fallback.test.ts | 20 ++++++++++++++++++++
 src/agents/model-fallback.ts      |  7 +++----
 3 files changed, 24 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index e9ba12fe2..60f23034e 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.clawd.bot
 ### Fixes
 - Discovery: shorten Bonjour DNS-SD service type to `_clawdbot-gw._tcp` and update discovery clients/docs.
 - Agents: preserve subagent announce thread/topic routing + queued replies across channels. (#1241) — thanks @gnarco.
+- Agents: avoid treating timeout errors with "aborted" messages as user aborts, so model fallback still runs.
 - Doctor: clarify plugin auto-enable hint text in the startup banner.
 - Gateway: clarify unauthorized handshake responses with token/password mismatch guidance.
 - Web search: infer Perplexity base URL from API key source (direct vs OpenRouter).
diff --git a/src/agents/model-fallback.test.ts b/src/agents/model-fallback.test.ts
index 263dfe58a..639086baa 100644
--- a/src/agents/model-fallback.test.ts
+++ b/src/agents/model-fallback.test.ts
@@ -326,6 +326,26 @@ describe("runWithModelFallback", () => {
     expect(run.mock.calls[1]?.[1]).toBe("claude-haiku-3-5");
   });
 
+  it("falls back when message says aborted but error is a timeout", async () => {
+    const cfg = makeCfg();
+    const run = vi
+      .fn()
+      .mockRejectedValueOnce(Object.assign(new Error("request aborted"), { code: "ETIMEDOUT" }))
+      .mockResolvedValueOnce("ok");
+
+    const result = await runWithModelFallback({
+      cfg,
+      provider: "openai",
+      model: "gpt-4.1-mini",
+      run,
+    });
+
+    expect(result.result).toBe("ok");
+    expect(run).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2);
+    expect(run.mock.calls[1]?.[0]).toBe("anthropic");
+    expect(run.mock.calls[1]?.[1]).toBe("claude-haiku-3-5");
+  });
+
   it("does not fall back on user aborts", async () => {
     const cfg = makeCfg();
     const run = vi
diff --git a/src/agents/model-fallback.ts b/src/agents/model-fallback.ts
index 88522344d..ea338ae60 100644
--- a/src/agents/model-fallback.ts
+++ b/src/agents/model-fallback.ts
@@ -33,10 +33,9 @@ function isAbortError(err: unknown): boolean {
   if (!err || typeof err !== "object") return false;
   if (isFailoverError(err)) return false;
   const name = "name" in err ? String(err.name) : "";
-  if (name === "AbortError") return true;
-  const message =
-    "message" in err && typeof err.message === "string" ? err.message.toLowerCase() : "";
-  return message.includes("aborted");
+  // Only treat explicit AbortError names as user aborts.
+  // Message-based checks (e.g., "aborted") can mask timeouts and skip fallback.
+  return name === "AbortError";
 }
 
 function shouldRethrowAbort(err: unknown): boolean {