From 52ca5c4aa246009b629a18d8af8faa7acde16d78 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Peter Steinberger <steipete@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 27 Dec 2025 00:36:04 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] fix: drop identity emoji response prefix

---
 CHANGELOG.md              |  2 +-
 src/config/config.test.ts | 32 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++---
 src/config/config.ts      |  5 -----
 3 files changed, 30 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)

diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 934cb4cbd..404e25c2a 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@
 - System prompt now tags allowlisted owner numbers as the user identity to avoid mistaken “friend” assumptions.
 - LM Studio/Ollama replies now require <final> tags; streaming ignores content until <final> begins.
 - LM Studio responses API: tools payloads no longer include `strict: null`, and LM Studio no longer gets forced `<think>/<final>` tags.
-- Empty `messages.responsePrefix` now disables the identity emoji prefix.
+- Identity emoji no longer auto-prefixes replies (set `messages.responsePrefix` explicitly if desired).
 - `process log` pagination is now line-based (omit `offset` to grab the last N lines).
 - macOS WebChat: assistant bubbles now update correctly when toggling light/dark mode.
 - macOS: avoid spawning a duplicate gateway process when an external listener already exists.
diff --git a/src/config/config.test.ts b/src/config/config.test.ts
index f5b6fd2fe..c6669848a 100644
--- a/src/config/config.test.ts
+++ b/src/config/config.test.ts
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ describe("config identity defaults", () => {
     process.env.HOME = previousHome;
   });
 
-  it("derives responsePrefix and mentionPatterns when identity is set", async () => {
+  it("derives mentionPatterns when identity is set", async () => {
     await withTempHome(async (home) => {
       const configDir = path.join(home, ".clawdis");
       await fs.mkdir(configDir, { recursive: true });
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ describe("config identity defaults", () => {
       const { loadConfig } = await import("./config.js");
       const cfg = loadConfig();
 
-      expect(cfg.messages?.responsePrefix).toBe("🦥");
+      expect(cfg.messages?.responsePrefix).toBeUndefined();
       expect(cfg.routing?.groupChat?.mentionPatterns).toEqual([
         "\\b@?Samantha\\b",
       ]);
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ describe("config identity defaults", () => {
       const { loadConfig } = await import("./config.js");
       const cfg = loadConfig();
 
-      expect(cfg.messages?.responsePrefix).toBe("🦥");
+      expect(cfg.messages?.responsePrefix).toBeUndefined();
       expect(cfg.routing?.groupChat?.mentionPatterns).toEqual([
         "\\b@?Samantha\\b",
       ]);
@@ -147,4 +147,30 @@ describe("config identity defaults", () => {
       expect(cfg.session).toBeUndefined();
     });
   });
+
+  it("does not derive responsePrefix from identity emoji", async () => {
+    await withTempHome(async (home) => {
+      const configDir = path.join(home, ".clawdis");
+      await fs.mkdir(configDir, { recursive: true });
+      await fs.writeFile(
+        path.join(configDir, "clawdis.json"),
+        JSON.stringify(
+          {
+            identity: { name: "Clawd", theme: "space lobster", emoji: "🦞" },
+            messages: {},
+            routing: {},
+          },
+          null,
+          2,
+        ),
+        "utf-8",
+      );
+
+      vi.resetModules();
+      const { loadConfig } = await import("./config.js");
+      const cfg = loadConfig();
+
+      expect(cfg.messages?.responsePrefix).toBeUndefined();
+    });
+  });
 });
diff --git a/src/config/config.ts b/src/config/config.ts
index 5e4363af9..8ccae1ae0 100644
--- a/src/config/config.ts
+++ b/src/config/config.ts
@@ -878,11 +878,6 @@ function applyIdentityDefaults(cfg: ClawdisConfig): ClawdisConfig {
   let mutated = false;
   const next: ClawdisConfig = { ...cfg };
 
-  if (emoji && messages.responsePrefix === undefined) {
-    next.messages = { ...(next.messages ?? messages), responsePrefix: emoji };
-    mutated = true;
-  }
-
   if (name && !groupChat.mentionPatterns) {
     const parts = name.split(/\s+/).filter(Boolean).map(escapeRegExp);
     const re = parts.length ? parts.join("\\s+") : escapeRegExp(name);