[NemoClaw][all platform] NEMOCLAW_SANDBOX env var overrides explicit SANDBOX_NAME in start-services.sh

[zNeill]

Description

Summary

start-services.sh line 22 resolves the sandbox name as:SANDBOX_NAME="${NEMOCLAW_SANDBOX:-${SANDBOX_NAME:-default}}"

This means NEMOCLAW_SANDBOX always wins over an explicit SANDBOX_NAME passed by the caller. When nemoclaw start (or a user) sets SANDBOX_NAME=my-sandbox but the shell also has NEMOCLAW_SANDBOX=something-else exported (e.g. from a previous session or .env file), the PID directory becomes /tmp/nemoclaw-services-something-else/ instead of /tmp/nemoclaw-services-my-sandbox/. Subsequent status or stop calls that pass the correct SANDBOX_NAME will not find the PID files.

Steps to reproduce

1. export NEMOCLAW_SANDBOX=old-sandbox
2. SANDBOX_NAME=my-sandbox bash scripts/start-services.sh — PID files go to .../old-sandbox/.
3. SANDBOX_NAME=my-sandbox bash scripts/start-services.sh --status — looks in .../old-sandbox/ too, but the mismatch is invisible to the user.
4. If NEMOCLAW_SANDBOX is later unset, status/stop will look in .../my-sandbox/ and find nothing.

Root cause

The ${NEMOCLAW_SANDBOX:-${SANDBOX_NAME:-default}} expansion gives NEMOCLAW_SANDBOX higher priority than the explicitly passed SANDBOX_NAME.

Expected behavior

An explicit SANDBOX_NAME (set by nemoclaw start / stop / status) should take priority. NEMOCLAW_SANDBOX should only be a fallback when SANDBOX_NAME is not set.

Suggested fix

Flip the priority:

• SANDBOX_NAME="${SANDBOX_NAME:-${NEMOCLAW_SANDBOX:-default}}"

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Environment

Item	Version / detail
Device	macos
Node.js	(e.g. v20.x / v22.x — fill as on device)
OpenShell CLI	0.0.19 (or your version)
NemoClaw	v0.0.3
OpenClaw	2026.3.11 (if relevant)

Bug Details

Field	Value
Priority	Unprioritized
Action	Dev - Open - To fix
Disposition	Open issue
Module	Machine Learning - NemoClaw
Keyword	NemoClaw, NEMOCLAW_GH_SYNC_APPROVAL

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[NVB# 6041568]

[NVB#6041568]

[mercl-lau]

nemoclaw status and nemoclaw stop do not pass SANDBOX_NAME to start-services.sh

nemoclaw start passes SANDBOX_NAME= to start-services.sh, which writes PID files under /tmp/nemoclaw-services-/. However, nemoclaw status and nemoclaw stop call the same script without SANDBOX_NAME, so the script falls back to default and looks in /tmp/nemoclaw-services-default/ — a different directory. As a result:

nemoclaw status always shows services as stopped, even when they are running.
nemoclaw stop cannot find or kill the running processes.

Steps to reproduce

nemoclaw onboard — create a sandbox with any non-default name (e.g. test-slack1).
export TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN=... && export NVIDIA_API_KEY=...
nemoclaw start — output shows telegram-bridge started (PID …).
nemoclaw status — output shows telegram-bridge (stopped).

Root cause

bin/nemoclaw.js:

start() (line ~780): reads registry.listSandboxes().defaultSandbox, passes SANDBOX_NAME=.
stop() (line ~788): runs bash start-services.sh --stop with no SANDBOX_NAME.
showStatus() (line ~863): runs bash start-services.sh --status with no SANDBOX_NAME.

[ericksoa]

Fixed by #1307 — start-services.sh was ported to TypeScript with sandboxName passed explicitly as an option, taking priority over env vars. Please reopen if reproducible on the current CLI.