fix(controller): preserve channel configs and agent model fallbacks on redeploy

[kilo-code-bot]

Summary

The controller's generateBaseConfig() was overwriting channel configs (channels.telegram, channels.discord, channels.slack) and the agent model default (agents.defaults.model) with fresh object literals on every restart/redeploy. This destroyed user customizations such as Discord guild configs, Slack slash commands, Telegram group policies, DM allowlists, and model fallback settings.

Fix: Switch from full object assignment to the null-coalescing init + field-level set pattern (already used elsewhere in generateBaseConfig for gateway, tools, browser, plugins.entries, etc.). On redeploy, existing config objects are preserved via config.channels.X = config.channels.X ?? {} and only env-derived fields (botToken, enabled, dmPolicy, etc.) are updated. User-added keys are left untouched. Initial bootstrap still sets all defaults because the config starts empty.

Changes in config-writer.ts:

• Telegram (lines 224-236): replaced config.channels.telegram = { ... } with field-level sets
• Discord (lines 243-254): replaced config.channels.discord = { ... } with field-level sets; also preserves dm sub-object
• Slack (lines 260-266): replaced config.channels.slack = { ... } with field-level sets
• Agent model (lines 184-189): replaced config.agents.defaults.model = { primary: ... } with config.agents.defaults.model.primary = ..., preserving fallback and other user-set keys

Verification

• pnpm typecheck — passed (0 errors)
• pnpm test -- controller/src/config-writer.test.ts — 47 tests passed
• pnpm test (full suite) — 948 tests passed across 42 files
• pnpm lint (kiloclaw) — 0 warnings, 0 errors

Visual Changes

N/A

Reviewer Notes

• The fix follows the exact same null-coalescing + field-level set pattern already used for config.gateway, config.tools, config.browser, and config.plugins.entries in the same function — no new patterns introduced.
• Four new tests verify that user customizations survive a restart for each channel (Telegram, Discord, Slack) and for agent model fallback settings.
• The writeBaseConfig (fresh install / config restore) path is unaffected because config starts empty, so the ?? {} initializers create fresh objects and all fields are set — identical behavior to before.

Built for Florian by Kilo for Slack

[kilo-code-bot]

Code Review Summary

Status: 2 Issues Found | Recommendation: Address before merge

Overview

Severity	Count
CRITICAL	0
WARNING	2
SUGGESTION	0

Fix these issues in Kilo Cloud

Issue Details (click to expand)

CRITICAL

File	Line	Issue
N/A	N/A	None

WARNING

File	Line	Issue
kiloclaw/controller/src/config-writer.ts	233	Telegram allowFrom still persists across redeploys because this branch only rewrites the field when TELEGRAM_DM_ALLOW_FROM is set or the key is missing, so removing the env var or tightening TELEGRAM_DM_POLICY leaves the previous allowlist in place.
kiloclaw/controller/src/config-writer.ts	254	Discord dm.allowFrom is still only initialized when missing, so a machine that was previously deployed with DISCORD_DM_POLICY=open keeps stale DM access after later redeploys tighten the policy.

SUGGESTION

File	Line	Issue
N/A	N/A	None

Other Observations (not in diff)

Issues found in unchanged code that cannot receive inline comments:

N/A

Files Reviewed (2 files)

• kiloclaw/controller/src/config-writer.ts - 2 issues
• kiloclaw/controller/src/config-writer.test.ts

---

_{Reviewed by gpt-5.4-20260305 · 1,144,798 tokens}