fix(plugins): reuse gateway boot registry for runtime ensures

Co-authored-by: Mark Ramos <6416874+markthebest12@users.noreply.github.com>

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 - Slack/Assistant: accept Slack Assistant DM `message_changed` events when their metadata identifies the human sender, while continuing to drop self-authored bot edits. Fixes #55445. Thanks @AlfredPros.
 - Agents/failover: stop body-less HTTP 400/422 proxy failures from defaulting to `"format"` classification, so embedded retries surface the opaque provider failure instead of falling into a compaction loop. Fixes #66462. (#67024) Thanks @altaywtf and @HongzhuLiu.
 - Plugins/loader: use cached discovery-mode snapshot loads for read-only plugin capability lookups, keep snapshot caches isolated from active Gateway registries, and make same-plugin channel/HTTP route re-registration idempotent so repeated snapshot or hot-reload paths no longer rerun full plugin side effects or accumulate duplicate surfaces. Fixes #51781, #52031, #54181, and #57514. Thanks @livingghost, @okuyam2y, @ShionEria, and @bbshih.
+- Plugins/loader: reuse the compatible active Gateway registry for broad runtime plugin ensure calls after a gateway-bindable boot load, so non-bundled plugins no longer re-run `register()` during the same boot path. Fixes #69250. Thanks @markthebest12.
 
 ## 2026.4.24
 

src/plugins/loader.test.ts

@@ -77,6 +77,10 @@ import {
   listImportedRuntimePluginIds,
   setActivePluginRegistry,
 } from "./runtime.js";
+import {
+  __testing as runtimeRegistryLoaderTesting,
+  ensurePluginRegistryLoaded,
+} from "./runtime/runtime-registry-loader.js";
 import type { PluginSdkResolutionPreference } from "./sdk-alias.js";
 let cachedBundledTelegramDir = "";
 let cachedBundledMemoryDir = "";
@@ -832,6 +836,7 @@ function expectEscapingEntryRejected(params: {
 
 afterEach(() => {
   clearRuntimeConfigSnapshot();
+  runtimeRegistryLoaderTesting.resetPluginRegistryLoadedForTests();
   resetPluginLoaderTestStateForTest();
 });
 
@@ -3518,6 +3523,46 @@ module.exports = { id: "throws-after-import", register() {} };`,
     delete (globalThis as Record<string, unknown>)[marker];
   });
 
+  it("does not re-register non-bundled plugins after gateway-bindable boot loads", () => {
+    useNoBundledPlugins();
+    const marker = "__openclawGatewayBootRegisterCount";
+    const plugin = writePlugin({
+      id: "costclaw-boot-cache",
+      filename: "costclaw-boot-cache.cjs",
+      body: `module.exports = {
+        id: "costclaw-boot-cache",
+        register() {
+          globalThis.${marker} = (globalThis.${marker} || 0) + 1;
+        },
+      };`,
+    });
+    const config = {
+      plugins: {
+        load: { paths: [plugin.file] },
+        allow: ["costclaw-boot-cache"],
+        entries: {
+          "costclaw-boot-cache": { enabled: true },
+        },
+      },
+    };
+
+    loadOpenClawPlugins({
+      workspaceDir: plugin.dir,
+      config,
+      runtimeOptions: {
+        allowGatewaySubagentBinding: true,
+      },
+    });
+    ensurePluginRegistryLoaded({
+      scope: "all",
+      workspaceDir: plugin.dir,
+      config,
+    });
+
+    expect((globalThis as Record<string, unknown>)[marker]).toBe(1);
+    delete (globalThis as Record<string, unknown>)[marker];
+  });
+
   it("re-initializes global hook runner when serving registry from cache", () => {
     process.env.OPENCLAW_BUNDLED_PLUGINS_DIR = "/nonexistent/bundled/plugins";
     const plugin = writePlugin({

src/plugins/runtime/runtime-registry-loader.test.ts

@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import { createEmptyPluginRegistry } from "../registry.js";
 
 const mocks = vi.hoisted(() => ({
   loadOpenClawPlugins: vi.fn<typeof import("../loader.js").loadOpenClawPlugins>(),
+  resolveRuntimePluginRegistry: vi.fn<typeof import("../loader.js").resolveRuntimePluginRegistry>(),
   getActivePluginRegistry: vi.fn<typeof import("../runtime.js").getActivePluginRegistry>(),
   resolveConfiguredChannelPluginIds:
     vi.fn<typeof import("../channel-plugin-ids.js").resolveConfiguredChannelPluginIds>(),
@@ -24,6 +25,8 @@ let resetPluginRegistryLoadedForTests: typeof import("./runtime-registry-loader.
 vi.mock("../loader.js", () => ({
   loadOpenClawPlugins: (...args: Parameters<typeof mocks.loadOpenClawPlugins>) =>
     mocks.loadOpenClawPlugins(...args),
+  resolveRuntimePluginRegistry: (...args: Parameters<typeof mocks.resolveRuntimePluginRegistry>) =>
+    mocks.resolveRuntimePluginRegistry(...args),
 }));
 
 vi.mock("../runtime.js", () => ({
@@ -61,6 +64,7 @@ describe("ensurePluginRegistryLoaded", () => {
 
   beforeEach(() => {
     mocks.loadOpenClawPlugins.mockReset();
+    mocks.resolveRuntimePluginRegistry.mockReset();
     mocks.getActivePluginRegistry.mockReset();
     mocks.resolveConfiguredChannelPluginIds.mockReset();
     mocks.resolveChannelPluginIds.mockReset();
@@ -70,6 +74,10 @@ describe("ensurePluginRegistryLoaded", () => {
     resetPluginRegistryLoadedForTests();
 
     mocks.getActivePluginRegistry.mockReturnValue(createEmptyPluginRegistry());
+    mocks.loadOpenClawPlugins.mockReturnValue(createEmptyPluginRegistry());
+    mocks.resolveRuntimePluginRegistry.mockImplementation(
+      (...args: Parameters<typeof mocks.loadOpenClawPlugins>) => mocks.loadOpenClawPlugins(...args),
+    );
     mocks.applyPluginAutoEnable.mockImplementation((params) => ({
       config:
         params.config && typeof params.config === "object"
@@ -255,4 +263,26 @@ describe("ensurePluginRegistryLoaded", () => {
       (mocks.loadOpenClawPlugins.mock.calls[0]?.[0] as { onlyPluginIds?: string[] }).onlyPluginIds,
     ).toBeUndefined();
   });
+
+  it("reuses a compatible active registry instead of forcing a broad reload", () => {
+    const activeRegistry = createEmptyPluginRegistry();
+    mocks.resolveRuntimePluginRegistry.mockReturnValue(activeRegistry);
+
+    ensurePluginRegistryLoaded({
+      scope: "all",
+      config: { plugins: { allow: ["demo"] } } as never,
+    });
+
+    expect(mocks.resolveRuntimePluginRegistry).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      expect.objectContaining({
+        throwOnLoadError: true,
+      }),
+    );
+    expect(mocks.resolveRuntimePluginRegistry).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      expect.not.objectContaining({
+        onlyPluginIds: expect.any(Array),
+      }),
+    );
+    expect(mocks.loadOpenClawPlugins).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
 });

src/plugins/runtime/runtime-registry-loader.ts

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import {
   resolveChannelPluginIds,
   resolveConfiguredChannelPluginIds,
 } from "../channel-plugin-ids.js";
-import { loadOpenClawPlugins } from "../loader.js";
+import { loadOpenClawPlugins, resolveRuntimePluginRegistry } from "../loader.js";
 import {
   hasExplicitPluginIdScope,
   hasNonEmptyPluginIdScope,
@@ -73,6 +73,16 @@ function shouldForwardChannelScope(params: {
   return !params.scopedLoad && params.scope === "configured-channels";
 }
 
+function resolveOrLoadRuntimePluginRegistry(
+  loadOptions: Parameters<typeof loadOpenClawPlugins>[0],
+): void {
+  // Prefer the runtime resolver so broad ensures can reuse compatible active
+  // registries, including gateway-bindable startup registries.
+  if (!resolveRuntimePluginRegistry(loadOptions)) {
+    loadOpenClawPlugins(loadOptions);
+  }
+}
+
 export function ensurePluginRegistryLoaded(options?: {
   scope?: PluginRegistryScope;
   config?: OpenClawConfig;
@@ -132,23 +142,22 @@ export function ensurePluginRegistryLoaded(options?: {
           pluginIds: expectedChannelPluginIds,
         }) ?? context.activationSourceConfig)
       : context.activationSourceConfig;
-  loadOpenClawPlugins(
-    buildPluginRuntimeLoadOptionsFromValues(
-      {
-        ...context,
-        config: scopedConfig,
-        activationSourceConfig: scopedActivationSourceConfig,
-      },
-      {
-        throwOnLoadError: true,
-        ...(hasExplicitPluginIdScope(requestedPluginIds) ||
-        shouldForwardChannelScope({ scope, scopedLoad }) ||
-        hasNonEmptyPluginIdScope(expectedChannelPluginIds)
-          ? { onlyPluginIds: expectedChannelPluginIds }
-          : {}),
-      },
-    ),
+  const loadOptions = buildPluginRuntimeLoadOptionsFromValues(
+    {
+      ...context,
+      config: scopedConfig,
+      activationSourceConfig: scopedActivationSourceConfig,
+    },
+    {
+      throwOnLoadError: true,
+      ...(hasExplicitPluginIdScope(requestedPluginIds) ||
+      shouldForwardChannelScope({ scope, scopedLoad }) ||
+      hasNonEmptyPluginIdScope(expectedChannelPluginIds)
+        ? { onlyPluginIds: expectedChannelPluginIds }
+        : {}),
+    },
   );
+  resolveOrLoadRuntimePluginRegistry(loadOptions);
   if (!scopedLoad) {
     pluginRegistryLoaded = scope;
   }