fix(plugins): preserve gateway hook runner

Co-authored-by: lanzhi-lee <36190508+lanzhi-lee@users.noreply.github.com>

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 - 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.
+- Plugins/hooks: keep the gateway-bindable hook runner installed when later default-mode plugin loads activate a different registry, preserving Gateway subagent lifecycle hooks across runtime cache misses. Fixes #63166.
 
 ## 2026.4.24
 

src/plugins/loader.test.ts

@@ -23,7 +23,11 @@ import {
 } from "../tasks/detached-task-runtime-state.js";
 import { withEnv } from "../test-utils/env.js";
 import { clearPluginCommands, getPluginCommandSpecs } from "./command-registry-state.js";
-import { getGlobalHookRunner, resetGlobalHookRunner } from "./hook-runner-global.js";
+import {
+  getGlobalHookRunner,
+  getGlobalPluginRegistry,
+  resetGlobalHookRunner,
+} from "./hook-runner-global.js";
 import { createHookRunner } from "./hooks.js";
 import {
   clearPluginInteractiveHandlerRegistrations,
@@ -3594,6 +3598,66 @@ module.exports = { id: "throws-after-import", register() {} };`,
     resetGlobalHookRunner();
   });
 
+  it("preserves the gateway-bindable hook runner across later default-mode activating loads", () => {
+    useNoBundledPlugins();
+    const gatewayPlugin = writePlugin({
+      id: "gateway-hook-surface",
+      filename: "gateway-hook-surface.cjs",
+      body: `module.exports = { id: "gateway-hook-surface", register(api) {
+        api.on("subagent_ended", () => undefined);
+      } };`,
+    });
+    const defaultPlugin = writePlugin({
+      id: "default-hook-surface",
+      filename: "default-hook-surface.cjs",
+      body: `module.exports = { id: "default-hook-surface", register(api) {
+        api.on("message_sent", () => undefined);
+      } };`,
+    });
+
+    const gatewayRegistry = loadOpenClawPlugins({
+      workspaceDir: gatewayPlugin.dir,
+      config: {
+        plugins: {
+          load: { paths: [gatewayPlugin.file] },
+          allow: ["gateway-hook-surface"],
+          entries: {
+            "gateway-hook-surface": {
+              enabled: true,
+              hooks: { allowConversationAccess: true },
+            },
+          },
+        },
+      },
+      runtimeOptions: {
+        allowGatewaySubagentBinding: true,
+      },
+    });
+    expect(getGlobalPluginRegistry()).toBe(gatewayRegistry);
+    expect(getGlobalHookRunner()?.hasHooks("subagent_ended")).toBe(true);
+
+    const defaultRegistry = loadOpenClawPlugins({
+      workspaceDir: defaultPlugin.dir,
+      config: {
+        plugins: {
+          load: { paths: [defaultPlugin.file] },
+          allow: ["default-hook-surface"],
+          entries: {
+            "default-hook-surface": {
+              enabled: true,
+              hooks: { allowConversationAccess: true },
+            },
+          },
+        },
+      },
+    });
+
+    expect(getActivePluginRegistry()).toBe(defaultRegistry);
+    expect(getGlobalPluginRegistry()).toBe(gatewayRegistry);
+    expect(getGlobalHookRunner()?.hasHooks("subagent_ended")).toBe(true);
+    expect(getGlobalHookRunner()?.hasHooks("message_sent")).toBe(false);
+  });
+
   it.each([
     {
       name: "does not reuse cached bundled plugin registries across env changes",

src/plugins/loader.ts

@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ import {
   type PluginActivationState,
 } from "./config-state.js";
 import { discoverOpenClawPlugins } from "./discovery.js";
-import { initializeGlobalHookRunner } from "./hook-runner-global.js";
+import { getGlobalHookRunner, initializeGlobalHookRunner } from "./hook-runner-global.js";
 import {
   clearPluginInteractiveHandlers,
   listPluginInteractiveHandlers,
@@ -1953,8 +1953,14 @@ function activatePluginRegistry(
   runtimeSubagentMode: "default" | "explicit" | "gateway-bindable",
   workspaceDir?: string,
 ): void {
+  const preserveGatewayHookRunner =
+    runtimeSubagentMode === "default" &&
+    getActivePluginRuntimeSubagentMode() === "gateway-bindable" &&
+    getGlobalHookRunner() !== null;
   setActivePluginRegistry(registry, cacheKey, runtimeSubagentMode, workspaceDir);
-  initializeGlobalHookRunner(registry);
+  if (!preserveGatewayHookRunner) {
+    initializeGlobalHookRunner(registry);
+  }
 }
 
 export function loadOpenClawPlugins(options: PluginLoadOptions = {}): PluginRegistry {