fix(cli): avoid directory plugin reinstall prompts

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 
 ### Fixes
 
+- CLI/directory: report unsupported directory operations for installed channel plugins instead of prompting to reinstall the plugin when it lacks a directory adapter. Fixes #75770. Thanks @lawong888.
 - Feishu: preserve Feishu/Lark HTTP error bodies for message sends, media sends, and chat member lookups, so HTTP 400 failures include vendor code, message, log id, and troubleshooter details. Fixes #73860. Thanks @desksk.
 - Agents/transcripts: avoid reopening large Pi transcript files through the synchronous session manager for maintenance rewrites, persisted tool-result truncation, manual compaction boundary hardening, and queued compaction rotation. Thanks @mariozechner.
 - Web search/Exa: accept `plugins.entries.exa.config.webSearch.baseUrl`, normalize it to the Exa `/search` endpoint, and partition cached results by endpoint. Fixes #54928 and supersedes #54939. Thanks @mrpl327 and @lyfuci.

docs/cli/directory.md

@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ Directory lookups for channels that support it (contacts/peers, groups, and “m
 
 - `directory` is meant to help you find IDs you can paste into other commands (especially `openclaw message send --target ...`).
 - For many channels, results are config-backed (allowlists / configured groups) rather than a live provider directory.
+- Installed channel plugins can still omit directory support; in that case the command reports the unsupported directory operation instead of reinstalling the plugin.
 - Default output is `id` (and sometimes `name`) separated by a tab; use `--json` for scripting.
 
 ## Using results with `message send`

src/cli/directory-cli.test.ts

@@ -233,4 +233,36 @@ describe("registerDirectoryCli", () => {
       JSON.stringify([{ id: "channel:config", kind: "group" }], null, 2),
     );
   });
+
+  it("reports unsupported directory capability instead of continuing setup for installed plugins", async () => {
+    mocks.resolveInstallableChannelPlugin.mockResolvedValue({
+      cfg: { channels: { "openclaw-weixin": {} } },
+      channelId: "openclaw-weixin",
+      plugin: {
+        id: "openclaw-weixin",
+      },
+      configChanged: false,
+      pluginInstalled: false,
+    });
+
+    const program = new Command().name("openclaw");
+    registerDirectoryCli(program);
+
+    await expect(
+      program.parseAsync(["directory", "peers", "list", "--channel", "openclaw-weixin"], {
+        from: "user",
+      }),
+    ).rejects.toThrow("exit:1");
+
+    expect(mocks.resolveInstallableChannelPlugin).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      expect.objectContaining({
+        rawChannel: "openclaw-weixin",
+        allowInstall: true,
+      }),
+    );
+    expect(mocks.replaceConfigFile).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    expect(runtimeState.defaultRuntime.error).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      expect.stringContaining("Channel openclaw-weixin does not support directory peers"),
+    );
+  });
 });

src/commands/channel-setup/channel-plugin-resolution.test.ts

@@ -156,4 +156,93 @@ describe("resolveInstallableChannelPlugin", () => {
       }),
     );
   });
+
+  it("returns an existing plugin that lacks the requested capability without reinstalling", async () => {
+    const catalogEntry = createCatalogEntry({
+      id: "openclaw-weixin",
+      pluginId: "@tencent-weixin/openclaw-weixin",
+      origin: "bundled",
+    });
+    const installedPlugin = createPlugin("openclaw-weixin");
+
+    mocks.listChannelPluginCatalogEntries.mockReturnValue([catalogEntry]);
+    mocks.getChannelPlugin.mockReturnValue(installedPlugin);
+
+    const result = await resolveInstallableChannelPlugin({
+      cfg: { plugins: { enabled: true } },
+      runtime: {} as never,
+      rawChannel: "openclaw-weixin",
+      allowInstall: true,
+      supports: (plugin) => Boolean(plugin.directory),
+    });
+
+    expect(result.plugin).toBe(installedPlugin);
+    expect(result.pluginInstalled).toBe(false);
+    expect(result.supportsRequestedCapability).toBe(false);
+    expect(mocks.ensureChannelSetupPluginInstalled).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
+
+  it("returns a scoped installed plugin that lacks the requested capability without reinstalling", async () => {
+    const catalogEntry = createCatalogEntry({
+      id: "openclaw-weixin",
+      pluginId: "@tencent-weixin/openclaw-weixin",
+      origin: "bundled",
+    });
+    const scopedPlugin = createPlugin("openclaw-weixin");
+
+    mocks.listChannelPluginCatalogEntries.mockReturnValue([catalogEntry]);
+    mocks.loadChannelSetupPluginRegistrySnapshotForChannel.mockReturnValue({
+      channels: [{ plugin: scopedPlugin }],
+      channelSetups: [],
+    });
+
+    const result = await resolveInstallableChannelPlugin({
+      cfg: { plugins: { enabled: true } },
+      runtime: {} as never,
+      rawChannel: "openclaw-weixin",
+      allowInstall: true,
+      supports: (plugin) => Boolean(plugin.directory),
+    });
+
+    expect(result.plugin).toBe(scopedPlugin);
+    expect(result.pluginInstalled).toBe(false);
+    expect(result.supportsRequestedCapability).toBe(false);
+    expect(mocks.ensureChannelSetupPluginInstalled).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
+
+  it("still offers install when only a setup fallback lacks the requested capability", async () => {
+    const catalogEntry = createCatalogEntry({
+      id: "demo-directory",
+      pluginId: "@demo/directory",
+      origin: "bundled",
+    });
+    const setupOnlyPlugin = createPlugin("demo-directory");
+
+    mocks.listChannelPluginCatalogEntries.mockReturnValue([catalogEntry]);
+    mocks.loadChannelSetupPluginRegistrySnapshotForChannel.mockReturnValue({
+      channels: [],
+      channelSetups: [{ plugin: setupOnlyPlugin }],
+    });
+    mocks.ensureChannelSetupPluginInstalled.mockResolvedValueOnce({
+      cfg: { plugins: { entries: { "@demo/directory": { enabled: true } } } },
+      installed: true,
+      pluginId: "@demo/directory",
+      status: "installed",
+    });
+
+    const result = await resolveInstallableChannelPlugin({
+      cfg: { plugins: { enabled: true } },
+      runtime: {} as never,
+      rawChannel: "demo-directory",
+      allowInstall: true,
+      supports: (plugin) => Boolean(plugin.directory),
+    });
+
+    expect(mocks.ensureChannelSetupPluginInstalled).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      expect.objectContaining({
+        entry: catalogEntry,
+      }),
+    );
+    expect(result.pluginInstalled).toBe(true);
+  });
 });

src/commands/channel-setup/channel-plugin-resolution.ts

@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ type ResolveInstallableChannelPluginResult = {
   catalogEntry?: ChannelPluginCatalogEntry;
   configChanged: boolean;
   pluginInstalled: boolean;
+  supportsRequestedCapability?: boolean;
 };
 
 function resolveWorkspaceDir(cfg: OpenClawConfig) {
@@ -76,17 +77,21 @@ export function resolveCatalogChannelEntry(raw: string, cfg: OpenClawConfig | nu
 function findScopedChannelPlugin(
   snapshot: ChannelPluginSnapshot,
   channelId: ChannelId,
+  supports: (plugin: ChannelPlugin) => boolean,
 ): ChannelPlugin | undefined {
-  return (
-    snapshot.channels.find((entry) => entry.plugin.id === channelId)?.plugin ??
-    snapshot.channelSetups.find((entry) => entry.plugin.id === channelId)?.plugin
-  );
+  const runtimePlugin = snapshot.channels.find((entry) => entry.plugin.id === channelId)?.plugin;
+  if (runtimePlugin) {
+    return runtimePlugin;
+  }
+  const setupPlugin = snapshot.channelSetups.find((entry) => entry.plugin.id === channelId)?.plugin;
+  return setupPlugin && supports(setupPlugin) ? setupPlugin : undefined;
 }
 
 function loadScopedChannelPlugin(params: {
   cfg: OpenClawConfig;
   runtime: RuntimeEnv;
   channelId: ChannelId;
+  supports: (plugin: ChannelPlugin) => boolean;
   pluginId?: string;
   workspaceDir?: string;
 }): ChannelPlugin | undefined {
@@ -97,7 +102,7 @@ function loadScopedChannelPlugin(params: {
     ...(params.pluginId ? { pluginId: params.pluginId } : {}),
     workspaceDir: params.workspaceDir,
   });
-  return findScopedChannelPlugin(snapshot, params.channelId);
+  return findScopedChannelPlugin(snapshot, params.channelId, params.supports);
 }
 
 export async function resolveInstallableChannelPlugin(params: {
@@ -136,7 +141,7 @@ export async function resolveInstallableChannelPlugin(params: {
   }
 
   const existing = getChannelPlugin(channelId);
-  if (existing && supports(existing)) {
+  if (existing) {
     return {
       cfg: nextCfg,
       channelId,
@@ -144,6 +149,7 @@ export async function resolveInstallableChannelPlugin(params: {
       catalogEntry,
       configChanged: false,
       pluginInstalled: false,
+      supportsRequestedCapability: supports(existing),
     };
   }
 
@@ -153,10 +159,11 @@ export async function resolveInstallableChannelPlugin(params: {
       cfg: nextCfg,
       runtime: params.runtime,
       channelId,
+      supports,
       pluginId: resolvedPluginId,
       workspaceDir,
     });
-    if (scoped && supports(scoped)) {
+    if (scoped) {
       return {
         cfg: nextCfg,
         channelId,
@@ -164,6 +171,7 @@ export async function resolveInstallableChannelPlugin(params: {
         catalogEntry,
         configChanged: false,
         pluginInstalled: false,
+        supportsRequestedCapability: supports(scoped),
       };
     }
 
@@ -182,6 +190,7 @@ export async function resolveInstallableChannelPlugin(params: {
             cfg: nextCfg,
             runtime: params.runtime,
             channelId,
+            supports,
             pluginId: installedPluginId,
             workspaceDir: resolveWorkspaceDir(nextCfg),
           })
@@ -196,6 +205,7 @@ export async function resolveInstallableChannelPlugin(params: {
             : catalogEntry,
         configChanged: nextCfg !== params.cfg,
         pluginInstalled: installResult.installed,
+        supportsRequestedCapability: installedPlugin ? supports(installedPlugin) : undefined,
       };
     }
   }