diff --git a/scripts/update-clawtributors.ts b/scripts/update-clawtributors.ts
index 56707a421535..b29376965148 100644
--- a/scripts/update-clawtributors.ts
+++ b/scripts/update-clawtributors.ts
@@ -1,9 +1,10 @@
 // Update Clawtributors script supports OpenClaw repository automation.
-import { execFileSync, execSync } from "node:child_process";
+import { execSync } from "node:child_process";
 import { readFileSync, writeFileSync } from "node:fs";
 import { resolve } from "node:path";
 import pMap, { pMapSkip } from "p-map";
 import { expectDefined } from "../packages/normalization-core/src/expect.js";
+import { execPlainGh } from "./lib/plain-gh.mjs";
 import type { ApiContributor, Entry, MapConfig, User } from "./update-clawtributors.types.js";
 
 const REPO = "openclaw/openclaw";
@@ -12,6 +13,9 @@ const AVATAR_PROBE_SIZE = 40;
 const AVATAR_PROBE_MAX_BYTES = 256 * 1024;
 const AVATAR_PROBE_TIMEOUT_MS = 8000;
 const AVATAR_SIZE = 48;
+// The 5,000-PR history query can take about a minute; preserve healthy pagination
+// headroom while bounding a stalled GitHub CLI process.
+const GH_COMMAND_TIMEOUT_MS = 120_000;
 const CLAWTRIBUTORS_START = "<!-- clawtributors:start -->";
 const CLAWTRIBUTORS_END = "<!-- clawtributors:end -->";
 const CLAWTRIBUTORS_HIDDEN_START = "<!-- clawtributors:hidden:start";
@@ -30,7 +34,7 @@ const seedCommit = mapConfig.seedCommit ?? null;
 const seedEntries = seedCommit ? parseReadmeEntries(run(`git show ${seedCommit}:README.md`)) : [];
 const currentReadme = readFileSync(readmePath, "utf8");
 const hiddenReadmeLogins = new Set(parseHiddenReadmeLogins(currentReadme));
-const raw = run(`gh api "repos/${REPO}/contributors?per_page=100&anon=1" --paginate`);
+const raw = runGh(["api", `repos/${REPO}/contributors?per_page=100&anon=1`, "--paginate"]);
 const contributors = parsePaginatedJson(raw) as ApiContributor[];
 const apiByLogin = new Map<string, User>();
 const contributionsByLogin = new Map<string, number>();
@@ -129,9 +133,20 @@ for (const login of ensureLogins) {
 }
 
 const prsByLogin = new Map<string, number>();
-const prRaw = run(
-  `gh pr list -R ${REPO} --state merged --limit 5000 --json author --jq '.[].author.login'`,
-);
+const prRaw = runGh([
+  "pr",
+  "list",
+  "-R",
+  REPO,
+  "--state",
+  "merged",
+  "--limit",
+  "5000",
+  "--json",
+  "author",
+  "--jq",
+  ".[].author.login",
+]);
 for (const login of prRaw.split("\n")) {
   const trimmed = login.trim().toLowerCase();
   if (!trimmed) {
@@ -349,6 +364,16 @@ function run(cmd: string): string {
   }).trim();
 }
 
+function runGh(args: string[]): string {
+  return execPlainGh(args, {
+    encoding: "utf8",
+    stdio: ["ignore", "pipe", "pipe"],
+    maxBuffer: 1024 * 1024 * 200,
+    timeout: GH_COMMAND_TIMEOUT_MS,
+    killSignal: "SIGKILL",
+  }).trim();
+}
+
 function parsePaginatedJson(rawLocal: string): unknown[] {
   const items: unknown[] = [];
   for (const line of rawLocal.split("\n")) {
@@ -423,10 +448,7 @@ function fetchUser(login: string): User | null {
     return null;
   }
   try {
-    const data = execFileSync("gh", ["api", `users/${normalized}`], {
-      encoding: "utf8",
-      stdio: ["ignore", "pipe", "pipe"],
-    });
+    const data = runGh(["api", `users/${normalized}`]);
     const parsed = JSON.parse(data);
     if (!parsed?.login || !parsed?.html_url || !parsed?.avatar_url) {
       return null;
diff --git a/test/scripts/update-clawtributors.test.ts b/test/scripts/update-clawtributors.test.ts
index d36f77e383ae..a09c8efdd7d8 100644
--- a/test/scripts/update-clawtributors.test.ts
+++ b/test/scripts/update-clawtributors.test.ts
@@ -1,19 +1,30 @@
 // Update Clawtributors tests cover update clawtributors script behavior.
+import { execFileSync as realExecFileSync } from "node:child_process";
+import type { ExecFileSyncOptionsWithStringEncoding } from "node:child_process";
 import { resolve } from "node:path";
 import { pathToFileURL } from "node:url";
 import { afterEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
 
 const originalCwd = process.cwd();
 
+type GhRunner = (args: readonly string[], options: ExecFileSyncOptionsWithStringEncoding) => string;
+
 afterEach(() => {
   vi.useRealTimers();
   vi.unstubAllGlobals();
   vi.doUnmock("node:fs");
   vi.doUnmock("node:child_process");
+  vi.doUnmock("../../scripts/lib/plain-gh.mjs");
   vi.resetModules();
 });
 
-function mockClawtributorsFixture() {
+function mockClawtributorsFixture({
+  ensureLogins = [],
+  runGh,
+}: {
+  ensureLogins?: string[];
+  runGh?: GhRunner;
+} = {}) {
   const readme = [
     "# Fixture",
     "",
@@ -27,7 +38,7 @@ function mockClawtributorsFixture() {
   vi.doMock("node:fs", () => ({
     readFileSync: vi.fn((path: string) => {
       if (path.endsWith("scripts/clawtributors-map.json")) {
-        return "{}\n";
+        return `${JSON.stringify({ ensureLogins })}\n`;
       }
       if (path.endsWith("README.md")) {
         return readme;
@@ -50,18 +61,9 @@ function mockClawtributorsFixture() {
     contributions: 3,
   };
   const execSync = vi.fn((cmd: string) => {
-    if (cmd === 'gh api "repos/openclaw/openclaw/contributors?per_page=100&anon=1" --paginate') {
-      return `${JSON.stringify([contributor])}\n`;
-    }
     if (cmd === "git log --reverse --format=%aN%x1f%aE%x1f%aI --numstat") {
       return "";
     }
-    if (
-      cmd ===
-      "gh pr list -R openclaw/openclaw --state merged --limit 5000 --json author --jq '.[].author.login'"
-    ) {
-      return "";
-    }
     if (cmd === "git rev-list --max-parents=0 HEAD") {
       return "root-sha\n";
     }
@@ -70,13 +72,53 @@ function mockClawtributorsFixture() {
     }
     throw new Error(`unexpected command: ${cmd}`);
   });
+  const execPlainGh = vi.fn(
+    (args: readonly string[], options: ExecFileSyncOptionsWithStringEncoding) => {
+      if (runGh) {
+        return runGh(args, options);
+      }
+      if (
+        args.join("\0") ===
+        ["api", "repos/openclaw/openclaw/contributors?per_page=100&anon=1", "--paginate"].join("\0")
+      ) {
+        return `${JSON.stringify([contributor])}\n`;
+      }
+      if (
+        args.join("\0") ===
+        [
+          "pr",
+          "list",
+          "-R",
+          "openclaw/openclaw",
+          "--state",
+          "merged",
+          "--limit",
+          "5000",
+          "--json",
+          "author",
+          "--jq",
+          ".[].author.login",
+        ].join("\0")
+      ) {
+        return "";
+      }
+      if (args[0] === "api" && args[1]?.startsWith("users/")) {
+        const login = args[1].slice("users/".length);
+        return JSON.stringify({
+          login,
+          html_url: `https://github.com/${login}`,
+          avatar_url: "https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/2?v=4",
+        });
+      }
+      throw new Error(`unexpected gh arguments: ${args.join(" ")}`);
+    },
+  );
+  vi.doMock("../../scripts/lib/plain-gh.mjs", () => ({ execPlainGh }));
   vi.doMock("node:child_process", () => ({
-    execFileSync: vi.fn(() => {
-      throw new Error("unexpected execFileSync");
-    }),
     execSync,
   }));
   return {
+    execPlainGh,
     readWrittenReadme: () => writtenReadme,
   };
 }
@@ -87,6 +129,67 @@ async function importUpdateClawtributors() {
 }
 
 describe("update-clawtributors", () => {
+  it("bounds every GitHub CLI lookup", async () => {
+    const fixture = mockClawtributorsFixture({ ensureLogins: ["extra"] });
+    vi.stubGlobal(
+      "fetch",
+      vi.fn(async () => new Response(null, { status: 404 })),
+    );
+    vi.spyOn(console, "log").mockImplementation(() => undefined);
+
+    await importUpdateClawtributors();
+
+    const options = {
+      encoding: "utf8",
+      stdio: ["ignore", "pipe", "pipe"],
+      maxBuffer: 1024 * 1024 * 200,
+      timeout: 120_000,
+      killSignal: "SIGKILL",
+    };
+    expect(fixture.execPlainGh).toHaveBeenNthCalledWith(
+      1,
+      ["api", "repos/openclaw/openclaw/contributors?per_page=100&anon=1", "--paginate"],
+      options,
+    );
+    expect(fixture.execPlainGh).toHaveBeenNthCalledWith(2, ["api", "users/extra"], options);
+    expect(fixture.execPlainGh).toHaveBeenNthCalledWith(
+      3,
+      [
+        "pr",
+        "list",
+        "-R",
+        "openclaw/openclaw",
+        "--state",
+        "merged",
+        "--limit",
+        "5000",
+        "--json",
+        "author",
+        "--jq",
+        ".[].author.login",
+      ],
+      options,
+    );
+  });
+
+  it("kills a sleeping GitHub CLI process at the deadline", async () => {
+    const fixture = mockClawtributorsFixture({
+      runGh: (_args, options) => {
+        expect(options).toMatchObject({ timeout: 120_000, killSignal: "SIGKILL" });
+        return realExecFileSync(process.execPath, ["-e", "setInterval(() => {}, 1_000)"], {
+          ...options,
+          timeout: 50,
+        });
+      },
+    });
+
+    await expect(importUpdateClawtributors()).rejects.toMatchObject({
+      code: "ETIMEDOUT",
+      signal: "SIGKILL",
+    });
+    expect(fixture.execPlainGh).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+  });
+
   it("rejects unsafe avatar probe content lengths before reading the body", async () => {
     const fixture = mockClawtributorsFixture();
     const arrayBuffer = vi.fn(async () => new ArrayBuffer(0));