fix(cli): improve config startup progress

src/cli/program/preaction.test.ts

@@ -168,6 +168,7 @@ describe("registerPreActionHooks", () => {
       .option("--json")
       .action(() => {});
     const config = program.command("config");
+    config.option("--section <section>");
     setCommandJsonMode(config.command("set"), "parse-only")
       .argument("<path>")
       .argument("<value>")
@@ -313,6 +314,26 @@ describe("registerPreActionHooks", () => {
     expect(ensurePluginRegistryLoadedMock).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
   });
 
+  it("lets bare config own config validation and plugin loading", async () => {
+    await runPreAction({
+      parseArgv: ["config"],
+      processArgv: ["node", "openclaw", "config"],
+    });
+
+    expect(ensureConfigReadyMock).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    expect(ensurePluginRegistryLoadedMock).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
+
+  it("lets guided config sections own config validation and plugin loading", async () => {
+    await runPreAction({
+      parseArgv: ["config"],
+      processArgv: ["node", "openclaw", "config", "--section", "models"],
+    });
+
+    expect(ensureConfigReadyMock).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    expect(ensurePluginRegistryLoadedMock).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
+
   it("only allows invalid config for explicit official recovery reinstall requests", async () => {
     await runPreAction({
       parseArgv: ["plugins", "install", "@openclaw/discord"],

src/cli/program/preaction.ts

@@ -75,6 +75,10 @@ function isBareParentDefaultHelpInvocation(actionCommand: Command, argv: string[
   return primary === actionCommand.name() || actionCommand.aliases().includes(primary);
 }
 
+function isGuidedConfigAction(actionCommand: Command): boolean {
+  return actionCommand.name() === "config" && actionCommand.parent?.parent === undefined;
+}
+
 export function registerPreActionHooks(program: Command, programVersion: string) {
   program.hook("preAction", async (_thisCommand, actionCommand) => {
     setProcessTitleForCommand(actionCommand);
@@ -101,7 +105,7 @@ export function registerPreActionHooks(program: Command, programVersion: string)
     if (!verbose) {
       process.env.NODE_NO_WARNINGS ??= "1";
     }
-    if (shouldBypassConfigGuardForCommandPath(commandPath)) {
+    if (shouldBypassConfigGuardForCommandPath(commandPath) || isGuidedConfigAction(actionCommand)) {
       return;
     }
     await ensureCliExecutionBootstrap({