diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index ee2d18b865c..56087d37cd7 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -86,6 +86,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 
 ### Fixes
 
+- Gateway/shutdown: cancel delayed post-ready maintenance during close and suppress maintenance/cron startup after quick restarts, preventing orphaned background timers. Thanks @vincentkoc.
 - Agents/generated media: treat attachment-style message tool actions as completed chat sends, preventing duplicate fallback media posts when generated files were already uploaded.
 - Control UI/sessions: show each session's agent runtime in the Sessions table and allow filtering by runtime labels, matching the Agents panel runtime wording. Thanks @vincentkoc.
 - Discord/streaming: show live reasoning text in progress drafts instead of a bare `Reasoning` status line.
diff --git a/src/gateway/server-import-boundary.test.ts b/src/gateway/server-import-boundary.test.ts
index 2da1e5db2df..f3cd2ee56e0 100644
--- a/src/gateway/server-import-boundary.test.ts
+++ b/src/gateway/server-import-boundary.test.ts
@@ -56,9 +56,24 @@ describe("gateway startup import boundaries", () => {
     const closeStart = serverImpl.indexOf("close: async (opts)");
     const hookStart = serverImpl.indexOf("runGlobalGatewayStopSafely", closeStart);
     const markStart = serverImpl.indexOf("markClosePreludeStarted();", closeStart);
+    const markHelperStart = serverImpl.indexOf("const markClosePreludeStarted = () => {");
+    const markHelperEnd = serverImpl.indexOf("};", markHelperStart);
+    const postReadyStart = serverImpl.indexOf("scheduleGatewayPostReadyMaintenance({");
+    const postReadyEnd = serverImpl.indexOf("});", postReadyStart);
+    const postReadyBlock = serverImpl.slice(postReadyStart, postReadyEnd);
 
     expect(closeStart).toBeGreaterThan(-1);
     expect(markStart).toBeGreaterThan(closeStart);
     expect(markStart).toBeLessThan(hookStart);
+    expect(markHelperStart).toBeGreaterThan(-1);
+    expect(serverImpl.slice(markHelperStart, markHelperEnd)).toContain(
+      "clearPostReadyMaintenanceTimer();",
+    );
+    expect(postReadyStart).toBeGreaterThan(-1);
+    expect(postReadyBlock).toContain("isClosing: () => closePreludeStarted");
+    expect(postReadyBlock).toContain("if (closePreludeStarted)");
+    expect(postReadyBlock).toContain(
+      "shouldStartCron: () => !closePreludeStarted && !gatewayCronStartHandled",
+    );
   });
 });
diff --git a/src/gateway/server.impl.ts b/src/gateway/server.impl.ts
index aa13bd722ac..b8c870df5b9 100644
--- a/src/gateway/server.impl.ts
+++ b/src/gateway/server.impl.ts
@@ -1524,14 +1524,28 @@ export async function startGatewayServer(
         onStarted: () => {
           postReadyMaintenanceTimer = null;
         },
-        startMaintenance: earlyRuntime.startMaintenance,
+        startMaintenance: async () => {
+          if (closePreludeStarted) {
+            return null;
+          }
+          return earlyRuntime.startMaintenance();
+        },
         applyMaintenance: (maintenance) => {
+          if (closePreludeStarted) {
+            clearInterval(maintenance.tickInterval);
+            clearInterval(maintenance.healthInterval);
+            clearInterval(maintenance.dedupeCleanup);
+            if (maintenance.mediaCleanup) {
+              clearInterval(maintenance.mediaCleanup);
+            }
+            return;
+          }
           runtimeState.tickInterval = maintenance.tickInterval;
           runtimeState.healthInterval = maintenance.healthInterval;
           runtimeState.dedupeCleanup = maintenance.dedupeCleanup;
           runtimeState.mediaCleanup = maintenance.mediaCleanup;
         },
-        shouldStartCron: () => !gatewayCronStartHandled,
+        shouldStartCron: () => !closePreludeStarted && !gatewayCronStartHandled,
         markCronStartHandled: () => {
           gatewayCronStartHandled = true;
         },