diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index ae1f6fb798db..9efa38cc0278 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -872,12 +872,17 @@ jobs:
               ;;
             qa-smoke-ci)
               output_dir=".artifacts/qa-e2e/smoke-ci-profile"
+              package_dir=".artifacts/qa-e2e/smoke-ci-package"
               export OPENCLAW_BUILD_PRIVATE_QA=1
               export OPENCLAW_ENABLE_PRIVATE_QA_CLI=1
               export OPENCLAW_DISABLE_BUNDLED_PLUGINS=0
               export OPENCLAW_QA_REDACT_PUBLIC_METADATA=1
               export OPENCLAW_QA_TRANSPORT_READY_TIMEOUT_MS=180000
-              NODE_OPTIONS=--max-old-space-size=8192 node scripts/build-all.mjs qaRuntime
+              export NODE_OPTIONS=--max-old-space-size=12288
+              node scripts/package-openclaw-for-docker.mjs \
+                --output-dir "$package_dir" \
+                --output-name openclaw-current.tgz
+              export OPENCLAW_CURRENT_PACKAGE_TGZ="$PWD/$package_dir/openclaw-current.tgz"
               qa_exit_code=0
               pnpm openclaw qa run \
                 --repo-root . \
diff --git a/test/e2e/qa-lab/runtime/qa-otel-smoke-runtime.ts b/test/e2e/qa-lab/runtime/qa-otel-smoke-runtime.ts
index 6e54f03b2282..4a643a7154dc 100644
--- a/test/e2e/qa-lab/runtime/qa-otel-smoke-runtime.ts
+++ b/test/e2e/qa-lab/runtime/qa-otel-smoke-runtime.ts
@@ -1505,7 +1505,15 @@ function buildQaEnv(port: number): NodeJS.ProcessEnv {
   return env;
 }
 
-function buildQaArgs(options: CliOptions): string[] {
+function resolveQaOutputDir(outputDir: string, repoRoot = process.cwd()): string {
+  const relative = path.relative(repoRoot, path.resolve(repoRoot, outputDir));
+  if (relative === ".." || relative.startsWith(`..${path.sep}`) || path.isAbsolute(relative)) {
+    throw new Error("--output-dir must stay within the repo root");
+  }
+  return relative ? relative.split(path.sep).join("/") : ".";
+}
+
+function buildQaArgs(options: CliOptions, repoRoot = process.cwd()): string[] {
   const args = [
     "qa",
     "suite",
@@ -1516,7 +1524,7 @@ function buildQaArgs(options: CliOptions): string[] {
     "--concurrency",
     "1",
     "--output-dir",
-    options.outputDir,
+    resolveQaOutputDir(options.outputDir, repoRoot),
     "--fast",
   ];
   if (options.primaryModel) {
@@ -2018,6 +2026,7 @@ export const testing = {
   appendGatewayStdoutArtifactLogs,
   appendCapturedBodyText,
   assertSmoke,
+  buildQaArgs,
   buildQaEnv,
   createBoundedTextAccumulator,
   createStdoutDiagnosticLogCapture,
diff --git a/test/e2e/qa-lab/runtime/qa-otel-smoke.e2e.test.ts b/test/e2e/qa-lab/runtime/qa-otel-smoke.e2e.test.ts
index 69f9d068d821..4d9f54848787 100644
--- a/test/e2e/qa-lab/runtime/qa-otel-smoke.e2e.test.ts
+++ b/test/e2e/qa-lab/runtime/qa-otel-smoke.e2e.test.ts
@@ -200,6 +200,27 @@ describe("qa-otel-smoke receiver bounds", () => {
     );
   });
 
+  it("passes a repo-relative output dir to the child QA suite", () => {
+    const repoRoot = path.join(path.sep, "repo");
+    const options = testing.parseArgs([
+      "--output-dir",
+      path.join(repoRoot, ".artifacts", "qa-e2e", "otel-smoke"),
+    ]);
+
+    expect(testing.buildQaArgs(options, repoRoot)).toContain(".artifacts/qa-e2e/otel-smoke");
+    const repoRootArgs = testing.buildQaArgs(
+      testing.parseArgs(["--output-dir", repoRoot]),
+      repoRoot,
+    );
+    expect(repoRootArgs[repoRootArgs.indexOf("--output-dir") + 1]).toBe(".");
+    expect(() =>
+      testing.buildQaArgs(
+        testing.parseArgs(["--output-dir", path.join(path.sep, "outside", "otel-smoke")]),
+        repoRoot,
+      ),
+    ).toThrow("--output-dir must stay within the repo root");
+  });
+
   it("parses body-size limit env values as strict positive integers", () => {
     expect(testing.readPositiveIntegerEnv("OTEL_TEST_LIMIT", 64, {})).toBe(64);
     expect(
diff --git a/test/scripts/ci-workflow-guards.test.ts b/test/scripts/ci-workflow-guards.test.ts
index 84ccd48c76e5..3677186a2b89 100644
--- a/test/scripts/ci-workflow-guards.test.ts
+++ b/test/scripts/ci-workflow-guards.test.ts
@@ -916,7 +916,10 @@ describe("ci workflow guards", () => {
     expect(runStep.run).not.toContain("--allow-failures");
     expect(runStep.run).toContain("qa_exit_code=0");
     expect(runStep.run).toContain('exit "$qa_exit_code"');
-    expect(runStep.run).toContain("scripts/build-all.mjs qaRuntime");
+    expect(runStep.run).toContain("scripts/package-openclaw-for-docker.mjs");
+    expect(runStep.run).toContain("OPENCLAW_CURRENT_PACKAGE_TGZ");
+    expect(runStep.run).toContain("--max-old-space-size=12288");
+    expect(runStep.run).not.toContain("scripts/build-all.mjs qaRuntime");
     expect(runStep.run).not.toContain("OPENAI_API_KEY");
     expect(runStep.run).toMatch(
       /bundled-protocol\)\s+pnpm test:bundled\s+pnpm protocol:check\s+;;\s+qa-smoke-ci\)/,