From 34b8a3fda02cd2c1adea7553ebe0a6041ec1046e Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Peter Steinberger <steipete@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2026 07:07:54 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] fix(release): isolate trusted candidate dependencies

---
 scripts/release-candidate-checklist.mjs          | 14 ++++++--------
 test/scripts/release-candidate-checklist.test.ts | 14 ++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 20 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)

diff --git a/scripts/release-candidate-checklist.mjs b/scripts/release-candidate-checklist.mjs
index a034c7b59a41..0ec527303b10 100644
--- a/scripts/release-candidate-checklist.mjs
+++ b/scripts/release-candidate-checklist.mjs
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@ import {
   readFileSync,
   renameSync,
   rmSync,
-  symlinkSync,
   writeFileSync,
 } from "node:fs";
 import { tmpdir } from "node:os";
@@ -273,6 +272,7 @@ export function run(command, args, options = {}) {
   const result = spawnSync(command, args, {
     cwd: options.cwd,
     encoding: "utf8",
+    env: options.env ? { ...process.env, ...options.env } : process.env,
     maxBuffer: COMMAND_CAPTURE_MAX_BUFFER_BYTES,
     stdio: options.capture ? ["ignore", "pipe", "pipe"] : "inherit",
   });
@@ -516,13 +516,11 @@ function runFromTrustedTooling(argv, { targetRoot, workflowRef }) {
       cwd: targetRoot,
     });
     worktreeAdded = true;
-    const targetNodeModules = join(targetRoot, "node_modules");
-    if (!existsSync(targetNodeModules)) {
-      throw new Error("release candidate validation requires target checkout node_modules");
-    }
-    // Trusted release tooling executes from an isolated worktree, while dependency
-    // bytes stay pinned to the prepared target checkout used by local preflight.
-    symlinkSync(targetNodeModules, join(toolingRoot, "node_modules"), "dir");
+    // Build an isolated trusted dependency tree. Lifecycle scripts stay disabled;
+    // the frozen lockfile and prefer-offline store keep setup deterministic.
+    run("pnpm", ["install", "--frozen-lockfile", "--ignore-scripts", "--prefer-offline"], {
+      cwd: toolingRoot,
+    });
     const result = spawnSync(
       process.execPath,
       [join(toolingRoot, "scripts/release-candidate-checklist.mjs"), ...argv],
diff --git a/test/scripts/release-candidate-checklist.test.ts b/test/scripts/release-candidate-checklist.test.ts
index 1a7412ff2764..148aaf69a490 100644
--- a/test/scripts/release-candidate-checklist.test.ts
+++ b/test/scripts/release-candidate-checklist.test.ts
@@ -98,6 +98,16 @@ describe("release candidate checklist", () => {
     expect(output).toHaveLength(2 * 1024 * 1024);
   });
 
+  it("passes scoped environment overrides to release child commands", () => {
+    const output = run(
+      process.execPath,
+      ["-e", "process.stdout.write(process.env.OPENCLAW_RELEASE_TEST_VALUE ?? '')"],
+      { capture: true, env: { OPENCLAW_RELEASE_TEST_VALUE: "passed" } },
+    );
+
+    expect(output).toBe("passed");
+  });
+
   it("keeps the frozen release target separate from clean trusted workflow tooling", () => {
     expect(
       validateCandidateCheckout({
@@ -161,6 +171,10 @@ describe("release candidate checklist", () => {
     ).toThrow("clean tracked tooling checkout");
     const source = readFileSync("scripts/release-candidate-checklist.mjs", "utf8");
     expect(source).toContain('const TOOLING_ROOT = fileURLToPath(new URL("../", import.meta.url))');
+    expect(source).toContain('mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), "openclaw-release-tooling-"))');
+    expect(source).toContain(
+      '["install", "--frozen-lockfile", "--ignore-scripts", "--prefer-offline"]',
+    );
     expect(source).toContain("`+refs/heads/${workflowRef}:${remoteRef}`");
     expect(source).toContain('"worktree", "add", "--detach", toolingRoot, trustedToolingSha');
     expect(source).toContain(