diff --git a/docs/concepts/model-providers.md b/docs/concepts/model-providers.md
index bc2c6cf902b..a1b5b59c924 100644
--- a/docs/concepts/model-providers.md
+++ b/docs/concepts/model-providers.md
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ Most provider-specific logic lives in provider plugins (`registerProvider(...)`)
The full list of provider-SDK hooks and bundled-plugin examples lives in [Provider plugins](/plugins/sdk-provider-plugins). A provider that needs a totally custom request executor is a separate, deeper extension surface.
-Provider runtime `capabilities` is shared runner metadata (provider family, transcript/tooling quirks, transport/cache hints). It is not the same as the [public capability model](/plugins/architecture#public-capability-model), which describes what a plugin registers (text inference, speech, etc.).
+Provider-owned runner behavior lives on explicit provider hooks such as replay policy, tool-schema normalization, stream wrapping, and transport/request helpers. The legacy `ProviderPlugin.capabilities` static bag is compatibility-only and is no longer read by shared runner logic.
## API key rotation
diff --git a/docs/plugins/architecture-internals.md b/docs/plugins/architecture-internals.md
index eafbcab5300..66e3d8ab7cd 100644
--- a/docs/plugins/architecture-internals.md
+++ b/docs/plugins/architecture-internals.md
@@ -242,6 +242,9 @@ without loading channel runtime.
For model/provider plugins, OpenClaw calls hooks in this rough order.
The "When to use" column is the quick decision guide.
+Compatibility-only provider fields that OpenClaw no longer calls, such as
+`ProviderPlugin.capabilities` and `suppressBuiltInModel`, are intentionally not
+listed here.
| # | Hook | What it does | When to use |
| --- | --------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
@@ -260,37 +263,35 @@ The "When to use" column is the quick decision guide.
| 12 | `prepareDynamicModel` | Async warm-up, then `resolveDynamicModel` runs again | Provider needs network metadata before resolving unknown ids |
| 13 | `normalizeResolvedModel` | Final rewrite before the embedded runner uses the resolved model | Provider needs transport rewrites but still uses a core transport |
| 14 | `contributeResolvedModelCompat` | Contribute compat flags for vendor models behind another compatible transport | Provider recognizes its own models on proxy transports without taking over the provider |
-| 15 | `capabilities` | Provider-owned transcript/tooling metadata used by shared core logic | Provider needs transcript/provider-family quirks |
-| 16 | `normalizeToolSchemas` | Normalize tool schemas before the embedded runner sees them | Provider needs transport-family schema cleanup |
-| 17 | `inspectToolSchemas` | Surface provider-owned schema diagnostics after normalization | Provider wants keyword warnings without teaching core provider-specific rules |
-| 18 | `resolveReasoningOutputMode` | Select native vs tagged reasoning-output contract | Provider needs tagged reasoning/final output instead of native fields |
-| 19 | `prepareExtraParams` | Request-param normalization before generic stream option wrappers | Provider needs default request params or per-provider param cleanup |
-| 20 | `createStreamFn` | Fully replace the normal stream path with a custom transport | Provider needs a custom wire protocol, not just a wrapper |
-| 21 | `wrapStreamFn` | Stream wrapper after generic wrappers are applied | Provider needs request headers/body/model compat wrappers without a custom transport |
-| 22 | `resolveTransportTurnState` | Attach native per-turn transport headers or metadata | Provider wants generic transports to send provider-native turn identity |
-| 23 | `resolveWebSocketSessionPolicy` | Attach native WebSocket headers or session cool-down policy | Provider wants generic WS transports to tune session headers or fallback policy |
-| 24 | `formatApiKey` | Auth-profile formatter: stored profile becomes the runtime `apiKey` string | Provider stores extra auth metadata and needs a custom runtime token shape |
-| 25 | `refreshOAuth` | OAuth refresh override for custom refresh endpoints or refresh-failure policy | Provider does not fit the shared `pi-ai` refreshers |
-| 26 | `buildAuthDoctorHint` | Repair hint appended when OAuth refresh fails | Provider needs provider-owned auth repair guidance after refresh failure |
-| 27 | `matchesContextOverflowError` | Provider-owned context-window overflow matcher | Provider has raw overflow errors generic heuristics would miss |
-| 28 | `classifyFailoverReason` | Provider-owned failover reason classification | Provider can map raw API/transport errors to rate-limit/overload/etc |
-| 29 | `isCacheTtlEligible` | Prompt-cache policy for proxy/backhaul providers | Provider needs proxy-specific cache TTL gating |
-| 30 | `buildMissingAuthMessage` | Replacement for the generic missing-auth recovery message | Provider needs a provider-specific missing-auth recovery hint |
-| 31 | `suppressBuiltInModel` | Deprecated. Runtime hook is no longer called; use manifest `modelCatalog.suppressions` | Historical hook for hiding stale upstream rows; keep new suppression data in the plugin manifest |
-| 32 | `augmentModelCatalog` | Synthetic/final catalog rows appended after discovery | Provider needs synthetic forward-compat rows in `models list` and pickers |
-| 33 | `resolveThinkingProfile` | Model-specific `/think` level set, display labels, and default | Provider exposes a custom thinking ladder or binary label for selected models |
-| 34 | `isBinaryThinking` | On/off reasoning toggle compatibility hook | Provider exposes only binary thinking on/off |
-| 35 | `supportsXHighThinking` | `xhigh` reasoning support compatibility hook | Provider wants `xhigh` on only a subset of models |
-| 36 | `resolveDefaultThinkingLevel` | Default `/think` level compatibility hook | Provider owns default `/think` policy for a model family |
-| 37 | `isModernModelRef` | Modern-model matcher for live profile filters and smoke selection | Provider owns live/smoke preferred-model matching |
-| 38 | `prepareRuntimeAuth` | Exchange a configured credential into the actual runtime token/key just before inference | Provider needs a token exchange or short-lived request credential |
-| 39 | `resolveUsageAuth` | Resolve usage/billing credentials for `/usage` and related status surfaces | Provider needs custom usage/quota token parsing or a different usage credential |
-| 40 | `fetchUsageSnapshot` | Fetch and normalize provider-specific usage/quota snapshots after auth is resolved | Provider needs a provider-specific usage endpoint or payload parser |
-| 41 | `createEmbeddingProvider` | Build a provider-owned embedding adapter for memory/search | Memory embedding behavior belongs with the provider plugin |
-| 42 | `buildReplayPolicy` | Return a replay policy controlling transcript handling for the provider | Provider needs custom transcript policy (for example, thinking-block stripping) |
-| 43 | `sanitizeReplayHistory` | Rewrite replay history after generic transcript cleanup | Provider needs provider-specific replay rewrites beyond shared compaction helpers |
-| 44 | `validateReplayTurns` | Final replay-turn validation or reshaping before the embedded runner | Provider transport needs stricter turn validation after generic sanitation |
-| 45 | `onModelSelected` | Run provider-owned post-selection side effects | Provider needs telemetry or provider-owned state when a model becomes active |
+| 15 | `normalizeToolSchemas` | Normalize tool schemas before the embedded runner sees them | Provider needs transport-family schema cleanup |
+| 16 | `inspectToolSchemas` | Surface provider-owned schema diagnostics after normalization | Provider wants keyword warnings without teaching core provider-specific rules |
+| 17 | `resolveReasoningOutputMode` | Select native vs tagged reasoning-output contract | Provider needs tagged reasoning/final output instead of native fields |
+| 18 | `prepareExtraParams` | Request-param normalization before generic stream option wrappers | Provider needs default request params or per-provider param cleanup |
+| 19 | `createStreamFn` | Fully replace the normal stream path with a custom transport | Provider needs a custom wire protocol, not just a wrapper |
+| 20 | `wrapStreamFn` | Stream wrapper after generic wrappers are applied | Provider needs request headers/body/model compat wrappers without a custom transport |
+| 21 | `resolveTransportTurnState` | Attach native per-turn transport headers or metadata | Provider wants generic transports to send provider-native turn identity |
+| 22 | `resolveWebSocketSessionPolicy` | Attach native WebSocket headers or session cool-down policy | Provider wants generic WS transports to tune session headers or fallback policy |
+| 23 | `formatApiKey` | Auth-profile formatter: stored profile becomes the runtime `apiKey` string | Provider stores extra auth metadata and needs a custom runtime token shape |
+| 24 | `refreshOAuth` | OAuth refresh override for custom refresh endpoints or refresh-failure policy | Provider does not fit the shared `pi-ai` refreshers |
+| 25 | `buildAuthDoctorHint` | Repair hint appended when OAuth refresh fails | Provider needs provider-owned auth repair guidance after refresh failure |
+| 26 | `matchesContextOverflowError` | Provider-owned context-window overflow matcher | Provider has raw overflow errors generic heuristics would miss |
+| 27 | `classifyFailoverReason` | Provider-owned failover reason classification | Provider can map raw API/transport errors to rate-limit/overload/etc |
+| 28 | `isCacheTtlEligible` | Prompt-cache policy for proxy/backhaul providers | Provider needs proxy-specific cache TTL gating |
+| 29 | `buildMissingAuthMessage` | Replacement for the generic missing-auth recovery message | Provider needs a provider-specific missing-auth recovery hint |
+| 30 | `augmentModelCatalog` | Synthetic/final catalog rows appended after discovery | Provider needs synthetic forward-compat rows in `models list` and pickers |
+| 31 | `resolveThinkingProfile` | Model-specific `/think` level set, display labels, and default | Provider exposes a custom thinking ladder or binary label for selected models |
+| 32 | `isBinaryThinking` | On/off reasoning toggle compatibility hook | Provider exposes only binary thinking on/off |
+| 33 | `supportsXHighThinking` | `xhigh` reasoning support compatibility hook | Provider wants `xhigh` on only a subset of models |
+| 34 | `resolveDefaultThinkingLevel` | Default `/think` level compatibility hook | Provider owns default `/think` policy for a model family |
+| 35 | `isModernModelRef` | Modern-model matcher for live profile filters and smoke selection | Provider owns live/smoke preferred-model matching |
+| 36 | `prepareRuntimeAuth` | Exchange a configured credential into the actual runtime token/key just before inference | Provider needs a token exchange or short-lived request credential |
+| 37 | `resolveUsageAuth` | Resolve usage/billing credentials for `/usage` and related status surfaces | Provider needs custom usage/quota token parsing or a different usage credential |
+| 38 | `fetchUsageSnapshot` | Fetch and normalize provider-specific usage/quota snapshots after auth is resolved | Provider needs a provider-specific usage endpoint or payload parser |
+| 39 | `createEmbeddingProvider` | Build a provider-owned embedding adapter for memory/search | Memory embedding behavior belongs with the provider plugin |
+| 40 | `buildReplayPolicy` | Return a replay policy controlling transcript handling for the provider | Provider needs custom transcript policy (for example, thinking-block stripping) |
+| 41 | `sanitizeReplayHistory` | Rewrite replay history after generic transcript cleanup | Provider needs provider-specific replay rewrites beyond shared compaction helpers |
+| 42 | `validateReplayTurns` | Final replay-turn validation or reshaping before the embedded runner | Provider transport needs stricter turn validation after generic sanitation |
+| 43 | `onModelSelected` | Run provider-owned post-selection side effects | Provider needs telemetry or provider-owned state when a model becomes active |
`normalizeModelId`, `normalizeTransport`, and `normalizeConfig` first check the
matched provider plugin, then fall through other hook-capable provider plugins
diff --git a/docs/plugins/sdk-migration.md b/docs/plugins/sdk-migration.md
index 06ebd814aee..e2f13077054 100644
--- a/docs/plugins/sdk-migration.md
+++ b/docs/plugins/sdk-migration.md
@@ -647,8 +647,8 @@ canonical replacement.
| `ProviderPluginDiscovery` | `ProviderPluginCatalog` |
Plus the legacy `ProviderCapabilities` static bag — provider plugins
- should attach capability facts through the provider runtime contract
- rather than a static object.
+ should use explicit provider hooks such as `buildReplayPolicy`,
+ `normalizeToolSchemas`, and `wrapStreamFn` rather than a static object.
diff --git a/docs/plugins/sdk-provider-plugins.md b/docs/plugins/sdk-provider-plugins.md
index 9928933e063..67b76162da2 100644
--- a/docs/plugins/sdk-provider-plugins.md
+++ b/docs/plugins/sdk-provider-plugins.md
@@ -420,6 +420,9 @@ API key auth, and dynamic model resolution.
OpenClaw calls hooks in this order. Most providers only use 2-3:
+ Compatibility-only provider fields that OpenClaw no longer calls, such as
+ `ProviderPlugin.capabilities` and `suppressBuiltInModel`, are not listed
+ here.
| # | Hook | When to use |
| --- | --- | --- |
@@ -436,37 +439,35 @@ API key auth, and dynamic model resolution.
| 11 | `prepareDynamicModel` | Async metadata fetch before resolving |
| 12 | `normalizeResolvedModel` | Transport rewrites before the runner |
| 13 | `contributeResolvedModelCompat` | Compat flags for vendor models behind another compatible transport |
- | 14 | `capabilities` | Legacy static capability bag; compatibility only |
- | 15 | `normalizeToolSchemas` | Provider-owned tool-schema cleanup before registration |
- | 16 | `inspectToolSchemas` | Provider-owned tool-schema diagnostics |
- | 17 | `resolveReasoningOutputMode` | Tagged vs native reasoning-output contract |
- | 18 | `prepareExtraParams` | Default request params |
- | 19 | `createStreamFn` | Fully custom StreamFn transport |
- | 20 | `wrapStreamFn` | Custom headers/body wrappers on the normal stream path |
- | 21 | `resolveTransportTurnState` | Native per-turn headers/metadata |
- | 22 | `resolveWebSocketSessionPolicy` | Native WS session headers/cool-down |
- | 23 | `formatApiKey` | Custom runtime token shape |
- | 24 | `refreshOAuth` | Custom OAuth refresh |
- | 25 | `buildAuthDoctorHint` | Auth repair guidance |
- | 26 | `matchesContextOverflowError` | Provider-owned overflow detection |
- | 27 | `classifyFailoverReason` | Provider-owned rate-limit/overload classification |
- | 28 | `isCacheTtlEligible` | Prompt cache TTL gating |
- | 29 | `buildMissingAuthMessage` | Custom missing-auth hint |
- | 30 | `suppressBuiltInModel` | Deprecated. Runtime hook is no longer called; use manifest `modelCatalog.suppressions` |
- | 31 | `augmentModelCatalog` | Synthetic forward-compat rows |
- | 32 | `resolveThinkingProfile` | Model-specific `/think` option set |
- | 33 | `isBinaryThinking` | Binary thinking on/off compatibility |
- | 34 | `supportsXHighThinking` | `xhigh` reasoning support compatibility |
- | 35 | `resolveDefaultThinkingLevel` | Default `/think` policy compatibility |
- | 36 | `isModernModelRef` | Live/smoke model matching |
- | 37 | `prepareRuntimeAuth` | Token exchange before inference |
- | 38 | `resolveUsageAuth` | Custom usage credential parsing |
- | 39 | `fetchUsageSnapshot` | Custom usage endpoint |
- | 40 | `createEmbeddingProvider` | Provider-owned embedding adapter for memory/search |
- | 41 | `buildReplayPolicy` | Custom transcript replay/compaction policy |
- | 42 | `sanitizeReplayHistory` | Provider-specific replay rewrites after generic cleanup |
- | 43 | `validateReplayTurns` | Strict replay-turn validation before the embedded runner |
- | 44 | `onModelSelected` | Post-selection callback (e.g. telemetry) |
+ | 14 | `normalizeToolSchemas` | Provider-owned tool-schema cleanup before registration |
+ | 15 | `inspectToolSchemas` | Provider-owned tool-schema diagnostics |
+ | 16 | `resolveReasoningOutputMode` | Tagged vs native reasoning-output contract |
+ | 17 | `prepareExtraParams` | Default request params |
+ | 18 | `createStreamFn` | Fully custom StreamFn transport |
+ | 19 | `wrapStreamFn` | Custom headers/body wrappers on the normal stream path |
+ | 20 | `resolveTransportTurnState` | Native per-turn headers/metadata |
+ | 21 | `resolveWebSocketSessionPolicy` | Native WS session headers/cool-down |
+ | 22 | `formatApiKey` | Custom runtime token shape |
+ | 23 | `refreshOAuth` | Custom OAuth refresh |
+ | 24 | `buildAuthDoctorHint` | Auth repair guidance |
+ | 25 | `matchesContextOverflowError` | Provider-owned overflow detection |
+ | 26 | `classifyFailoverReason` | Provider-owned rate-limit/overload classification |
+ | 27 | `isCacheTtlEligible` | Prompt cache TTL gating |
+ | 28 | `buildMissingAuthMessage` | Custom missing-auth hint |
+ | 29 | `augmentModelCatalog` | Synthetic forward-compat rows |
+ | 30 | `resolveThinkingProfile` | Model-specific `/think` option set |
+ | 31 | `isBinaryThinking` | Binary thinking on/off compatibility |
+ | 32 | `supportsXHighThinking` | `xhigh` reasoning support compatibility |
+ | 33 | `resolveDefaultThinkingLevel` | Default `/think` policy compatibility |
+ | 34 | `isModernModelRef` | Live/smoke model matching |
+ | 35 | `prepareRuntimeAuth` | Token exchange before inference |
+ | 36 | `resolveUsageAuth` | Custom usage credential parsing |
+ | 37 | `fetchUsageSnapshot` | Custom usage endpoint |
+ | 38 | `createEmbeddingProvider` | Provider-owned embedding adapter for memory/search |
+ | 39 | `buildReplayPolicy` | Custom transcript replay/compaction policy |
+ | 40 | `sanitizeReplayHistory` | Provider-specific replay rewrites after generic cleanup |
+ | 41 | `validateReplayTurns` | Strict replay-turn validation before the embedded runner |
+ | 42 | `onModelSelected` | Post-selection callback (e.g. telemetry) |
Runtime fallback notes: