diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 2dfa2981103..bfd0b99176d 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 - MS Teams: replace the deprecated Teams SDK HttpPlugin stub with `httpServerAdapter` so recurring gateway deprecation warnings stop firing and the Express 5 compatibility workaround stays on the supported SDK path. (#60939) Thanks @coolramukaka-sys.
 - CLI/Commander: preserve Commander-computed exit codes for argument and help-error paths, and cover the user-argv parse mode in the regression tests so invalid CLI invocations no longer report success when exits are intercepted. (#60923) Thanks @Linux2010.
 - Telegram/native command menu: trim long menu descriptions before dropping commands so sub-100 command sets can still fit Telegram's payload budget and keep more `/` entries visible. (#61129) Thanks @neeravmakwana.
-- Agents/Claude CLI: keep non-interactive `--permission-mode bypassPermissions` when custom `cliBackends.claude-cli.args` override defaults, so cron and heartbeat Claude CLI runs do not regress to interactive approval mode. (#61114) Thanks @cathrynlavery and @thewilloftheshadow.
+- Agents/Claude CLI: keep non-interactive `--permission-mode bypassPermissions` when custom `cliBackends.claude-cli.args` override defaults, including fallback resolution before the runtime plugin registry is active, so cron and heartbeat Claude CLI runs do not regress to interactive approval mode. (#61114) Thanks @cathrynlavery and @thewilloftheshadow.
 - Agents/skills: skip `.git` and `node_modules` when mirroring skills into sandbox workspaces so read-only sandboxes do not copy repo history or dependency trees. (#61090) Thanks @joelnishanth.
 - Android/Talk Mode: cancel in-flight `talk.speak` playback when speech is explicitly stopped, so stale replies stop starting after barge-in or manual stop. (#61164) Thanks @obviyus.
 - Plugins/onboarding: write dotted plugin uiHint paths like Brave `webSearch.mode` as nested plugin config so `llm-context` setup stops failing validation. (#61159) Thanks @obviyus.
diff --git a/extensions/anthropic/api.ts b/extensions/anthropic/api.ts
index 6fcd8f8e147..1595674a01a 100644
--- a/extensions/anthropic/api.ts
+++ b/extensions/anthropic/api.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,8 @@
-export { CLAUDE_CLI_BACKEND_ID, isClaudeCliProvider } from "./cli-shared.js";
+export {
+  CLAUDE_CLI_BACKEND_ID,
+  isClaudeCliProvider,
+  normalizeClaudeBackendConfig,
+} from "./cli-shared.js";
 export {
   createAnthropicBetaHeadersWrapper,
   createAnthropicFastModeWrapper,
diff --git a/src/agents/cli-backends.test.ts b/src/agents/cli-backends.test.ts
index c4d22734069..a3b14e36f1a 100644
--- a/src/agents/cli-backends.test.ts
+++ b/src/agents/cli-backends.test.ts
@@ -331,7 +331,7 @@ describe("resolveCliBackendConfig claude-cli defaults", () => {
     expect(resolved?.config.resumeArgs).toContain("bypassPermissions");
   });
 
-  it("keeps bundle MCP enabled for override-only claude-cli config when the plugin registry is absent", () => {
+  it("normalizes override-only claude-cli config when the plugin registry is absent", () => {
     const registry = createEmptyPluginRegistry();
     setActivePluginRegistry(registry);
 
@@ -342,6 +342,7 @@ describe("resolveCliBackendConfig claude-cli defaults", () => {
             "claude-cli": {
               command: "/usr/local/bin/claude",
               args: ["-p", "--output-format", "json"],
+              resumeArgs: ["-p", "--output-format", "json", "--resume", "{sessionId}"],
             },
           },
         },
@@ -352,6 +353,22 @@ describe("resolveCliBackendConfig claude-cli defaults", () => {
 
     expect(resolved).not.toBeNull();
     expect(resolved?.bundleMcp).toBe(true);
+    expect(resolved?.config.args).toEqual([
+      "-p",
+      "--output-format",
+      "json",
+      "--permission-mode",
+      "bypassPermissions",
+    ]);
+    expect(resolved?.config.resumeArgs).toEqual([
+      "-p",
+      "--output-format",
+      "json",
+      "--resume",
+      "{sessionId}",
+      "--permission-mode",
+      "bypassPermissions",
+    ]);
   });
 });
 
diff --git a/src/agents/cli-backends.ts b/src/agents/cli-backends.ts
index 1bd9286f6e2..11f224e88ab 100644
--- a/src/agents/cli-backends.ts
+++ b/src/agents/cli-backends.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+import {
+  CLAUDE_CLI_BACKEND_ID,
+  normalizeClaudeBackendConfig,
+} from "../../extensions/anthropic/api.js";
 import type { OpenClawConfig } from "../config/config.js";
 import type { CliBackendConfig } from "../config/types.js";
 import { resolveRuntimeCliBackends } from "../plugins/cli-backends.runtime.js";
@@ -10,12 +14,20 @@ export type ResolvedCliBackend = {
   pluginId?: string;
 };
 
-function resolveFallbackBundleMcpCapability(provider: string): boolean {
-  // Claude CLI consumes explicit MCP config overlays even when the runtime
-  // plugin registry is not initialized yet (for example direct runner tests or
-  // narrow non-gateway entrypoints).
-  return provider === "claude-cli";
-}
+type FallbackCliBackendPolicy = {
+  bundleMcp: boolean;
+  normalizeConfig?: (config: CliBackendConfig) => CliBackendConfig;
+};
+
+const FALLBACK_CLI_BACKEND_POLICIES: Record<string, FallbackCliBackendPolicy> = {
+  [CLAUDE_CLI_BACKEND_ID]: {
+    // Claude CLI consumes explicit MCP config overlays even when the runtime
+    // plugin registry is not initialized yet (for example direct runner tests
+    // or narrow non-gateway entrypoints).
+    bundleMcp: true,
+    normalizeConfig: normalizeClaudeBackendConfig,
+  },
+};
 
 function normalizeBackendKey(key: string): string {
   return normalizeProviderId(key);
@@ -96,6 +108,7 @@ export function resolveCliBackendConfig(
   cfg?: OpenClawConfig,
 ): ResolvedCliBackend | null {
   const normalized = normalizeBackendKey(provider);
+  const fallbackPolicy = FALLBACK_CLI_BACKEND_POLICIES[normalized];
   const configured = cfg?.agents?.defaults?.cliBackends ?? {};
   const override = pickBackendConfig(configured, normalized);
   const registered = resolveRegisteredBackend(normalized);
@@ -117,13 +130,16 @@ export function resolveCliBackendConfig(
   if (!override) {
     return null;
   }
-  const command = override.command?.trim();
+  const config = fallbackPolicy?.normalizeConfig
+    ? fallbackPolicy.normalizeConfig(override)
+    : override;
+  const command = config.command?.trim();
   if (!command) {
     return null;
   }
   return {
     id: normalized,
-    config: { ...override, command },
-    bundleMcp: resolveFallbackBundleMcpCapability(normalized),
+    config: { ...config, command },
+    bundleMcp: fallbackPolicy?.bundleMcp,
   };
 }