fix: harden cold plugin metadata paths

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -69,6 +69,8 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 
 ### Fixes
 
+- Plugins/CLI: preserve manifest name, description, format, and source metadata in cold `openclaw plugins list` output without importing plugin runtime. Thanks @shakkernerd.
+- Security/audit: read channel exposure and plugin allowlist ownership from read-only plugin index metadata so cold audits do not depend on loaded channel runtime. Thanks @shakkernerd.
 - Agents/groups: treat clean empty assistant stops as silent `NO_REPLY` only for always-on groups where silent replies are allowed, while keeping direct and mention-gated sessions on the incomplete-turn retry path. Thanks @MagnaAI.
 - macOS/Node: keep native remote app nodes from advertising `browser.proxy`,
   start browser-capable CLI node services through the restored

src/channels/plugins/read-only.ts

@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ function loadPluginLoaderModule(): PluginLoaderModule {
 
 type ReadOnlyChannelPluginOptions = {
   env?: NodeJS.ProcessEnv;
+  stateDir?: string;
   workspaceDir?: string;
   activationSourceConfig?: OpenClawConfig;
   includePersistedAuthState?: boolean;
@@ -607,6 +608,7 @@ export function resolveReadOnlyChannelPluginsForConfig(
   const workspaceDir = resolveReadOnlyWorkspaceDir(cfg, options);
   const manifestRecords = loadPluginManifestRegistryForPluginRegistry({
     config: cfg,
+    stateDir: options.stateDir,
     workspaceDir,
     env,
     cache: options.cache,

src/plugins/status.registry-snapshot.test.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
+import fs from "node:fs";
+import os from "node:os";
+import path from "node:path";
+import { afterEach, describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import { clearPluginDiscoveryCache } from "./discovery.js";
+import { clearPluginManifestRegistryCache } from "./manifest-registry.js";
+import { buildPluginRegistrySnapshotReport } from "./status.js";
+
+const tempDirs: string[] = [];
+
+function makeTempDir() {
+  const dir = fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), "openclaw-plugin-status-"));
+  tempDirs.push(dir);
+  return dir;
+}
+
+afterEach(() => {
+  clearPluginDiscoveryCache();
+  clearPluginManifestRegistryCache();
+  for (const dir of tempDirs.splice(0)) {
+    fs.rmSync(dir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  }
+});
+
+describe("buildPluginRegistrySnapshotReport", () => {
+  it("reconstructs list metadata from indexed manifests without importing plugin runtime", () => {
+    const pluginDir = makeTempDir();
+    const runtimeMarker = path.join(pluginDir, "runtime-loaded.txt");
+    fs.writeFileSync(
+      path.join(pluginDir, "package.json"),
+      JSON.stringify({
+        name: "@example/openclaw-indexed-demo",
+        version: "9.8.7",
+        openclaw: { extensions: ["./index.cjs"] },
+      }),
+      "utf-8",
+    );
+    fs.writeFileSync(
+      path.join(pluginDir, "openclaw.plugin.json"),
+      JSON.stringify({
+        id: "indexed-demo",
+        name: "Indexed Demo",
+        description: "Manifest-backed list metadata",
+        version: "1.2.3",
+        providers: ["indexed-provider"],
+        commandAliases: [{ name: "indexed-demo" }],
+        configSchema: {
+          type: "object",
+          additionalProperties: false,
+          properties: {},
+        },
+      }),
+      "utf-8",
+    );
+    fs.writeFileSync(
+      path.join(pluginDir, "index.cjs"),
+      `require("node:fs").writeFileSync(${JSON.stringify(runtimeMarker)}, "loaded", "utf-8");\nmodule.exports = { id: "indexed-demo", register() {} };\n`,
+      "utf-8",
+    );
+
+    const report = buildPluginRegistrySnapshotReport({
+      config: {
+        plugins: {
+          load: { paths: [pluginDir] },
+        },
+      },
+    });
+
+    const plugin = report.plugins.find((entry) => entry.id === "indexed-demo");
+    expect(plugin).toMatchObject({
+      id: "indexed-demo",
+      name: "Indexed Demo",
+      description: "Manifest-backed list metadata",
+      version: "9.8.7",
+      format: "openclaw",
+      providerIds: ["indexed-provider"],
+      commands: ["indexed-demo"],
+      source: fs.realpathSync(path.join(pluginDir, "index.cjs")),
+      status: "loaded",
+    });
+    expect(fs.existsSync(runtimeMarker)).toBe(false);
+  });
+});

src/plugins/status.ts

@@ -159,12 +159,19 @@ function buildPluginRecordFromInstalledIndex(
   plugin: import("./installed-plugin-index.js").InstalledPluginIndexRecord,
   manifest?: PluginManifestRecord,
 ): PluginRecord {
+  const format = plugin.format ?? manifest?.format ?? "openclaw";
+  const bundleFormat = plugin.bundleFormat ?? manifest?.bundleFormat;
   return {
     id: plugin.pluginId,
-    name: plugin.pluginId,
-    ...(plugin.packageVersion ? { version: plugin.packageVersion } : {}),
-    format: "openclaw",
-    source: plugin.manifestPath,
+    name: manifest?.name ?? plugin.packageName ?? plugin.pluginId,
+    ...(plugin.packageVersion || manifest?.version
+      ? { version: plugin.packageVersion ?? manifest?.version }
+      : {}),
+    ...(manifest?.description ? { description: manifest.description } : {}),
+    format,
+    ...(bundleFormat ? { bundleFormat } : {}),
+    ...(manifest?.kind ? { kind: manifest.kind } : {}),
+    source: plugin.source ?? plugin.manifestPath,
     rootDir: plugin.rootDir,
     origin: plugin.origin,
     enabled: plugin.enabled,

src/security/audit-plugins-trust.test.ts

@@ -38,6 +38,34 @@ vi.mock("../infra/package-update-utils.js", () => ({
 
 vi.mock("../plugins/config-state.js", () => ({
   normalizePluginId: (id: string) => id,
+  resolveEffectiveEnableState: (params: {
+    config?: {
+      enabled?: boolean;
+      deny?: string[];
+      allow?: string[];
+      entries?: Record<string, { enabled?: boolean }>;
+    };
+    id: string;
+    enabledByDefault?: boolean;
+  }) => {
+    const entry = params.config?.entries?.[params.id];
+    const denied = params.config?.deny?.includes(params.id) === true;
+    const allowed =
+      !params.config?.allow?.length ||
+      params.config.allow.includes(params.id) ||
+      params.config.allow.includes("group:plugins");
+    const enabled =
+      params.config?.enabled !== false &&
+      !denied &&
+      allowed &&
+      entry?.enabled !== false &&
+      (entry?.enabled === true || params.enabledByDefault === true);
+    return {
+      enabled,
+      activated: enabled,
+      reason: enabled ? "enabled" : "disabled",
+    };
+  },
   normalizePluginsConfig: (
     config:
       | {
@@ -55,11 +83,8 @@ vi.mock("../plugins/config-state.js", () => ({
   }),
 }));
 
-vi.mock("../channels/plugins/index.js", () => ({
-  getChannelPlugin: (id: string) => mockChannelPlugins.find((plugin) => plugin.id === id),
-  getLoadedChannelPlugin: () => undefined,
-  listChannelPlugins: () => mockChannelPlugins,
-  normalizeChannelId: (id: unknown) => (typeof id === "string" && id ? id : null),
+vi.mock("../channels/plugins/read-only.js", () => ({
+  listReadOnlyChannelPluginsForConfig: () => mockChannelPlugins,
 }));
 
 vi.mock("../channels/read-only-account-inspect.js", () => ({

src/security/audit-plugins-trust.ts

@@ -1,18 +1,22 @@
 import fs from "node:fs/promises";
 import path from "node:path";
-import { listChannelPlugins } from "../channels/plugins/index.js";
+import { listReadOnlyChannelPluginsForConfig } from "../channels/plugins/read-only.js";
+import type { ChannelPlugin } from "../channels/plugins/types.plugin.js";
 import { inspectReadOnlyChannelAccount } from "../channels/read-only-account-inspect.js";
 import { resolveNativeSkillsEnabled } from "../config/commands.js";
 import type { OpenClawConfig } from "../config/config.js";
 import type { AgentToolsConfig } from "../config/types.tools.js";
 import { readInstalledPackageVersion } from "../infra/package-update-utils.js";
-import { normalizePluginId, normalizePluginsConfig } from "../plugins/config-state.js";
+import { normalizePluginsConfig } from "../plugins/config-state.js";
 import { loadInstalledPluginIndexInstallRecords } from "../plugins/installed-plugin-index-record-reader.js";
+import {
+  createPluginRegistryIdNormalizer,
+  loadPluginRegistrySnapshot,
+} from "../plugins/plugin-registry.js";
 import { normalizeOptionalLowercaseString } from "../shared/string-coerce.js";
 import type { SecurityAuditFinding } from "./audit.types.js";
 
 type SandboxToolPolicy = import("../agents/sandbox/types.js").SandboxToolPolicy;
-type ChannelPlugin = ReturnType<typeof listChannelPlugins>[number];
 
 type PluginTrustPolicyDeps = {
   isToolAllowedByPolicies: typeof import("../agents/tool-policy-match.js").isToolAllowedByPolicies;
@@ -282,17 +286,24 @@ export async function collectPluginsTrustFindings(params: {
 
     if (allowConfigured) {
       const installedPluginIds = new Set(pluginDirs.map((dir) => path.basename(dir).toLowerCase()));
-      const bundledPluginIds = new Set(listChannelPlugins().map((p) => p.id.toLowerCase()));
+      const pluginIndex = loadPluginRegistrySnapshot({
+        config: params.cfg,
+        stateDir: params.stateDir,
+      });
+      const normalizePluginId = createPluginRegistryIdNormalizer(pluginIndex);
+      const indexedPluginIds = new Set(
+        pluginIndex.plugins.map((plugin) => plugin.pluginId.toLowerCase()),
+      );
       const phantomEntries = allow.filter((entry) => {
         if (typeof entry !== "string" || entry === "group:plugins") {
           return false;
         }
         const lower = entry.toLowerCase();
-        if (installedPluginIds.has(lower) || bundledPluginIds.has(lower)) {
+        if (installedPluginIds.has(lower) || indexedPluginIds.has(lower)) {
           return false;
         }
         const canonicalId = normalizeOptionalLowercaseString(normalizePluginId(entry)) ?? "";
-        return !canonicalId || !bundledPluginIds.has(canonicalId);
+        return !canonicalId || !indexedPluginIds.has(canonicalId);
       });
       if (phantomEntries.length > 0) {
         findings.push({
@@ -309,9 +320,12 @@ export async function collectPluginsTrustFindings(params: {
     }
 
     if (!allowConfigured) {
+      const channelPlugins = listReadOnlyChannelPluginsForConfig(params.cfg, {
+        stateDir: params.stateDir,
+      });
       const skillCommandsLikelyExposed = (
         await Promise.all(
-          listChannelPlugins().map(async (plugin) => {
+          channelPlugins.map(async (plugin) => {
             if (
               plugin.capabilities.nativeCommands !== true &&
               plugin.commands?.nativeSkillsAutoEnabled !== true