Fix CLI text command hangs (#74220)

* fix(cli): keep agents list off plugin preload

* docs(changelog): note cli text hang fix

* test(cli): update preaction agents list expectations

src/cli/program/preaction.test.ts

@@ -201,7 +201,7 @@ describe("registerPreActionHooks", () => {
     await preActionHook(program, actionCommand);
   }
 
-  it("handles debug mode and plugin-required command preaction", async () => {
+  it("handles debug mode and config-only command preaction", async () => {
     const processTitleSetSpy = vi.spyOn(process, "title", "set");
     await runPreAction({
       parseArgv: ["status"],
@@ -229,7 +229,7 @@ describe("registerPreActionHooks", () => {
       runtime: runtimeMock,
       commandPath: ["agents", "list"],
     });
-    expect(ensurePluginRegistryLoadedMock).toHaveBeenCalledWith({ scope: "all" });
+    expect(ensurePluginRegistryLoadedMock).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
     processTitleSetSpy.mockRestore();
   });
 
@@ -512,19 +512,13 @@ describe("registerPreActionHooks", () => {
     expect(loggingState.forceConsoleToStderr).toBe(false);
   });
 
-  it("does not route logs to stderr during plugin loading without --json", async () => {
-    let stderrDuringPluginLoad = false;
-    ensurePluginRegistryLoadedMock.mockImplementation(() => {
-      stderrDuringPluginLoad = loggingState.forceConsoleToStderr;
-    });
-
+  it("does not preload plugins or route logs to stderr for agents list without --json", async () => {
     await runPreAction({
       parseArgv: ["agents", "list"],
       processArgv: ["node", "openclaw", "agents", "list"],
     });
 
-    expect(ensurePluginRegistryLoadedMock).toHaveBeenCalled();
-    expect(stderrDuringPluginLoad).toBe(false);
+    expect(ensurePluginRegistryLoadedMock).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
     expect(loggingState.forceConsoleToStderr).toBe(false);
   });
 

src/cli/program/route-args.test.ts

@@ -111,6 +111,10 @@ describe("route-args", () => {
       json: true,
       bindings: true,
     });
+    expect(parseAgentsListRouteArgs(["node", "openclaw", "agents"])).toEqual({
+      json: false,
+      bindings: false,
+    });
   });
 
   it("parses config routes", () => {

src/cli/program/routes.test.ts

@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ const tasksListJsonCommandMock = vi.hoisted(() => vi.fn(async () => {}));
 const tasksAuditJsonCommandMock = vi.hoisted(() => vi.fn(async () => {}));
 const channelsListCommandMock = vi.hoisted(() => vi.fn(async () => {}));
 const channelsStatusCommandMock = vi.hoisted(() => vi.fn(async () => {}));
+const agentsListCommandMock = vi.hoisted(() => vi.fn(async () => {}));
 
 vi.mock("../config-cli.js", () => ({
   runConfigGet: runConfigGetMock,
@@ -49,6 +50,10 @@ vi.mock("../../commands/channels/status.js", () => ({
   channelsStatusCommand: channelsStatusCommandMock,
 }));
 
+vi.mock("../../commands/agents.js", () => ({
+  agentsListCommand: agentsListCommandMock,
+}));
+
 describe("program routes", () => {
   beforeEach(() => {
     vi.clearAllMocks();
@@ -80,6 +85,34 @@ describe("program routes", () => {
     expect(expectRoute(["channels", "status"])?.loadPlugins).toBeUndefined();
   });
 
+  it("matches agents read-only routes without plugin preload", () => {
+    expect(expectRoute(["agents"])?.loadPlugins).toBeUndefined();
+    expect(expectRoute(["agents", "list"])?.loadPlugins).toBeUndefined();
+  });
+
+  it("passes parsed agents list flags through", async () => {
+    await expect(expectRoute(["agents"])?.run(["node", "openclaw", "agents"])).resolves.toBe(true);
+    expect(agentsListCommandMock).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      { json: false, bindings: false },
+      expect.any(Object),
+    );
+
+    await expect(
+      expectRoute(["agents", "list"])?.run([
+        "node",
+        "openclaw",
+        "agents",
+        "list",
+        "--json",
+        "--bindings",
+      ]),
+    ).resolves.toBe(true);
+    expect(agentsListCommandMock).toHaveBeenLastCalledWith(
+      { json: true, bindings: true },
+      expect.any(Object),
+    );
+  });
+
   it("passes parsed channel read-only route flags through", async () => {
     const listRoute = expectRoute(["channels", "list"]);
     await expect(