diff --git a/src/agents/agent-paths.ts b/src/agents/agent-paths.ts
index cfb874d3112..15861d145a1 100644
--- a/src/agents/agent-paths.ts
+++ b/src/agents/agent-paths.ts
@@ -3,14 +3,13 @@ import { resolveStateDir } from "../config/paths.js";
 import { DEFAULT_AGENT_ID } from "../routing/session-key.js";
 import { resolveUserPath } from "../utils.js";
 
-export function resolveOpenClawAgentDir(): string {
-  const override =
-    process.env.OPENCLAW_AGENT_DIR?.trim() || process.env.PI_CODING_AGENT_DIR?.trim();
+export function resolveOpenClawAgentDir(env: NodeJS.ProcessEnv = process.env): string {
+  const override = env.OPENCLAW_AGENT_DIR?.trim() || env.PI_CODING_AGENT_DIR?.trim();
   if (override) {
-    return resolveUserPath(override);
+    return resolveUserPath(override, env);
   }
-  const defaultAgentDir = path.join(resolveStateDir(), "agents", DEFAULT_AGENT_ID, "agent");
-  return resolveUserPath(defaultAgentDir);
+  const defaultAgentDir = path.join(resolveStateDir(env), "agents", DEFAULT_AGENT_ID, "agent");
+  return resolveUserPath(defaultAgentDir, env);
 }
 
 export function ensureOpenClawAgentEnv(): string {
diff --git a/src/agents/agent-scope.ts b/src/agents/agent-scope.ts
index 5d190ce1eae..5425b033dca 100644
--- a/src/agents/agent-scope.ts
+++ b/src/agents/agent-scope.ts
@@ -327,12 +327,16 @@ export function resolveAgentIdByWorkspacePath(
   return resolveAgentIdsByWorkspacePath(cfg, workspacePath)[0];
 }
 
-export function resolveAgentDir(cfg: OpenClawConfig, agentId: string) {
+export function resolveAgentDir(
+  cfg: OpenClawConfig,
+  agentId: string,
+  env: NodeJS.ProcessEnv = process.env,
+) {
   const id = normalizeAgentId(agentId);
   const configured = resolveAgentConfig(cfg, id)?.agentDir?.trim();
   if (configured) {
-    return resolveUserPath(configured);
+    return resolveUserPath(configured, env);
   }
-  const root = resolveStateDir(process.env);
+  const root = resolveStateDir(env);
   return path.join(root, "agents", id, "agent");
 }
diff --git a/src/secrets/apply.test.ts b/src/secrets/apply.test.ts
index 55d14c7e6d0..d71c98ac389 100644
--- a/src/secrets/apply.test.ts
+++ b/src/secrets/apply.test.ts
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import path from "node:path";
 import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
 import { runSecretsApply } from "./apply.js";
 import type { SecretsApplyPlan } from "./plan.js";
+import { clearSecretsRuntimeSnapshot } from "./runtime.js";
 
 const OPENAI_API_KEY_ENV_REF = {
   source: "env",
@@ -173,11 +174,13 @@ describe("secrets apply", () => {
   let fixture: ApplyFixture;
 
   beforeEach(async () => {
+    clearSecretsRuntimeSnapshot();
     fixture = await createApplyFixture();
     await seedDefaultApplyFixture(fixture);
   });
 
   afterEach(async () => {
+    clearSecretsRuntimeSnapshot();
     await fs.rm(fixture.rootDir, { recursive: true, force: true });
   });
 
diff --git a/src/secrets/runtime-web-tools.test.ts b/src/secrets/runtime-web-tools.test.ts
index 57e3e955066..c67f6af6573 100644
--- a/src/secrets/runtime-web-tools.test.ts
+++ b/src/secrets/runtime-web-tools.test.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import { afterEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
 import type { OpenClawConfig } from "../config/config.js";
+import * as webSearchProviders from "../plugins/web-search-providers.js";
 import * as secretResolve from "./resolve.js";
 import { createResolverContext } from "./runtime-shared.js";
 import { resolveRuntimeWebTools } from "./runtime-web-tools.js";
@@ -88,6 +89,32 @@ describe("runtime web tools resolution", () => {
     vi.restoreAllMocks();
   });
 
+  it("skips loading web search providers when search config is absent", async () => {
+    const providerSpy = vi.spyOn(webSearchProviders, "resolvePluginWebSearchProviders");
+
+    const { metadata } = await runRuntimeWebTools({
+      config: asConfig({
+        tools: {
+          web: {
+            fetch: {
+              firecrawl: {
+                apiKey: { source: "env", provider: "default", id: "FIRECRAWL_API_KEY_REF" },
+              },
+            },
+          },
+        },
+      }),
+      env: {
+        FIRECRAWL_API_KEY: "firecrawl-runtime-key", // pragma: allowlist secret
+      },
+    });
+
+    expect(providerSpy).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    expect(metadata.search.providerSource).toBe("none");
+    expect(metadata.fetch.firecrawl.active).toBe(true);
+    expect(metadata.fetch.firecrawl.apiKeySource).toBe("env");
+  });
+
   it.each([
     {
       provider: "brave" as const,
diff --git a/src/secrets/runtime-web-tools.ts b/src/secrets/runtime-web-tools.ts
index 71b346cc462..fd32ecedf93 100644
--- a/src/secrets/runtime-web-tools.ts
+++ b/src/secrets/runtime-web-tools.ts
@@ -315,11 +315,13 @@ export async function resolveRuntimeWebTools(params: {
   const tools = isRecord(params.sourceConfig.tools) ? params.sourceConfig.tools : undefined;
   const web = isRecord(tools?.web) ? tools.web : undefined;
   const search = isRecord(web?.search) ? web.search : undefined;
-  const providers = resolvePluginWebSearchProviders({
-    config: params.sourceConfig,
-    env: params.context.env,
-    bundledAllowlistCompat: true,
-  });
+  const providers = search
+    ? resolvePluginWebSearchProviders({
+        config: params.sourceConfig,
+        env: params.context.env,
+        bundledAllowlistCompat: true,
+      })
+    : [];
 
   const searchMetadata: RuntimeWebSearchMetadata = {
     providerSource: "none",
diff --git a/src/secrets/runtime.ts b/src/secrets/runtime.ts
index 903fe5a6d24..ed85cde5a8d 100644
--- a/src/secrets/runtime.ts
+++ b/src/secrets/runtime.ts
@@ -79,11 +79,14 @@ function clearActiveSecretsRuntimeState(): void {
   clearRuntimeAuthProfileStoreSnapshots();
 }
 
-function collectCandidateAgentDirs(config: OpenClawConfig): string[] {
+function collectCandidateAgentDirs(
+  config: OpenClawConfig,
+  env: NodeJS.ProcessEnv = process.env,
+): string[] {
   const dirs = new Set<string>();
-  dirs.add(resolveUserPath(resolveOpenClawAgentDir()));
+  dirs.add(resolveUserPath(resolveOpenClawAgentDir(env), env));
   for (const agentId of listAgentIds(config)) {
-    dirs.add(resolveUserPath(resolveAgentDir(config, agentId)));
+    dirs.add(resolveUserPath(resolveAgentDir(config, agentId, env), env));
   }
   return [...dirs];
 }
@@ -92,7 +95,7 @@ function resolveRefreshAgentDirs(
   config: OpenClawConfig,
   context: SecretsRuntimeRefreshContext,
 ): string[] {
-  const configDerived = collectCandidateAgentDirs(config);
+  const configDerived = collectCandidateAgentDirs(config, context.env);
   if (!context.explicitAgentDirs || context.explicitAgentDirs.length === 0) {
     return configDerived;
   }
@@ -119,8 +122,12 @@ export async function prepareSecretsRuntimeSnapshot(params: {
 
   const loadAuthStore = params.loadAuthStore ?? loadAuthProfileStoreForSecretsRuntime;
   const candidateDirs = params.agentDirs?.length
-    ? [...new Set(params.agentDirs.map((entry) => resolveUserPath(entry)))]
-    : collectCandidateAgentDirs(resolvedConfig);
+    ? [
+        ...new Set(
+          params.agentDirs.map((entry) => resolveUserPath(entry, params.env ?? process.env)),
+        ),
+      ]
+    : collectCandidateAgentDirs(resolvedConfig, params.env ?? process.env);
 
   const authStores: Array<{ agentDir: string; store: AuthProfileStore }> = [];
   for (const agentDir of candidateDirs) {