fix(doctor): reset stale plugin slots

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 ### Fixes
 
 - Google Chat: normalize custom Google auth transport headers before google-auth/gaxios interceptors run, restoring webhook token verification when certificate retrieval expects Fetch `Headers`. Fixes #76742. Thanks @donbowman.
+- Doctor/plugins: reset stale `plugins.slots.memory` and `plugins.slots.contextEngine` references during `doctor --fix`, so cleanup of missing plugin config does not leave unrecoverable slot owners behind. Fixes #76550 and #76551. Thanks @vincentkoc.
 - Docs/WhatsApp: merge the duplicate top-level `web` objects in the gateway channel config example so copy-pasted WhatsApp config keeps both `web.whatsapp` and reconnect settings. Fixes #76619. Thanks @WadydX.
 - Plugins/Anthropic: expose Claude thinking profiles from the bundled provider-policy artifact so non-runtime callers keep Opus 4.7 `adaptive`, `xhigh`, and `max` instead of downgrading to `high`. Fixes #76779. Thanks @tomascupr and @iAbhi001.
 - Discord/native commands: skip slash-command registration and cleanup REST calls when `channels.discord.commands.native=false`, letting low-power gateways start without waiting on disabled native-command lifecycle requests. Fixes #76202. Thanks @vincentkoc.

src/commands/doctor/shared/stale-plugin-config.test.ts

@@ -96,6 +96,56 @@ describe("doctor stale plugin config helpers", () => {
     });
   });
 
+  it("resets stale plugin slots without changing valid slot sentinels", () => {
+    const cfg = {
+      plugins: {
+        slots: {
+          memory: "acpx",
+          contextEngine: "missing-engine",
+        },
+      },
+    } as OpenClawConfig;
+
+    const hits = scanStalePluginConfig(cfg);
+    expect(hits).toEqual([
+      {
+        pluginId: "acpx",
+        pathLabel: "plugins.slots.memory",
+        surface: "slot",
+        slotKey: "memory",
+      },
+      {
+        pluginId: "missing-engine",
+        pathLabel: "plugins.slots.contextEngine",
+        surface: "slot",
+        slotKey: "contextEngine",
+      },
+    ]);
+
+    const result = maybeRepairStalePluginConfig(cfg);
+
+    expect(result.changes).toEqual([
+      "- plugins.slots: reset 2 stale plugin slots (memory: acpx -> memory-core, contextEngine: missing-engine -> legacy)",
+    ]);
+    expect(result.config.plugins?.slots).toEqual({
+      memory: "memory-core",
+      contextEngine: "legacy",
+    });
+  });
+
+  it("does not report slot defaults or none as stale plugin refs", () => {
+    expect(
+      scanStalePluginConfig({
+        plugins: {
+          slots: {
+            memory: "none",
+            contextEngine: "legacy",
+          },
+        },
+      } as OpenClawConfig),
+    ).toEqual([]);
+  });
+
   it("formats stale plugin warnings with a doctor hint", () => {
     const warnings = collectStalePluginConfigWarnings({
       hits: [

src/commands/doctor/shared/stale-plugin-config.ts

@@ -4,17 +4,19 @@ import type { OpenClawConfig } from "../../../config/types.openclaw.js";
 import { normalizePluginId } from "../../../plugins/config-state.js";
 import { loadInstalledPluginIndexInstallRecordsSync } from "../../../plugins/installed-plugin-index-records.js";
 import { loadManifestMetadataSnapshot } from "../../../plugins/manifest-contract-eligibility.js";
+import { defaultSlotIdForKey, type PluginSlotKey } from "../../../plugins/slots.js";
 import { sanitizeForLog } from "../../../terminal/ansi.js";
 import { asObjectRecord } from "./object.js";
 
 const CHANNEL_CONFIG_META_KEYS = new Set(["defaults", "modelByChannel"]);
 
-type StalePluginSurface = "allow" | "entries" | "channel" | "heartbeat" | "modelByChannel";
+type StalePluginSurface = "allow" | "entries" | "slot" | "channel" | "heartbeat" | "modelByChannel";
 
 type StalePluginConfigHit = {
   pluginId: string;
   pathLabel: string;
   surface: StalePluginSurface;
+  slotKey?: PluginSlotKey;
 };
 
 type StalePluginRegistryState = {
@@ -131,6 +133,32 @@ function scanStalePluginConfigWithState(
     }
   }
 
+  const slots = asObjectRecord(plugins?.slots);
+  if (slots) {
+    for (const slotKey of ["memory", "contextEngine"] as const satisfies readonly PluginSlotKey[]) {
+      const rawPluginId = slots[slotKey];
+      if (typeof rawPluginId !== "string") {
+        continue;
+      }
+      const pluginId = normalizePluginId(rawPluginId);
+      const defaultSlotId = defaultSlotIdForKey(slotKey);
+      if (
+        !pluginId ||
+        rawPluginId.trim().toLowerCase() === "none" ||
+        pluginId === normalizePluginId(defaultSlotId) ||
+        knownIds.has(pluginId)
+      ) {
+        continue;
+      }
+      hits.push({
+        pluginId: rawPluginId,
+        pathLabel: `plugins.slots.${slotKey}`,
+        surface: "slot",
+        slotKey,
+      });
+    }
+  }
+
   const staleChannelIds = collectDanglingChannelIds({
     cfg,
     registryState,
@@ -236,6 +264,9 @@ function formatStalePluginHitWarning(hit: StalePluginConfigHit): string {
   if (hit.surface === "allow" || hit.surface === "entries") {
     return `- ${hit.pathLabel}: stale plugin reference "${hit.pluginId}" was found.`;
   }
+  if (hit.surface === "slot") {
+    return `- ${hit.pathLabel}: slot references missing plugin "${hit.pluginId}".`;
+  }
   if (hit.surface === "channel") {
     return `- ${hit.pathLabel}: dangling channel config for missing plugin "${hit.pluginId}" was found.`;
   }
@@ -310,6 +341,19 @@ export function maybeRepairStalePluginConfig(
     }
   }
 
+  const slotHits = hits.filter(
+    (hit): hit is StalePluginConfigHit & { slotKey: PluginSlotKey } =>
+      hit.surface === "slot" && hit.slotKey !== undefined,
+  );
+  if (slotHits.length > 0) {
+    const slots = asObjectRecord(nextPlugins?.slots);
+    if (slots) {
+      for (const hit of slotHits) {
+        slots[hit.slotKey] = defaultSlotIdForKey(hit.slotKey);
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
   const channelIds = hits.filter((hit) => hit.surface === "channel").map((hit) => hit.pluginId);
   if (channelIds.length > 0) {
     removeDanglingChannelReferences(next, channelIds);
@@ -326,6 +370,11 @@ export function maybeRepairStalePluginConfig(
       `- plugins.entries: removed ${entryIds.length} stale plugin entr${entryIds.length === 1 ? "y" : "ies"} (${entryIds.join(", ")})`,
     );
   }
+  if (slotHits.length > 0) {
+    changes.push(
+      `- plugins.slots: reset ${slotHits.length} stale plugin slot${slotHits.length === 1 ? "" : "s"} (${slotHits.map((hit) => `${hit.slotKey}: ${hit.pluginId} -> ${defaultSlotIdForKey(hit.slotKey)}`).join(", ")})`,
+    );
+  }
   if (channelIds.length > 0) {
     changes.push(
       `- channels: removed ${channelIds.length} stale channel config${channelIds.length === 1 ? "" : "s"} (${channelIds.join(", ")})`,