fix(qa): restore safe no-fork gateway runtime

extensions/qa-lab/src/gateway-child.test.ts

@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ function createParams(baseEnv?: NodeJS.ProcessEnv) {
 }
 
 describe("buildQaRuntimeEnv", () => {
-  it("allows normal reply config flows while keeping fast test mode", () => {
+  it("keeps the slow-reply QA opt-out enabled under fast mode", () => {
     const env = buildQaRuntimeEnv({
       ...createParams(),
       providerMode: "mock-openai",

extensions/qa-lab/src/gateway-child.ts

@@ -110,8 +110,7 @@ export function buildQaRuntimeEnv(params: {
     OPENCLAW_SKIP_CANVAS_HOST: "1",
     OPENCLAW_NO_RESPAWN: "1",
     OPENCLAW_TEST_FAST: "1",
-    // QA uses the fast runtime envelope for speed, but it still exercises
-    // normal config-driven heartbeats and runtime config writes.
+    // QA still exercises normal reply-config flows under the fast envelope.
     OPENCLAW_ALLOW_SLOW_REPLY_TESTS: "1",
     XDG_CONFIG_HOME: params.xdgConfigHome,
     XDG_DATA_HOME: params.xdgDataHome,
@@ -120,10 +119,6 @@ export function buildQaRuntimeEnv(params: {
   return normalizeQaProviderModeEnv(env, params.providerMode);
 }
 
-export const __testing = {
-  buildQaRuntimeEnv,
-};
-
 async function waitForGatewayReady(params: {
   baseUrl: string;
   logs: () => string;
@@ -140,17 +135,17 @@ async function waitForGatewayReady(params: {
         `gateway exited before becoming healthy (exitCode=${String(params.child.exitCode)}, signal=${String(params.child.signalCode)}):\n${params.logs()}`,
       );
     }
-    try {
-      for (const readyPath of ["/readyz", "/healthz"]) {
-        const response = await fetch(`${params.baseUrl}${readyPath}`, {
+    for (const healthPath of ["/readyz", "/healthz"]) {
+      try {
+        const response = await fetch(`${params.baseUrl}${healthPath}`, {
           signal: AbortSignal.timeout(2_000),
         });
         if (response.ok) {
           return;
         }
+      } catch {
+        // retry until timeout
       }
-    } catch {
-      // retry until timeout
     }
     await sleep(250);
   }
@@ -270,7 +265,6 @@ export async function startQaGatewayChild(params: {
     rpcClient = await startQaGatewayRpcClient({
       wsUrl,
       token: gatewayToken,
-      env,
       logs,
     });
   } catch (error) {

extensions/qa-lab/src/gateway-rpc-client.test.ts

@@ -21,24 +21,18 @@ describe("startQaGatewayRpcClient", () => {
     gatewayRpcMock.reset();
   });
 
-  it("calls the in-process gateway cli helper with the qa runtime env", async () => {
+  it("calls the in-process gateway cli helper without mutating process.env", async () => {
     const originalHome = process.env.OPENCLAW_HOME;
     delete process.env.OPENCLAW_HOME;
-    delete process.env.OPENCLAW_QA_TEST_ONLY;
 
     gatewayRpcMock.callGatewayFromCli.mockImplementationOnce(async () => {
-      expect(process.env.OPENCLAW_HOME).toBe("/tmp/openclaw-home");
-      expect(process.env.OPENCLAW_QA_TEST_ONLY).toBe("1");
+      expect(process.env.OPENCLAW_HOME).toBeUndefined();
       return { ok: true };
     });
 
     const client = await startQaGatewayRpcClient({
       wsUrl: "ws://127.0.0.1:18789",
       token: "qa-token",
-      env: {
-        OPENCLAW_HOME: "/tmp/openclaw-home",
-        OPENCLAW_QA_TEST_ONLY: "1",
-      } as NodeJS.ProcessEnv,
       logs: () => "qa logs",
     });
 
@@ -63,7 +57,6 @@ describe("startQaGatewayRpcClient", () => {
     );
 
     expect(process.env.OPENCLAW_HOME).toBe(originalHome);
-    expect(process.env.OPENCLAW_QA_TEST_ONLY).toBeUndefined();
   });
 
   it("wraps request failures with gateway logs", async () => {
@@ -71,7 +64,6 @@ describe("startQaGatewayRpcClient", () => {
     const client = await startQaGatewayRpcClient({
       wsUrl: "ws://127.0.0.1:18789",
       token: "qa-token",
-      env: { OPENCLAW_HOME: "/tmp/openclaw-home" } as NodeJS.ProcessEnv,
       logs: () => "qa logs",
     });
 
@@ -84,7 +76,6 @@ describe("startQaGatewayRpcClient", () => {
     const client = await startQaGatewayRpcClient({
       wsUrl: "ws://127.0.0.1:18789",
       token: "qa-token",
-      env: { OPENCLAW_HOME: "/tmp/openclaw-home" } as NodeJS.ProcessEnv,
       logs: () => "qa logs",
     });
 

extensions/qa-lab/src/gateway-rpc-client.ts

@@ -18,34 +18,6 @@ function formatQaGatewayRpcError(error: unknown, logs: () => string) {
 
 let qaGatewayRpcQueue = Promise.resolve();
 
-async function withScopedProcessEnv<T>(env: NodeJS.ProcessEnv, task: () => Promise<T>): Promise<T> {
-  const original = new Map<string, string | undefined>();
-  const keys = new Set([...Object.keys(process.env), ...Object.keys(env)]);
-
-  for (const key of keys) {
-    original.set(key, process.env[key]);
-    const nextValue = env[key];
-    if (nextValue === undefined) {
-      delete process.env[key];
-      continue;
-    }
-    process.env[key] = nextValue;
-  }
-
-  try {
-    return await task();
-  } finally {
-    for (const key of keys) {
-      const previousValue = original.get(key);
-      if (previousValue === undefined) {
-        delete process.env[key];
-        continue;
-      }
-      process.env[key] = previousValue;
-    }
-  }
-}
-
 async function runQueuedQaGatewayRpc<T>(task: () => Promise<T>): Promise<T> {
   const run = qaGatewayRpcQueue.then(task, task);
   qaGatewayRpcQueue = run.then(
@@ -58,7 +30,6 @@ async function runQueuedQaGatewayRpc<T>(task: () => Promise<T>): Promise<T> {
 export async function startQaGatewayRpcClient(params: {
   wsUrl: string;
   token: string;
-  env: NodeJS.ProcessEnv;
   logs: () => string;
 }): Promise<QaGatewayRpcClient> {
   const wrapError = (error: unknown) => formatQaGatewayRpcError(error, params.logs);
@@ -72,24 +43,20 @@ export async function startQaGatewayRpcClient(params: {
       try {
         return await runQueuedQaGatewayRpc(
           async () =>
-            await withScopedProcessEnv(
-              params.env,
-              async () =>
-                await callGatewayFromCli(
-                  method,
-                  {
-                    url: params.wsUrl,
-                    token: params.token,
-                    timeout: String(opts?.timeoutMs ?? 20_000),
-                    expectFinal: opts?.expectFinal,
-                    json: true,
-                  },
-                  rpcParams ?? {},
-                  {
-                    expectFinal: opts?.expectFinal,
-                    progress: false,
-                  },
-                ),
+            await callGatewayFromCli(
+              method,
+              {
+                url: params.wsUrl,
+                token: params.token,
+                timeout: String(opts?.timeoutMs ?? 20_000),
+                expectFinal: opts?.expectFinal,
+                json: true,
+              },
+              rpcParams ?? {},
+              {
+                expectFinal: opts?.expectFinal,
+                progress: false,
+              },
             ),
         );
       } catch (error) {