fix(config): tolerate missing channel metadata during auto-enable

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 - Agents/MCP: keep `mcp.servers` and bundle MCP tools available in Pi embedded
   `coding` and `messaging` sessions while preserving `minimal` profile and
   `tools.deny: ["bundle-mcp"]` opt-out behavior. Fixes #68875 and #68818.
+- Plugins/startup: tolerate transient bundled-channel catalog/metadata drift while auto-enabling configured plugins, so CLI and gateway startup no longer crash when a channel id is known but its display metadata is unavailable.
 - CLI/Claude: report CLI-backed reply runs as streaming while Claude/Codex CLI turns are still in flight, so WebChat keeps visible response state until the backend finishes. Fixes #70125.
 - Codex harness: rotate the shared app-server websocket client when the configured bearer token changes, so auth-token refreshes reconnect with the new `Authorization` header instead of reusing a stale socket. (#70328) Thanks @Lucenx9.
 - Telegram/sandbox: keep Telegram bot DMs on per-account sender session keys even when `session.dmScope=main`, so sandbox/tool policy can distinguish Telegram-originated direct chats from the agent main session.

src/config/plugin-auto-enable.prefer-over.test.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,89 @@
+import fs from "node:fs";
+import os from "node:os";
+import path from "node:path";
+import { afterEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
+import type { PluginManifestRegistry } from "../plugins/manifest-registry.js";
+import { cleanupTrackedTempDirs } from "../plugins/test-helpers/fs-fixtures.js";
+
+const tempDirs: string[] = [];
+
+function makeTempDir(): string {
+  const dir = fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), "openclaw-plugin-prefer-over-"));
+  tempDirs.push(dir);
+  return dir;
+}
+
+function writeBundledChannelPackage(rootDir: string, channelId: string): void {
+  const pluginDir = path.join(rootDir, channelId);
+  fs.mkdirSync(pluginDir, { recursive: true });
+  fs.writeFileSync(
+    path.join(pluginDir, "package.json"),
+    JSON.stringify({
+      openclaw: {
+        channel: {
+          id: channelId,
+          label: "Cache Drift",
+          selectionLabel: "Cache Drift",
+          docsPath: `/channels/${channelId}`,
+          blurb: "Cache drift fixture",
+        },
+      },
+    }),
+    "utf-8",
+  );
+}
+
+const EMPTY_MANIFEST_REGISTRY: PluginManifestRegistry = {
+  plugins: [],
+  diagnostics: [],
+};
+
+afterEach(() => {
+  vi.unstubAllEnvs();
+  vi.resetModules();
+  cleanupTrackedTempDirs(tempDirs);
+});
+
+describe("plugin auto-enable preferOver", () => {
+  it("tolerates bundled channel id metadata drift during auto-enable", async () => {
+    vi.resetModules();
+    const rootDir = makeTempDir();
+    const channelId = "cache-drift-channel";
+    writeBundledChannelPackage(rootDir, channelId);
+
+    vi.stubEnv("OPENCLAW_BUNDLED_PLUGINS_DIR", rootDir);
+    const { normalizeChatChannelId } = await import("../channels/ids.js");
+    expect(normalizeChatChannelId(channelId)).toBe(channelId);
+
+    vi.stubEnv("OPENCLAW_BUNDLED_PLUGINS_DIR", path.join(rootDir, "missing"));
+    const { materializePluginAutoEnableCandidates } = await import("./plugin-auto-enable.js");
+
+    const result = materializePluginAutoEnableCandidates({
+      config: {
+        channels: {
+          [channelId]: { token: "configured" },
+          fallback: { token: "configured" },
+        },
+      },
+      candidates: [
+        {
+          pluginId: channelId,
+          kind: "channel-configured",
+          channelId,
+        },
+        {
+          pluginId: "fallback",
+          kind: "channel-configured",
+          channelId: "fallback",
+        },
+      ],
+      env: {
+        OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR: path.join(rootDir, "state"),
+        OPENCLAW_BUNDLED_PLUGINS_DIR: path.join(rootDir, "missing"),
+      },
+      manifestRegistry: EMPTY_MANIFEST_REGISTRY,
+    });
+
+    expect(result.config.channels?.[channelId]?.enabled).toBe(true);
+  });
+});

src/config/plugin-auto-enable.prefer-over.ts

@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ function resolveBuiltInChannelPreferOver(channelId: string): readonly string[] {
   if (!builtInChannelId) {
     return [];
   }
-  return getChatChannelMeta(builtInChannelId).preferOver ?? [];
+  return getChatChannelMeta(builtInChannelId)?.preferOver ?? [];
 }
 
 function resolvePreferredOverIds(

src/config/plugin-auto-enable.shared.ts

@@ -684,7 +684,7 @@ function resolveChannelAutoEnableDisplayLabel(
 ): string | undefined {
   const builtInChannelId = normalizeChatChannelId(entry.channelId);
   if (builtInChannelId) {
-    return getChatChannelMeta(builtInChannelId).label;
+    return getChatChannelMeta(builtInChannelId)?.label;
   }
   const plugin = manifestRegistry.plugins.find((record) => record.id === entry.pluginId);
   return plugin?.channelConfigs?.[entry.channelId]?.label ?? plugin?.channelCatalogMeta?.label;