From 5da34a982b8dec8f77d3ee3ecb4079c9cb6df711 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Peter Steinberger <steipete@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 28 May 2026 08:43:40 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] perf: avoid runtime catalog load for reasoning defaults

---
 src/auto-reply/reply/model-selection.test.ts | 26 +++++++++++++-
 src/auto-reply/reply/model-selection.ts      | 38 +++++++++++++++++---
 2 files changed, 58 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)

diff --git a/src/auto-reply/reply/model-selection.test.ts b/src/auto-reply/reply/model-selection.test.ts
index 77142577abb..65416852b8d 100644
--- a/src/auto-reply/reply/model-selection.test.ts
+++ b/src/auto-reply/reply/model-selection.test.ts
@@ -54,8 +54,8 @@ vi.mock("../../agents/auth-profiles.runtime.js", () => ({
 
 afterEach(() => {
   MODEL_CONTEXT_TOKEN_CACHE.clear();
+  vi.mocked(loadManifestModelCatalog).mockReset();
   vi.mocked(loadManifestModelCatalog).mockReturnValue([]);
-  vi.mocked(loadManifestModelCatalog).mockClear();
   authProfileStoreMock.reset();
 });
 
@@ -1524,6 +1524,30 @@ describe("createModelSelectionState auto-failover overrides", () => {
 });
 
 describe("createModelSelectionState resolveDefaultReasoningLevel", () => {
+  it("uses manifest metadata before hydrating the runtime reasoning catalog", async () => {
+    vi.mocked(loadModelCatalog).mockClear();
+    vi.mocked(loadManifestModelCatalog).mockClear();
+    vi.mocked(loadManifestModelCatalog).mockReturnValueOnce([
+      { provider: "local", id: "fast-reasoner", name: "Fast Reasoner", reasoning: true },
+    ]);
+    const state = await createModelSelectionState({
+      cfg: {} as OpenClawConfig,
+      agentCfg: undefined,
+      defaultProvider: "local",
+      defaultModel: "fast-reasoner",
+      provider: "local",
+      model: "fast-reasoner",
+      hasModelDirective: false,
+    });
+
+    await expect(state.resolveDefaultReasoningLevel()).resolves.toBe("on");
+    expect(loadManifestModelCatalog).toHaveBeenCalledWith({
+      config: {},
+      fallbackToMetadataScan: false,
+    });
+    expect(loadModelCatalog).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
+
   it("returns on when catalog model has reasoning true", async () => {
     const { loadModelCatalog } = await import("../../agents/model-catalog.runtime.js");
     vi.mocked(loadModelCatalog).mockResolvedValueOnce([
diff --git a/src/auto-reply/reply/model-selection.ts b/src/auto-reply/reply/model-selection.ts
index 0d9a1048fbc..c53c514f81e 100644
--- a/src/auto-reply/reply/model-selection.ts
+++ b/src/auto-reply/reply/model-selection.ts
@@ -388,7 +388,7 @@ export async function createModelSelectionState(params: {
       agentId: params.agentId,
       ...RUNTIME_MODEL_VISIBILITY_NORMALIZATION,
     }).allowedCatalog;
-  const loadManifestCatalogForThinking = async () => {
+  const loadManifestCatalog = async () => {
     if (manifestModelCatalog) {
       return manifestModelCatalog;
     }
@@ -397,7 +397,7 @@ export async function createModelSelectionState(params: {
       config: cfg,
       fallbackToMetadataScan: false,
     });
-    logStage("manifest-catalog-loaded-for-thinking", `entries=${manifestModelCatalog.length}`);
+    logStage("manifest-catalog-loaded", `entries=${manifestModelCatalog.length}`);
     return manifestModelCatalog;
   };
   const resolveThinkingCatalog = async () => {
@@ -419,7 +419,7 @@ export async function createModelSelectionState(params: {
     // allowlist rows know only provider/id; manifest rows can prove reasoning
     // support without opening the Pi auth-backed model registry.
     if (!modelCatalog && selectedCatalogEntry?.reasoning === undefined) {
-      const manifestCatalog = buildThinkingCatalog(await loadManifestCatalogForThinking());
+      const manifestCatalog = buildThinkingCatalog(await loadManifestCatalog());
       const manifestSelectedEntry = findSelectedCatalogEntry({
         catalog: manifestCatalog,
         provider,
@@ -475,18 +475,46 @@ export async function createModelSelectionState(params: {
     return defaultThinkingLevel;
   };
 
+  let defaultReasoningLevel: "on" | "off" | undefined;
   const resolveDefaultReasoningLevel = async (): Promise<"on" | "off"> => {
+    if (defaultReasoningLevel) {
+      return defaultReasoningLevel;
+    }
     let catalogForReasoning = modelCatalog ?? allowedModelCatalog;
-    if (!catalogForReasoning || catalogForReasoning.length === 0) {
+    let selectedReasoningEntry = findSelectedCatalogEntry({
+      catalog: catalogForReasoning,
+      provider,
+      model,
+    });
+    if (!modelCatalog && selectedReasoningEntry?.reasoning === undefined) {
+      const manifestCatalog = await loadManifestCatalog();
+      const manifestReasoningCatalog = hasAllowlist
+        ? buildThinkingCatalog(manifestCatalog)
+        : manifestCatalog;
+      const manifestSelectedEntry = findSelectedCatalogEntry({
+        catalog: manifestReasoningCatalog,
+        provider,
+        model,
+      });
+      if (manifestSelectedEntry?.reasoning !== undefined) {
+        catalogForReasoning = manifestReasoningCatalog;
+        selectedReasoningEntry = manifestSelectedEntry;
+      }
+    }
+    if (
+      (!catalogForReasoning || catalogForReasoning.length === 0) &&
+      selectedReasoningEntry?.reasoning === undefined
+    ) {
       modelCatalog = await (await loadModelCatalogRuntime()).loadModelCatalog({ config: cfg });
       logStage("catalog-loaded-for-reasoning", `entries=${modelCatalog.length}`);
       catalogForReasoning = modelCatalog;
     }
-    return resolveReasoningDefault({
+    defaultReasoningLevel = resolveReasoningDefault({
       provider,
       model,
       catalog: catalogForReasoning,
     });
+    return defaultReasoningLevel;
   };
 
   return {