diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 19e0bd0522f..921c99c853f 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 - Codex app-server: keep long-running turns alive while current-turn approvals, user input, dynamic tools, and notifications make progress, and carry that progress into the outer run timeout. (#82601) Thanks @100yenadmin.
 - Gateway/channels: hand off traced channel account startup outside the startup diagnostic phase so long-lived channel tasks do not keep liveness warnings pinned to channel startup. Refs #82398.
 - Gateway/restart: queue restart and shutdown signals received while the gateway startup loop is still returning its server handle, so startup-time restarts are not dropped during update churn. (#82660) Thanks @samzong.
+- Gateway/restart: carry operator restart intent reasons into macOS LaunchAgent restart traces, so cascade diagnostics identify `gateway.restart` instead of a bare SIGTERM.
 - GitHub Copilot: route device-login requests through the plugin SSRF guard with a GitHub-only policy.
 - Group/channel replies: keep message-tool-preferred final replies private when the agent misses the message tool, and log suppressed payload metadata in the gateway debug log for quieter diagnosis.
 - Gateway/WebChat: route image attachments through a configured vision-capable `imageModel` plan before inlining images, and carry that image-model fallback chain through runtime retries. (#82524) Thanks @frankekn.
diff --git a/src/cli/daemon-cli/lifecycle-core.test.ts b/src/cli/daemon-cli/lifecycle-core.test.ts
index ed3650b9d67..938e7de90c8 100644
--- a/src/cli/daemon-cli/lifecycle-core.test.ts
+++ b/src/cli/daemon-cli/lifecycle-core.test.ts
@@ -346,7 +346,10 @@ describe("runServiceRestart token drift", () => {
 
     await runServiceRestart(createServiceRunArgs());
 
-    expect(writeGatewayRestartIntentSync).toHaveBeenCalledWith({ targetPid: 1234 });
+    expect(writeGatewayRestartIntentSync).toHaveBeenCalledWith({
+      targetPid: 1234,
+      reason: "gateway.restart",
+    });
     expect(clearGatewayRestartIntentSync).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
     expect(service.restart).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
   });
@@ -366,6 +369,7 @@ describe("runServiceRestart token drift", () => {
 
     expect(writeGatewayRestartIntentSync).toHaveBeenCalledWith({
       targetPid: 1234,
+      reason: "gateway.restart",
       intent: {
         waitMs: 2_500,
       },
@@ -379,7 +383,10 @@ describe("runServiceRestart token drift", () => {
 
     await expect(runServiceRestart(createServiceRunArgs())).rejects.toThrow("__exit__:1");
 
-    expect(writeGatewayRestartIntentSync).toHaveBeenCalledWith({ targetPid: 1234 });
+    expect(writeGatewayRestartIntentSync).toHaveBeenCalledWith({
+      targetPid: 1234,
+      reason: "gateway.restart",
+    });
     expect(clearGatewayRestartIntentSync).toHaveBeenCalledOnce();
   });
 
diff --git a/src/cli/daemon-cli/lifecycle-core.ts b/src/cli/daemon-cli/lifecycle-core.ts
index cebc56e9c99..6ea283782a3 100644
--- a/src/cli/daemon-cli/lifecycle-core.ts
+++ b/src/cli/daemon-cli/lifecycle-core.ts
@@ -574,6 +574,7 @@ export async function runServiceRestart(params: {
         const runtime = await params.service.readRuntime(process.env).catch(() => null);
         wroteRestartIntent = writeGatewayRestartIntentSync({
           targetPid: runtime?.pid,
+          reason: "gateway.restart",
           ...(restartIntent ? { intent: restartIntent } : {}),
         });
       }
diff --git a/src/cli/daemon-cli/lifecycle.ts b/src/cli/daemon-cli/lifecycle.ts
index 57cf2a1ae6c..d92b6b7c041 100644
--- a/src/cli/daemon-cli/lifecycle.ts
+++ b/src/cli/daemon-cli/lifecycle.ts
@@ -208,6 +208,7 @@ async function restartGatewayWithoutServiceManager(
   }
   writeGatewayRestartIntentSync({
     targetPid: pids[0],
+    reason: "gateway.restart",
     ...(restartIntent ? { intent: restartIntent } : {}),
   });
   signalVerifiedGatewayPidSync(pids[0], "SIGUSR1");
diff --git a/src/cli/gateway-cli/run-loop.test.ts b/src/cli/gateway-cli/run-loop.test.ts
index 0c926f8d567..82548bbcde5 100644
--- a/src/cli/gateway-cli/run-loop.test.ts
+++ b/src/cli/gateway-cli/run-loop.test.ts
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ const acquireGatewayLock = vi.fn(async (_opts?: { port?: number }) => ({
   release: vi.fn(async () => {}),
 }));
 const consumeGatewayRestartIntentPayloadSync = vi.fn<
-  () => { force?: boolean; waitMs?: number } | null
+  () => { reason?: string; force?: boolean; waitMs?: number } | null
 >(() => null);
 const consumeGatewaySigusr1RestartAuthorization = vi.fn(() => true);
 const consumeGatewayRestartIntentSync = vi.fn(() => false);
@@ -1086,6 +1086,40 @@ describe("runGatewayLoop", () => {
     }
   });
 
+  it("carries SIGTERM restart intent reason into launchd supervised handoff", async () => {
+    vi.clearAllMocks();
+    consumeGatewayRestartIntentPayloadSync.mockReturnValueOnce({ reason: "gateway.restart" });
+    try {
+      setPlatform("darwin");
+      process.env.LAUNCH_JOB_LABEL = "ai.openclaw.gateway";
+      restartGatewayProcessWithFreshPid.mockReturnValueOnce({
+        mode: "supervised",
+      });
+
+      await withIsolatedSignals(async ({ captureSignal }) => {
+        const { exited } = await createSignaledLoopHarness();
+        const sigterm = captureSignal("SIGTERM");
+
+        vi.useFakeTimers();
+        sigterm();
+        await vi.advanceTimersByTimeAsync(1500);
+
+        await expect(exited).resolves.toBe(0);
+        expectRestartHandoffCall({
+          restartKind: "full-process",
+          reason: "gateway.restart",
+          supervisorMode: "launchd",
+        });
+      });
+    } finally {
+      vi.useRealTimers();
+      delete process.env.LAUNCH_JOB_LABEL;
+      if (originalPlatformDescriptor) {
+        Object.defineProperty(process, "platform", originalPlatformDescriptor);
+      }
+    }
+  });
+
   it("forwards lockPort to initial and restart lock acquisitions", async () => {
     vi.clearAllMocks();
     peekGatewaySigusr1RestartReason.mockReturnValue(undefined);
diff --git a/src/cli/gateway-cli/run-loop.ts b/src/cli/gateway-cli/run-loop.ts
index bea0cbf9907..768e9d74cea 100644
--- a/src/cli/gateway-cli/run-loop.ts
+++ b/src/cli/gateway-cli/run-loop.ts
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ const UPDATE_RESPAWN_HEALTH_POLL_MS = 200;
 type GatewayRunSignalAction = "stop" | "restart";
 type RestartDrainTimeoutMs = number | undefined;
 type RestartIntentOptions = {
+  reason?: string;
   force?: boolean;
   waitMs?: number;
 };
@@ -638,7 +639,12 @@ export async function runGatewayLoop(params: {
     void (async () => {
       const { consumeGatewayRestartIntentPayloadSync } = await loadGatewayLifecycleRuntimeModule();
       const restartIntent = consumeGatewayRestartIntentPayloadSync();
-      request(restartIntent ? "restart" : "stop", "SIGTERM", undefined, restartIntent ?? undefined);
+      request(
+        restartIntent ? "restart" : "stop",
+        "SIGTERM",
+        restartIntent?.reason,
+        restartIntent ?? undefined,
+      );
     })();
   };
   const onSigint = () => {
@@ -658,7 +664,7 @@ export async function runGatewayLoop(params: {
       } = await loadGatewayLifecycleRuntimeModule();
       const restartIntent = consumeGatewayRestartIntentPayloadSync();
       if (restartIntent) {
-        request("restart", "SIGUSR1", "gateway.restart", restartIntent);
+        request("restart", "SIGUSR1", restartIntent.reason ?? "gateway.restart", restartIntent);
         return;
       }
       const authorized = consumeGatewaySigusr1RestartAuthorization();
diff --git a/src/infra/restart-intent.test.ts b/src/infra/restart-intent.test.ts
index 7abccce03f7..2563d131357 100644
--- a/src/infra/restart-intent.test.ts
+++ b/src/infra/restart-intent.test.ts
@@ -64,18 +64,20 @@ describe("gateway restart intent", () => {
     expect(fs.statSync(intentPath(env)).mode & 0o777).toBe(0o600);
   });
 
-  it("round-trips restart force and wait options", () => {
+  it("round-trips restart reason, force, and wait options", () => {
     const env = createIntentEnv();
 
     expect(
       writeGatewayRestartIntentSync({
         env,
         targetPid: process.pid,
+        reason: "gateway.restart",
         intent: { force: true, waitMs: 12_345 },
       }),
     ).toBe(true);
 
     expect(consumeGatewayRestartIntentPayloadSync(env)).toEqual({
+      reason: "gateway.restart",
       force: true,
       waitMs: 12_345,
     });
diff --git a/src/infra/restart.ts b/src/infra/restart.ts
index f6144080da5..cc33833c523 100644
--- a/src/infra/restart.ts
+++ b/src/infra/restart.ts
@@ -91,11 +91,13 @@ type GatewayRestartIntentPayload = {
   kind: "gateway-restart";
   pid: number;
   createdAt: number;
+  reason?: string;
   force?: boolean;
   waitMs?: number;
 };
 
 export type GatewayRestartIntent = {
+  reason?: string;
   force?: boolean;
   waitMs?: number;
 };
@@ -125,6 +127,7 @@ export function writeGatewayRestartIntentSync(opts: {
   env?: NodeJS.ProcessEnv;
   targetPid?: number;
   intent?: GatewayRestartIntent;
+  reason?: string;
 }): boolean {
   const targetPid = normalizeRestartIntentPid(opts.targetPid);
   if (targetPid === null) {
@@ -133,10 +136,12 @@ export function writeGatewayRestartIntentSync(opts: {
   const env = opts.env ?? process.env;
   try {
     const intentPath = resolveGatewayRestartIntentPath(env);
+    const reason = normalizeRestartIntentReason(opts.reason ?? opts.intent?.reason);
     const payload: GatewayRestartIntentPayload = {
       kind: "gateway-restart",
       pid: targetPid,
       createdAt: Date.now(),
+      ...(reason ? { reason } : {}),
       ...(opts.intent?.force ? { force: true } : {}),
       ...(typeof opts.intent?.waitMs === "number" &&
       Number.isFinite(opts.intent.waitMs) &&
@@ -170,14 +175,17 @@ function parseGatewayRestartIntent(raw: string): GatewayRestartIntentPayload | n
       Number.isFinite(parsed.pid) &&
       typeof parsed.createdAt === "number" &&
       Number.isFinite(parsed.createdAt) &&
+      (parsed.reason === undefined || typeof parsed.reason === "string") &&
       (parsed.force === undefined || typeof parsed.force === "boolean") &&
       (parsed.waitMs === undefined ||
         (typeof parsed.waitMs === "number" && Number.isFinite(parsed.waitMs) && parsed.waitMs >= 0))
     ) {
+      const reason = normalizeRestartIntentReason(parsed.reason);
       return {
         kind: "gateway-restart",
         pid: parsed.pid,
         createdAt: parsed.createdAt,
+        ...(reason ? { reason } : {}),
         ...(parsed.force ? { force: true } : {}),
         ...(typeof parsed.waitMs === "number" ? { waitMs: Math.floor(parsed.waitMs) } : {}),
       };
@@ -188,6 +196,11 @@ function parseGatewayRestartIntent(raw: string): GatewayRestartIntentPayload | n
   return null;
 }
 
+function normalizeRestartIntentReason(reason: string | undefined): string | undefined {
+  const normalized = reason?.trim();
+  return normalized ? normalized.slice(0, 200) : undefined;
+}
+
 export function consumeGatewayRestartIntentPayloadSync(
   env: NodeJS.ProcessEnv = process.env,
   now = Date.now(),
@@ -217,6 +230,7 @@ export function consumeGatewayRestartIntentPayloadSync(
     return null;
   }
   return {
+    ...(payload.reason ? { reason: payload.reason } : {}),
     ...(payload.force ? { force: true } : {}),
     ...(typeof payload.waitMs === "number" ? { waitMs: payload.waitMs } : {}),
   };