fix(gateway): keep effective tools on hot registry path

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 - Memory-core: re-resolve the active runtime config whenever `memory_search` or `memory_get` executes, so provider changes made by `config.patch` stop leaving stale embedding backends behind in existing tool instances. Fixes #61098. Thanks @BradGroux and @Linux2010.
 - WebChat: keep bare `/new` and `/reset` startup instructions out of visible chat history while preserving `/reset <note>` as user-visible transcript text. Fixes #72369. Thanks @collynes and @haishmg.
 - CLI/doctor: remove dangling channel config, heartbeat targets, and channel model overrides when stale plugin repair removes a missing channel plugin, preventing Gateway boot loops after failed plugin reinstalls. Fixes #65293. Thanks @yidecode.
+- Control UI/Gateway: reuse the gateway-bound plugin registry and avoid model/auth discovery while resolving effective tool inventory, so chat runs no longer stall Control UI requests on repeated plugin/model setup. Fixes #72365; supersedes #72558. Thanks @Gabiii2398 and @1yihui.
 - Channels/setup: treat bundled channel plugins as already bundled during `channels add` and onboarding, enabling them without writing redundant `plugins.load.paths` entries or path install records. Fixes #72740. Thanks @iCodePoet.
 - WhatsApp: honor gateway `HTTPS_PROXY` / `HTTP_PROXY` env vars for QR-login WebSocket connections, while respecting `NO_PROXY`, so proxied networks no longer fall back to direct `mmg.whatsapp.net` connections that time out with 408. Fixes #72547; supersedes #72692. Thanks @mebusw and @SymbolStar.
 - Bonjour: default mDNS advertisements to the system hostname when it is DNS-safe, avoiding `openclaw.local` probing conflicts and Gateway restart loops on hosts such as `Lobster` or `ubuntu`. Fixes #72355 and #72689; supersedes #72694. Thanks @mscheuerlein-bot, @gcusms, @moyuwuhen601, @pavan987, @zml-0912, @hhq365, and @SymbolStar.

src/agents/openclaw-plugin-tools.ts

@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ export function resolveOpenClawPluginToolsForOptions(params: {
     }),
     existingToolNames: params.existingToolNames ?? new Set<string>(),
     toolAllowlist: params.options?.pluginToolAllowlist,
+    allowGatewaySubagentBinding: params.options?.allowGatewaySubagentBinding,
   });
 
   return applyPluginToolDeliveryDefaults({

src/agents/openclaw-tools.browser-plugin.integration.test.ts

@@ -120,6 +120,26 @@ describe("createOpenClawTools browser plugin integration", () => {
     expect(details.workspaceOnly).toBe(true);
   });
 
+  it("forwards gateway subagent binding to plugin resolution", () => {
+    hoisted.resolvePluginTools.mockReturnValue([]);
+    const config = {
+      plugins: {
+        allow: ["browser"],
+      },
+    } as OpenClawConfig;
+
+    resolveOpenClawPluginToolsForOptions({
+      options: { config, allowGatewaySubagentBinding: true },
+      resolvedConfig: config,
+    });
+
+    expect(hoisted.resolvePluginTools).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      expect.objectContaining({
+        allowGatewaySubagentBinding: true,
+      }),
+    );
+  });
+
   it("does not pass a stale active snapshot as plugin runtime config for a resolved run config", () => {
     const staleSourceConfig = {
       plugins: {

src/agents/tools-effective-inventory.test.ts

@@ -23,7 +23,6 @@ const effectiveInventoryState = vi.hoisted(() => ({
   pluginMeta: {} as Record<string, { pluginId: string } | undefined>,
   channelMeta: {} as Record<string, { channelId: string } | undefined>,
   effectivePolicy: {} as { profile?: string; providerProfile?: string },
-  resolvedModelCompat: undefined as Record<string, unknown> | undefined,
   createToolsMock: vi.fn<typeof createOpenClawCodingTools>(
     (_options) =>
       [
@@ -48,16 +47,6 @@ vi.mock("./pi-tools.js", () => ({
     effectiveInventoryState.createToolsMock(options),
 }));
 
-vi.mock("./pi-embedded-runner/model.js", () => ({
-  resolveModel: vi.fn(() => ({
-    model: effectiveInventoryState.resolvedModelCompat
-      ? { compat: effectiveInventoryState.resolvedModelCompat }
-      : undefined,
-    authStorage: {} as never,
-    modelRegistry: {} as never,
-  })),
-}));
-
 vi.mock("../plugins/tools.js", () => ({
   getPluginToolMeta: (tool: { name: string }) => effectiveInventoryState.pluginMeta[tool.name],
 }));
@@ -79,7 +68,6 @@ async function loadHarness(options?: {
   pluginMeta?: Record<string, { pluginId: string } | undefined>;
   channelMeta?: Record<string, { channelId: string } | undefined>;
   effectivePolicy?: { profile?: string; providerProfile?: string };
-  resolvedModelCompat?: Record<string, unknown>;
 }) {
   effectiveInventoryState.tools = options?.tools ?? [
     mockTool({ name: "exec", label: "Exec", description: "Run shell commands" }),
@@ -88,7 +76,6 @@ async function loadHarness(options?: {
   effectiveInventoryState.pluginMeta = options?.pluginMeta ?? {};
   effectiveInventoryState.channelMeta = options?.channelMeta ?? {};
   effectiveInventoryState.effectivePolicy = options?.effectivePolicy ?? {};
-  effectiveInventoryState.resolvedModelCompat = options?.resolvedModelCompat;
   effectiveInventoryState.createToolsMock =
     options?.createToolsMock ??
     vi.fn<typeof createOpenClawCodingTools>((_options) => effectiveInventoryState.tools);
@@ -111,7 +98,6 @@ describe("resolveEffectiveToolInventory", () => {
     effectiveInventoryState.pluginMeta = {};
     effectiveInventoryState.channelMeta = {};
     effectiveInventoryState.effectivePolicy = {};
-    effectiveInventoryState.resolvedModelCompat = undefined;
     effectiveInventoryState.createToolsMock = vi.fn<typeof createOpenClawCodingTools>(
       (_options) => effectiveInventoryState.tools,
     );
@@ -312,11 +298,31 @@ describe("resolveEffectiveToolInventory", () => {
     ]);
     const { resolveEffectiveToolInventory } = await loadHarness({
       createToolsMock,
-      resolvedModelCompat: { supportsTools: true, supportsNativeWebSearch: true },
     });
 
     resolveEffectiveToolInventory({
-      cfg: {},
+      cfg: {
+        models: {
+          providers: {
+            xai: {
+              baseUrl: "https://api.x.ai/v1",
+              models: [
+                {
+                  id: "grok-test",
+                  name: "Grok Test",
+                  api: "openai-completions",
+                  reasoning: false,
+                  input: ["text"],
+                  cost: { input: 0, output: 0, cacheRead: 0, cacheWrite: 0 },
+                  contextWindow: 128_000,
+                  maxTokens: 8_192,
+                  compat: { supportsTools: true, nativeWebSearchTool: true },
+                },
+              ],
+            },
+          },
+        },
+      },
       agentDir: "/tmp/agents/main/agent",
       modelProvider: "xai",
       modelId: "grok-test",
@@ -325,7 +331,7 @@ describe("resolveEffectiveToolInventory", () => {
     expect(createToolsMock).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
       expect.objectContaining({
         allowGatewaySubagentBinding: true,
-        modelCompat: { supportsTools: true, supportsNativeWebSearch: true },
+        modelCompat: { supportsTools: true, nativeWebSearchTool: true },
       }),
     );
   });

src/agents/tools-effective-inventory.ts

@@ -7,9 +7,10 @@ import {
 } from "../shared/string-coerce.js";
 import { resolveAgentDir, resolveAgentWorkspaceDir, resolveSessionAgentId } from "./agent-scope.js";
 import { getChannelAgentToolMeta } from "./channel-tools.js";
-import { resolveModel } from "./pi-embedded-runner/model.js";
+import { normalizeStaticProviderModelId } from "./model-ref-shared.js";
 import { createOpenClawCodingTools } from "./pi-tools.js";
 import { resolveEffectiveToolPolicy } from "./pi-tools.policy.js";
+import { findNormalizedProviderValue, normalizeProviderId } from "./provider-id.js";
 import { summarizeToolDescriptionText } from "./tool-description-summary.js";
 import { resolveToolDisplay } from "./tool-display.js";
 import { normalizeToolName } from "./tool-policy.js";
@@ -164,20 +165,30 @@ function disambiguateLabels(entries: EffectiveToolInventoryEntry[]): EffectiveTo
 
 function resolveEffectiveModelCompat(params: {
   cfg: OpenClawConfig;
-  agentDir: string;
   modelProvider?: string;
   modelId?: string;
 }) {
-  const provider = params.modelProvider?.trim();
-  const modelId = params.modelId?.trim();
+  const provider = normalizeProviderId(params.modelProvider ?? "");
+  const modelId = params.modelId?.trim() ?? "";
   if (!provider || !modelId) {
     return undefined;
   }
-  try {
-    return extractModelCompat(resolveModel(provider, modelId, params.agentDir, params.cfg).model);
-  } catch {
+  const providerConfig = findNormalizedProviderValue(params.cfg.models?.providers, provider);
+  const models = Array.isArray(providerConfig?.models) ? providerConfig.models : [];
+  if (models.length === 0) {
     return undefined;
   }
+  const normalizedModelId = normalizeStaticProviderModelId(provider, modelId);
+  const normalizedModelKey = normalizeLowercaseStringOrEmpty(normalizedModelId);
+  const providerPrefixedModelKey = normalizeLowercaseStringOrEmpty(
+    `${provider}/${normalizedModelId}`,
+  );
+  const match = models.find((model) => {
+    const id = normalizeStaticProviderModelId(provider, model.id);
+    const key = normalizeLowercaseStringOrEmpty(id);
+    return key === normalizedModelKey || key === providerPrefixedModelKey;
+  });
+  return extractModelCompat(match);
 }
 
 export function resolveEffectiveToolInventory(
@@ -190,7 +201,6 @@ export function resolveEffectiveToolInventory(
   const agentDir = params.agentDir ?? resolveAgentDir(params.cfg, agentId);
   const modelCompat = resolveEffectiveModelCompat({
     cfg: params.cfg,
-    agentDir,
     modelProvider: params.modelProvider,
     modelId: params.modelId,
   });