diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 749a0a62d8c..213e174add3 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 - Channels/stream previews: contain rejected background draft-stream flushes so preview send failures do not surface as fatal unhandled rejections. Fixes #82712. (#82713) Thanks @coygeek.
 - Providers/OpenAI Codex: include base `gpt-5.5` and `gpt-5.4` reasoning metadata in the bundled Codex catalog so `/think xhigh` remains available for those models. Fixes #82744.
 - Providers/MiniMax: declare CN endpoint auth aliases in the plugin manifest so `minimax-cn` and `minimax-portal-cn` reuse the correct base auth profiles instead of falling back to unrelated models after 401s. Fixes #63823. Thanks @kamusis.
+- Secrets/audit: treat `$VAR` auth-profile values as env SecretRefs and stop reporting env-ref credentials as plaintext, including mixed `keyRef` plus env-ref profile states. Fixes #53998. Thanks @schirloc and @artwalker.
 - Agents/model fallback: suppress fallback notices when the active OpenAI Codex runtime reports the same canonical OpenAI model.
 - Agents/music generation: remove model-controlled request timeouts, default internal provider requests to five minutes, and keep configured timeouts at a 120-second floor.
 - Agents/media generation: stop logging delivered failure summaries as missing message-tool delivery when no generated media was expected.
diff --git a/docs/gateway/secrets.md b/docs/gateway/secrets.md
index 0d2145fe125..9a7347ac148 100644
--- a/docs/gateway/secrets.md
+++ b/docs/gateway/secrets.md
@@ -88,6 +88,13 @@ Use one object shape everywhere:
     { source: "env", provider: "default", id: "OPENAI_API_KEY" }
     ```
 
+    Supported SecretInput fields also accept exact string shorthands:
+
+    ```json5
+    "${OPENAI_API_KEY}"
+    "$OPENAI_API_KEY"
+    ```
+
     Validation:
 
     - `provider` must match `^[a-z][a-z0-9_-]{0,63}$`
diff --git a/src/config/types.secrets.test.ts b/src/config/types.secrets.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..0ab5430f439
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/config/types.secrets.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import { parseEnvTemplateSecretRef } from "./types.secrets.js";
+
+describe("parseEnvTemplateSecretRef", () => {
+  it("parses ${VAR} template syntax", () => {
+    expect(parseEnvTemplateSecretRef("${OPENAI_API_KEY}")).toEqual({
+      source: "env",
+      provider: "default",
+      id: "OPENAI_API_KEY",
+    });
+  });
+
+  it("parses $VAR shorthand syntax", () => {
+    expect(parseEnvTemplateSecretRef("$OPENAI_API_KEY")).toEqual({
+      source: "env",
+      provider: "default",
+      id: "OPENAI_API_KEY",
+    });
+  });
+
+  it("trims whitespace before matching", () => {
+    expect(parseEnvTemplateSecretRef("  $FOO_BAR  ")).toEqual({
+      source: "env",
+      provider: "default",
+      id: "FOO_BAR",
+    });
+  });
+
+  it("uses the provided provider alias", () => {
+    expect(parseEnvTemplateSecretRef("$MY_KEY", "custom")).toEqual({
+      source: "env",
+      provider: "custom",
+      id: "MY_KEY",
+    });
+  });
+
+  it("rejects lowercase shorthand", () => {
+    expect(parseEnvTemplateSecretRef("$openai_api_key")).toBeNull();
+  });
+
+  it("rejects partial shell-style strings", () => {
+    expect(parseEnvTemplateSecretRef("prefix-$OPENAI_API_KEY")).toBeNull();
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/config/types.secrets.ts b/src/config/types.secrets.ts
index 2faaecb4b79..7d9126f21c4 100644
--- a/src/config/types.secrets.ts
+++ b/src/config/types.secrets.ts
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ export const ENV_SECRET_REF_ID_RE = /^[A-Z][A-Z0-9_]{0,127}$/;
 export const LEGACY_SECRETREF_ENV_MARKER_PREFIX = "secretref-env:"; // pragma: allowlist secret
 export const LEGACY_DOUBLE_UNDERSCORE_ENV_MARKER_PREFIX = "__env__:"; // pragma: allowlist secret
 const ENV_SECRET_TEMPLATE_RE = /^\$\{([A-Z][A-Z0-9_]{0,127})\}$/;
+const ENV_SECRET_SHORTHAND_RE = /^\$([A-Z][A-Z0-9_]{0,127})$/;
 export type SecretInputStringResolutionMode = "strict" | "inspect";
 export type SecretInputStringResolution =
   | { status: "available"; value: string; ref: null }
@@ -73,7 +74,8 @@ export function parseEnvTemplateSecretRef(
   if (typeof value !== "string") {
     return null;
   }
-  const match = ENV_SECRET_TEMPLATE_RE.exec(value.trim());
+  const trimmed = value.trim();
+  const match = ENV_SECRET_TEMPLATE_RE.exec(trimmed) ?? ENV_SECRET_SHORTHAND_RE.exec(trimmed);
   if (!match) {
     return null;
   }
diff --git a/src/secrets/audit.test.ts b/src/secrets/audit.test.ts
index d77d74166cd..a2a2a92e087 100644
--- a/src/secrets/audit.test.ts
+++ b/src/secrets/audit.test.ts
@@ -582,6 +582,101 @@ describe("secrets audit", () => {
     expect(report.filesScanned).toContain(externalModelsPath);
   });
 
+  it("does not flag $VAR shorthand env refs in auth profiles as plaintext", async () => {
+    await writeJsonFile(fixture.authStorePath, {
+      version: 1,
+      profiles: {
+        "openai:default": {
+          type: "api_key",
+          provider: "openai",
+          key: "$OPENAI_API_KEY", // pragma: allowlist secret
+        },
+      },
+    });
+
+    const report = await runSecretsAudit({ env: fixture.env });
+    expect(
+      hasFinding(
+        report,
+        (entry) => entry.code === "PLAINTEXT_FOUND" && entry.file === fixture.authStorePath,
+      ),
+    ).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it("does not flag ${VAR} env refs in auth profiles as plaintext", async () => {
+    await writeJsonFile(fixture.authStorePath, {
+      version: 1,
+      profiles: {
+        "openai:default": {
+          type: "api_key",
+          provider: "openai",
+          key: "${OPENAI_API_KEY}", // pragma: allowlist secret
+        },
+      },
+    });
+
+    const report = await runSecretsAudit({ env: fixture.env });
+    expect(
+      hasFinding(
+        report,
+        (entry) => entry.code === "PLAINTEXT_FOUND" && entry.file === fixture.authStorePath,
+      ),
+    ).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it("still flags auth profile plaintext when an explicit ref is also configured", async () => {
+    await writeJsonFile(fixture.authStorePath, {
+      version: 1,
+      profiles: {
+        "openai:default": {
+          type: "api_key",
+          provider: "openai",
+          key: "sk-leftover-plaintext", // pragma: allowlist secret
+          keyRef: { source: "env", id: "OPENAI_API_KEY" },
+        },
+      },
+    });
+
+    const report = await runSecretsAudit({ env: fixture.env });
+    expect(
+      hasFinding(
+        report,
+        (entry) =>
+          entry.code === "PLAINTEXT_FOUND" &&
+          entry.file === fixture.authStorePath &&
+          entry.jsonPath === "profiles.openai:default.key",
+      ),
+    ).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it.each(["$OPENAI_API_KEY", "${OPENAI_API_KEY}"])(
+    "does not flag %s auth profile env refs when an explicit ref is also configured",
+    async (value) => {
+      await writeJsonFile(fixture.authStorePath, {
+        version: 1,
+        profiles: {
+          "openai:default": {
+            type: "api_key",
+            provider: "openai",
+            key: value,
+            keyRef: { source: "env", id: "OPENAI_API_KEY" },
+          },
+        },
+      });
+
+      const report = await runSecretsAudit({ env: fixture.env });
+      expect(
+        hasFinding(
+          report,
+          (entry) =>
+            entry.code === "PLAINTEXT_FOUND" &&
+            entry.file === fixture.authStorePath &&
+            entry.jsonPath === "profiles.openai:default.key",
+        ),
+      ).toBe(false);
+    },
+  );
+
   it("does not flag non-sensitive routing headers in openclaw config", async () => {
     await writeJsonFile(fixture.configPath, {
       models: {
diff --git a/src/secrets/audit.ts b/src/secrets/audit.ts
index bbe1db0d4ab..09170c961f6 100644
--- a/src/secrets/audit.ts
+++ b/src/secrets/audit.ts
@@ -291,6 +291,7 @@ function collectAuthStoreSecrets(params: {
         refValue: entry.refValue,
         defaults: params.defaults,
       });
+      const authoredValueRef = coerceSecretRef(entry.value, params.defaults);
       if (ref) {
         params.collector.refAssignments.push({
           file: params.authStorePath,
@@ -301,6 +302,9 @@ function collectAuthStoreSecrets(params: {
         });
         trackAuthProviderState(params.collector, entry.provider, entry.kind);
       }
+      if (authoredValueRef) {
+        continue;
+      }
       if (isNonEmptyString(entry.value)) {
         addFinding(params.collector, {
           code: "PLAINTEXT_FOUND",