fix(cli): narrow message plugin registry loads

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 ### Fixes
 
 - Channels/Telegram: skip the optional webhook-info API call during polling-mode status checks and startup bot-label probes so long-polling setups avoid an unnecessary Telegram round trip. Carries forward #72990. Thanks @danielgruneberg.
+- CLI/message: load only the selected channel plugin for targeted `openclaw message` actions, and fall back to configured channel plugins when the channel must be inferred, so scripted sends avoid full bundled plugin registry scans. Fixes #73006. Thanks @jasonftl.
 - CLI/models: keep route-first `models status --json` stdout reserved for the JSON payload by routing auth-profile and startup diagnostics to stderr. Fixes #72962. Thanks @vishutdhar.
 - Sessions: ignore future-dated session activity timestamps during reset freshness checks and cap future `updatedAt` values at the merge boundary so clock-skewed messages cannot keep stale sessions alive forever. Fixes #72989. Thanks @martingarramon.
 - Plugins/CLI: allow managed plugin installs when the active extensions root is a symlink to a real state directory, while keeping nested target symlinks blocked and suppressing misleading hook-pack fallback errors for install-boundary failures. Fixes #72946. Thanks @mayank6136.

docs/cli/message.md

@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ Channel selection:
 - `--channel` required if more than one channel is configured.
 - If exactly one channel is configured, it becomes the default.
 - Values: `discord|googlechat|imessage|matrix|mattermost|msteams|signal|slack|telegram|whatsapp` (Mattermost requires plugin)
+- `openclaw message` loads only the selected channel plugin when `--channel` or a channel-prefixed target is present; otherwise it loads configured channel plugins for default-channel inference.
 
 Target formats (`--target`):
 

src/cli/program/message/helpers.test.ts

@@ -96,11 +96,46 @@ describe("runMessageAction", () => {
   it("calls exit(0) after successful message delivery", async () => {
     await runSendAction();
 
-    expect(ensurePluginRegistryLoaded).toHaveBeenCalledOnce();
+    expect(ensurePluginRegistryLoaded).toHaveBeenCalledWith({
+      scope: "configured-channels",
+      onlyPluginIds: ["discord"],
+    });
     expect(exitMock).toHaveBeenCalledOnce();
     expect(exitMock).toHaveBeenCalledWith(0);
   });
 
+  it("loads configured channel plugins when no target channel is known yet", async () => {
+    await runSendAction({ channel: undefined });
+
+    expect(ensurePluginRegistryLoaded).toHaveBeenCalledWith({
+      scope: "configured-channels",
+    });
+  });
+
+  it("narrows plugin loading from a channel-prefixed target", async () => {
+    await runSendAction({ channel: undefined, target: "telegram:12345" });
+
+    expect(ensurePluginRegistryLoaded).toHaveBeenCalledWith({
+      scope: "configured-channels",
+      onlyPluginIds: ["telegram"],
+    });
+  });
+
+  it("loads configured channel plugins for mixed broadcast target prefixes", async () => {
+    const runMessageAction = createRunMessageAction();
+
+    await expect(
+      runMessageAction("broadcast", {
+        targets: ["discord:channel:1", "telegram:123"],
+        message: "hi",
+      }),
+    ).rejects.toThrow("exit");
+
+    expect(ensurePluginRegistryLoaded).toHaveBeenCalledWith({
+      scope: "configured-channels",
+    });
+  });
+
   it("runs gateway_stop hooks before exit when registered", async () => {
     hasHooksMock.mockReturnValueOnce(true);
     await runSendAction();

src/cli/program/message/helpers.ts

@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import type { Command } from "commander";
+import { resolveMessageSecretScope } from "../../../cli/message-secret-scope.js";
 import { messageCommand } from "../../../commands/message.js";
 import { danger, setVerbose } from "../../../globals.js";
 import { CHANNEL_TARGET_DESCRIPTION } from "../../../infra/outbound/channel-target.js";
@@ -6,7 +7,7 @@ import { runGlobalGatewayStopSafely } from "../../../plugins/hook-runner-global.
 import { defaultRuntime } from "../../../runtime.js";
 import { runCommandWithRuntime } from "../../cli-utils.js";
 import { createDefaultDeps } from "../../deps.js";
-import { ensurePluginRegistryLoaded } from "../../plugin-registry.js";
+import { ensurePluginRegistryLoaded, type PluginRegistryScope } from "../../plugin-registry.js";
 
 export type MessageCliHelpers = {
   withMessageBase: (command: Command) => Command;
@@ -31,6 +32,20 @@ async function runPluginStopHooks(): Promise<void> {
   });
 }
 
+function resolveMessagePluginLoadOptions(
+  opts: Record<string, unknown>,
+): { scope: PluginRegistryScope; onlyPluginIds?: string[] } | undefined {
+  const scopedChannel = resolveMessageSecretScope({
+    channel: opts.channel,
+    target: opts.target,
+    targets: opts.targets,
+  }).channel;
+  if (scopedChannel) {
+    return { scope: "configured-channels", onlyPluginIds: [scopedChannel] };
+  }
+  return { scope: "configured-channels" };
+}
+
 export function createMessageCliHelpers(
   message: Command,
   messageChannelOptions: string,
@@ -50,7 +65,7 @@ export function createMessageCliHelpers(
 
   const runMessageAction = async (action: string, opts: Record<string, unknown>) => {
     setVerbose(Boolean(opts.verbose));
-    ensurePluginRegistryLoaded();
+    ensurePluginRegistryLoaded(resolveMessagePluginLoadOptions(opts));
     const deps = createDefaultDeps();
     let failed = false;
     await runCommandWithRuntime(