diff --git a/scripts/e2e/lib/upgrade-survivor/run.sh b/scripts/e2e/lib/upgrade-survivor/run.sh
index cad12ae7995..ffd460c8a06 100644
--- a/scripts/e2e/lib/upgrade-survivor/run.sh
+++ b/scripts/e2e/lib/upgrade-survivor/run.sh
@@ -30,7 +30,6 @@ export PATH="$npm_config_prefix/bin:$PATH"
 
 SUMMARY_JSON="${OPENCLAW_UPGRADE_SURVIVOR_SUMMARY_JSON:-$ARTIFACT_ROOT/summary.json}"
 PHASE_LOG="$ARTIFACT_ROOT/phases.jsonl"
-: >"$PHASE_LOG"
 BASELINE_RAW="${OPENCLAW_UPGRADE_SURVIVOR_BASELINE:?missing OPENCLAW_UPGRADE_SURVIVOR_BASELINE}"
 CANDIDATE_KIND="${OPENCLAW_UPGRADE_SURVIVOR_CANDIDATE_KIND:-tarball}"
 CANDIDATE_SPEC="${OPENCLAW_UPGRADE_SURVIVOR_CANDIDATE_SPEC:-${OPENCLAW_CURRENT_PACKAGE_TGZ:-}}"
@@ -56,6 +55,17 @@ STATUS_ERR="$ARTIFACT_ROOT/status.err"
 BASELINE_CONFIG_VALIDATE_LOG="$ARTIFACT_ROOT/baseline-config-validate.log"
 CONFIG_COVERAGE_JSON="$ARTIFACT_ROOT/config-recipe.json"
 export OPENCLAW_UPGRADE_SURVIVOR_CONFIG_COVERAGE_JSON="$CONFIG_COVERAGE_JSON"
+rm -f "$SUMMARY_JSON" "$CONFIG_COVERAGE_JSON"
+: >"$PHASE_LOG"
+
+validate_baseline_package_spec() {
+  local spec="$1"
+  if [[ "$spec" =~ ^openclaw@(beta|latest|[0-9]{4}\.[1-9][0-9]*\.[1-9][0-9]*(-[1-9][0-9]*|-beta\.[1-9][0-9]*)?)$ ]]; then
+    return 0
+  fi
+  echo "OPENCLAW_UPGRADE_SURVIVOR_BASELINE must be openclaw@latest, openclaw@beta, an exact OpenClaw release version, or a bare release version; got: $spec" >&2
+  return 1
+}
 
 normalize_baseline() {
   local raw="${BASELINE_RAW//[[:space:]]/}"
@@ -90,6 +100,7 @@ normalize_baseline() {
       baseline_version_expected="1"
       ;;
   esac
+  validate_baseline_package_spec "$baseline_spec"
 }
 
 json_event() {
diff --git a/test/scripts/package-acceptance-workflow.test.ts b/test/scripts/package-acceptance-workflow.test.ts
index 9fdda2be104..93aaba4d67a 100644
--- a/test/scripts/package-acceptance-workflow.test.ts
+++ b/test/scripts/package-acceptance-workflow.test.ts
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ const PACKAGE_JSON = "package.json";
 const RELEASE_CHECKS_WORKFLOW = ".github/workflows/openclaw-release-checks.yml";
 const FULL_RELEASE_VALIDATION_WORKFLOW = ".github/workflows/full-release-validation.yml";
 const QA_LIVE_TRANSPORTS_WORKFLOW = ".github/workflows/qa-live-transports-convex.yml";
+const UPGRADE_SURVIVOR_RUN_SCRIPT = "scripts/e2e/lib/upgrade-survivor/run.sh";
 
 describe("package acceptance workflow", () => {
   it("resolves candidate package sources before reusing Docker E2E lanes", () => {
@@ -76,6 +77,7 @@ describe("package artifact reuse", () => {
     const workflow = readFileSync(LIVE_E2E_WORKFLOW, "utf8");
     const packageJson = readFileSync(PACKAGE_JSON, "utf8");
     const scheduler = readFileSync("scripts/test-docker-all.mjs", "utf8");
+    const publishedUpgradeSurvivor = readFileSync(UPGRADE_SURVIVOR_RUN_SCRIPT, "utf8");
 
     expect(workflow).toContain("package_artifact_name:");
     expect(workflow).toContain("package_artifact_run_id:");
@@ -115,6 +117,13 @@ describe("package artifact reuse", () => {
       '["OPENCLAW_UPGRADE_SURVIVOR_BASELINE_SPEC", baseEnv.OPENCLAW_UPGRADE_SURVIVOR_BASELINE_SPEC]',
     );
     expect(packageJson).toContain("OPENCLAW_UPGRADE_SURVIVOR_PUBLISHED_BASELINE=1");
+    expect(publishedUpgradeSurvivor).toContain("validate_baseline_package_spec");
+    expect(publishedUpgradeSurvivor).toContain("openclaw@(beta|latest|");
+    expect(
+      publishedUpgradeSurvivor.indexOf('validate_baseline_package_spec "$baseline_spec"'),
+    ).toBeLessThan(
+      publishedUpgradeSurvivor.indexOf('npm install -g --prefix "$npm_config_prefix"'),
+    );
   });
 
   it("bounds shared Docker image pulls so package acceptance cannot stall forever", () => {
diff --git a/test/scripts/resolve-openclaw-package-candidate.test.ts b/test/scripts/resolve-openclaw-package-candidate.test.ts
index 0ee6822ee99..5796d3aab17 100644
--- a/test/scripts/resolve-openclaw-package-candidate.test.ts
+++ b/test/scripts/resolve-openclaw-package-candidate.test.ts
@@ -21,6 +21,12 @@ describe("resolve-openclaw-package-candidate", () => {
     expect(() => validateOpenClawPackageSpec("openclaw@2026.04.27")).toThrow(
       "package_spec must be openclaw@beta",
     );
+    expect(() => validateOpenClawPackageSpec("openclaw@npm:other-package")).toThrow(
+      "package_spec must be openclaw@beta",
+    );
+    expect(() => validateOpenClawPackageSpec("openclaw@file:../other-package.tgz")).toThrow(
+      "package_spec must be openclaw@beta",
+    );
   });
 
   it("parses optional empty workflow inputs without rejecting the command line", () => {