diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 36316d6c9b3..655a8ca4c49 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 - Status: show the `openai-codex` OAuth profile for `openai/gpt-*` sessions running through the native Codex runtime instead of reporting auth as unknown. (#76197) Thanks @mbelinky.
 - Gateway: avoid repeated plugin tool descriptor config hashing so large runtime configs do not block reply startup and trigger reconnect/timeouts. (#75944) Thanks @joshavant.
 - Plugins/externalization: keep diagnostics ClawHub packages and persisted bundled-plugin relocation on npm-first install metadata for launch, and omit Discord from the core package now that its external package is published. Thanks @vincentkoc.
+- Setup/TUI: bound the Terminal hatch bootstrap run so a stalled provider request times out instead of leaving first-run hatching stuck behind the watchdog. (#76241) Thanks @joshavant.
 - Plugins/Codex: allow the official npm Codex plugin to install without the unsafe-install override, keep `/codex` command ownership, and cover the real npm Docker live path through managed `.openclaw/npm` dependencies plus uninstall failure proof.
 - Gateway/status: add concrete service, config, listener-owner, and log collection next steps when gateway probes fail and Bonjour finds no local gateway, so frozen or port-conflict reports include the data needed for root-cause triage. Refs #49012. Thanks @vincentkoc.
 
diff --git a/src/tui/embedded-backend.test.ts b/src/tui/embedded-backend.test.ts
index f6584596477..f13811dcb60 100644
--- a/src/tui/embedded-backend.test.ts
+++ b/src/tui/embedded-backend.test.ts
@@ -429,6 +429,35 @@ describe("EmbeddedTuiBackend", () => {
     expect(capturedSignal?.aborted).toBe(true);
   });
 
+  it("passes explicit chat timeouts to the agent command as seconds", async () => {
+    const { EmbeddedTuiBackend } = await import("./embedded-backend.js");
+    agentCommandFromIngressMock.mockResolvedValueOnce({
+      payloads: [{ text: "hello" }],
+      meta: {},
+    });
+
+    const backend = new EmbeddedTuiBackend();
+    backend.start();
+    try {
+      await backend.sendChat({
+        sessionKey: "agent:main:main",
+        message: "Wake up, my friend!",
+        runId: "run-explicit-timeout",
+        timeoutMs: 300_000,
+      });
+      await flushMicrotasks();
+
+      expect(agentCommandFromIngressMock).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+      expect(agentCommandFromIngressMock.mock.calls[0]?.[0]).toEqual(
+        expect.objectContaining({
+          timeout: "300",
+        }),
+      );
+    } finally {
+      backend.stop();
+    }
+  });
+
   it("restores embedded mode and runtime loggers on stop", async () => {
     const { EmbeddedTuiBackend } = await import("./embedded-backend.js");
 
diff --git a/src/tui/tui-launch.test.ts b/src/tui/tui-launch.test.ts
index 5fb9ae6cfc4..5a2e547fa80 100644
--- a/src/tui/tui-launch.test.ts
+++ b/src/tui/tui-launch.test.ts
@@ -102,6 +102,35 @@ describe("launchTuiCli", () => {
     );
   });
 
+  it("passes initial message and timeout through to the relaunched TUI", async () => {
+    const child = createChildProcess();
+    spawnMock.mockImplementation((_cmd: string, _args: string[], _opts: SpawnOptions) => {
+      queueMicrotask(() => child.emit("exit", 0, null));
+      return child;
+    });
+
+    await launchTuiCli({
+      local: true,
+      deliver: false,
+      message: "Wake up, my friend!",
+      timeoutMs: 300_000,
+    });
+
+    expect(spawnMock).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      process.execPath,
+      [
+        "/repo/openclaw.mjs",
+        "tui",
+        "--local",
+        "--message",
+        "Wake up, my friend!",
+        "--timeout-ms",
+        "300000",
+      ],
+      expect.objectContaining({ stdio: "inherit" }),
+    );
+  });
+
   it("launches compiled CLI shapes without repeating the current command", async () => {
     process.argv[1] = "setup";
     const child = createChildProcess();
diff --git a/src/wizard/setup.finalize.test.ts b/src/wizard/setup.finalize.test.ts
index ad63061107f..aa6e237df85 100644
--- a/src/wizard/setup.finalize.test.ts
+++ b/src/wizard/setup.finalize.test.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import fs from "node:fs/promises";
 import { beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
 import { createWizardPrompter as buildWizardPrompter } from "../../test/helpers/wizard-prompter.js";
 import type { OpenClawConfig } from "../config/config.js";
@@ -346,6 +347,52 @@ describe("finalizeSetupWizard", () => {
       local: true,
       deliver: false,
       message: undefined,
+      timeoutMs: 300_000,
+    });
+  });
+
+  it("bounds the bootstrap hatch TUI run timeout", async () => {
+    vi.spyOn(fs, "access").mockResolvedValueOnce(undefined);
+    const select = vi.fn(async (params: { message: string }) => {
+      if (params.message === "How do you want to hatch your bot?") {
+        return "tui";
+      }
+      return "later";
+    });
+    const prompter = buildWizardPrompter({
+      select: select as never,
+      confirm: vi.fn(async () => false),
+    });
+
+    await finalizeSetupWizard({
+      flow: "quickstart",
+      opts: {
+        acceptRisk: true,
+        authChoice: "skip",
+        installDaemon: false,
+        skipHealth: true,
+        skipUi: false,
+      },
+      baseConfig: {},
+      nextConfig: {},
+      workspaceDir: "/tmp",
+      settings: {
+        port: 18789,
+        bind: "loopback",
+        authMode: "token",
+        gatewayToken: undefined,
+        tailscaleMode: "off",
+        tailscaleResetOnExit: false,
+      },
+      prompter,
+      runtime: createRuntime(),
+    });
+
+    expect(launchTuiCli).toHaveBeenCalledWith({
+      local: true,
+      deliver: false,
+      message: "Wake up, my friend!",
+      timeoutMs: 300_000,
     });
   });
 
diff --git a/src/wizard/setup.finalize.ts b/src/wizard/setup.finalize.ts
index 104c6bb1ece..8881f9065a3 100644
--- a/src/wizard/setup.finalize.ts
+++ b/src/wizard/setup.finalize.ts
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@ type FinalizeOnboardingOptions = {
 type OnboardSearchModule = typeof import("../commands/onboard-search.js");
 
 let onboardSearchModulePromise: Promise<OnboardSearchModule> | undefined;
+const HATCH_TUI_TIMEOUT_MS = 5 * 60 * 1000;
 
 function loadOnboardSearchModule(): Promise<OnboardSearchModule> {
   onboardSearchModulePromise ??= import("../commands/onboard-search.js");
@@ -458,6 +459,7 @@ export async function finalizeSetupWizard(
           local: true,
           deliver: false,
           message: hasBootstrap ? "Wake up, my friend!" : undefined,
+          timeoutMs: HATCH_TUI_TIMEOUT_MS,
         });
       } finally {
         restoreTerminalState("post-setup tui", { resumeStdinIfPaused: true });