fix(plugins): preserve contextEngine slot through config normalization (#64192)

Merged via squash.

Prepared head SHA: ae8bd9f09d
Co-authored-by: hclsys <7755017+hclsys@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: jalehman <550978+jalehman@users.noreply.github.com>
Reviewed-by: @jalehman

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -147,6 +147,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 - Sandbox/security: auto-derive CDP source-range from Docker network gateway and refuse to start the socat relay without one, so peer containers cannot reach CDP unauthenticated. (#61404) Thanks @dims.
 - Daemon/launchd: keep `openclaw gateway stop` persistent without uninstalling the macOS LaunchAgent, re-enable it on explicit restart or repair, and harden launchd label handling. (#64447) Thanks @ngutman.
 - Agents/Slack: preserve threaded announce delivery when `sessions.list` rows lack stored thread metadata by falling back to the thread id encoded in the session key. (#63143) Thanks @mariosousa-finn.
+- Plugins/context engines: preserve `plugins.slots.contextEngine` through normalization and keep explicitly selected workspace context-engine plugins enabled, so loader diagnostics and plugin activation stop dropping that slot selection. (#64192) Thanks @hclsys.
 
 ## 2026.4.9
 

src/plugins/config-normalization-shared.ts

@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ export type NormalizedPluginsConfig = {
   loadPaths: string[];
   slots: {
     memory?: string | null;
+    contextEngine?: string | null;
   };
   entries: Record<
     string,
@@ -142,6 +143,7 @@ export function normalizePluginsConfigWithResolver(
     loadPaths: normalizeList(config?.load?.paths, identityNormalizePluginId),
     slots: {
       memory: memorySlot === undefined ? defaultSlotIdForKey("memory") : memorySlot,
+      contextEngine: normalizeSlotValue(config?.slots?.contextEngine),
     },
     entries: normalizePluginEntries(config?.entries, normalizePluginId),
   };

src/plugins/config-policy.ts

@@ -51,6 +51,9 @@ function resolveExplicitPluginSelection(params: {
   if (params.config.slots.memory === params.id) {
     return { explicitlyEnabled: true, reason: "selected memory slot" };
   }
+  if (params.config.slots.contextEngine === params.id) {
+    return { explicitlyEnabled: true, reason: "selected context engine slot" };
+  }
   if (params.origin !== "bundled" && params.config.allow.includes(params.id)) {
     return { explicitlyEnabled: true, reason: "selected in allowlist" };
   }
@@ -103,7 +106,12 @@ export function resolvePluginActivationState(params: {
     };
   }
   const explicitlyAllowed = params.config.allow.includes(params.id);
-  if (params.origin === "workspace" && !explicitlyAllowed && entry?.enabled !== true) {
+  if (
+    params.origin === "workspace" &&
+    !explicitlyAllowed &&
+    entry?.enabled !== true &&
+    explicitSelection.reason !== "selected context engine slot"
+  ) {
     return {
       enabled: false,
       activated: false,
@@ -121,6 +129,15 @@ export function resolvePluginActivationState(params: {
       reason: "selected memory slot",
     };
   }
+  if (params.config.slots.contextEngine === params.id) {
+    return {
+      enabled: true,
+      activated: true,
+      explicitlyEnabled: true,
+      source: "explicit",
+      reason: "selected context engine slot",
+    };
+  }
   if (params.config.allow.length > 0 && !explicitlyAllowed) {
     return {
       enabled: false,

src/plugins/config-state.test.ts

@@ -54,6 +54,16 @@ describe("normalizePluginsConfig", () => {
     expect(normalizePluginsConfig(config).slots.memory).toBe(expected);
   });
 
+  it.each([
+    [{}, undefined],
+    [{ slots: { contextEngine: "lossless-claw" } }, "lossless-claw"],
+    [{ slots: { contextEngine: "none" } }, null],
+    [{ slots: { contextEngine: "  cortex  " } }, "cortex"],
+    [{ slots: { contextEngine: "" } }, undefined],
+  ] as const)("preserves contextEngine slot for %o (#64170)", (config, expected) => {
+    expect(normalizePluginsConfig(config).slots.contextEngine).toBe(expected);
+  });
+
   it.each([
     {
       name: "normalizes plugin hook policy flags",
@@ -432,6 +442,32 @@ describe("resolveEffectivePluginActivationState", () => {
       reason: "enabled by effective config",
     });
   });
+
+  it("treats an explicitly selected workspace context engine as explicit activation", () => {
+    const rawConfig = {
+      plugins: {
+        slots: {
+          contextEngine: "lossless-claw",
+        },
+      },
+    };
+
+    expect(
+      resolveEffectivePluginActivationState({
+        id: "lossless-claw",
+        origin: "workspace",
+        config: normalizePluginsConfig(rawConfig.plugins),
+        rootConfig: rawConfig,
+        activationSource: createPluginActivationSource({ config: rawConfig }),
+      }),
+    ).toEqual({
+      enabled: true,
+      activated: true,
+      explicitlyEnabled: true,
+      source: "explicit",
+      reason: "selected context engine slot",
+    });
+  });
 });
 
 describe("resolveEnableState", () => {
@@ -525,6 +561,20 @@ describe("resolveEnableState", () => {
       },
     });
   });
+
+  it("keeps an explicitly selected workspace context engine enabled when omitted from plugins.allow", () => {
+    expectNormalizedEnableState({
+      id: "lossless-claw",
+      origin: "workspace",
+      config: {
+        allow: ["telegram"],
+        slots: { contextEngine: "lossless-claw" },
+      },
+      expected: {
+        enabled: true,
+      },
+    });
+  });
 });
 
 describe("resolveMemorySlotDecision", () => {

src/plugins/config-state.ts

@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ export type PluginExplicitSelectionCause =
   | "enabled-in-config"
   | "bundled-channel-enabled-in-config"
   | "selected-memory-slot"
+  | "selected-context-engine-slot"
   | "selected-in-allowlist";
 
 export type PluginActivationCause =
@@ -104,6 +105,7 @@ const PLUGIN_ACTIVATION_REASON_BY_CAUSE: Record<PluginActivationCause, string> =
   "enabled-in-config": "enabled in config",
   "bundled-channel-enabled-in-config": "channel enabled in config",
   "selected-memory-slot": "selected memory slot",
+  "selected-context-engine-slot": "selected context engine slot",
   "selected-in-allowlist": "selected in allowlist",
   "plugins-disabled": "plugins disabled",
   "blocked-by-denylist": "blocked by denylist",
@@ -231,6 +233,9 @@ function resolveExplicitPluginSelection(params: {
   if (params.config.slots.memory === params.id) {
     return { explicitlyEnabled: true, cause: "selected-memory-slot" };
   }
+  if (params.config.slots.contextEngine === params.id) {
+    return { explicitlyEnabled: true, cause: "selected-context-engine-slot" };
+  }
   if (params.origin !== "bundled" && params.config.allow.includes(params.id)) {
     return { explicitlyEnabled: true, cause: "selected-in-allowlist" };
   }
@@ -288,7 +293,12 @@ export function resolvePluginActivationState(params: {
     });
   }
   const explicitlyAllowed = params.config.allow.includes(params.id);
-  if (params.origin === "workspace" && !explicitlyAllowed && entry?.enabled !== true) {
+  if (
+    params.origin === "workspace" &&
+    !explicitlyAllowed &&
+    entry?.enabled !== true &&
+    explicitSelection.cause !== "selected-context-engine-slot"
+  ) {
     return toPluginActivationState({
       enabled: false,
       activated: false,
@@ -306,6 +316,15 @@ export function resolvePluginActivationState(params: {
       cause: "selected-memory-slot",
     });
   }
+  if (params.config.slots.contextEngine === params.id) {
+    return toPluginActivationState({
+      enabled: true,
+      activated: true,
+      explicitlyEnabled: true,
+      source: "explicit",
+      cause: "selected-context-engine-slot",
+    });
+  }
   if (explicitSelection.cause === "bundled-channel-enabled-in-config") {
     return toPluginActivationState({
       enabled: true,