fix(plugins): preserve external capability provider fallback (#76536)

* fix(plugins): preserve external capability provider fallback

* docs: move changelog entry to avoid merge conflict

---------

Co-authored-by: Clawdbot <clawdbot@apilab.us>

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -151,6 +151,8 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 - Memory-core: treat exhausted file watcher limits as non-fatal for builtin memory auto-sync while preserving fatal handling for unrelated disk-full errors. (#73357) Thanks @solodmd.
 - Providers/Ollama: restore catalog context-window forwarding as `num_ctx` for native `/api/chat` requests; fixes tool selection and context truncation regressions on models with catalog entries (qwen3, llama3, gemma3, …) when no explicit `params.num_ctx` was configured. Fixes #76117. (#76181) Thanks @openperf.
 
+- Plugins/providers: preserve scoped cold-load fallback for enabled external manifest-contract capability providers missing from the startup registry, so providers such as Fish Audio can resolve on request without requiring `activation.onStartup` for correctness. (#76536) Thanks @Conan-Scott.
+
 ## 2026.5.2
 
 ### Highlights

src/plugins/capability-provider-runtime.test.ts

@@ -156,7 +156,8 @@ function collectActiveRegistryLookups() {
       Boolean(
         options &&
         typeof options === "object" &&
-        Object.hasOwn(options as Record<string, unknown>, "onlyPluginIds"),
+        Object.hasOwn(options as Record<string, unknown>, "onlyPluginIds") &&
+        !Object.hasOwn(options as Record<string, unknown>, "activate"),
       ),
     );
 }
@@ -471,6 +472,62 @@ describe("resolvePluginCapabilityProviders", () => {
     expect(mocks.loadBundledCapabilityRuntimeRegistry).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
   });
 
+  it("cold-loads enabled external manifest-contract providers missing from startup registry", () => {
+    const loaded = createEmptyPluginRegistry();
+    loaded.speechProviders.push({
+      pluginId: "fish-audio",
+      pluginName: "Fish Audio",
+      source: "test",
+      provider: {
+        id: "fish-audio",
+        label: "Fish Audio",
+        isConfigured: () => true,
+        synthesize: async () => ({ kind: "audio", data: Buffer.from([]), mimeType: "audio/mpeg" }),
+      },
+    } as never);
+    mocks.loadPluginRegistrySnapshot.mockReturnValue({
+      plugins: [{ pluginId: "fish-audio", origin: "global", enabled: true }],
+    });
+    mocks.loadPluginManifestRegistry.mockReturnValue({
+      plugins: [
+        {
+          id: "fish-audio",
+          origin: "global",
+          enabledByDefault: false,
+          contracts: { speechProviders: ["fish-audio"] },
+        },
+      ],
+      diagnostics: [],
+    });
+    mocks.resolveRuntimePluginRegistry.mockImplementation((options?: unknown) => {
+      if (
+        options &&
+        typeof options === "object" &&
+        (options as { activate?: unknown }).activate === false
+      ) {
+        return loaded;
+      }
+      return undefined;
+    });
+
+    const provider = resolvePluginCapabilityProvider({
+      key: "speechProviders",
+      providerId: "fish-audio",
+    });
+
+    expect(provider?.id).toBe("fish-audio");
+    expect(mocks.resolveRuntimePluginRegistry).toHaveBeenCalledWith({
+      onlyPluginIds: ["fish-audio"],
+    });
+    expect(mocks.resolveRuntimePluginRegistry).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      expect.objectContaining({
+        activate: false,
+        onlyPluginIds: ["fish-audio"],
+      }),
+    );
+    expect(mocks.loadBundledCapabilityRuntimeRegistry).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
+
   it("uses active non-speech capability providers even when cfg has explicit plugin entries", () => {
     const active = createEmptyPluginRegistry();
     active.mediaUnderstandingProviders.push({

src/plugins/capability-provider-runtime.ts

@@ -6,7 +6,11 @@ import {
   withBundledPluginEnablementCompat,
   withBundledPluginVitestCompat,
 } from "./bundled-compat.js";
-import { resolvePluginRegistryLoadCacheKey, type PluginLoadOptions } from "./loader.js";
+import {
+  resolvePluginRegistryLoadCacheKey,
+  resolveRuntimePluginRegistry,
+  type PluginLoadOptions,
+} from "./loader.js";
 import {
   hasManifestContractValue,
   isManifestPluginAvailableForControlPlane,
@@ -414,13 +418,23 @@ function loadCapabilityProviderEntries<K extends CapabilityProviderRegistryKey>(
   loadOptions: PluginLoadOptions;
   requested?: Set<string>;
 }): PluginRegistry[K] {
-  const registry = getLoadedRuntimePluginRegistry({
+  const loadedRegistry = getLoadedRuntimePluginRegistry({
     env: params.loadOptions.env,
     loadOptions: params.loadOptions,
     workspaceDir: params.loadOptions.workspaceDir,
     requiredPluginIds: params.loadOptions.onlyPluginIds,
   });
-  const entries = registry?.[params.key] ?? [];
+  const loadedEntries = loadedRegistry?.[params.key] ?? [];
+  const coldRegistry = loadedRegistry
+    ? undefined
+    : resolveRuntimePluginRegistry(params.loadOptions);
+  const coldEntries = coldRegistry?.[params.key] ?? [];
+  const entries =
+    loadedEntries.length > 0 && coldEntries.length > 0
+      ? mergeCapabilityProviderEntries(loadedEntries, coldEntries)
+      : loadedEntries.length > 0
+        ? loadedEntries
+        : coldEntries;
   const missingRequested =
     params.key === "speechProviders" && params.requested && params.requested.size > 0
       ? new Set(params.requested)