diff --git a/src/agents/live-model-filter.test.ts b/src/agents/live-model-filter.test.ts
index ccfb8c79f9a..4f1c449882f 100644
--- a/src/agents/live-model-filter.test.ts
+++ b/src/agents/live-model-filter.test.ts
@@ -1,13 +1,32 @@
-import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import { beforeEach, describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import { clearPluginDiscoveryCache } from "../plugins/discovery.js";
+import { clearPluginManifestRegistryCache } from "../plugins/manifest-registry.js";
 import { shouldExcludeProviderFromDefaultHighSignalLiveSweep } from "./live-model-filter.js";
 
+function hermeticProviderRegistryEnv(): NodeJS.ProcessEnv {
+  return {
+    OPENCLAW_DISABLE_PERSISTED_PLUGIN_REGISTRY: "1",
+    OPENCLAW_DISABLE_PLUGIN_DISCOVERY_CACHE: "1",
+    OPENCLAW_DISABLE_PLUGIN_MANIFEST_CACHE: "1",
+    VITEST: "1",
+  } as NodeJS.ProcessEnv;
+}
+
 describe("shouldExcludeProviderFromDefaultHighSignalLiveSweep", () => {
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    clearPluginDiscoveryCache();
+    clearPluginManifestRegistryCache();
+  });
+
   it("excludes dedicated harness providers from the default high-signal sweep", () => {
+    const env = hermeticProviderRegistryEnv();
+
     expect(
       shouldExcludeProviderFromDefaultHighSignalLiveSweep({
         provider: "codex",
         useExplicitModels: false,
         providerFilter: null,
+        env,
       }),
     ).toBe(true);
     expect(
@@ -15,6 +34,7 @@ describe("shouldExcludeProviderFromDefaultHighSignalLiveSweep", () => {
         provider: "openai-codex",
         useExplicitModels: false,
         providerFilter: null,
+        env,
       }),
     ).toBe(true);
     expect(
@@ -22,16 +42,20 @@ describe("shouldExcludeProviderFromDefaultHighSignalLiveSweep", () => {
         provider: "codex-cli",
         useExplicitModels: false,
         providerFilter: null,
+        env,
       }),
     ).toBe(true);
   });
 
   it("keeps dedicated harness providers when explicitly requested by provider filter", () => {
+    const env = hermeticProviderRegistryEnv();
+
     expect(
       shouldExcludeProviderFromDefaultHighSignalLiveSweep({
         provider: "codex",
         useExplicitModels: false,
         providerFilter: new Set(["codex"]),
+        env,
       }),
     ).toBe(false);
     expect(
@@ -39,6 +63,7 @@ describe("shouldExcludeProviderFromDefaultHighSignalLiveSweep", () => {
         provider: "openai-codex",
         useExplicitModels: false,
         providerFilter: new Set(["codex-cli"]),
+        env,
       }),
     ).toBe(false);
     expect(
@@ -46,6 +71,7 @@ describe("shouldExcludeProviderFromDefaultHighSignalLiveSweep", () => {
         provider: "openai-codex",
         useExplicitModels: false,
         providerFilter: new Set(["openai"]),
+        env,
       }),
     ).toBe(false);
   });
@@ -66,6 +92,7 @@ describe("shouldExcludeProviderFromDefaultHighSignalLiveSweep", () => {
         provider: "openai",
         useExplicitModels: false,
         providerFilter: null,
+        env: hermeticProviderRegistryEnv(),
       }),
     ).toBe(false);
   });
diff --git a/src/agents/models-config.providers.live-filter.test.ts b/src/agents/models-config.providers.live-filter.test.ts
index 2e562b77f17..ddd8bda6143 100644
--- a/src/agents/models-config.providers.live-filter.test.ts
+++ b/src/agents/models-config.providers.live-filter.test.ts
@@ -1,15 +1,31 @@
-import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import { beforeEach, describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import { clearPluginDiscoveryCache } from "../plugins/discovery.js";
+import { clearPluginManifestRegistryCache } from "../plugins/manifest-registry.js";
 import { resolveProviderDiscoveryFilterForTest } from "./models-config.providers.implicit.js";
 
+function liveFilterEnv(overrides: NodeJS.ProcessEnv): NodeJS.ProcessEnv {
+  return {
+    OPENCLAW_DISABLE_PERSISTED_PLUGIN_REGISTRY: "1",
+    OPENCLAW_DISABLE_PLUGIN_DISCOVERY_CACHE: "1",
+    OPENCLAW_DISABLE_PLUGIN_MANIFEST_CACHE: "1",
+    VITEST: "1",
+    ...overrides,
+  } as NodeJS.ProcessEnv;
+}
+
 describe("resolveProviderDiscoveryFilterForTest", () => {
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    clearPluginDiscoveryCache();
+    clearPluginManifestRegistryCache();
+  });
+
   it("maps live provider backend ids to owning plugin ids", () => {
     expect(
       resolveProviderDiscoveryFilterForTest({
-        env: {
+        env: liveFilterEnv({
           OPENCLAW_LIVE_TEST: "1",
           OPENCLAW_LIVE_PROVIDERS: "claude-cli",
-          VITEST: "1",
-        } as NodeJS.ProcessEnv,
+        }),
       }),
     ).toEqual(["anthropic"]);
   });
@@ -17,11 +33,10 @@ describe("resolveProviderDiscoveryFilterForTest", () => {
   it("honors gateway live provider filters too", () => {
     expect(
       resolveProviderDiscoveryFilterForTest({
-        env: {
+        env: liveFilterEnv({
           OPENCLAW_LIVE_TEST: "1",
           OPENCLAW_LIVE_GATEWAY_PROVIDERS: "claude-cli",
-          VITEST: "1",
-        } as NodeJS.ProcessEnv,
+        }),
       }),
     ).toEqual(["anthropic"]);
   });
@@ -29,11 +44,10 @@ describe("resolveProviderDiscoveryFilterForTest", () => {
   it("keeps explicit plugin-id filters when no owning provider plugin exists", () => {
     expect(
       resolveProviderDiscoveryFilterForTest({
-        env: {
+        env: liveFilterEnv({
           OPENCLAW_LIVE_TEST: "1",
           OPENCLAW_LIVE_PROVIDERS: "openrouter",
-          VITEST: "1",
-        } as NodeJS.ProcessEnv,
+        }),
       }),
     ).toEqual(["openrouter"]);
   });
diff --git a/src/agents/models-config.providers.plugin-allowlist-compat.test.ts b/src/agents/models-config.providers.plugin-allowlist-compat.test.ts
index e39b145fec6..6c2e6c07757 100644
--- a/src/agents/models-config.providers.plugin-allowlist-compat.test.ts
+++ b/src/agents/models-config.providers.plugin-allowlist-compat.test.ts
@@ -1,11 +1,27 @@
-import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import { beforeEach, describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
 import {
   withBundledPluginAllowlistCompat,
   withBundledPluginEnablementCompat,
 } from "../plugins/bundled-compat.js";
+import { clearPluginDiscoveryCache } from "../plugins/discovery.js";
+import { clearPluginManifestRegistryCache } from "../plugins/manifest-registry.js";
 import { resolveEnabledProviderPluginIds } from "../plugins/providers.js";
 
+function providerRegistryEnv(): NodeJS.ProcessEnv {
+  return {
+    OPENCLAW_DISABLE_PERSISTED_PLUGIN_REGISTRY: "1",
+    OPENCLAW_DISABLE_PLUGIN_DISCOVERY_CACHE: "1",
+    OPENCLAW_DISABLE_PLUGIN_MANIFEST_CACHE: "1",
+    VITEST: "1",
+  } as NodeJS.ProcessEnv;
+}
+
 describe("implicit provider plugin allowlist compatibility", () => {
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    clearPluginDiscoveryCache();
+    clearPluginManifestRegistryCache();
+  });
+
   it("keeps bundled implicit providers discoverable when plugins.allow is set", () => {
     const config = withBundledPluginEnablementCompat({
       config: withBundledPluginAllowlistCompat({
@@ -22,7 +38,7 @@ describe("implicit provider plugin allowlist compatibility", () => {
     expect(
       resolveEnabledProviderPluginIds({
         config,
-        env: { VITEST: "1" } as NodeJS.ProcessEnv,
+        env: providerRegistryEnv(),
         onlyPluginIds: ["kilocode", "moonshot", "openrouter"],
       }),
     ).toEqual(["kilocode", "moonshot", "openrouter"]);
@@ -45,7 +61,7 @@ describe("implicit provider plugin allowlist compatibility", () => {
     expect(
       resolveEnabledProviderPluginIds({
         config,
-        env: { VITEST: "1" } as NodeJS.ProcessEnv,
+        env: providerRegistryEnv(),
         onlyPluginIds: ["kilocode", "moonshot", "openrouter"],
       }),
     ).toEqual(["moonshot", "openrouter"]);
diff --git a/src/commands/doctor/shared/channel-doctor.test.ts b/src/commands/doctor/shared/channel-doctor.test.ts
index a5f2ff7ec8e..025b22ea390 100644
--- a/src/commands/doctor/shared/channel-doctor.test.ts
+++ b/src/commands/doctor/shared/channel-doctor.test.ts
@@ -14,6 +14,11 @@ const mocks = vi.hoisted(() => ({
   resolveReadOnlyChannelPluginsForConfig: vi.fn(),
 }));
 
+const READ_ONLY_CHANNEL_DOCTOR_OPTIONS = {
+  includePersistedAuthState: false,
+  includeSetupRuntimeFallback: true,
+} as const;
+
 vi.mock("../../../channels/plugins/registry.js", () => ({
   getLoadedChannelPlugin: (...args: Parameters<typeof mocks.getLoadedChannelPlugin>) =>
     mocks.getLoadedChannelPlugin(...args),
@@ -84,9 +89,10 @@ function mockBundledMatrixRuntimePlugin(doctor?: Record<string, unknown>) {
 
 function expectMatrixDoctorLookupCalls(cfg?: unknown) {
   if (cfg) {
-    expect(mocks.resolveReadOnlyChannelPluginsForConfig).toHaveBeenCalledWith(cfg, {
-      includePersistedAuthState: false,
-    });
+    expect(mocks.resolveReadOnlyChannelPluginsForConfig).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      cfg,
+      READ_ONLY_CHANNEL_DOCTOR_OPTIONS,
+    );
   }
   expect(mocks.getLoadedChannelPlugin).toHaveBeenCalledWith("matrix");
   expect(mocks.getBundledChannelSetupPlugin).toHaveBeenCalledWith("matrix");
@@ -238,7 +244,7 @@ describe("channel doctor compatibility mutations", () => {
 
     expect(mocks.resolveReadOnlyChannelPluginsForConfig).toHaveBeenCalledWith(cfg, {
       env,
-      includePersistedAuthState: false,
+      ...READ_ONLY_CHANNEL_DOCTOR_OPTIONS,
     });
   });
 
@@ -295,9 +301,10 @@ describe("channel doctor compatibility mutations", () => {
     });
 
     expect(result).toEqual(["channels.matrix extra"]);
-    expect(mocks.resolveReadOnlyChannelPluginsForConfig).toHaveBeenCalledWith(cfg, {
-      includePersistedAuthState: false,
-    });
+    expect(mocks.resolveReadOnlyChannelPluginsForConfig).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      cfg,
+      READ_ONLY_CHANNEL_DOCTOR_OPTIONS,
+    );
     expect(collectEmptyAllowlistExtraWarnings.mock.calls[0]?.[0]).not.toHaveProperty("cfg");
   });
 
@@ -374,7 +381,7 @@ describe("channel doctor compatibility mutations", () => {
     expect(mocks.resolveReadOnlyChannelPluginsForConfig).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
     expect(mocks.resolveReadOnlyChannelPluginsForConfig).toHaveBeenCalledWith(cfg, {
       env,
-      includePersistedAuthState: false,
+      ...READ_ONLY_CHANNEL_DOCTOR_OPTIONS,
     });
     expect(collectEmptyAllowlistExtraWarnings).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(3);
     expect(shouldSkipDefaultEmptyGroupAllowlistWarning).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);