diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index aa5389f771c..57a16aee935 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 - OpenAI/Responses WebSocket tool-call id hygiene: normalize blank/whitespace streamed tool-call ids before persistence, and block empty `function_call_output.call_id` payloads in the WS conversion path to avoid OpenAI 400 errors (`Invalid 'input[n].call_id': empty string`), with regression coverage for both inbound stream normalization and outbound payload guards.
 - Gateway/Control UI basePath webhook passthrough: let non-read methods under configured `controlUiBasePath` fall through to plugin routes (instead of returning Control UI 405), restoring webhook handlers behind basePath mounts. (#32311) Thanks @ademczuk.
 - CLI/Config validation and routing hardening: dedupe `openclaw config validate` failures to a single authoritative report, expose allowed-values metadata/hints across core Zod and plugin AJV validation (including `--json` fields), sanitize terminal-rendered validation text, and make command-path parsing root-option-aware across preaction/route/lazy registration (including routed `config get/unset` with split root options). Thanks @gumadeiras.
+- Context-window metadata warmup: add exponential config-load retry backoff (1s -> 2s -> 4s, capped at 60s) so transient startup failures recover automatically without hot-loop retries.
 - Models/config env propagation: apply `config.env.vars` before implicit provider discovery in models bootstrap so config-scoped credentials are visible to implicit provider resolution paths. (#32295) Thanks @hsiaoa.
 - Hooks/runtime stability: keep the internal hook handler registry on a `globalThis` singleton so hook registration/dispatch remains consistent when bundling emits duplicate module copies. (#32292) Thanks @Drickon.
 - Hooks/plugin context parity: ensure `llm_input` hooks in embedded attempts receive the same `trigger` and `channelId`-aware `hookCtx` used by the other hook phases, preserving channel/trigger-scoped plugin behavior. (#28623) Thanks @davidrudduck and @vincentkoc.
diff --git a/src/agents/context.lookup.test.ts b/src/agents/context.lookup.test.ts
index 5870be401a4..81263481c34 100644
--- a/src/agents/context.lookup.test.ts
+++ b/src/agents/context.lookup.test.ts
@@ -61,4 +61,54 @@ describe("lookupContextTokens", () => {
       process.argv = argvSnapshot;
     }
   });
+
+  it("retries config loading after backoff when an initial load fails", async () => {
+    vi.useFakeTimers();
+    const loadConfigMock = vi
+      .fn()
+      .mockImplementationOnce(() => {
+        throw new Error("transient");
+      })
+      .mockImplementation(() => ({
+        models: {
+          providers: {
+            openrouter: {
+              models: [{ id: "openrouter/claude-sonnet", contextWindow: 654_321 }],
+            },
+          },
+        },
+      }));
+
+    vi.doMock("../config/config.js", () => ({
+      loadConfig: loadConfigMock,
+    }));
+    vi.doMock("./models-config.js", () => ({
+      ensureOpenClawModelsJson: vi.fn(async () => {}),
+    }));
+    vi.doMock("./agent-paths.js", () => ({
+      resolveOpenClawAgentDir: () => "/tmp/openclaw-agent",
+    }));
+    vi.doMock("./pi-model-discovery.js", () => ({
+      discoverAuthStorage: vi.fn(() => ({})),
+      discoverModels: vi.fn(() => ({
+        getAll: () => [],
+      })),
+    }));
+
+    const argvSnapshot = process.argv;
+    process.argv = ["node", "openclaw", "config", "validate"];
+    try {
+      const { lookupContextTokens } = await import("./context.js");
+      expect(lookupContextTokens("openrouter/claude-sonnet")).toBeUndefined();
+      expect(loadConfigMock).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+      expect(lookupContextTokens("openrouter/claude-sonnet")).toBeUndefined();
+      expect(loadConfigMock).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+      await vi.advanceTimersByTimeAsync(1_000);
+      expect(lookupContextTokens("openrouter/claude-sonnet")).toBe(654_321);
+      expect(loadConfigMock).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2);
+    } finally {
+      process.argv = argvSnapshot;
+      vi.useRealTimers();
+    }
+  });
 });
diff --git a/src/agents/context.ts b/src/agents/context.ts
index 50e549877ea..bd3aeaf6fc2 100644
--- a/src/agents/context.ts
+++ b/src/agents/context.ts
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 
 import { loadConfig } from "../config/config.js";
 import type { OpenClawConfig } from "../config/config.js";
+import { computeBackoff, type BackoffPolicy } from "../infra/backoff.js";
 import { consumeRootOptionToken, FLAG_TERMINATOR } from "../infra/cli-root-options.js";
 import { resolveOpenClawAgentDir } from "./agent-paths.js";
 import { ensureOpenClawModelsJson } from "./models-config.js";
@@ -19,6 +20,12 @@ type AgentModelEntry = { params?: Record<string, unknown> };
 
 const ANTHROPIC_1M_MODEL_PREFIXES = ["claude-opus-4", "claude-sonnet-4"] as const;
 export const ANTHROPIC_CONTEXT_1M_TOKENS = 1_048_576;
+const CONFIG_LOAD_RETRY_POLICY: BackoffPolicy = {
+  initialMs: 1_000,
+  maxMs: 60_000,
+  factor: 2,
+  jitter: 0,
+};
 
 export function applyDiscoveredContextWindows(params: {
   cache: Map<string, number>;
@@ -68,7 +75,9 @@ export function applyConfiguredContextWindows(params: {
 
 const MODEL_CACHE = new Map<string, number>();
 let loadPromise: Promise<void> | null = null;
-let configuredWindowsPrimed = false;
+let configuredConfig: OpenClawConfig | undefined;
+let configLoadFailures = 0;
+let nextConfigLoadAttemptAtMs = 0;
 
 function getCommandPathFromArgv(argv: string[]): string[] {
   const args = argv.slice(2);
@@ -100,33 +109,42 @@ function shouldSkipEagerContextWindowWarmup(argv: string[] = process.argv): bool
 }
 
 function primeConfiguredContextWindows(): OpenClawConfig | undefined {
-  if (configuredWindowsPrimed) {
+  if (configuredConfig) {
+    return configuredConfig;
+  }
+  if (Date.now() < nextConfigLoadAttemptAtMs) {
     return undefined;
   }
-  configuredWindowsPrimed = true;
   try {
     const cfg = loadConfig();
     applyConfiguredContextWindows({
       cache: MODEL_CACHE,
       modelsConfig: cfg.models as ModelsConfig | undefined,
     });
+    configuredConfig = cfg;
+    configLoadFailures = 0;
+    nextConfigLoadAttemptAtMs = 0;
     return cfg;
   } catch {
-    // If config can't be loaded, leave cache empty.
+    configLoadFailures += 1;
+    const backoffMs = computeBackoff(CONFIG_LOAD_RETRY_POLICY, configLoadFailures);
+    nextConfigLoadAttemptAtMs = Date.now() + backoffMs;
+    // If config can't be loaded, leave cache empty and retry after backoff.
     return undefined;
   }
 }
 
 function ensureContextWindowCacheLoaded(): Promise<void> {
-  const cfg = primeConfiguredContextWindows();
   if (loadPromise) {
     return loadPromise;
   }
-  loadPromise = (async () => {
-    if (!cfg) {
-      return;
-    }
 
+  const cfg = primeConfiguredContextWindows();
+  if (!cfg) {
+    return Promise.resolve();
+  }
+
+  loadPromise = (async () => {
     try {
       await ensureOpenClawModelsJson(cfg);
     } catch {