fix: keep status --json stdout clean (#52449) (thanks @cgdusek)

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -115,6 +115,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 - CLI/configure: clarify fresh-setup memory-search warnings so they say semantic recall needs at least one embedding provider, and scope the initial model allowlist picker to the provider selected in configure. Thanks @vincentkoc.
 - CLI/auth choice: lazy-load plugin/provider fallback resolution so mapped auth choices stay on the static path and only unknown choices pay the heavy provider load. (#47495) Thanks @vincentkoc.
 - CLI: avoid loading provider discovery during startup model normalization. (#46522) Thanks @ItsAditya-xyz and @vincentkoc.
+- CLI/status: keep `status --json` stdout clean by skipping plugin compatibility scans that were not rendered in the JSON payload. (#52449) Thanks @cgdusek.
 - Agents/Telegram: avoid rebuilding the full model catalog on ordinary inbound replies so Telegram message handling no longer pays multi-second core startup latency before reply generation. Thanks @vincentkoc.
 - Gateway/Discord startup: load only configured channel plugins during gateway boot, and lazy-load Discord provider/session runtime setup so startup stops importing unrelated providers and trims cold-start delay. Thanks @vincentkoc.
 - Security/exec: harden macOS allowlist resolution against wrapper and `env` spoofing, require fresh approval for inline interpreter eval with `tools.exec.strictInlineEval`, wrap Discord guild message bodies as untrusted external content, and add audit findings for risky exec approval and open-channel combinations.

src/cli/program/preaction.test.ts

@@ -352,8 +352,8 @@ describe("registerPreActionHooks", () => {
     });
 
     await runPreAction({
-      parseArgv: ["agents"],
-      processArgv: ["node", "openclaw", "agents", "--json"],
+      parseArgv: ["agents", "list"],
+      processArgv: ["node", "openclaw", "agents", "list", "--json"],
     });
 
     expect(ensurePluginRegistryLoadedMock).toHaveBeenCalled();
@@ -369,8 +369,8 @@ describe("registerPreActionHooks", () => {
     });
 
     await runPreAction({
-      parseArgv: ["agents"],
-      processArgv: ["node", "openclaw", "agents"],
+      parseArgv: ["agents", "list"],
+      processArgv: ["node", "openclaw", "agents", "list"],
     });
 
     expect(ensurePluginRegistryLoadedMock).toHaveBeenCalled();

src/cli/program/preaction.ts

@@ -139,7 +139,6 @@ export function registerPreActionHooks(program: Command, programVersion: string)
       commandPath,
       ...(jsonOutputMode ? { suppressDoctorStdout: true } : {}),
     });
-<<<<<<< HEAD
     // Load plugins for commands that need channel access.
     // When --json output is active, temporarily route logs to stderr so plugin
     // registration messages don't corrupt the JSON payload on stdout.

src/commands/status.scan.fast-json.test.ts

@@ -195,6 +195,14 @@ describe("scanStatusJsonFast", () => {
     expect(loggingState.forceConsoleToStderr).toBe(false);
   });
 
+  it("skips plugin compatibility loading even when configured channels are present", async () => {
+    mocks.hasPotentialConfiguredChannels.mockReturnValue(true);
+
+    await scanStatusJsonFast({}, {} as never);
+
+    expect(mocks.buildPluginCompatibilityNotices).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
+
   it("skips memory inspection for the lean status --json fast path", async () => {
     const result = await scanStatusJsonFast({}, {} as never);
 

src/commands/status.scan.fast-json.ts

@@ -23,7 +23,6 @@ import { getStatusSummary } from "./status.summary.js";
 import { getUpdateCheckResult } from "./status.update.js";
 
 let pluginRegistryModulePromise: Promise<typeof import("../cli/plugin-registry.js")> | undefined;
-let pluginStatusModulePromise: Promise<typeof import("../plugins/status.js")> | undefined;
 let configIoModulePromise: Promise<typeof import("../config/io.js")> | undefined;
 let commandSecretTargetsModulePromise:
   | Promise<typeof import("../cli/command-secret-targets.js")>
@@ -41,11 +40,6 @@ function loadPluginRegistryModule() {
   return pluginRegistryModulePromise;
 }
 
-function loadPluginStatusModule() {
-  pluginStatusModulePromise ??= import("../plugins/status.js");
-  return pluginStatusModulePromise;
-}
-
 function loadConfigIoModule() {
   configIoModulePromise ??= import("../config/io.js");
   return configIoModulePromise;
@@ -91,13 +85,6 @@ function buildColdStartUpdateResult(): Awaited<ReturnType<typeof getUpdateCheckR
   };
 }
 
-function shouldCollectPluginCompatibility(cfg: OpenClawConfig): boolean {
-  if (hasPotentialConfiguredChannels(cfg)) {
-    return true;
-  }
-  return existsSync(resolveConfigPath(process.env));
-}
-
 function resolveDefaultMemoryStorePath(agentId: string): string {
   return path.join(resolveStateDir(process.env, os.homedir), "memory", `${agentId}.sqlite`);
 }
@@ -233,14 +220,9 @@ export async function scanStatusJsonFast(
   const memory = opts.all
     ? await resolveMemoryStatusSnapshot({ cfg, agentStatus, memoryPlugin })
     : null;
-  const pluginCompatibility = shouldCollectPluginCompatibility(cfg)
-    ? await loadPluginStatusModule().then(({ buildPluginCompatibilityNotices }) =>
-        // Keep plugin status loading off the empty-config `status --json` fast path.
-        // The plugin status module pulls in the full loader graph and materially bloats
-        // startup RSS even when plugin compatibility is never consulted.
-        buildPluginCompatibilityNotices({ config: cfg }),
-      )
-    : [];
+  // `status --json` does not serialize plugin compatibility notices, so keep the
+  // fast path off the full plugin status graph after the initial scoped preload.
+  const pluginCompatibility: StatusScanResult["pluginCompatibility"] = [];
 
   return {
     cfg,

src/commands/status.scan.test.ts

@@ -284,6 +284,59 @@ describe("scanStatus", () => {
     expect(mocks.buildPluginCompatibilityNotices).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
   });
 
+  it("skips plugin compatibility loading for status --json even with configured channels", async () => {
+    mocks.hasPotentialConfiguredChannels.mockReturnValue(true);
+    mocks.readBestEffortConfig.mockResolvedValue({
+      session: {},
+      gateway: {},
+      channels: { discord: {} },
+    });
+    mocks.resolveCommandSecretRefsViaGateway.mockResolvedValue({
+      resolvedConfig: {
+        session: {},
+        gateway: {},
+        channels: { discord: {} },
+      },
+      diagnostics: [],
+    });
+    mocks.getUpdateCheckResult.mockResolvedValue({
+      installKind: "git",
+      git: null,
+      registry: null,
+    });
+    mocks.getAgentLocalStatuses.mockResolvedValue({
+      defaultId: "main",
+      agents: [],
+    });
+    mocks.getStatusSummary.mockResolvedValue({
+      linkChannel: undefined,
+      sessions: { count: 0, paths: [], defaults: {}, recent: [] },
+    });
+    mocks.buildGatewayConnectionDetails.mockReturnValue({
+      url: "ws://127.0.0.1:18789",
+      urlSource: "default",
+    });
+    mocks.resolveGatewayProbeAuthResolution.mockResolvedValue({
+      auth: {},
+      warning: undefined,
+    });
+    mocks.probeGateway.mockResolvedValue({
+      ok: false,
+      url: "ws://127.0.0.1:18789",
+      connectLatencyMs: null,
+      error: "timeout",
+      close: null,
+      health: null,
+      status: null,
+      presence: null,
+      configSnapshot: null,
+    });
+
+    await scanStatus({ json: true }, {} as never);
+
+    expect(mocks.buildPluginCompatibilityNotices).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
+
   it("skips gateway and update probes on cold-start status paths", async () => {
     mocks.readBestEffortConfig.mockResolvedValue({
       session: {},

src/commands/status.scan.ts

@@ -69,13 +69,6 @@ function unwrapDeferredResult<T>(result: DeferredResult<T>): T {
   return result.value;
 }
 
-function shouldCollectPluginCompatibility(cfg: OpenClawConfig): boolean {
-  if (hasPotentialConfiguredChannels(cfg)) {
-    return true;
-  }
-  return existsSync(resolveConfigPath(process.env));
-}
-
 function isMissingConfigColdStart(): boolean {
   return !existsSync(resolveConfigPath(process.env));
 }
@@ -237,9 +230,9 @@ async function scanStatusJsonFast(opts: {
   const memoryPlugin = resolveMemoryPluginStatus(cfg);
   const memoryPromise = resolveMemoryStatusSnapshot({ cfg, agentStatus, memoryPlugin });
   const memory = await memoryPromise;
-  const pluginCompatibility = shouldCollectPluginCompatibility(cfg)
-    ? buildPluginCompatibilityNotices({ config: cfg })
-    : [];
+  // `status --json` never renders plugin compatibility notices, so skip the
+  // full compatibility scan and avoid a second plugin load on the JSON path.
+  const pluginCompatibility: StatusScanResult["pluginCompatibility"] = [];
 
   return {
     cfg,