diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index bc283323ade..8b8153ca856 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -109,6 +109,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 - CLI/channels: skip config, proxy, channel-option catalog, banner-config, and plugin startup bootstrap for the bare `openclaw channels` parent-help command, so it exits promptly after printing help instead of loading configured channel plugins. Thanks @vincentkoc.
 - CLI/gateway: pause non-TTY stdin after full CLI command completion and stop `openclaw agent` from falling back to embedded mode after gateway request/auth failures, so parent help commands exit cleanly and scoped delivery probes surface the real Gateway error immediately. Thanks @vincentkoc.
 - Gateway/model catalog: cache empty read-only model catalog results until reload, so TUI and control-plane refresh loops cannot hammer plugin metadata reads when no usable models are currently discovered. Thanks @vincentkoc.
+- CLI/update: make dev-channel preflight lint opt-in and constrained when enabled, so `openclaw update --channel dev` no longer walks back otherwise-good main commits when Ubuntu hosts OOM-kill or fail parallel oxlint shards. Thanks @vincentkoc.
 - Google Meet: fork the caller's current agent transcript into agent-mode meeting consultant sessions, so Meet replies inherit the context from the tool call that joined the meeting.
 - Google Meet: log the concrete agent-mode TTS provider, model, voice, output format, and sample rate after speech synthesis, so Meet logs show which voice backend spoke each reply.
 - Google Meet: log the resolved audio provider model when starting Chrome and paired-node Meet talk-back bridges, so agent-mode joins show the STT model and bidi joins show the realtime voice model.
diff --git a/docs/cli/update.md b/docs/cli/update.md
index 31fec6186a9..592f1fb0291 100644
--- a/docs/cli/update.md
+++ b/docs/cli/update.md
@@ -148,7 +148,7 @@ manually.
     Dev only.
   </Step>
   <Step title="Preflight build (dev only)">
-    Runs lint and TypeScript build in a temp worktree. If the tip fails, walks back up to 10 commits to find the newest clean build.
+    Runs the TypeScript build in a temp worktree. If the tip fails, walks back up to 10 commits to find the newest buildable commit. Set `OPENCLAW_UPDATE_PREFLIGHT_LINT=1` to also run lint during this preflight; lint runs in constrained serial mode because user update hosts are often smaller than CI runners.
   </Step>
   <Step title="Rebase">
     Rebases onto the selected commit (dev only).
diff --git a/scripts/run-oxlint-shards.mjs b/scripts/run-oxlint-shards.mjs
index 3be13d89142..39a3e21658c 100644
--- a/scripts/run-oxlint-shards.mjs
+++ b/scripts/run-oxlint-shards.mjs
@@ -35,9 +35,20 @@ const shards = [
   },
 ];
 
-const results = await Promise.all(shards.map((shard) => runShard(shard)));
+const runSerial = process.env.OPENCLAW_OXLINT_SHARDS_SERIAL === "1";
+const results = runSerial
+  ? await runShardsSerial(shards)
+  : await Promise.all(shards.map((shard) => runShard(shard)));
 process.exitCode = results.find((status) => status !== 0) ?? 0;
 
+async function runShardsSerial(entries) {
+  const results = [];
+  for (const shard of entries) {
+    results.push(await runShard(shard));
+  }
+  return results;
+}
+
 async function runShard(shard) {
   console.error(`[oxlint:${shard.name}] starting`);
   const child = spawn(process.execPath, [runner, ...shard.args, ...extraArgs], {
diff --git a/src/infra/update-runner.test.ts b/src/infra/update-runner.test.ts
index 659c9119a6a..1f2a7514b9a 100644
--- a/src/infra/update-runner.test.ts
+++ b/src/infra/update-runner.test.ts
@@ -614,11 +614,107 @@ describe("runGatewayUpdate", () => {
     expect(calls.some((call) => call.startsWith("npm install --prefix "))).toBe(true);
     expect(calls).toContain("pnpm install");
     expect(calls).toContain("pnpm build");
-    expect(calls).toContain("pnpm lint");
+    expect(calls).not.toContain("pnpm lint");
     expect(calls).toContain("pnpm ui:build");
     expect(pnpmEnvPaths.some((value) => value.includes("openclaw-update-pnpm-"))).toBe(true);
   });
 
+  it("runs dev preflight lint in constrained mode when explicitly enabled", async () => {
+    await setupGitPackageManagerFixture();
+    const calls: string[] = [];
+    const lintEnv: NodeJS.ProcessEnv[] = [];
+    const upstreamSha = "upstream123";
+    const doctorNodePath = await resolveStableNodePath(process.execPath);
+    const doctorCommand = `${doctorNodePath} ${path.join(tempDir, "openclaw.mjs")} doctor --non-interactive --fix`;
+
+    const runCommand = async (
+      argv: string[],
+      options?: { env?: NodeJS.ProcessEnv; cwd?: string; timeoutMs?: number },
+    ) => {
+      const key = argv.join(" ");
+      calls.push(key);
+
+      if (key === `git -C ${tempDir} rev-parse --show-toplevel`) {
+        return { stdout: tempDir, stderr: "", code: 0 };
+      }
+      if (key === `git -C ${tempDir} rev-parse HEAD`) {
+        return { stdout: "abc123", stderr: "", code: 0 };
+      }
+      if (key === `git -C ${tempDir} rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD`) {
+        return { stdout: "main", stderr: "", code: 0 };
+      }
+      if (key === `git -C ${tempDir} status --porcelain -- :!dist/control-ui/`) {
+        return { stdout: "", stderr: "", code: 0 };
+      }
+      if (key === `git -C ${tempDir} rev-parse --abbrev-ref --symbolic-full-name @{upstream}`) {
+        return { stdout: "origin/main", stderr: "", code: 0 };
+      }
+      if (key === `git -C ${tempDir} fetch --all --prune --tags`) {
+        return { stdout: "", stderr: "", code: 0 };
+      }
+      if (key === `git -C ${tempDir} rev-parse @{upstream}`) {
+        return { stdout: upstreamSha, stderr: "", code: 0 };
+      }
+      if (key === `git -C ${tempDir} rev-list --max-count=10 ${upstreamSha}`) {
+        return { stdout: `${upstreamSha}\n`, stderr: "", code: 0 };
+      }
+      if (key === "pnpm --version") {
+        return { stdout: "10.0.0", stderr: "", code: 0 };
+      }
+      if (
+        key.startsWith(`git -C ${tempDir} worktree add --detach /tmp/`) &&
+        key.endsWith(` ${upstreamSha}`) &&
+        preflightPrefixPattern.test(key)
+      ) {
+        return { stdout: `HEAD is now at ${upstreamSha}`, stderr: "", code: 0 };
+      }
+      if (
+        key.startsWith("git -C /tmp/") &&
+        preflightPrefixPattern.test(key) &&
+        key.includes(" checkout --detach ") &&
+        key.endsWith(upstreamSha)
+      ) {
+        return { stdout: "", stderr: "", code: 0 };
+      }
+      if (key === "pnpm install" || key === "pnpm build" || key === "pnpm ui:build") {
+        return { stdout: "", stderr: "", code: 0 };
+      }
+      if (key === "pnpm lint") {
+        lintEnv.push(options?.env ?? {});
+        return { stdout: "", stderr: "", code: 0 };
+      }
+      if (
+        key.startsWith(`git -C ${tempDir} worktree remove --force /tmp/`) &&
+        preflightPrefixPattern.test(key)
+      ) {
+        return { stdout: "", stderr: "", code: 0 };
+      }
+      if (key === `git -C ${tempDir} worktree prune`) {
+        return { stdout: "", stderr: "", code: 0 };
+      }
+      if (key === `git -C ${tempDir} rebase ${upstreamSha}`) {
+        return { stdout: "", stderr: "", code: 0 };
+      }
+      if (key === doctorCommand) {
+        return { stdout: "", stderr: "", code: 0 };
+      }
+      return { stdout: "", stderr: "", code: 0 };
+    };
+
+    const result = await withEnvAsync({ OPENCLAW_UPDATE_PREFLIGHT_LINT: "1" }, async () =>
+      runWithCommand(runCommand, { channel: "dev" }),
+    );
+
+    expect(result.status).toBe("ok");
+    expect(calls).toContain("pnpm lint");
+    expect(lintEnv).toHaveLength(1);
+    expect(lintEnv[0]).toMatchObject({
+      OPENCLAW_LOCAL_CHECK: "1",
+      OPENCLAW_LOCAL_CHECK_MODE: "throttled",
+      OPENCLAW_OXLINT_SHARDS_SERIAL: "1",
+    });
+  });
+
   it("retries windows pnpm git installs with --ignore-scripts for dev updates", async () => {
     await setupGitPackageManagerFixture();
     const calls: string[] = [];
diff --git a/src/infra/update-runner.ts b/src/infra/update-runner.ts
index 8fc4410bb31..1387502622c 100644
--- a/src/infra/update-runner.ts
+++ b/src/infra/update-runner.ts
@@ -176,6 +176,12 @@ const PREFLIGHT_WORKTREE_DIRNAME = process.platform === "win32" ? "wt" : "worktr
 const PREFLIGHT_CLEANUP_TIMEOUT_MS = 60_000;
 const WINDOWS_PREFLIGHT_BASE_DIR = "ocu";
 const WINDOWS_BUILD_MAX_OLD_SPACE_MB = 4096;
+const DEV_PREFLIGHT_LINT_ENV: NodeJS.ProcessEnv = {
+  OPENCLAW_LOCAL_CHECK: "1",
+  OPENCLAW_LOCAL_CHECK_MODE: "throttled",
+  OPENCLAW_OXLINT_SHARDS_SERIAL: "1",
+};
+const DEV_PREFLIGHT_LINT_OPT_IN_ENV = "OPENCLAW_UPDATE_PREFLIGHT_LINT";
 
 function normalizeDir(value?: string | null) {
   if (!value) {
@@ -566,8 +572,16 @@ function mergeCommandEnvironments(
   };
 }
 
-function shouldRunDevPreflightLint(): boolean {
-  return process.platform !== "win32";
+function shouldRunDevPreflightLint(env: NodeJS.ProcessEnv = process.env): boolean {
+  const value = env[DEV_PREFLIGHT_LINT_OPT_IN_ENV]?.trim().toLowerCase();
+  return value === "1" || value === "true";
+}
+
+function resolveDevPreflightLintEnv(env: NodeJS.ProcessEnv | undefined): NodeJS.ProcessEnv {
+  return {
+    ...env,
+    ...DEV_PREFLIGHT_LINT_ENV,
+  };
 }
 
 function normalizeFallbackFailureReason(stepName: string): NonNullable<UpdateRunResult["reason"]> {
@@ -1042,7 +1056,7 @@ export async function runGatewayUpdate(opts: UpdateRunnerOptions = {}): Promise<
                 `preflight lint (${shortSha})`,
                 managerScriptArgs(manager.manager, "lint"),
                 worktreeDir,
-                manager.env,
+                resolveDevPreflightLintEnv(manager.env),
               ),
             );
             steps.push(lintStep);
diff --git a/test/scripts/run-oxlint.test.ts b/test/scripts/run-oxlint.test.ts
index 319dd3d3203..d440fc027c8 100644
--- a/test/scripts/run-oxlint.test.ts
+++ b/test/scripts/run-oxlint.test.ts
@@ -34,6 +34,13 @@ describe("run-oxlint", () => {
     expect(shardedLintRunner).toContain('OPENCLAW_OXLINT_SKIP_PREPARE: "1"');
   });
 
+  it("lets dev update preflight run oxlint shards serially", () => {
+    const shardedLintRunner = readFileSync("scripts/run-oxlint-shards.mjs", "utf8");
+
+    expect(shardedLintRunner).toContain("OPENCLAW_OXLINT_SHARDS_SERIAL");
+    expect(shardedLintRunner).toContain("runShardsSerial");
+  });
+
   it("filters tracked targets missing from sparse checkouts", () => {
     const result = filterSparseMissingOxlintTargets(
       ["--tsconfig", "config/tsconfig/oxlint.core.json", "src", "ui", "packages", "--threads=1"],