fix(plugins): preserve empty provider scopes

src/plugins/loader.runtime-registry.test.ts

@@ -55,6 +55,12 @@ describe("getCompatibleActivePluginRegistry", () => {
         onlyPluginIds: ["demo"],
       }),
     ).toBeUndefined();
+    expect(
+      __testing.getCompatibleActivePluginRegistry({
+        ...loadOptions,
+        onlyPluginIds: [],
+      }),
+    ).toBeUndefined();
     expect(
       __testing.getCompatibleActivePluginRegistry({
         ...loadOptions,
@@ -183,6 +189,25 @@ describe("resolveRuntimePluginRegistry", () => {
 
     expect(resolveRuntimePluginRegistry()).toBe(registry);
   });
+
+  it("does not treat an explicit empty plugin scope as the active runtime", () => {
+    const registry = createEmptyPluginRegistry();
+    const loadOptions = {
+      config: {
+        plugins: {
+          allow: ["demo"],
+          load: { paths: ["/tmp/demo.js"] },
+        },
+      },
+      workspaceDir: "/tmp/workspace-a",
+    };
+    const { cacheKey } = __testing.resolvePluginLoadCacheContext(loadOptions);
+    setActivePluginRegistry(registry, cacheKey);
+
+    const scopedEmpty = resolveRuntimePluginRegistry({ ...loadOptions, onlyPluginIds: [] });
+    expect(scopedEmpty).not.toBe(registry);
+    expect(scopedEmpty?.plugins).toEqual([]);
+  });
 });
 
 describe("clearPluginLoaderCache", () => {

src/plugins/loader.test.ts

@@ -1431,6 +1431,34 @@ module.exports = { id: "throws-after-import", register() {} };`,
     run();
   });
 
+  it("treats an explicit empty plugin scope as scoped-empty instead of unscoped", () => {
+    useNoBundledPlugins();
+    const allowed = writePlugin({
+      id: "allowed-empty-scope",
+      filename: "allowed-empty-scope.cjs",
+      body: `module.exports = { id: "allowed-empty-scope", register() {} };`,
+    });
+    const extra = writePlugin({
+      id: "extra-empty-scope",
+      filename: "extra-empty-scope.cjs",
+      body: `module.exports = { id: "extra-empty-scope", register() {} };`,
+    });
+
+    const registry = loadOpenClawPlugins({
+      cache: false,
+      activate: false,
+      config: {
+        plugins: {
+          load: { paths: [allowed.file, extra.file] },
+          allow: ["allowed-empty-scope", "extra-empty-scope"],
+        },
+      },
+      onlyPluginIds: [],
+    });
+
+    expect(registry.plugins).toEqual([]);
+  });
+
   it("only publishes plugin commands to the global registry during activating loads", async () => {
     useNoBundledPlugins();
     const plugin = writePlugin({

src/plugins/loader.ts

@@ -358,7 +358,8 @@ function buildCacheKey(params: {
       },
     ]),
   );
-  const scopeKey = JSON.stringify(params.onlyPluginIds ?? []);
+  const scopeKey =
+    params.onlyPluginIds === undefined ? "__unscoped__" : JSON.stringify(params.onlyPluginIds);
   const setupOnlyKey = params.includeSetupOnlyChannelPlugins === true ? "setup-only" : "runtime";
   const startupChannelMode =
     params.preferSetupRuntimeForChannelPlugins === true ? "prefer-setup" : "full";
@@ -378,7 +379,7 @@ function normalizeScopedPluginIds(ids?: string[]): string[] | undefined {
     return undefined;
   }
   const normalized = Array.from(new Set(ids.map((id) => id.trim()).filter(Boolean))).toSorted();
-  return normalized.length > 0 ? normalized : undefined;
+  return normalized;
 }
 
 function matchesScopedPluginRequest(params: {
@@ -442,19 +443,19 @@ function buildActivationMetadataHash(params: {
 }
 
 function hasExplicitCompatibilityInputs(options: PluginLoadOptions): boolean {
-  return Boolean(
+  return (
     options.config !== undefined ||
     options.activationSourceConfig !== undefined ||
     options.autoEnabledReasons !== undefined ||
     options.workspaceDir !== undefined ||
     options.env !== undefined ||
-    options.onlyPluginIds?.length ||
+    options.onlyPluginIds !== undefined ||
     options.runtimeOptions !== undefined ||
     options.pluginSdkResolution !== undefined ||
     options.coreGatewayHandlers !== undefined ||
     options.includeSetupOnlyChannelPlugins === true ||
     options.preferSetupRuntimeForChannelPlugins === true ||
-    options.loadModules === false,
+    options.loadModules === false
   );
 }
 

src/plugins/runtime/metadata-registry-loader.ts

@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ export function loadPluginMetadataRegistrySnapshot(options?: {
       activate: false,
       mode: "validate",
       loadModules: options?.loadModules,
-      ...(options?.onlyPluginIds?.length ? { onlyPluginIds: options.onlyPluginIds } : {}),
+      ...(options?.onlyPluginIds !== undefined ? { onlyPluginIds: options.onlyPluginIds } : {}),
     }),
   );
 }