diff --git a/apps/macos/Sources/OpenClaw/PortGuardian.swift b/apps/macos/Sources/OpenClaw/PortGuardian.swift
index 383065a8d114..c7db8ba2054f 100644
--- a/apps/macos/Sources/OpenClaw/PortGuardian.swift
+++ b/apps/macos/Sources/OpenClaw/PortGuardian.swift
@@ -534,6 +534,7 @@ actor PortGuardian {
             {
                 return true
             }
+            if self.isNodeOpenClawGatewayCommand(full) { return true }
             // If args are unavailable, treat a CLI listener as expected.
             if cmd.contains("openclaw"), full == cmd { return true }
             return false
@@ -542,6 +543,30 @@ actor PortGuardian {
         }
     }
 
+    private static func isNodeOpenClawGatewayCommand(_ fullCommand: String) -> Bool {
+        let tokens = fullCommand
+            .split(whereSeparator: \.isWhitespace)
+            .map { self.unquoteCommandToken(String($0)) }
+        guard tokens.count >= 3 else { return false }
+        guard URL(fileURLWithPath: tokens[0]).lastPathComponent.lowercased() == "node" else {
+            return false
+        }
+        return self.isOpenClawDistEntrypointToken(tokens[1])
+            && tokens[2].lowercased() == "gateway"
+    }
+
+    private static func isOpenClawDistEntrypointToken(_ token: String) -> Bool {
+        let normalized = token.replacingOccurrences(of: "\\", with: "/").lowercased()
+        guard normalized.hasSuffix("/dist/index.js") else { return false }
+        return normalized
+            .split(separator: "/", omittingEmptySubsequences: true)
+            .contains("openclaw")
+    }
+
+    private static func unquoteCommandToken(_ token: String) -> String {
+        token.trimmingCharacters(in: CharacterSet(charactersIn: "\"'"))
+    }
+
     private func probeGatewayHealthIfNeeded(
         port: Int,
         mode: AppState.ConnectionMode,
diff --git a/apps/macos/Tests/OpenClawIPCTests/PortGuardianIsExpectedTests.swift b/apps/macos/Tests/OpenClawIPCTests/PortGuardianIsExpectedTests.swift
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..a95cbd17303f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/macos/Tests/OpenClawIPCTests/PortGuardianIsExpectedTests.swift
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+import Foundation
+import Testing
+@testable import OpenClaw
+
+struct PortGuardianIsExpectedTests {
+    @Test func `local mode preserves launchd node dist gateway command`() {
+        let fullCommand = """
+        /opt/homebrew/bin/node /opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/openclaw/dist/index.js gateway --port 18789 --bind loopback
+        """
+
+        #expect(PortGuardian._testIsExpected(
+            command: "node",
+            fullCommand: fullCommand,
+            port: 18789,
+            mode: .local))
+    }
+
+    @Test func `local mode preserves git checkout node dist gateway command`() {
+        let fullCommand = """
+        /usr/local/bin/node /Users/dev/Projects/openclaw/dist/index.js gateway --port 18789
+        """
+
+        #expect(PortGuardian._testIsExpected(
+            command: "node",
+            fullCommand: fullCommand,
+            port: 18789,
+            mode: .local))
+    }
+
+    @Test func `local mode rejects similarly named node project`() {
+        #expect(!PortGuardian._testIsExpected(
+            command: "node",
+            fullCommand: "/usr/local/bin/node /tmp/openclaw-tools/dist/index.js gateway --port 18789",
+            port: 18789,
+            mode: .local))
+    }
+
+    @Test func `local mode rejects gateway appearing after another node argument`() {
+        #expect(!PortGuardian._testIsExpected(
+            command: "node",
+            fullCommand: "/usr/local/bin/node --inspect /tmp/openclaw/dist/index.js gateway --port 18789",
+            port: 18789,
+            mode: .local))
+    }
+
+    @Test func `local mode rejects node dist entrypoint without gateway subcommand`() {
+        #expect(!PortGuardian._testIsExpected(
+            command: "node",
+            fullCommand: "/opt/homebrew/bin/node /opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/openclaw/dist/index.js doctor",
+            port: 18789,
+            mode: .local))
+    }
+}