fix(gateway): keep watch restarts in-process

scripts/watch-node.mjs

@@ -44,6 +44,9 @@ export async function runWatchMain(params = {}) {
   const watchSession = `${deps.now()}-${deps.process.pid}`;
   childEnv.OPENCLAW_WATCH_MODE = "1";
   childEnv.OPENCLAW_WATCH_SESSION = watchSession;
+  // The watcher owns process restarts; keep SIGUSR1/config reloads in-process
+  // so inherited launchd/systemd markers do not make the child exit and stall.
+  childEnv.OPENCLAW_NO_RESPAWN = "1";
   if (deps.args.length > 0) {
     childEnv.OPENCLAW_WATCH_COMMAND = deps.args.join(" ");
   }

src/infra/process-respawn.test.ts

@@ -72,6 +72,19 @@ describe("restartGatewayProcessWithFreshPid", () => {
     expect(spawnMock).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
   });
 
+  it("keeps OPENCLAW_NO_RESPAWN ahead of inherited supervisor hints", () => {
+    clearSupervisorHints();
+    setPlatform("darwin");
+    process.env.OPENCLAW_NO_RESPAWN = "1";
+    process.env.LAUNCH_JOB_LABEL = "ai.openclaw.gateway";
+
+    const result = restartGatewayProcessWithFreshPid();
+
+    expect(result).toEqual({ mode: "disabled" });
+    expect(triggerOpenClawRestartMock).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    expect(spawnMock).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
+
   it("returns supervised when launchd hints are present on macOS (no kickstart)", () => {
     clearSupervisorHints();
     expectLaunchdSupervisedWithoutKickstart({ launchJobLabel: "ai.openclaw.gateway" });

src/infra/watch-node.test.ts

@@ -76,6 +76,7 @@ describe("watch-node script", () => {
           PATH: "/usr/bin",
           OPENCLAW_WATCH_MODE: "1",
           OPENCLAW_WATCH_SESSION: "1700000000000-4242",
+          OPENCLAW_NO_RESPAWN: "1",
           OPENCLAW_WATCH_COMMAND: "gateway --force",
         }),
       }),
@@ -146,6 +147,38 @@ describe("watch-node script", () => {
     expect(fakeProcess.listenerCount("SIGTERM")).toBe(0);
   });
 
+  it("forces no-respawn for watch children even when supervisor hints are inherited", async () => {
+    const { child, spawn, watcher, createWatcher, fakeProcess } = createWatchHarness();
+
+    const runPromise = runWatchMain({
+      args: ["gateway", "--force"],
+      createWatcher,
+      env: {
+        LAUNCH_JOB_LABEL: "ai.openclaw.gateway",
+        PATH: "/usr/bin",
+      },
+      process: fakeProcess,
+      spawn,
+    });
+
+    expect(spawn).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      "/usr/local/bin/node",
+      ["scripts/run-node.mjs", "gateway", "--force"],
+      expect.objectContaining({
+        env: expect.objectContaining({
+          LAUNCH_JOB_LABEL: "ai.openclaw.gateway",
+          OPENCLAW_NO_RESPAWN: "1",
+        }),
+      }),
+    );
+
+    fakeProcess.emit("SIGINT");
+    const exitCode = await runPromise;
+    expect(exitCode).toBe(130);
+    expect(child.kill).toHaveBeenCalledWith("SIGTERM");
+    expect(watcher.close).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+  });
+
   it("ignores test-only changes and restarts on non-test source changes", async () => {
     const childA = Object.assign(new EventEmitter(), {
       kill: vi.fn(function () {