diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 988b97f1972..3527559b715 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 - Agents/Anthropic: ignore non-positive Anthropic Messages token overrides and fail locally when no positive token budget remains, so invalid `max_tokens` values no longer reach the provider API. (#66664) thanks @jalehman
 - Agents/context engines: preserve prompt-only token counts, not full request totals, when deferred maintenance reuses after-turn runtime context so background compaction bookkeeping matches the active prompt window. (#66820) thanks @jalehman.
 - BlueBubbles/inbound: add a persistent file-backed GUID dedupe so MessagePoller webhook replays after BB Server restart or reconnect no longer cause the agent to re-reply to already-handled messages. (#19176, #12053, #66816) Thanks @omarshahine.
+- Gateway/tests: keep the built-in `imsg` agent alias regression on the stubbed iMessage path and harden shared gateway WS request helpers against reply-listener races so the alias contract no longer flakes in CI. Thanks @vincentkoc.
 - Secrets/plugins/status: align SecretRef inspect-vs-strict handling across plugin preload, read-only status/agents surfaces, and runtime auth paths so unresolved refs no longer crash read-only CLI flows while runtime-required non-env refs stay strict. (#66818) Thanks @joshavant.
 - Memory/dreaming: stop ordinary transcripts that merely quote the dream-diary prompt from being classified as internal dreaming runs and silently dropped from session recall ingestion. (#66852) Thanks @gumadeiras.
 - Telegram/documents: sanitize binary reply context and ZIP-like archive extraction so `.epub` and `.mobi` uploads can no longer leak raw binary into prompt context through reply metadata or archive-to-`text/plain` coercion. (#66877) Thanks @martinfrancois.
diff --git a/src/gateway/server.agent.gateway-server-agent-b.test.ts b/src/gateway/server.agent.gateway-server-agent-b.test.ts
index 8add6559e4b..67293eb25d1 100644
--- a/src/gateway/server.agent.gateway-server-agent-b.test.ts
+++ b/src/gateway/server.agent.gateway-server-agent-b.test.ts
@@ -225,6 +225,11 @@ describe("gateway server agent", () => {
 
   test("agent accepts built-in channel alias (imsg)", async () => {
     const registry = createRegistry([
+      {
+        pluginId: "imessage",
+        source: "test",
+        plugin: createStubChannelPlugin({ id: "imessage", label: "iMessage" }),
+      },
       {
         pluginId: "msteams",
         source: "test",
@@ -245,7 +250,9 @@ describe("gateway server agent", () => {
       idempotencyKey: "idem-agent-imsg",
     });
     expect(resIMessage.ok).toBe(true);
-
+    await vi.waitFor(() => {
+      expect(vi.mocked(agentCommand)).toHaveBeenCalled();
+    });
     expectAgentRoutingCall({ channel: "imessage", deliver: true, fromEnd: 1 });
   });
 
diff --git a/src/gateway/test-helpers.server.ts b/src/gateway/test-helpers.server.ts
index 90084ba9ee2..cff85371b1b 100644
--- a/src/gateway/test-helpers.server.ts
+++ b/src/gateway/test-helpers.server.ts
@@ -944,6 +944,14 @@ export async function connectReq(
       nonce: connectChallengeNonce,
     };
   })();
+  const isResponseForId = (o: unknown): boolean => {
+    if (!o || typeof o !== "object" || Array.isArray(o)) {
+      return false;
+    }
+    const rec = o as Record<string, unknown>;
+    return rec.type === "res" && rec.id === id;
+  };
+  const responsePromise = onceMessage<ConnectResponse>(ws, isResponseForId, opts?.timeoutMs);
   ws.send(
     JSON.stringify({
       type: "req",
@@ -971,14 +979,7 @@ export async function connectReq(
       },
     }),
   );
-  const isResponseForId = (o: unknown): boolean => {
-    if (!o || typeof o !== "object" || Array.isArray(o)) {
-      return false;
-    }
-    const rec = o as Record<string, unknown>;
-    return rec.type === "res" && rec.id === id;
-  };
-  return await onceMessage<ConnectResponse>(ws, isResponseForId, opts?.timeoutMs);
+  return await responsePromise;
 }
 
 export async function connectOk(ws: WebSocket, opts?: Parameters<typeof connectReq>[1]) {
@@ -1042,8 +1043,7 @@ export async function rpcReq<T extends Record<string, unknown>>(
   clearSessionStoreCacheForTest();
   const { randomUUID } = await import("node:crypto");
   const id = randomUUID();
-  ws.send(JSON.stringify({ type: "req", id, method, params }));
-  return await onceMessage<{
+  const responsePromise = onceMessage<{
     type: "res";
     id: string;
     ok: boolean;
@@ -1060,6 +1060,8 @@ export async function rpcReq<T extends Record<string, unknown>>(
     },
     timeoutMs,
   );
+  ws.send(JSON.stringify({ type: "req", id, method, params }));
+  return await responsePromise;
 }
 
 export async function waitForSystemEvent(timeoutMs = 2000) {