fix: enable native require fast path on Windows for bundled plugins (#74173)

Removes the win32 exclusion from supportsNativeJitiRuntime() and adds { allowWindows: true } to all tryNativeRequireJavaScriptModule call sites, so bundled plugin modules use native require() instead of Jiti on Windows. Also adds an attempted-load counter to the debug timing log and a changelog entry.

Fixes #68656

Co-authored-by: Galin Iliev <galiniliev@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -315,6 +315,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 - Auth/device pairing: bound bootstrap handoff token issuance, redemption, and approved pairing baselines to the documented per-role scope allowlist, so bootstrap approvals cannot persistently grant `operator.admin`, `operator.pairing`, or `node.exec` scopes. Thanks @eleqtrizit.
 - Providers/GitHub Copilot: support the GUI/RPC wizard device-code auth flow so onboarding from non-TTY clients (gateway RPC bridge, GUI wizards) completes instead of returning empty profiles. Dangerous-state handling now distinguishes `access_denied` and `expired_token` from transport errors. (#73290) Thanks @indierawk2k2.
 - Installer/Linux: warn before switching an unwritable npm global prefix to `~/.npm-global`, then tell users to run future global updates with `npm i -g openclaw@latest` without `sudo` so npm keeps using the redirected user prefix. Fixes #44365; carries forward #50479. Thanks @Sayeem3051.
+- Gateway/plugins: enable the native `require()` fast path on Windows for bundled plugin modules so plugin loading uses `require()` instead of Jiti's transform pipeline, reducing startup from ~39s to ~2s on typical 6-plugin setups. Fixes #68656. (#74173) Thanks @galiniliev.
 
 ## 2026.4.27
 

src/plugins/doctor-contract-registry.ts

@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ function getJiti(modulePath: string) {
 }
 
 function loadPluginDoctorContractModule(modulePath: string): PluginDoctorContractModule {
-  const nativeModule = tryNativeRequireJavaScriptModule(modulePath);
+  const nativeModule = tryNativeRequireJavaScriptModule(modulePath, { allowWindows: true });
   if (nativeModule.ok) {
     return nativeModule.moduleExport as PluginDoctorContractModule;
   }

src/plugins/jiti-loader-cache.test.ts

@@ -208,13 +208,14 @@ describe("getCachedPluginJitiLoader", () => {
     const jitiLoader = vi.fn();
     const createJiti = vi.fn(() => jitiLoader);
     vi.doMock("jiti", () => ({ createJiti }));
+    const nativeStub = vi.fn((target: string) => ({
+      ok: true as const,
+      moduleExport: { loadedFrom: target },
+    }));
     vi.doMock("./native-module-require.js", () => ({
       isJavaScriptModulePath: (p: string) =>
         p.endsWith(".js") || p.endsWith(".mjs") || p.endsWith(".cjs"),
-      tryNativeRequireJavaScriptModule: (target: string) => ({
-        ok: true,
-        moduleExport: { loadedFrom: target },
-      }),
+      tryNativeRequireJavaScriptModule: nativeStub,
     }));
     const { getCachedPluginJitiLoader } = await importFreshModule<
       typeof import("./jiti-loader-cache.js")
@@ -233,6 +234,10 @@ describe("getCachedPluginJitiLoader", () => {
     // jiti is created eagerly, but its loader must NOT be invoked for .js
     // targets that `tryNativeRequireJavaScriptModule` resolves.
     expect(jitiLoader).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    // allowWindows must be passed so the native fast path works on Windows too.
+    expect(nativeStub).toHaveBeenCalledWith("/repo/dist/extensions/demo/api.js", {
+      allowWindows: true,
+    });
   });
 
   it("falls back to jiti when the native-require helper declines", async () => {

src/plugins/jiti-loader-cache.ts

@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ export function getCachedPluginJitiLoader(params: {
   // async-module fallbacks `tryNativeRequireJavaScriptModule` declines to
   // handle.
   const loader = ((target: string, ...rest: unknown[]) => {
-    const native = tryNativeRequireJavaScriptModule(target);
+    const native = tryNativeRequireJavaScriptModule(target, { allowWindows: true });
     if (native.ok) {
       return native.moduleExport;
     }

src/plugins/loader.ts

@@ -1316,6 +1316,8 @@ export function loadOpenClawPlugins(options: PluginLoadOptions = {}): PluginRegi
     let selectedMemoryPluginId: string | null = null;
     let memorySlotMatched = false;
     const dreamingEngineId = resolveDreamingSidecarEngineId({ cfg, memorySlot });
+    const pluginLoadStartMs = performance.now();
+    let pluginLoadAttemptCount = 0;
 
     for (const candidate of orderedCandidates) {
       const manifestRecord = manifestByRoot.get(candidate.rootDir);
@@ -1702,6 +1704,8 @@ export function loadOpenClawPlugins(options: PluginLoadOptions = {}): PluginRegi
         // Track the plugin as imported once module evaluation begins. Top-level
         // code may have already executed even if evaluation later throws.
         recordImportedPluginId(record.id);
+        pluginLoadAttemptCount++;
+        logger.debug?.(`[plugins] loading ${record.id} from ${safeSource}`);
         mod = withProfile(
           { pluginId: record.id, source: safeSource },
           registrationMode,
@@ -2065,6 +2069,13 @@ export function loadOpenClawPlugins(options: PluginLoadOptions = {}): PluginRegi
       }
     }
 
+    const pluginLoadElapsedMs = performance.now() - pluginLoadStartMs;
+    if (pluginLoadAttemptCount > 0) {
+      logger.debug?.(
+        `[plugins] loaded ${registry.plugins.length} plugin(s) (${pluginLoadAttemptCount} attempted) in ${pluginLoadElapsedMs.toFixed(1)}ms`,
+      );
+    }
+
     // Scoped snapshot loads may intentionally omit the configured memory plugin, so only
     // emit the missing-memory diagnostic for full registry loads.
     if (!onlyPluginIdSet && typeof memorySlot === "string" && !memorySlotMatched) {

src/plugins/public-surface-loader.test.ts

@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ afterEach(() => {
 });
 
 describe("bundled plugin public surface loader", () => {
-  it("uses transpiled Jiti import for Windows dist public artifact loads", async () => {
+  it("uses native Jiti import for Windows dist public artifact loads", async () => {
     const createJiti = vi.fn(() => vi.fn(() => ({ marker: "windows-dist-ok" })));
     vi.doMock("jiti", () => ({
       createJiti,
@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@ describe("bundled plugin public surface loader", () => {
       expect(createJiti).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
         expect.any(String),
         expect.objectContaining({
-          tryNative: false,
+          tryNative: true,
         }),
       );
     } finally {

src/plugins/sdk-alias.test.ts

@@ -952,7 +952,7 @@ describe("plugin sdk alias helpers", () => {
     }
   });
 
-  it("disables native Jiti loads on Windows for built JavaScript entries", () => {
+  it("enables native Jiti loads on Windows for built JavaScript entries", () => {
     const originalPlatform = process.platform;
     Object.defineProperty(process, "platform", {
       configurable: true,
@@ -960,9 +960,9 @@ describe("plugin sdk alias helpers", () => {
     });
 
     try {
-      expect(shouldPreferNativeJiti("/repo/dist/plugins/runtime/index.js")).toBe(false);
+      expect(shouldPreferNativeJiti("/repo/dist/plugins/runtime/index.js")).toBe(true);
       expect(shouldPreferNativeJiti(`/repo/${bundledDistPluginFile("browser", "index.js")}`)).toBe(
-        false,
+        true,
       );
     } finally {
       Object.defineProperty(process, "platform", {
@@ -972,7 +972,7 @@ describe("plugin sdk alias helpers", () => {
     }
   });
 
-  it("keeps plugin loader dist shortcuts on transpiled Jiti on Windows", () => {
+  it("keeps plugin loader dist shortcuts on native Jiti on Windows for JS entries", () => {
     const originalPlatform = process.platform;
     Object.defineProperty(process, "platform", {
       configurable: true,
@@ -984,7 +984,7 @@ describe("plugin sdk alias helpers", () => {
         resolvePluginLoaderJitiTryNative(`/repo/${bundledDistPluginFile("browser", "index.js")}`, {
           preferBuiltDist: true,
         }),
-      ).toBe(false);
+      ).toBe(true);
       expect(
         resolvePluginLoaderJitiTryNative(`/repo/${bundledDistPluginFile("browser", "helper.ts")}`, {
           preferBuiltDist: true,

src/plugins/sdk-alias.ts

@@ -695,7 +695,7 @@ export function buildPluginLoaderJitiOptions(aliasMap: Record<string, string>) {
 
 function supportsNativeJitiRuntime(): boolean {
   const versions = process.versions as { bun?: string };
-  return typeof versions.bun !== "string" && process.platform !== "win32";
+  return typeof versions.bun !== "string";
 }
 
 function isBundledPluginDistModulePath(modulePath: string): boolean {

src/test-utils/jiti-runtime.ts

@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
 export function shouldExpectNativeJitiForJavaScriptTestRuntime(): boolean {
-  return (
-    typeof (process.versions as { bun?: string }).bun !== "string" && process.platform !== "win32"
-  );
+  return typeof (process.versions as { bun?: string }).bun !== "string";
 }