fix(cli): trim plugin preloads for setup-safe commands

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -64,6 +64,9 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 - CLI/gateway: keep diagnostic probes from creating first-time read-only device
   pairings, while still reusing cached device tokens for detailed read probes.
   Fixes #71766. Thanks @SunboZ.
+- CLI/plugins: keep `message` startup, `channels logs`, `agents delete`, and
+  `agents set-identity` off broad plugin preloading; message delivery still
+  loads plugins when the action actually runs.
 - CLI/agents: keep `agents bind`, `agents unbind`, and `agents bindings` on
   setup-safe channel metadata paths so they do not preload bundled plugin
   runtimes or stage runtime dependencies. Fixes #71743.

src/cli/command-catalog.ts

@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ export const cliCommandCatalog: readonly CliCommandCatalogEntry[] = [
     policy: { bypassConfigGuard: true, loadPlugins: "never", ensureCliPath: false },
   },
   { commandPath: ["agent"], policy: { loadPlugins: "always" } },
-  { commandPath: ["message"], policy: { loadPlugins: "always" } },
+  { commandPath: ["message"], policy: { loadPlugins: "never" } },
   { commandPath: ["channels"], policy: { loadPlugins: "always" } },
   { commandPath: ["directory"], policy: { loadPlugins: "always" } },
   { commandPath: ["agents"], policy: { loadPlugins: "always" } },
@@ -56,6 +56,16 @@ export const cliCommandCatalog: readonly CliCommandCatalogEntry[] = [
     exact: true,
     policy: { loadPlugins: "never" },
   },
+  {
+    commandPath: ["agents", "set-identity"],
+    exact: true,
+    policy: { loadPlugins: "never" },
+  },
+  {
+    commandPath: ["agents", "delete"],
+    exact: true,
+    policy: { loadPlugins: "never" },
+  },
   { commandPath: ["configure"], policy: { bypassConfigGuard: true, loadPlugins: "never" } },
   {
     commandPath: ["status"],
@@ -168,4 +178,9 @@ export const cliCommandCatalog: readonly CliCommandCatalogEntry[] = [
     policy: { loadPlugins: "never" },
     route: { id: "channels-list" },
   },
+  {
+    commandPath: ["channels", "logs"],
+    exact: true,
+    policy: { loadPlugins: "never" },
+  },
 ];

src/cli/command-path-policy.test.ts

@@ -41,13 +41,22 @@ describe("command-path-policy", () => {
       hideBanner: false,
       ensureCliPath: true,
     });
+    expect(resolveCliCommandPathPolicy(["channels", "logs"])).toEqual({
+      bypassConfigGuard: false,
+      routeConfigGuard: "never",
+      loadPlugins: "never",
+      hideBanner: false,
+      ensureCliPath: true,
+    });
   });
 
-  it("keeps agent binding commands on config-only startup", () => {
+  it("keeps config-only agent commands on config-only startup", () => {
     for (const commandPath of [
       ["agents", "bind"],
       ["agents", "bindings"],
       ["agents", "unbind"],
+      ["agents", "set-identity"],
+      ["agents", "delete"],
     ]) {
       expect(resolveCliCommandPathPolicy(commandPath)).toEqual({
         bypassConfigGuard: false,

src/cli/command-startup-policy.test.ts

@@ -74,6 +74,24 @@ describe("command-startup-policy", () => {
         jsonOutputMode: false,
       }),
     ).toBe(false);
+    expect(
+      shouldLoadPluginsForCommandPath({
+        commandPath: ["channels", "logs"],
+        jsonOutputMode: false,
+      }),
+    ).toBe(false);
+    expect(
+      shouldLoadPluginsForCommandPath({
+        commandPath: ["message", "send"],
+        jsonOutputMode: false,
+      }),
+    ).toBe(false);
+    expect(
+      shouldLoadPluginsForCommandPath({
+        commandPath: ["message", "send"],
+        jsonOutputMode: true,
+      }),
+    ).toBe(false);
     expect(
       shouldLoadPluginsForCommandPath({
         commandPath: ["agents", "list"],
@@ -107,6 +125,18 @@ describe("command-startup-policy", () => {
         jsonOutputMode: false,
       }),
     ).toBe(false);
+    expect(
+      shouldLoadPluginsForCommandPath({
+        commandPath: ["agents", "set-identity"],
+        jsonOutputMode: false,
+      }),
+    ).toBe(false);
+    expect(
+      shouldLoadPluginsForCommandPath({
+        commandPath: ["agents", "delete"],
+        jsonOutputMode: true,
+      }),
+    ).toBe(false);
   });
 
   it("matches banner suppression policy", () => {

src/cli/program/message/helpers.test.ts

@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ vi.mock("../../../globals.js", () => ({
 vi.mock("../../plugin-registry.js", () => ({
   ensurePluginRegistryLoaded: vi.fn(),
 }));
+const { ensurePluginRegistryLoaded } = await import("../../plugin-registry.js");
 
 const hasHooksMock = vi.fn((_hookName: string) => false);
 const runGatewayStopMock = vi.fn(
@@ -95,6 +96,7 @@ describe("runMessageAction", () => {
   it("calls exit(0) after successful message delivery", async () => {
     await runSendAction();
 
+    expect(ensurePluginRegistryLoaded).toHaveBeenCalledOnce();
     expect(exitMock).toHaveBeenCalledOnce();
     expect(exitMock).toHaveBeenCalledWith(0);
   });

src/cli/program/preaction.test.ts

@@ -122,6 +122,7 @@ describe("registerPreActionHooks", () => {
       .command("agent")
       .requiredOption("-m, --message <text>")
       .option("--local")
+      .option("--json")
       .action(() => {});
     program
       .command("status")
@@ -214,15 +215,15 @@ describe("registerPreActionHooks", () => {
 
     vi.clearAllMocks();
     await runPreAction({
-      parseArgv: ["message", "send"],
-      processArgv: ["node", "openclaw", "message", "send"],
+      parseArgv: ["agents", "list"],
+      processArgv: ["node", "openclaw", "agents", "list"],
     });
 
     expect(setVerboseMock).toHaveBeenCalledWith(false);
     expect(process.env.NODE_NO_WARNINGS).toBe("1");
     expect(ensureConfigReadyMock).toHaveBeenCalledWith({
       runtime: runtimeMock,
-      commandPath: ["message", "send"],
+      commandPath: ["agents", "list"],
     });
     expect(ensurePluginRegistryLoadedMock).toHaveBeenCalledWith({ scope: "all" });
     processTitleSetSpy.mockRestore();
@@ -393,8 +394,8 @@ describe("registerPreActionHooks", () => {
 
   it("routes logs to stderr in --json mode so stdout stays clean", async () => {
     await runPreAction({
-      parseArgv: ["message", "send"],
-      processArgv: ["node", "openclaw", "message", "send", "--json"],
+      parseArgv: ["agent"],
+      processArgv: ["node", "openclaw", "agent", "--message", "hi", "--json"],
     });
 
     expect(routeLogsToStderrMock).toHaveBeenCalledOnce();
@@ -473,8 +474,8 @@ describe("registerPreActionHooks", () => {
     });
 
     await runPreAction({
-      parseArgv: ["message", "send"],
-      processArgv: ["node", "openclaw", "message", "send", "--json"],
+      parseArgv: ["agent"],
+      processArgv: ["node", "openclaw", "agent", "--message", "hi", "--json"],
     });
 
     expect(ensurePluginRegistryLoadedMock).toHaveBeenCalled();

src/commands/channels.logs.test.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,84 @@
+import fs from "node:fs/promises";
+import os from "node:os";
+import path from "node:path";
+import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
+import { setLoggerOverride } from "../logging.js";
+import { createTestRuntime } from "./test-runtime-config-helpers.js";
+
+const pluginRegistryMocks = vi.hoisted(() => ({
+  loadPluginRegistrySnapshot: vi.fn(() => ({ plugins: [] })),
+  listPluginContributionIds: vi.fn(() => ["external-chat"]),
+}));
+
+vi.mock("../plugins/plugin-registry.js", () => ({
+  loadPluginRegistrySnapshot: pluginRegistryMocks.loadPluginRegistrySnapshot,
+  listPluginContributionIds: pluginRegistryMocks.listPluginContributionIds,
+}));
+
+vi.mock("../channels/plugins/index.js", () => ({
+  listChannelPlugins: vi.fn(() => {
+    throw new Error("channels logs must not load channel plugins");
+  }),
+}));
+
+import { channelsLogsCommand } from "./channels/logs.js";
+
+const runtime = createTestRuntime();
+
+function logLine(params: { module: string; message: string }) {
+  return JSON.stringify({
+    time: "2026-04-25T12:00:00.000Z",
+    0: params.message,
+    _meta: {
+      logLevelName: "INFO",
+      name: JSON.stringify({ module: params.module }),
+    },
+  });
+}
+
+describe("channelsLogsCommand", () => {
+  let tempDir: string;
+  let logPath: string;
+
+  beforeEach(async () => {
+    tempDir = await fs.mkdtemp(path.join(os.tmpdir(), "openclaw-channels-logs-"));
+    logPath = path.join(tempDir, "openclaw.log");
+    setLoggerOverride({ file: logPath });
+    runtime.log.mockClear();
+    runtime.error.mockClear();
+    runtime.exit.mockClear();
+    pluginRegistryMocks.loadPluginRegistrySnapshot.mockClear();
+    pluginRegistryMocks.listPluginContributionIds.mockClear();
+  });
+
+  afterEach(async () => {
+    setLoggerOverride(null);
+    await fs.rm(tempDir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  });
+
+  it("filters external plugin channel logs from the persisted manifest registry", async () => {
+    await fs.writeFile(
+      logPath,
+      [
+        logLine({ module: "gateway/channels/external-chat/send", message: "external sent" }),
+        logLine({ module: "gateway/channels/slack/send", message: "slack sent" }),
+      ].join("\n"),
+    );
+
+    await channelsLogsCommand({ channel: "external-chat", json: true }, runtime);
+
+    expect(pluginRegistryMocks.loadPluginRegistrySnapshot).toHaveBeenCalledOnce();
+    expect(pluginRegistryMocks.listPluginContributionIds).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      expect.objectContaining({
+        contribution: "channels",
+        includeDisabled: true,
+      }),
+    );
+    const payload = JSON.parse(String(runtime.log.mock.calls[0]?.[0])) as {
+      channel: string;
+      lines: Array<{ message: string }>;
+    };
+    expect(payload.channel).toBe("external-chat");
+    expect(payload.lines.map((line) => line.message)).toEqual(["external sent"]);
+  });
+});

src/commands/channels/logs.ts

@@ -1,7 +1,11 @@
 import fs from "node:fs/promises";
-import { listChannelPlugins } from "../../channels/plugins/index.js";
+import { normalizeChannelId as normalizeBundledChannelId } from "../../channels/registry.js";
 import { getResolvedLoggerSettings } from "../../logging.js";
 import { parseLogLine } from "../../logging/parse-log-line.js";
+import {
+  listPluginContributionIds,
+  loadPluginRegistrySnapshot,
+} from "../../plugins/plugin-registry.js";
 import { defaultRuntime, type RuntimeEnv, writeRuntimeJson } from "../../runtime.js";
 import { normalizeLowercaseStringOrEmpty } from "../../shared/string-coerce.js";
 import { theme } from "../../terminal/theme.js";
@@ -17,15 +21,29 @@ type LogLine = ReturnType<typeof parseLogLine>;
 const DEFAULT_LIMIT = 200;
 const MAX_BYTES = 1_000_000;
 
-const getChannelSet = () =>
-  new Set<string>([...listChannelPlugins().map((plugin) => plugin.id), "all"]);
+function listManifestChannelIds(): Set<string> {
+  const index = loadPluginRegistrySnapshot({
+    env: process.env,
+  });
+  return new Set(
+    listPluginContributionIds({
+      index,
+      contribution: "channels",
+      includeDisabled: true,
+    }),
+  );
+}
 
 function parseChannelFilter(raw?: string) {
   const trimmed = normalizeLowercaseStringOrEmpty(raw);
-  if (!trimmed) {
+  if (!trimmed || trimmed === "all") {
     return "all";
   }
-  return getChannelSet().has(trimmed) ? trimmed : "all";
+  const bundled = normalizeBundledChannelId(trimmed);
+  if (bundled) {
+    return bundled;
+  }
+  return listManifestChannelIds().has(trimmed) ? trimmed : "all";
 }
 
 function matchesChannel(line: NonNullable<LogLine>, channel: string) {