diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 0c6453204a9..4465b3ef515 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -83,6 +83,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 - Plugins/update: treat OpenClaw CalVer correction versions like `2026.5.3-1` as satisfying base plugin API ranges, so correction builds can install plugins that require the base runtime API. Fixes #77293. (#77450) Thanks @p3nchan.
 - Discord/Gateway startup: retry Discord READY waits with backoff, defer startup `sessions.list` and native approval readiness failures until sidecars recover, and preserve component-only Discord payloads when final reply scrubbing removes all text. (#77478) Thanks @NikolaFC.
 - CLI/launcher: forward termination signals to compile-cache respawn children, so killing a wrapper process no longer leaves the security audit worker orphaned. Fixes #77458. Thanks @jaikharbanda.
+- Plugins/registry: recover managed-npm external plugins from the owned npm root when a stale persisted registry would otherwise hide them after package-manager upgrades. Fixes #77266. Thanks @p3nchan.
 - fix(gateway): clamp unbound websocket auth scopes [AI]. (#77413) Thanks @pgondhi987.
 - Gate zalouser startup name matching [AI]. (#77411) Thanks @pgondhi987.
 - Active Memory: send a bounded latest-message search query to the recall worker so channel/runtime metadata does not become the memory search string. Fixes #65309. Thanks @joeykrug, @westley3601, @pimenov, and @tasi333.
diff --git a/src/plugins/plugin-registry-snapshot.test.ts b/src/plugins/plugin-registry-snapshot.test.ts
index 5f3087f62f5..eb019ab9eaf 100644
--- a/src/plugins/plugin-registry-snapshot.test.ts
+++ b/src/plugins/plugin-registry-snapshot.test.ts
@@ -50,6 +50,61 @@ function writePackagePlugin(rootDir: string) {
   );
 }
 
+function writeManagedNpmPlugin(params: {
+  stateDir: string;
+  packageName: string;
+  pluginId: string;
+  version: string;
+  dependencySpec?: string;
+}): string {
+  const npmRoot = path.join(params.stateDir, "npm");
+  const rootManifestPath = path.join(npmRoot, "package.json");
+  fs.mkdirSync(npmRoot, { recursive: true });
+  const rootManifest = fs.existsSync(rootManifestPath)
+    ? (JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(rootManifestPath, "utf8")) as {
+        dependencies?: Record<string, string>;
+      })
+    : {};
+  fs.writeFileSync(
+    rootManifestPath,
+    JSON.stringify(
+      {
+        ...rootManifest,
+        private: true,
+        dependencies: {
+          ...rootManifest.dependencies,
+          [params.packageName]: params.dependencySpec ?? params.version,
+        },
+      },
+      null,
+      2,
+    ),
+    "utf8",
+  );
+
+  const packageDir = path.join(npmRoot, "node_modules", params.packageName);
+  fs.mkdirSync(path.join(packageDir, "dist"), { recursive: true });
+  fs.writeFileSync(
+    path.join(packageDir, "package.json"),
+    JSON.stringify({
+      name: params.packageName,
+      version: params.version,
+      openclaw: { extensions: ["./dist/index.js"] },
+    }),
+    "utf8",
+  );
+  fs.writeFileSync(
+    path.join(packageDir, "openclaw.plugin.json"),
+    JSON.stringify({
+      id: params.pluginId,
+      configSchema: { type: "object" },
+    }),
+    "utf8",
+  );
+  fs.writeFileSync(path.join(packageDir, "dist", "index.js"), "export {};\n", "utf8");
+  return packageDir;
+}
+
 function replaceFilePreservingSizeAndMtime(filePath: string, contents: string) {
   const previous = fs.statSync(filePath);
   expect(Buffer.byteLength(contents)).toBe(previous.size);
@@ -72,6 +127,61 @@ function createManifestlessClaudeBundleIndex(params: {
 }
 
 describe("loadPluginRegistrySnapshotWithMetadata", () => {
+  it("recovers managed npm plugins missing from a stale persisted registry", () => {
+    const tempRoot = makeTempDir();
+    const stateDir = path.join(tempRoot, "state");
+    const env = {
+      ...createHermeticEnv(tempRoot),
+      OPENCLAW_DISABLE_BUNDLED_PLUGINS: "1",
+      OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR: stateDir,
+    };
+    const config = {};
+    const whatsappDir = writeManagedNpmPlugin({
+      stateDir,
+      packageName: "@openclaw/whatsapp",
+      pluginId: "whatsapp",
+      version: "2026.5.2",
+    });
+    const staleIndex = loadInstalledPluginIndex({
+      config,
+      env,
+      stateDir,
+      installRecords: {},
+    });
+    expect(staleIndex.plugins.some((plugin) => plugin.pluginId === "whatsapp")).toBe(false);
+    writePersistedInstalledPluginIndexSync(staleIndex, { stateDir });
+
+    const result = loadPluginRegistrySnapshotWithMetadata({
+      config,
+      env,
+      stateDir,
+    });
+
+    expect(result.source).toBe("derived");
+    expect(result.diagnostics).toContainEqual(
+      expect.objectContaining({ code: "persisted-registry-stale-source" }),
+    );
+    expect(result.snapshot.installRecords).toMatchObject({
+      whatsapp: {
+        source: "npm",
+        spec: "@openclaw/whatsapp@2026.5.2",
+        installPath: whatsappDir,
+        version: "2026.5.2",
+        resolvedName: "@openclaw/whatsapp",
+        resolvedVersion: "2026.5.2",
+        resolvedSpec: "@openclaw/whatsapp@2026.5.2",
+      },
+    });
+    expect(result.snapshot.plugins).toEqual(
+      expect.arrayContaining([
+        expect.objectContaining({
+          pluginId: "whatsapp",
+          origin: "global",
+        }),
+      ]),
+    );
+  });
+
   it("keeps persisted manifestless Claude bundles on the fast path", () => {
     const tempRoot = makeTempDir();
     const rootDir = path.join(tempRoot, "workspace");
diff --git a/src/plugins/plugin-registry-snapshot.ts b/src/plugins/plugin-registry-snapshot.ts
index f918f23d244..c147fc89b7b 100644
--- a/src/plugins/plugin-registry-snapshot.ts
+++ b/src/plugins/plugin-registry-snapshot.ts
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import path from "node:path";
 import { resolveBundledPluginsDir } from "./bundled-dir.js";
 import { fileSignatureMatches } from "./installed-plugin-index-hash.js";
 import { hasOptionalMissingPluginManifestFile } from "./installed-plugin-index-manifest.js";
+import { loadInstalledPluginIndexInstallRecordsSync } from "./installed-plugin-index-record-reader.js";
 import {
   inspectPersistedInstalledPluginIndex,
   readPersistedInstalledPluginIndexSync,
@@ -167,6 +168,29 @@ function hasStalePersistedPluginMetadata(index: InstalledPluginIndex): boolean {
   });
 }
 
+function loadSnapshotInstallRecords(params: LoadPluginRegistryParams, env: NodeJS.ProcessEnv) {
+  return loadInstalledPluginIndexInstallRecordsSync({
+    env,
+    ...(params.stateDir ? { stateDir: params.stateDir } : {}),
+    ...(params.filePath
+      ? { filePath: params.filePath }
+      : params.pluginIndexFilePath
+        ? { filePath: params.pluginIndexFilePath }
+        : {}),
+  });
+}
+
+function hasRecoveredInstallRecordsMissingFromPersistedIndex(
+  index: InstalledPluginIndex,
+  installRecords: ReturnType<typeof loadInstalledPluginIndexInstallRecordsSync>,
+): boolean {
+  const persistedRecords = extractPluginInstallRecordsFromInstalledPluginIndex(index);
+  const persistedPluginIds = new Set(index.plugins.map((plugin) => plugin.pluginId));
+  return Object.keys(installRecords).some(
+    (pluginId) => !persistedRecords[pluginId] || !persistedPluginIds.has(pluginId),
+  );
+}
+
 export function loadPluginRegistrySnapshotWithMetadata(
   params: LoadPluginRegistryParams = {},
 ): PluginRegistrySnapshotResult {
@@ -219,6 +243,18 @@ export function loadPluginRegistrySnapshotWithMetadata(
           message:
             "Persisted plugin registry metadata no longer matches plugin manifest or package files; using derived plugin index. Run `openclaw plugins registry --refresh` to update the persisted registry.",
         });
+      } else if (
+        hasRecoveredInstallRecordsMissingFromPersistedIndex(
+          persistedIndex,
+          loadSnapshotInstallRecords(params, env),
+        )
+      ) {
+        diagnostics.push({
+          level: "warn",
+          code: "persisted-registry-stale-source",
+          message:
+            "Persisted plugin registry is missing recoverable managed npm plugins; using derived plugin index. Run `openclaw plugins registry --refresh` to update the persisted registry.",
+        });
       } else {
         return {
           snapshot: persistedIndex,
@@ -246,9 +282,9 @@ export function loadPluginRegistrySnapshotWithMetadata(
   return {
     snapshot: loadInstalledPluginIndex({
       ...params,
-      installRecords:
-        params.installRecords ??
-        extractPluginInstallRecordsFromInstalledPluginIndex(persistedIndex),
+      ...(persistedInstallRecordReadsEnabled
+        ? {}
+        : { installRecords: params.installRecords ?? {} }),
     }),
     source: "derived",
     diagnostics,
diff --git a/src/plugins/status.registry-snapshot.test.ts b/src/plugins/status.registry-snapshot.test.ts
index db8cb957bd7..35b9ee81baf 100644
--- a/src/plugins/status.registry-snapshot.test.ts
+++ b/src/plugins/status.registry-snapshot.test.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 import fs from "node:fs";
 import path from "node:path";
 import { afterEach, describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import { writePersistedInstalledPluginIndexSync } from "./installed-plugin-index-store.js";
+import { loadInstalledPluginIndex } from "./installed-plugin-index.js";
 import { refreshPluginRegistry } from "./plugin-registry.js";
 import { buildPluginRegistrySnapshotReport, buildPluginSnapshotReport } from "./status.js";
 import {
@@ -17,11 +19,120 @@ function makeTempDir() {
   return makeTrackedTempDir("openclaw-plugin-status", tempDirs);
 }
 
+function writeManagedNpmPlugin(params: {
+  stateDir: string;
+  packageName: string;
+  pluginId: string;
+  version: string;
+  dependencySpec?: string;
+}): string {
+  const npmRoot = path.join(params.stateDir, "npm");
+  const rootManifestPath = path.join(npmRoot, "package.json");
+  fs.mkdirSync(npmRoot, { recursive: true });
+  const rootManifest = fs.existsSync(rootManifestPath)
+    ? (JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(rootManifestPath, "utf8")) as {
+        dependencies?: Record<string, string>;
+      })
+    : {};
+  fs.writeFileSync(
+    rootManifestPath,
+    JSON.stringify(
+      {
+        ...rootManifest,
+        private: true,
+        dependencies: {
+          ...rootManifest.dependencies,
+          [params.packageName]: params.dependencySpec ?? params.version,
+        },
+      },
+      null,
+      2,
+    ),
+    "utf8",
+  );
+
+  const packageDir = path.join(npmRoot, "node_modules", params.packageName);
+  fs.mkdirSync(path.join(packageDir, "dist"), { recursive: true });
+  fs.writeFileSync(
+    path.join(packageDir, "package.json"),
+    JSON.stringify({
+      name: params.packageName,
+      version: params.version,
+      openclaw: { extensions: ["./dist/index.js"] },
+    }),
+    "utf8",
+  );
+  fs.writeFileSync(
+    path.join(packageDir, "openclaw.plugin.json"),
+    JSON.stringify({
+      id: params.pluginId,
+      name: "WhatsApp",
+      configSchema: { type: "object" },
+    }),
+    "utf8",
+  );
+  fs.writeFileSync(path.join(packageDir, "dist", "index.js"), "export {};\n", "utf8");
+  return packageDir;
+}
+
 afterEach(() => {
   cleanupTrackedTempDirs(tempDirs);
 });
 
 describe("buildPluginRegistrySnapshotReport", () => {
+  it("keeps recovered managed npm plugins visible when the persisted registry is stale", () => {
+    const tempRoot = makeTempDir();
+    const stateDir = path.join(tempRoot, "state");
+    const env = {
+      ...createColdPluginHermeticEnv(tempRoot, {
+        bundledPluginsDir: makeTempDir(),
+        disablePersistedRegistry: false,
+      }),
+      OPENCLAW_DISABLE_BUNDLED_PLUGINS: "1",
+      OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR: stateDir,
+    };
+    const config = {
+      plugins: {
+        entries: {
+          whatsapp: { enabled: true },
+        },
+      },
+    };
+    const whatsappDir = writeManagedNpmPlugin({
+      stateDir,
+      packageName: "@openclaw/whatsapp",
+      pluginId: "whatsapp",
+      version: "2026.5.2",
+    });
+    const staleIndex = loadInstalledPluginIndex({
+      config,
+      env,
+      installRecords: {},
+    });
+    expect(staleIndex.plugins.some((plugin) => plugin.pluginId === "whatsapp")).toBe(false);
+    writePersistedInstalledPluginIndexSync(staleIndex, { stateDir });
+
+    const report = buildPluginRegistrySnapshotReport({
+      config,
+      env,
+    });
+
+    expect(report.registrySource).toBe("derived");
+    expect(report.registryDiagnostics).toContainEqual(
+      expect.objectContaining({ code: "persisted-registry-stale-source" }),
+    );
+    expect(report.plugins).toEqual(
+      expect.arrayContaining([
+        expect.objectContaining({
+          id: "whatsapp",
+          name: "WhatsApp",
+          source: fs.realpathSync(path.join(whatsappDir, "dist", "index.js")),
+          status: "loaded",
+        }),
+      ]),
+    );
+  });
+
   it("reconstructs list metadata from indexed manifests without importing plugin runtime", () => {
     const fixture = createColdPluginFixture({
       rootDir: makeTempDir(),