diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index d5cf59ceb48..6efbcad34ad 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 - Gateway/performance: cache plugin metadata fingerprints and stable plugin index fingerprints, borrow read-only session metadata safely, keep the active session working store hot, keep status on a bounded fast path, and preserve model auth profile suffixes. (#86439)
 - Package/install/release: align npm package exclusions and inventory, omit unpacked test helpers, skip Homebrew until macOS packages need it, cap tsdown heap in containers, bound install/release smoke waits, and harden post-publish verification.
 - Codex/Auth: bound ChatGPT OAuth token exchange and refresh requests, and honor cancellation across Codex and Anthropic OAuth login flows.
-- QA/E2E/CI: bound Telegram, kitchen-sink, Open WebUI, ClawHub, MCP, Discord, realtime, labeler, and GitHub API waits; fail empty explicit test, live-media, gateway CPU, plugin gauntlet, and beta-smoke runs instead of false-greening.
+- QA/E2E/CI: bound Telegram, kitchen-sink, Open WebUI, ClawHub, MCP, Discord, realtime, labeler, and GitHub API waits; fail empty explicit test, live-media, gateway CPU, startup benchmark, plugin gauntlet, and beta-smoke runs instead of false-greening.
 - Agents/Codex: keep spawned agent bootstrap files rooted in the agent workspace while running task commands, transcripts, and compaction from the requested cwd. (#87218) Thanks @mbelinky.
 
 ## 2026.5.26
diff --git a/scripts/bench-cli-startup.ts b/scripts/bench-cli-startup.ts
index b7a0e99114f..8bf6c11b1ac 100644
--- a/scripts/bench-cli-startup.ts
+++ b/scripts/bench-cli-startup.ts
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import { mkdirSync, mkdtempSync, rmSync, writeFileSync } from "node:fs";
 import os from "node:os";
 import path from "node:path";
 import { pathToFileURL } from "node:url";
+import { parseStrictIntegerOption } from "./lib/dev-tooling-safety.ts";
 
 type CommandCase = {
   id: string;
@@ -377,7 +378,11 @@ function parseFlagValue(flag: string): string | undefined {
   if (idx === -1) {
     return undefined;
   }
-  return process.argv[idx + 1];
+  const value = process.argv[idx + 1];
+  if (!value || value.startsWith("--")) {
+    throw new Error(`${flag} requires a value`);
+  }
+  return value;
 }
 
 function hasFlag(flag: string): boolean {
@@ -394,26 +399,12 @@ function parseRepeatableFlag(flag: string): string[] {
   return values;
 }
 
-function parsePositiveInt(raw: string | undefined, fallback: number): number {
-  if (!raw) {
-    return fallback;
-  }
-  const parsed = Number.parseInt(raw, 10);
-  if (!Number.isFinite(parsed) || parsed < 1) {
-    return fallback;
-  }
-  return parsed;
+function parsePositiveInt(raw: string | undefined, fallback: number, label = "value"): number {
+  return parseStrictIntegerOption({ fallback, label, min: 1, raw });
 }
 
-function parseNonNegativeInt(raw: string | undefined, fallback: number): number {
-  if (!raw) {
-    return fallback;
-  }
-  const parsed = Number.parseInt(raw, 10);
-  if (!Number.isFinite(parsed) || parsed < 0) {
-    return fallback;
-  }
-  return parsed;
+function parseNonNegativeInt(raw: string | undefined, fallback: number, label = "value"): number {
+  return parseStrictIntegerOption({ fallback, label, min: 0, raw });
 }
 
 function parsePresets(raw: string | undefined): string[] {
@@ -826,9 +817,13 @@ function parseOptions(): CliOptions {
     cases,
     entryPrimary: parseFlagValue("--entry-primary") ?? parseFlagValue("--entry") ?? DEFAULT_ENTRY,
     entrySecondary: parseFlagValue("--entry-secondary"),
-    runs: parsePositiveInt(parseFlagValue("--runs"), DEFAULT_RUNS),
-    warmup: parseNonNegativeInt(parseFlagValue("--warmup"), DEFAULT_WARMUP),
-    timeoutMs: parsePositiveInt(parseFlagValue("--timeout-ms"), DEFAULT_TIMEOUT_MS),
+    runs: parsePositiveInt(parseFlagValue("--runs"), DEFAULT_RUNS, "--runs"),
+    warmup: parseNonNegativeInt(parseFlagValue("--warmup"), DEFAULT_WARMUP, "--warmup"),
+    timeoutMs: parsePositiveInt(
+      parseFlagValue("--timeout-ms"),
+      DEFAULT_TIMEOUT_MS,
+      "--timeout-ms",
+    ),
     json: hasFlag("--json"),
     output: parseFlagValue("--output"),
     cpuProfDir: parseFlagValue("--cpu-prof-dir"),
diff --git a/test/scripts/bench-cli-startup.test.ts b/test/scripts/bench-cli-startup.test.ts
index 0575d5720b0..7815e94fa36 100644
--- a/test/scripts/bench-cli-startup.test.ts
+++ b/test/scripts/bench-cli-startup.test.ts
@@ -65,9 +65,29 @@ describe("bench-cli-startup", () => {
     ]);
   });
 
-  it("does not accept zero measured runs", () => {
-    expect(testing.parsePositiveInt("0", 5)).toBe(5);
+  it("rejects invalid measured run counts", () => {
+    expect(() => testing.parsePositiveInt("0", 5, "--runs")).toThrow(
+      "--runs must be an integer >= 1",
+    );
+    expect(() => testing.parsePositiveInt("2abc", 5, "--runs")).toThrow(
+      "--runs must be an integer >= 1",
+    );
+    expect(() => testing.parsePositiveInt("1.5", 5, "--runs")).toThrow(
+      "--runs must be an integer >= 1",
+    );
+    expect(() => testing.parsePositiveInt("1e3", 5, "--runs")).toThrow(
+      "--runs must be an integer >= 1",
+    );
+    expect(() => testing.parsePositiveInt("0x10", 5, "--runs")).toThrow(
+      "--runs must be an integer >= 1",
+    );
     expect(testing.parsePositiveInt("1", 5)).toBe(1);
     expect(testing.parseNonNegativeInt("0", 1)).toBe(0);
+    expect(() => testing.parseNonNegativeInt("-1", 1, "--warmup")).toThrow(
+      "--warmup must be an integer >= 0",
+    );
+    expect(() => testing.parseNonNegativeInt("0b10", 1, "--warmup")).toThrow(
+      "--warmup must be an integer >= 0",
+    );
   });
 });