diff --git a/src/agents/cli-backends.test.ts b/src/agents/cli-backends.test.ts
index d7384d9e3f7..46c3bb56cf2 100644
--- a/src/agents/cli-backends.test.ts
+++ b/src/agents/cli-backends.test.ts
@@ -1,13 +1,22 @@
-import { afterEach, beforeAll, beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
+import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
 import type { OpenClawConfig } from "../config/config.js";
 import type { CliBackendConfig } from "../config/types.js";
 import type { CliBundleMcpMode } from "../plugins/types.js";
+import {
+  __testing as cliBackendsTesting,
+  resolveCliBackendConfig,
+  resolveCliBackendLiveTest,
+} from "./cli-backends.js";
 
-let createEmptyPluginRegistry: typeof import("../plugins/registry.js").createEmptyPluginRegistry;
-let resetPluginRuntimeStateForTest: typeof import("../plugins/runtime.js").resetPluginRuntimeStateForTest;
-let setActivePluginRegistry: typeof import("../plugins/runtime.js").setActivePluginRegistry;
-let resolveCliBackendConfig: typeof import("./cli-backends.js").resolveCliBackendConfig;
-let resolveCliBackendLiveTest: typeof import("./cli-backends.js").resolveCliBackendLiveTest;
+type RuntimeBackendEntry = ReturnType<
+  (typeof import("../plugins/cli-backends.runtime.js"))["resolveRuntimeCliBackends"]
+>[number];
+type SetupBackendEntry = NonNullable<
+  ReturnType<(typeof import("../plugins/setup-registry.js"))["resolvePluginSetupCliBackend"]>
+>;
+
+let runtimeBackendEntries: RuntimeBackendEntry[] = [];
+let setupBackendEntries: SetupBackendEntry[] = [];
 
 function createBackendEntry(params: {
   pluginId: string;
@@ -60,6 +69,14 @@ function createBackendEntry(params: {
   };
 }
 
+function createRuntimeBackendEntry(params: Parameters<typeof createBackendEntry>[0]) {
+  const entry = createBackendEntry(params);
+  return {
+    ...entry.backend,
+    pluginId: entry.pluginId,
+  } satisfies RuntimeBackendEntry;
+}
+
 function createClaudeCliOverrideConfig(config: CliBackendConfig): OpenClawConfig {
   return {
     agents: {
@@ -149,24 +166,13 @@ function normalizeTestClaudeBackendConfig(config: CliBackendConfig): CliBackendC
   };
 }
 
-beforeAll(async () => {
-  vi.doUnmock("../plugins/setup-registry.js");
-  vi.doUnmock("../plugins/cli-backends.runtime.js");
-  vi.resetModules();
-  ({ createEmptyPluginRegistry } = await import("../plugins/registry.js"));
-  ({ resetPluginRuntimeStateForTest, setActivePluginRegistry } =
-    await import("../plugins/runtime.js"));
-  ({ resolveCliBackendConfig, resolveCliBackendLiveTest } = await import("./cli-backends.js"));
-});
-
 afterEach(() => {
-  resetPluginRuntimeStateForTest();
+  cliBackendsTesting.resetDepsForTest();
 });
 
 beforeEach(() => {
-  const registry = createEmptyPluginRegistry();
-  registry.cliBackends = [
-    createBackendEntry({
+  runtimeBackendEntries = [
+    createRuntimeBackendEntry({
       pluginId: "anthropic",
       id: "claude-cli",
       bundleMcp: true,
@@ -222,7 +228,7 @@ beforeEach(() => {
       },
       normalizeConfig: normalizeTestClaudeBackendConfig,
     }),
-    createBackendEntry({
+    createRuntimeBackendEntry({
       pluginId: "openai",
       id: "codex-cli",
       bundleMcp: true,
@@ -258,7 +264,7 @@ beforeEach(() => {
         },
       },
     }),
-    createBackendEntry({
+    createRuntimeBackendEntry({
       pluginId: "google",
       id: "google-gemini-cli",
       bundleMcp: true,
@@ -276,7 +282,30 @@ beforeEach(() => {
       },
     }),
   ];
-  setActivePluginRegistry(registry);
+  const claudeBackend = runtimeBackendEntries.find((entry) => entry.id === "claude-cli");
+  setupBackendEntries = claudeBackend
+    ? [
+        {
+          pluginId: claudeBackend.pluginId,
+          backend: {
+            ...claudeBackend,
+            config: {
+              ...claudeBackend.config,
+              sessionArg: "--session-id",
+              sessionMode: "always",
+              systemPromptArg: "--append-system-prompt",
+              systemPromptWhen: "first",
+            },
+          },
+        },
+      ]
+    : [];
+  cliBackendsTesting.setDepsForTest({
+    resolveRuntimeCliBackends: () => runtimeBackendEntries,
+    resolvePluginSetupCliBackend: ({ backend }) => {
+      return setupBackendEntries.find((entry) => entry.backend.id === backend);
+    },
+  });
 });
 
 describe("resolveCliBackendConfig reliability merge", () => {
@@ -648,8 +677,7 @@ describe("resolveCliBackendConfig claude-cli defaults", () => {
   });
 
   it("normalizes override-only claude-cli config when the plugin registry is absent", () => {
-    const registry = createEmptyPluginRegistry();
-    setActivePluginRegistry(registry);
+    runtimeBackendEntries = [];
 
     const cfg = {
       agents: {
@@ -735,9 +763,8 @@ describe("resolveCliBackendConfig google-gemini-cli defaults", () => {
 
 describe("resolveCliBackendConfig alias precedence", () => {
   it("prefers the canonical backend key over legacy aliases when both are configured", () => {
-    const registry = createEmptyPluginRegistry();
-    registry.cliBackends = [
-      createBackendEntry({
+    runtimeBackendEntries = [
+      createRuntimeBackendEntry({
         pluginId: "moonshot",
         id: "kimi",
         config: {
@@ -746,7 +773,6 @@ describe("resolveCliBackendConfig alias precedence", () => {
         },
       }),
     ];
-    setActivePluginRegistry(registry);
 
     const cfg = {
       agents: {
diff --git a/src/agents/cli-backends.ts b/src/agents/cli-backends.ts
index f6a28b1d421..8b526afde6d 100644
--- a/src/agents/cli-backends.ts
+++ b/src/agents/cli-backends.ts
@@ -6,6 +6,18 @@ import type { CliBundleMcpMode } from "../plugins/types.js";
 import { normalizeOptionalLowercaseString } from "../shared/string-coerce.js";
 import { normalizeProviderId } from "./model-selection.js";
 
+type CliBackendsDeps = {
+  resolvePluginSetupCliBackend: typeof resolvePluginSetupCliBackend;
+  resolveRuntimeCliBackends: typeof resolveRuntimeCliBackends;
+};
+
+const defaultCliBackendsDeps: CliBackendsDeps = {
+  resolvePluginSetupCliBackend,
+  resolveRuntimeCliBackends,
+};
+
+let cliBackendsDeps: CliBackendsDeps = defaultCliBackendsDeps;
+
 export type ResolvedCliBackend = {
   id: string;
   config: CliBackendConfig;
@@ -47,7 +59,7 @@ function normalizeBundleMcpMode(
 }
 
 function resolveSetupCliBackendPolicy(provider: string): FallbackCliBackendPolicy | undefined {
-  const entry = resolvePluginSetupCliBackend({
+  const entry = cliBackendsDeps.resolvePluginSetupCliBackend({
     backend: provider,
   });
   if (!entry) {
@@ -94,7 +106,9 @@ function pickBackendConfig(
 
 function resolveRegisteredBackend(provider: string) {
   const normalized = normalizeBackendKey(provider);
-  return resolveRuntimeCliBackends().find((entry) => normalizeBackendKey(entry.id) === normalized);
+  return cliBackendsDeps
+    .resolveRuntimeCliBackends()
+    .find((entry) => normalizeBackendKey(entry.id) === normalized);
 }
 
 function mergeBackendConfig(base: CliBackendConfig, override?: CliBackendConfig): CliBackendConfig {
@@ -136,7 +150,7 @@ function mergeBackendConfig(base: CliBackendConfig, override?: CliBackendConfig)
 
 export function resolveCliBackendIds(cfg?: OpenClawConfig): Set<string> {
   const ids = new Set<string>();
-  for (const backend of resolveRuntimeCliBackends()) {
+  for (const backend of cliBackendsDeps.resolveRuntimeCliBackends()) {
     ids.add(normalizeBackendKey(backend.id));
   }
   const configured = cfg?.agents?.defaults?.cliBackends ?? {};
@@ -149,8 +163,10 @@ export function resolveCliBackendIds(cfg?: OpenClawConfig): Set<string> {
 export function resolveCliBackendLiveTest(provider: string): ResolvedCliBackendLiveTest | null {
   const normalized = normalizeBackendKey(provider);
   const entry =
-    resolvePluginSetupCliBackend({ backend: normalized }) ??
-    resolveRuntimeCliBackends().find((backend) => normalizeBackendKey(backend.id) === normalized);
+    cliBackendsDeps.resolvePluginSetupCliBackend({ backend: normalized }) ??
+    cliBackendsDeps
+      .resolveRuntimeCliBackends()
+      .find((backend) => normalizeBackendKey(backend.id) === normalized);
   if (!entry) {
     return null;
   }
@@ -227,3 +243,15 @@ export function resolveCliBackendConfig(
     bundleMcpMode: fallbackPolicy?.bundleMcpMode,
   };
 }
+
+export const __testing = {
+  resetDepsForTest(): void {
+    cliBackendsDeps = defaultCliBackendsDeps;
+  },
+  setDepsForTest(deps: Partial<CliBackendsDeps>): void {
+    cliBackendsDeps = {
+      ...defaultCliBackendsDeps,
+      ...deps,
+    };
+  },
+} as const;