diff --git a/src/commands/daemon-install-helpers.test.ts b/src/commands/daemon-install-helpers.test.ts
index a05176aee9f..b564c33055b 100644
--- a/src/commands/daemon-install-helpers.test.ts
+++ b/src/commands/daemon-install-helpers.test.ts
@@ -86,11 +86,21 @@ function mockNodeGatewayPlanFixture(
 }
 
 describe("buildGatewayInstallPlan", () => {
+  // Prevent tests from reading the developer's real ~/.openclaw/.env when
+  // passing `env: {}` (which falls back to os.homedir for state-dir resolution).
+  let isolatedHome: string;
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    isolatedHome = fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), "oc-plan-test-"));
+  });
+  afterEach(() => {
+    fs.rmSync(isolatedHome, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  });
+
   it("uses provided nodePath and returns plan", async () => {
     mockNodeGatewayPlanFixture();
 
     const plan = await buildGatewayInstallPlan({
-      env: {},
+      env: { HOME: isolatedHome },
       port: 3000,
       runtime: "node",
       nodePath: "/custom/node",
@@ -102,7 +112,7 @@ describe("buildGatewayInstallPlan", () => {
     expect(mocks.resolvePreferredNodePath).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
     expect(mocks.buildServiceEnvironment).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
       expect.objectContaining({
-        env: {},
+        env: { HOME: isolatedHome },
         port: 3000,
         extraPathDirs: ["/custom"],
       }),
@@ -113,7 +123,7 @@ describe("buildGatewayInstallPlan", () => {
     mockNodeGatewayPlanFixture();
 
     await buildGatewayInstallPlan({
-      env: {},
+      env: { HOME: isolatedHome },
       port: 3000,
       runtime: "node",
       nodePath: "node",
diff --git a/src/commands/daemon-install-helpers.ts b/src/commands/daemon-install-helpers.ts
index e3ad0b491ee..3797ab8ee09 100644
--- a/src/commands/daemon-install-helpers.ts
+++ b/src/commands/daemon-install-helpers.ts
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ import { buildServiceEnvironment } from "../daemon/service-env.js";
 import {
   isDangerousHostEnvOverrideVarName,
   isDangerousHostEnvVarName,
+  normalizeEnvVarKey,
 } from "../infra/host-env-security.js";
 import {
   emitDaemonInstallRuntimeWarning,
@@ -49,8 +50,12 @@ export function readStateDirDotEnvVars(
 
   const parsed = dotenv.parse(content);
   const entries: Record<string, string> = {};
-  for (const [key, value] of Object.entries(parsed)) {
-    if (!key || !value?.trim()) {
+  for (const [rawKey, value] of Object.entries(parsed)) {
+    if (!value?.trim()) {
+      continue;
+    }
+    const key = normalizeEnvVarKey(rawKey, { portable: true });
+    if (!key) {
       continue;
     }
     if (isDangerousHostEnvVarName(key) || isDangerousHostEnvOverrideVarName(key)) {