diff --git a/src/plugins/channel-plugin-ids.test.ts b/src/plugins/channel-plugin-ids.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..6a09a2a23fe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/plugins/channel-plugin-ids.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+import { beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
+import type { OpenClawConfig } from "../config/config.js";
+
+const listPotentialConfiguredChannelIds = vi.hoisted(() => vi.fn());
+const loadPluginManifestRegistry = vi.hoisted(() => vi.fn());
+
+vi.mock("../channels/config-presence.js", () => ({
+  listPotentialConfiguredChannelIds,
+}));
+
+vi.mock("./manifest-registry.js", () => ({
+  loadPluginManifestRegistry,
+}));
+
+import { resolveGatewayStartupPluginIds } from "./channel-plugin-ids.js";
+
+describe("resolveGatewayStartupPluginIds", () => {
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    listPotentialConfiguredChannelIds.mockReset().mockReturnValue(["discord"]);
+    loadPluginManifestRegistry.mockReset().mockReturnValue({
+      plugins: [
+        {
+          id: "discord",
+          channels: ["discord"],
+          origin: "bundled",
+          enabledByDefault: undefined,
+        },
+        {
+          id: "amazon-bedrock",
+          channels: [],
+          origin: "bundled",
+          enabledByDefault: true,
+        },
+        {
+          id: "diagnostics-otel",
+          channels: [],
+          origin: "bundled",
+          enabledByDefault: undefined,
+        },
+        {
+          id: "custom-sidecar",
+          channels: [],
+          origin: "global",
+          enabledByDefault: undefined,
+        },
+      ],
+      diagnostics: [],
+    });
+  });
+
+  it("includes configured channels, explicit bundled sidecars, and enabled non-bundled sidecars", () => {
+    const config = {
+      plugins: {
+        entries: {
+          "diagnostics-otel": { enabled: true },
+        },
+      },
+    } as OpenClawConfig;
+
+    expect(
+      resolveGatewayStartupPluginIds({
+        config,
+        workspaceDir: "/tmp",
+        env: process.env,
+      }),
+    ).toEqual(["discord", "diagnostics-otel", "custom-sidecar"]);
+  });
+
+  it("does not pull default-on bundled non-channel plugins into startup", () => {
+    const config = {} as OpenClawConfig;
+
+    expect(
+      resolveGatewayStartupPluginIds({
+        config,
+        workspaceDir: "/tmp",
+        env: process.env,
+      }),
+    ).toEqual(["discord", "custom-sidecar"]);
+  });
+});