diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 7e152f49dab..0bb550dc298 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 - Agents/performance: pass the resolved workspace through BTW, compaction, embedded-run model generation, and PDF model setup so explicit agent-dir model refreshes can reuse the current workspace-scoped plugin metadata snapshot instead of falling back to cold plugin metadata scans. (#77519, #77532)
 - Plugins/performance: let unscoped model catalog and manifest-contract readers reuse the current workspace-compatible plugin metadata snapshot, avoiding repeated cold plugin metadata scans on hot control-plane paths while preserving env/config/workspace compatibility checks. (#77519, #77532)
 - Config/plugin auto-enable: prefer the claiming plugin manifest id over a built-in channel alias when auto-allowlisting a configured channel, so WeCom/Yuanbao-style aliases resolve to the installed plugin id. Thanks @Beandon13.
+- Secrets/apply: preserve auth-profile `keyRef` and `tokenRef` fields when scrubbing provider-target secrets, so the canonical SecretRef metadata survives `secrets apply` without keeping plaintext values. Thanks @Beandon13.
 - Plugins/active-memory: skip session-store channel entries that contain `:` when resolving the recall subagent's channel, so QQ c2c agent IDs (e.g. `c2c:10D4F7C2…`) and other scoped conversation IDs do not reach bundled-plugin `dirName` validation and crash the recall run. The same guard already applied to explicit `channelId` params (#76704); this extends it to store-derived channels. (#77396) Thanks @hclsys.
 - Secrets/external channel contracts: also look in `<rootDir>/dist/` when resolving the `secret-contract-api` sidecar, so npm-published externalized channel plugins (e.g. `@openclaw/discord` since 2026.5.2) whose compiled artifacts live under `dist/` actually contribute their channel SecretRef contracts to the runtime snapshot. Without this, env-backed `channels.discord.token` SecretRefs silently failed to resolve at gateway start on 2026.5.3, leaving the channel `not configured` even though #76449 had landed the generic external-contract loader. Thanks @mogglemoss.
 - Models/auth: add `openclaw models auth list [--provider <id>] [--json]` so users can inspect saved per-agent auth profiles without dumping secrets or hitting the old “too many arguments” path. Thanks @vincentkoc.
diff --git a/src/secrets/apply.test.ts b/src/secrets/apply.test.ts
index 68aaa72095e..2ec760ed4b4 100644
--- a/src/secrets/apply.test.ts
+++ b/src/secrets/apply.test.ts
@@ -110,7 +110,8 @@ async function seedDefaultApplyFixture(fixture: ApplyFixture): Promise<void> {
       "openai:default": {
         type: "api_key",
         provider: "openai",
-        key: "sk-openai-plaintext", // pragma: allowlist secret
+        key: "sk-ope...text", // pragma: allowlist secret
+        keyRef: OPENAI_API_KEY_ENV_REF,
       },
     },
   });
@@ -290,7 +291,11 @@ describe("secrets apply", () => {
       profiles: { "openai:default": { key?: string; keyRef?: unknown } };
     };
     expect(nextAuthStore.profiles["openai:default"].key).toBeUndefined();
-    expect(nextAuthStore.profiles["openai:default"].keyRef).toBeUndefined();
+    expect(nextAuthStore.profiles["openai:default"].keyRef).toEqual({
+      source: "env",
+      provider: "default",
+      id: "OPENAI_API_KEY",
+    });
 
     const nextAuthJson = JSON.parse(await fs.readFile(fixture.authJsonPath, "utf8")) as Record<
       string,
@@ -303,6 +308,58 @@ describe("secrets apply", () => {
     expect(nextEnv).toContain("UNRELATED=value");
   });
 
+  it("preserves auth-profile tokenRef during provider scrub", async () => {
+    await writeJsonFile(fixture.authStorePath, {
+      version: 1,
+      profiles: {
+        "openai:bot": {
+          type: "token",
+          provider: "openai",
+          token: "sk-token-plaintext", // pragma: allowlist secret
+          tokenRef: OPENAI_API_KEY_ENV_REF,
+        },
+      },
+    });
+    const plan = createPlan({
+      targets: [createOpenAiProviderTarget()],
+      options: createOneWayScrubOptions(),
+    });
+
+    await runSecretsApply({ plan, env: fixture.env, write: true });
+
+    const nextAuthStore = JSON.parse(await fs.readFile(fixture.authStorePath, "utf8")) as {
+      profiles: { "openai:bot": { token?: string; tokenRef?: unknown } };
+    };
+    expect(nextAuthStore.profiles["openai:bot"].token).toBeUndefined();
+    expect(nextAuthStore.profiles["openai:bot"].tokenRef).toEqual(OPENAI_API_KEY_ENV_REF);
+  });
+
+  it("scrubs malformed auth-profile ref residue during provider scrub", async () => {
+    await writeJsonFile(fixture.authStorePath, {
+      version: 1,
+      profiles: {
+        "openai:default": {
+          type: "api_key",
+          provider: "openai",
+          key: "sk-openai-plaintext", // pragma: allowlist secret
+          keyRef: "secretref-managed", // pragma: allowlist secret
+        },
+      },
+    });
+    const plan = createPlan({
+      targets: [createOpenAiProviderTarget()],
+      options: createOneWayScrubOptions(),
+    });
+
+    await runSecretsApply({ plan, env: fixture.env, write: true });
+
+    const nextAuthStore = JSON.parse(await fs.readFile(fixture.authStorePath, "utf8")) as {
+      profiles: { "openai:default": { key?: string; keyRef?: unknown } };
+    };
+    expect(nextAuthStore.profiles["openai:default"].key).toBeUndefined();
+    expect(nextAuthStore.profiles["openai:default"].keyRef).toBeUndefined();
+  });
+
   it("skips exec SecretRef checks during dry-run unless explicitly allowed", async () => {
     if (process.platform === "win32") {
       return;
diff --git a/src/secrets/apply.ts b/src/secrets/apply.ts
index 29b28157f22..c7dfd6ab4f1 100644
--- a/src/secrets/apply.ts
+++ b/src/secrets/apply.ts
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ import {
   type OpenClawConfig,
 } from "../config/config.js";
 import type { ConfigWriteOptions } from "../config/io.js";
-import type { SecretProviderConfig } from "../config/types.secrets.js";
+import { coerceSecretRef, type SecretProviderConfig } from "../config/types.secrets.js";
 import { normalizeAgentId } from "../routing/session-key.js";
 import { resolveConfigDir, resolveUserPath } from "../utils.js";
 import { iterateAuthProfileCredentials } from "./auth-profiles-scan.js";
@@ -411,7 +411,10 @@ function scrubAuthStoresForProviderTargets(params: {
           delete profile.profile[profile.valueField];
           mutated = true;
         }
-        if (profile.refField in profile.profile) {
+        if (
+          profile.refField in profile.profile &&
+          coerceSecretRef(profile.refValue, params.nextConfig.secrets?.defaults) === null
+        ) {
           delete profile.profile[profile.refField];
           mutated = true;
         }