diff --git a/src/cli/gateway-cli/register.option-collisions.test.ts b/src/cli/gateway-cli/register.option-collisions.test.ts
index c9ee93d6a2a..447da2955ee 100644
--- a/src/cli/gateway-cli/register.option-collisions.test.ts
+++ b/src/cli/gateway-cli/register.option-collisions.test.ts
@@ -72,6 +72,7 @@ vi.mock("../../commands/health.js", () => ({
 
 vi.mock("../../config/read-best-effort-config.runtime.js", () => ({
   readBestEffortConfig: async () => ({}),
+  readSourceConfigBestEffort: async () => ({}),
 }));
 
 vi.mock("../../infra/bonjour-discovery.js", () => ({
diff --git a/src/cli/gateway-cli/register.ts b/src/cli/gateway-cli/register.ts
index d0f74c73937..1b454beca9c 100644
--- a/src/cli/gateway-cli/register.ts
+++ b/src/cli/gateway-cli/register.ts
@@ -265,7 +265,7 @@ export function registerGatewayCli(program: Command) {
     .action(async (opts: GatewayDiscoverOpts) => {
       await runGatewayCommand(async () => {
         const [
-          { readBestEffortConfig },
+          { readSourceConfigBestEffort },
           { discoverGatewayBeacons },
           { resolveWideAreaDiscoveryDomain },
         ] = await Promise.all([
@@ -273,7 +273,7 @@ export function registerGatewayCli(program: Command) {
           loadBonjourDiscoveryModule(),
           loadWideAreaDnsModule(),
         ]);
-        const cfg = await readBestEffortConfig();
+        const cfg = await readSourceConfigBestEffort();
         const wideAreaDomain = resolveWideAreaDiscoveryDomain({
           configDomain: cfg.discovery?.wideArea?.domain,
         });
diff --git a/src/config/config.ts b/src/config/config.ts
index 70a52c1be99..f2eee8fc96d 100644
--- a/src/config/config.ts
+++ b/src/config/config.ts
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ export {
   projectConfigOntoRuntimeSourceSnapshot,
   loadConfig,
   readBestEffortConfig,
+  readSourceConfigBestEffort,
   parseConfigJson5,
   readConfigFileSnapshot,
   readConfigFileSnapshotForWrite,
diff --git a/src/config/io.best-effort.test.ts b/src/config/io.best-effort.test.ts
index accd9440c16..89993f9b91b 100644
--- a/src/config/io.best-effort.test.ts
+++ b/src/config/io.best-effort.test.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
-import { readBestEffortConfig, readConfigFileSnapshot } from "./config.js";
+import {
+  readBestEffortConfig,
+  readConfigFileSnapshot,
+  readSourceConfigBestEffort,
+} from "./config.js";
 import { withTempHome, writeOpenClawConfig } from "./test-helpers.js";
 
 describe("readBestEffortConfig", () => {
@@ -33,3 +37,29 @@ describe("readBestEffortConfig", () => {
     });
   });
 });
+
+describe("readSourceConfigBestEffort", () => {
+  it("preserves the authored source config without load-time defaults", async () => {
+    await withTempHome(async (home) => {
+      await writeOpenClawConfig(home, {
+        auth: {
+          profiles: {
+            "anthropic:api": { provider: "anthropic", mode: "api_key" },
+          },
+        },
+        agents: {
+          defaults: {
+            model: { primary: "anthropic/claude-opus-4-6" },
+          },
+        },
+      });
+
+      const snapshot = await readConfigFileSnapshot();
+      const sourceBestEffort = await readSourceConfigBestEffort();
+
+      expect(sourceBestEffort).toEqual(snapshot.resolved);
+      expect(sourceBestEffort.agents?.defaults?.contextPruning?.mode).toBeUndefined();
+      expect(sourceBestEffort.agents?.defaults?.compaction?.mode).toBeUndefined();
+    });
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/config/io.ts b/src/config/io.ts
index ad2bab19a2a..5241474f25c 100644
--- a/src/config/io.ts
+++ b/src/config/io.ts
@@ -1413,6 +1413,45 @@ export function createConfigIO(overrides: ConfigIoDeps = {}) {
     );
   }
 
+  async function readSourceConfigBestEffort(): Promise<OpenClawConfig> {
+    maybeLoadDotEnvForConfig(deps.env);
+    const exists = deps.fs.existsSync(configPath);
+    if (!exists) {
+      return {};
+    }
+
+    try {
+      const raw = deps.fs.readFileSync(configPath, "utf-8");
+      const parsedRes = parseConfigJson5(raw, deps.json5);
+      if (!parsedRes.ok) {
+        return {};
+      }
+
+      const recovered = await maybeRecoverSuspiciousConfigRead({
+        deps,
+        configPath,
+        raw,
+        parsed: parsedRes.parsed,
+      });
+
+      let resolved: unknown;
+      try {
+        resolved = resolveConfigIncludesForRead(recovered.parsed, configPath, deps);
+      } catch {
+        return coerceConfig(recovered.parsed);
+      }
+
+      const readResolution = resolveConfigForRead(resolved, deps.env);
+      const legacyResolution = resolveLegacyConfigForRead(
+        readResolution.resolvedConfigRaw,
+        recovered.parsed,
+      );
+      return coerceConfig(legacyResolution.effectiveConfigRaw);
+    } catch {
+      return {};
+    }
+  }
+
   async function writeConfigFile(
     cfg: OpenClawConfig,
     options: ConfigWriteOptions = {},
@@ -1674,6 +1713,7 @@ export function createConfigIO(overrides: ConfigIoDeps = {}) {
     configPath,
     loadConfig,
     readBestEffortConfig,
+    readSourceConfigBestEffort,
     readConfigFileSnapshot,
     readConfigFileSnapshotForWrite,
     writeConfigFile,
@@ -1768,6 +1808,10 @@ export async function readBestEffortConfig(): Promise<OpenClawConfig> {
   return await createConfigIO().readBestEffortConfig();
 }
 
+export async function readSourceConfigBestEffort(): Promise<OpenClawConfig> {
+  return await createConfigIO().readSourceConfigBestEffort();
+}
+
 export async function readConfigFileSnapshot(): Promise<ConfigFileSnapshot> {
   return await createConfigIO().readConfigFileSnapshot();
 }
diff --git a/src/config/read-best-effort-config.runtime.ts b/src/config/read-best-effort-config.runtime.ts
index ed2860a5b9b..c7103b0a252 100644
--- a/src/config/read-best-effort-config.runtime.ts
+++ b/src/config/read-best-effort-config.runtime.ts
@@ -1 +1 @@
-export { readBestEffortConfig } from "./io.js";
+export { readBestEffortConfig, readSourceConfigBestEffort } from "./io.js";