diff --git a/src/gateway/session-compaction-checkpoints.test.ts b/src/gateway/session-compaction-checkpoints.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..485dd1b7931
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/gateway/session-compaction-checkpoints.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+import fsSync from "node:fs";
+import fs from "node:fs/promises";
+import os from "node:os";
+import path from "node:path";
+import { SessionManager } from "@mariozechner/pi-coding-agent";
+import { afterEach, describe, expect, test } from "vitest";
+import {
+  captureCompactionCheckpointSnapshot,
+  cleanupCompactionCheckpointSnapshot,
+} from "./session-compaction-checkpoints.js";
+
+const tempDirs: string[] = [];
+
+afterEach(async () => {
+  await Promise.all(tempDirs.splice(0).map((dir) => fs.rm(dir, { recursive: true, force: true })));
+});
+
+describe("session-compaction-checkpoints", () => {
+  test("capture stores the copied pre-compaction transcript path and cleanup removes only the copy", async () => {
+    const dir = await fs.mkdtemp(path.join(os.tmpdir(), "openclaw-checkpoint-"));
+    tempDirs.push(dir);
+
+    const session = SessionManager.create(dir, dir);
+    session.appendMessage({ role: "user", content: "before compaction" });
+    session.appendMessage({
+      role: "assistant",
+      content: [{ type: "text", text: "working on it" }],
+    });
+
+    const sessionFile = session.getSessionFile();
+    const leafId = session.getLeafId();
+    expect(sessionFile).toBeTruthy();
+    expect(leafId).toBeTruthy();
+
+    const originalBefore = await fs.readFile(sessionFile!, "utf-8");
+    const snapshot = captureCompactionCheckpointSnapshot({
+      sessionManager: session,
+      sessionFile: sessionFile!,
+    });
+
+    expect(snapshot).not.toBeNull();
+    expect(snapshot?.leafId).toBe(leafId);
+    expect(snapshot?.sessionFile).not.toBe(sessionFile);
+    expect(snapshot?.sessionFile).toContain(".checkpoint.");
+    expect(fsSync.existsSync(snapshot!.sessionFile)).toBe(true);
+    expect(await fs.readFile(snapshot!.sessionFile, "utf-8")).toBe(originalBefore);
+
+    session.appendCompaction("checkpoint summary", leafId!, 123, { ok: true });
+
+    expect(await fs.readFile(snapshot!.sessionFile, "utf-8")).toBe(originalBefore);
+    expect(await fs.readFile(sessionFile!, "utf-8")).not.toBe(originalBefore);
+
+    await cleanupCompactionCheckpointSnapshot(snapshot);
+
+    expect(fsSync.existsSync(snapshot!.sessionFile)).toBe(false);
+    expect(fsSync.existsSync(sessionFile!)).toBe(true);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/gateway/session-compaction-checkpoints.ts b/src/gateway/session-compaction-checkpoints.ts
index 12fd1268408..142db040dea 100644
--- a/src/gateway/session-compaction-checkpoints.ts
+++ b/src/gateway/session-compaction-checkpoints.ts
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ export function captureCompactionCheckpointSnapshot(params: {
   }
   return {
     sessionId: getSessionId(),
-    sessionFile,
+    sessionFile: snapshotFile,
     leafId,
   };
 }