Root Cause

When NEMOCLAW_EXTRA_AGENTS_JSON is non-empty, the Dockerfile Python bake script does:

config['agents'].update({'list': extra_agents}) if extra_agents else None

This replaces agents.list wholesale. With only e.g. [research], the main agent entry is gone from config entirely.

Impact

OpenClaw's resolveDefaultAgentId (src/agents/agent-scope.ts) falls back to agents[0] when no entry has default: true. So the first extra agent becomes the dashboard/session default, displacing the intended primary agent.

Reproduction

Set NEMOCLAW_EXTRA_AGENTS_JSON to a non-empty JSON array and onboard. The first extra agent will be the default instead of main.

Fix

Prepend a canonical main entry before extra agents in the bake step:

main_entry = {
    'id': 'main',
    'default': True,
    'workspace': '/sandbox/.openclaw-data/workspace',
    'agentDir': '/sandbox/.openclaw-data/agents/main'
}
config['agents']['list'] = ([main_entry] + extra_agents) if extra_agents else [main_entry]

Workaround (no re-onboard)

Patch /sandbox/.openclaw/openclaw.json to prepend the main entry with default: true and restart the gateway inside the sandbox. Not persistent across sandbox recreate.

Related

#4560

Environment

• NemoClaw: 85b087d (local/nemoclaw-instance-fixes)
• OpenClaw: 2026.5.7
• OpenShell: v0.0.26