Summary

shouldIgnoreScannedDirectory() in src/plugins/discovery.ts only skips .bak/.backup-/.disabled directories. It does not skip node_modules, .git, .venv, browser_data, or any other heavy dependency/build directories.

When a workspace skill or plugin contains node_modules, the plugin discovery scanner descends into every subdirectory and probes for package manifests via openBoundaryFileSync. This exhausts the process file descriptor table on macOS and causes spawn EBADF (errno -9) on all subsequent exec tool calls.

The skills watcher (DEFAULT_SKILLS_WATCH_IGNORED in refresh.ts) and memory watcher (IGNORED_MEMORY_WATCH_DIR_NAMES in manager-sync-ops.ts) already ignore these directories — but the plugin discovery scanner does not.

Environment

• OpenClaw: 2026.3.11 (29dc654) — latest release
• OS: macOS (Darwin, arm64)
• Node.js: v22.22.1

Steps to Reproduce

1. Install a skill/plugin that has its own node_modules (e.g. memory-lancedb-pro with ~5,000 files in node_modules/)
2. Start the gateway: openclaw gateway start
3. Check FD count: lsof -p $(pgrep openclaw-gateway) | wc -l
4. Observe 12,000+ open file descriptors, mostly REG (regular file) in read-only mode
5. Attempt any exec tool call → fails with spawn EBADF

Expected Behavior

Plugin discovery should skip node_modules, .git, .venv, and other directories that cannot contain valid plugins. FD count should stay in the hundreds, not thousands.

Actual Behavior

$ lsof -p $(pgrep openclaw-gateway) | wc -l
   12232

$ lsof -p $(pgrep openclaw-gateway) | awk '{print $NF}' | grep node_modules | wc -l
   8595

All exec calls fail with spawn EBADF.

Root Cause

src/plugins/discovery.ts, function shouldIgnoreScannedDirectory():

function shouldIgnoreScannedDirectory(dirName: string): boolean {
  const normalized = dirName.trim().toLowerCase();
  if (!normalized) return true;
  if (normalized.endsWith(".bak")) return true;       // ← only these
  if (normalized.includes(".backup-")) return true;   // ← three
  if (normalized.includes(".disabled")) return true;  // ← patterns
  return false;
}

This function is called by discoverInDirectory() which recurses into every subdirectory of plugin roots. Without node_modules in the skip list, it enters dependency trees with thousands of packages.

Compare with the skills watcher (DEFAULT_SKILLS_WATCH_IGNORED) which already ignores node_modules, .git, dist, .venv, venv, __pycache__, .mypy_cache, .pytest_cache, build, .cache.

Workaround

Manually delete node_modules from workspace skills and restart the gateway. FD count drops from 12,232 to 1,231.

Previously

• [Bug]: spawn EBADF error on all exec tool calls** #2532 — original spawn EBADF tracking issue
• fix: prevent file descriptor leak from Python venv directories in skills #8869 — attempted fix for skills watcher venv ignore (closed as stale; maintainer noted: "If the underlying bug is still reproducible on current main, open a new focused fix PR")
• File descriptor leak in workspace scanning on every message #11181 — FD leak in workspace scanning on every message