Summary

All bundled channel plugins fail to load with RangeError: Maximum call stack size exceeded during gateway startup. The stack overflow occurs in jiti's recursive module evaluator (eval_evalModule → jitiRequire chain), which creates a deeply nested call stack when loading compiled dist chunks. By the time downstream dependencies (ajv, highlight.js, etc.) initialize, the call stack is exhausted.

Workaround: Set OPENCLAW_SKIP_CHANNEL_PLUGINS=1 environment variable to bypass channel plugin loading entirely. This has been added to start-openclaw.ps1 as a temporary measure.

Root Cause Analysis

The Loading Chain

Each channel extension loads through jiti via dist-runtime/extensions/<channel>/index.js → dist/extensions/<channel>/index.js, which triggers a deep dependency chain:

channel extension → channel-core → extension-shared → runtime → command-secret-gateway → call → method-scopes → (ajv/highlight.js)

Each jiti step adds multiple frames (jitiRequire → eval_evalModule → anonymous wrapper). By the time the chain reaches modules that do significant initialization work (ajv schema compilation, highlight.js loading), the stack is exhausted.

Stack Trace

[openclaw] Failed to start CLI: RangeError: Maximum call stack size exceeded
    at schemaHasRulesForType (node_modules/ajv/dist/compile/validate/applicability.js:6:39)
    ...
    at method-scopes-XXXX.js:1884:35  (ajv.compile at module level)
    at ModuleJobSync.runSync (node:internal/modules/esm/module_job)
    at loadESMFromCJS (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader)
    at jitiRequire → eval_evalModule (repeated ~7 levels deep)
    at dist/extensions/googlechat/index.js

Contributing Factors

1. ~70+ ajv.compile() calls at module level in gateway/protocol/index.ts — each adds recursive stack frames for schema walking
2. jiti's recursive CJS↔ESM bridge — each module in the chain adds 2-3 stack frames
3. Transitive dependency depth — channel extensions pull in the entire gateway protocol module through shared chunks

Changes Already Applied

1. Lazy ajv compilation (src/gateway/protocol/index.ts)

Replaced ~70 eager ajv.compile() calls with lazyCompile() wrappers that defer compilation to first use. This prevents ajv from consuming stack during module initialization.

2. Strip $schema from bundled schemas (src/plugins/bundled-plugin-metadata.ts)

The runtime metadata loader was passing schemas with $schema: "http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#" to ajv, causing it to try compiling the self-referential JSON Schema meta-schema. Now stripped at collection time.

3. validateSchema: false on all ajv instances

Added to both schema-validator.ts and gateway/protocol/index.ts to prevent ajv from validating schemas against the meta-schema.

4. Regenerated bundled-channel-config-metadata.generated.ts

The $schema property is now stripped by stripSchemaProperty() in the generation script.

5. OPENCLAW_SKIP_CHANNEL_PLUGINS env var bypass (src/channels/plugins/bundled.ts)

When set, skips loadGeneratedBundledChannelEntries() entirely, returning an empty array.

What Still Needs to Be Done

• Investigate why jiti creates such deep stacks loading compiled dist files (these are already JS — should they even need jiti?)
• Consider using native ESM import() for bundled channel loading instead of jiti's CJS bridge
• Evaluate if dist-runtime proxy files can use dynamic import() instead of re-exports
• Profile the actual stack depth during channel loading to determine minimum --stack-size needed
• Remove the OPENCLAW_SKIP_CHANNEL_PLUGINS workaround once the underlying jiti issue is resolved

Files Modified

• src/gateway/protocol/index.ts — lazy ajv compilation
• src/plugins/schema-validator.ts — validateSchema: false
• src/plugins/bundled-plugin-metadata.ts — strip $schema from runtime schemas
• src/channels/plugins/bundled.ts — OPENCLAW_SKIP_CHANNEL_PLUGINS bypass
• scripts/generate-bundled-channel-config-metadata.ts — stripSchemaProperty() helper
• start-openclaw.ps1 — set OPENCLAW_SKIP_CHANNEL_PLUGINS=1
• src/config/bundled-channel-config-metadata.generated.ts — regenerated without $schema

Environment

• Node.js v22.18.0
• Windows 11 Pro
• Default stack size (~1MB)