Summary

• Add a small process-local memo around loadPluginMetadataSnapshot so repeated same-process CLI startup callers reuse metadata snapshot work.
• Keep the memo key intentionally narrow: caller-visible config/control-plane inputs plus persisted registry and managed npm root fingerprints.
• Cache only persisted/provided snapshots and policy-stale derived snapshots; broader discovery freshness hardening remains in fix(plugins): keep plugin metadata memo fresh #81064 / follow-up.
• Ignore vanished recovered install records when their install/source paths are gone, so stale local install-record residue does not force beta6 back to full derived discovery.

AI-assisted: yes, with Codex.

Root cause

Beta6 still calls loadPluginMetadataSnapshot hundreds of times during CLI startup. The lower-level manifest scan cache helps, but callers still repeatedly rebuild registry snapshot state, manifest registry state, owner maps, id normalizers, and metrics.

The earlier slim branch avoided some broad caching risk, but it skipped policy-stale derived snapshots. On this beta6 install, many validation callers use config: {}, which produces persisted-registry-stale-policy; skipping those snapshots left the hot path intact.

Scope notes

This is the release-sized hotfix slice. It intentionally does not attempt the full freshness matrix from #81064. In particular, arbitrary direct plugin file edits in the same process are not exhaustively detected unless the persisted registry / managed npm fingerprint changes or the process restarts. That broader P2 hardening should stay with #81064 or a follow-up.

GitHub file API after the final recut reports 4 files changed, 468 additions, and 31 deletions (size: M).

Real behavior proof

Behavior or issue addressed: repeated in-process plugin metadata snapshot construction dominates beta6 CLI startup on installs with many plugins.

Real environment tested: local production OpenClaw install on Linux/WSL2, upgraded to OpenClaw 2026.5.12-beta.6 (c4292e0). The local CLI exit-fix patch was not applied for the final proof. The after-fix timing proof used #81570 production head fb8e1ce931def59793d3218ffef7c0393f8deedd applied to beta6 commit c4292e053d7c86361700b3acb59cb51e4a310f2d, built from a fresh beta6 proof worktree, and temporarily overlaid as a complete dist/ onto the same install. The current PR head is 9de96674aff0415862d1ef88be3f5722a53e61a0; commits after the timing proof are limited to a memo-key Nix-mode input simplification and test fixture/size trims. The install was restored to beta6 afterward.

Exact steps or command run after this patch: pnpm -C <slim-pr-worktree> format:check src/plugins/plugin-metadata-snapshot.ts src/plugins/plugin-metadata-snapshot.memo.test.ts src/plugins/plugin-registry-snapshot.ts src/plugins/plugin-registry-snapshot.test.ts; pnpm -C <slim-pr-worktree> test src/plugins/plugin-metadata-snapshot.memo.test.ts src/plugins/plugin-registry-snapshot.test.ts src/plugins/plugin-registry.test.ts; timeout 90s pnpm tsgo:core; pnpm -C <beta6-proof-worktree> format:check src/plugins/plugin-metadata-snapshot.ts src/plugins/plugin-registry-snapshot.ts src/plugins/plugin-metadata-snapshot.memo.test.ts src/plugins/plugin-registry-snapshot.test.ts; pnpm -C <beta6-proof-worktree> test src/plugins/plugin-metadata-snapshot.memo.test.ts src/plugins/plugin-registry-snapshot.test.ts src/plugins/plugin-registry.test.ts; timeout 240s pnpm build; /usr/bin/time -p timeout 240s openclaw plugins list; /usr/bin/time -p timeout 240s openclaw gateway status; OPENCLAW_DIAGNOSTICS=timeline OPENCLAW_DIAGNOSTICS_TIMELINE_PATH=/tmp/openclaw-beta6-81570-fb8-timeline.jsonl timeout 120s openclaw plugins list --json.

Evidence after fix: unpatched beta6 baseline in the same install was openclaw plugins list real 80.63 and openclaw gateway status real 64.15. With #81570 head fb8e1ce overlaid, openclaw plugins list completed with Plugins (18/104 enabled) in real 14.69, user 14.25, sys 1.53; openclaw gateway status completed in real 12.69, user 12.28, sys 1.69. The timeline run recorded 906 plugins.metadata.scan spans with 896 cache hits, total metadata span time 9411.2ms, max 291.8ms, and no stderr.

Observed result after fix: beta6 CLI metadata startup work collapses to process-local cache hits after the first few distinct contexts. plugins list improves from 80.63s to 14.69s, and gateway status improves from 64.15s to 12.69s on the same install.

What was not tested: current head 9de96674aff0415862d1ef88be3f5722a53e61a0 was not retimed in the local beta6 install after the post-proof memo-key Nix-mode input simplification and test-only trim commits; hosted non-draft CI is green on that exact head. The comprehensive plugin discovery freshness matrix from #81064 is intentionally out of scope for this release-sized PR; this PR only includes compact coverage for the vanished install-record case needed to keep beta6 on the persisted fast path.

Verification

• pnpm -C <slim-pr-worktree> format:check src/plugins/plugin-metadata-snapshot.ts src/plugins/plugin-metadata-snapshot.memo.test.ts src/plugins/plugin-registry-snapshot.ts src/plugins/plugin-registry-snapshot.test.ts
• pnpm -C <slim-pr-worktree> test src/plugins/plugin-metadata-snapshot.memo.test.ts src/plugins/plugin-registry-snapshot.test.ts src/plugins/plugin-registry.test.ts
• timeout 90s pnpm tsgo:core
• pnpm -C <beta6-proof-worktree> format:check src/plugins/plugin-metadata-snapshot.ts src/plugins/plugin-registry-snapshot.ts src/plugins/plugin-metadata-snapshot.memo.test.ts src/plugins/plugin-registry-snapshot.test.ts
• pnpm -C <beta6-proof-worktree> test src/plugins/plugin-metadata-snapshot.memo.test.ts src/plugins/plugin-registry-snapshot.test.ts src/plugins/plugin-registry.test.ts
• timeout 240s pnpm build from the beta6 proof worktree
• git diff --check
• Hosted non-draft CI on 9de96674aff0415862d1ef88be3f5722a53e61a0: Real behavior proof, check-lint, check-test-types, check-prod-types, check, build-artifacts, build-smoke, checks-node-core, checks-node-core-fast, checks-fast-protocol, Critical Quality (plugin-boundary), Critical Quality (network-runtime-boundary), selected Security High shards, and the remaining required PR checks.