PR #73760: fix: [Bug]: 2026.4.25+ macOS startup hot loop / 100% CPU in bundled plugin path

• Repository: openclaw/openclaw
• Author: 1yihui
• State: closed | merged: False
• Link: https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/pull/73760

Description (problem / solution / changelog)

Summary

Backport of the fix from PR #73275 to resolve the macOS startup hot loop / 100% CPU issue in the bundled plugin path.

Root cause: When OPENCLAW_BUNDLED_PLUGINS_DIR was set, the code returned any existing path without validating whether it contained usable plugins. Additionally, the cwdRoot was included in package root candidates, which could lead to incorrect bundled directory resolution on macOS. The VITEST environment variable check also caused inconsistent behavior in test environments.

Fix: Added resolveTrustedExistingOverride() which validates override paths against trusted bundled plugin roots, using safeRealpathSync (via fs.realpathSync.native) to safely resolve symlinks. Removed cwdRoot from package root candidates and removed the VITEST environment variable check from preferSourceCheckout.

Testing: The fix was validated in PR #73275 which addressed the same issue in the main branch.

Changes

• Add safeRealpathSync() - wraps fs.realpathSync.native to safely resolve symlinks without throwing
• Add pathContains() - checks if a child path is within a parent directory
• Add trustedBundledPluginRootsForPackageRoot() - lists trusted plugin root directories
• Add resolveTrustedExistingOverride() - validates override paths against trusted roots
• Add overrideResolvesUnderPackageBundledRoot() - checks if a rejected override uses a package bundled root
• Modify resolveBundledDirFromPackageRoot() - use hasUsableBundledPluginTree instead of bare fs.existsSync
• Modify resolveBundledPluginsDir() - use resolveTrustedExistingOverride for validation; remove cwdRoot and VITEST check

Testing

• The fix was validated in PR #73275 (merged)
• OPENCLAW_DISABLE_BUNDLED_PLUGINS=1 continues to work as a workaround

Fixes openclaw/openclaw#73705

Changed files

• .agents/skills/openclaw-release-maintainer/SKILL.md (modified, +33/-5)
• .github/workflows/full-release-validation.yml (modified, +11/-1)
• .github/workflows/npm-telegram-beta-e2e.yml (modified, +150/-7)
• CHANGELOG.md (modified, +20/-106)
• docs/.generated/config-baseline.sha256 (modified, +3/-3)
• docs/.generated/plugin-sdk-api-baseline.sha256 (modified, +2/-2)
• docs/ci.md (modified, +26/-2)
• docs/help/testing.md (modified, +4/-2)
• docs/reference/RELEASING.md (modified, +36/-4)
• extensions/video-generation-providers.live.test.ts (modified, +7/-0)
• extensions/xai/xai.live.test.ts (modified, +3/-2)
• scripts/e2e/parallels-npm-update-smoke.sh (modified, +2/-1)
• src/agents/models.profiles.live.test.ts (modified, +10/-0)
• src/cli/update-cli/restart-helper.test.ts (modified, +7/-1)
• src/cli/update-cli/restart-helper.ts (modified, +20/-0)
• src/config/bundled-channel-config-metadata.generated.ts (modified, +6/-0)
• src/gateway/gateway-codex-harness.live-helpers.test.ts (modified, +12/-0)
• src/gateway/gateway-codex-harness.live-helpers.ts (modified, +7/-1)
• src/plugins/bundled-dir.ts (modified, +78/-22)

PR #73678: fix: cache plugin manifest loads by file signature

• Repository: openclaw/openclaw
• Author: TheDutchRuler
• State: closed | merged: False
• Link: https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/pull/73678

Description (problem / solution / changelog)

Summary

• cache loadPluginManifest results by manifest path, hardlink policy, optional real root, and file signature
• reuse the normalized manifest result when the manifest file is unchanged
• add regression coverage for repeated unchanged manifest loads

Context

This is the smallest upstreamable slice from a v2026.4.26 CPU investigation on a Docker/Synology deployment. The gateway was repeatedly spending CPU in plugin manifest/runtime discovery during channel startup; caching normalized manifest loads reduced repeated strict JSON/JSON5 parse and normalization work in bursty startup paths.

Related issue: #73647

Validation

• node --import tsx <manifest-cache-smoke> => manifest cache smoke ok
• corepack pnpm exec oxfmt --check --threads=1 src/plugins/manifest.ts src/plugins/manifest.json5-tolerance.test.ts
• corepack pnpm run tsgo:test:src

Note: direct vitest run src/plugins/manifest.json5-tolerance.test.ts was not used as final validation on the NAS because the default Vitest invocation spent several minutes in project bundling. The source typecheck and a direct runtime smoke both passed.

Changed files

• src/plugins/manifest.json5-tolerance.test.ts (modified, +35/-1)
• src/plugins/manifest.ts (modified, +68/-7)