Bug type

Regression (worked before, now fails)

Beta release blocker

No

Summary

Memory-kind plugins with no channels are excluded from resolveGatewayStartupPluginIds, so their registered services are never passed to startPluginServices and start() is never called.

Steps to reproduce

1. Install or develop a plugin with kind: "memory" that registers a service via register().
2. Enable the plugin in config (plugins.entries.<id>.enabled: true).
3. Start the gateway (openclaw gateway run).
4. Observe that the plugin's service start() is never called — the service's
5. resolvedWorkspaceDir (or equivalent init state) is never set.

Expected behavior

An enabled memory-kind plugin's registered services should be started during gateway startup, the same as any other enabled plugin with registered services.

Actual behavior

The plugin's register() runs (services are registered into the registry), but startPluginServices iterates a registry built from startupPluginIds that excludes memory-kind plugins. Gateway log shows startup completes (e.g. ready (5 plugins)) without the memory plugin's service start() ever being called. Confirmed by observing that the service's init state was never set 17 seconds after gateway ready.

OpenClaw version

2026.4.9

Operating system

macOS 15.4

Install method

npm global (/opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/openclaw/)

Model

openai 5.4

Provider / routing chain

Additional provider/model setup details

this bug is in the plugin loading/startup path, not in model routing.

Logs, screenshots, and evidence

Root cause trace through source:                                                   
  
  1. hasRuntimeContractSurface returns true for memory-kind plugins                  
  (src/plugins/channel-plugin-ids.ts:23 — hasKind(plugin.kind, "memory")).
  2. isGatewayStartupSidecar returns false because it requires                       
  !hasRuntimeContractSurface(plugin) (src/plugins/channel-plugin-ids.ts:28).         
  3. resolveGatewayStartupPluginIds filter (src/plugins/channel-plugin-ids.ts:104)
  has two inclusion branches: (a) has a configured channel, (b)                      
  isGatewayStartupSidecar is true. Memory-kind plugins fail both.
  4. loadGatewayPlugins (src/gateway/server-plugins.ts:426) passes startupPluginIds  
  as onlyPluginIds, so the memory plugin is never loaded into the startup registry.  
  5. startPluginServices (src/gateway/server-startup-post-attach.ts:191) receives the startup registry — which has no memory plugin services to start.                  
                  
  The memory plugin is later loaded through a separate lazy path                     
  (resolveRuntimePluginRegistry via startGatewayMemoryBackend), but that registry is
  never passed to startPluginServic

Impact and severity

• Affected: Any memory-kind plugin (bundled or third-party) that registers services
• Severity: High — plugin services silently never start, no error logged
• Frequency: 100% — deterministic for any memory-kind plugin with services
• Consequence: Plugin functionality that depends on service start() (e.g. auto-sync, background indexing) silently fails; plugin authors must implement timer-based workarounds

Additional information

This is a classification gap, not a regression from a specific version — hasRuntimeContractSurface has included hasKind(plugin.kind, "memory") since the memory-kind support was added.