PR #74220: Fix CLI text command hangs

• Repository: openclaw/openclaw
• Author: NianJiuZst
• State: open | merged: False
• Link: https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/pull/74220

Description (problem / solution / changelog)

Summary

Fixes #74195.

This PR keeps the affected human-readable CLI paths on the same lightweight, read-only startup path as their working JSON counterparts:

• routes bare openclaw agents through the route-first agents-list implementation
• prevents text openclaw agents list from preloading bundled plugin runtimes before output
• keeps plain text openclaw status from running live channels.status RPC work or setup-runtime channel fallback by default
• preserves the richer live channel behavior for explicit deep/full status paths

Root Cause

agents list --json was already optimized to avoid plugin/runtime bootstrap, but the default text path still opted into plugin loading for provider enrichment. Bare openclaw agents also fell through to the Commander parent action, which called the same text list behavior after the broader agents startup policy had already selected plugin preload.

For status, the JSON fast path skipped channel table/live-channel work, while the text path still queried channels.status and allowed setup-runtime fallback when building the channel table. That made the text path materially heavier and more likely to hit the plugin/metadata/runtime hang reported in the issue even though the gateway itself was responsive.

Fix Details

• Add an exact route-first catalog entry for bare agents, mapped to agents-list, with loadPlugins: "never".
• Change agents list startup policy from text-only plugin preload to loadPlugins: "never"; text output still uses config plus read-only channel metadata for useful provider/routing summaries.
• Thread deep into the text status scan so plain status and deep status can choose different scan depth.
• Add explicit controls to collectStatusScanOverview for live channel status and setup-runtime fallback.
• Make default text status skip live channel status and setup-runtime fallback, while status --deep / status --all keep the richer live behavior.
• Add focused regression coverage for agents routing/startup policy and status scan depth behavior.

Validation

• pnpm test src/cli/command-startup-policy.test.ts src/cli/command-path-policy.test.ts src/cli/route.test.ts src/cli/program/register.agent.test.ts src/cli/program/route-args.test.ts src/cli/program/routes.test.ts src/commands/agents.commands.list.test.ts src/commands/status.scan-overview.test.ts src/commands/status.scan.test.ts src/commands/status.test.ts
• pnpm exec oxfmt --check --threads=1 src/cli/command-catalog.ts src/cli/program/register.agent.ts src/cli/route.ts src/cli/program/routed-command-definitions.ts src/commands/agents.commands.list.ts src/commands/agents.providers.ts src/commands/status.command.ts src/commands/status.scan.ts src/commands/status.scan-overview.ts CHANGELOG.md
• git diff --check
• Smoke checked built CLI exits for:
  • node dist/entry.js agents list
  • node dist/entry.js agents
  • node dist/entry.js status --timeout 5000

Changed files

• CHANGELOG.md (modified, +1/-0)
• src/cli/command-catalog.ts (modified, +9/-6)
• src/cli/command-path-policy.test.ts (modified, +2/-0)
• src/cli/command-startup-policy.test.ts (modified, +7/-4)
• src/cli/program/preaction.test.ts (modified, +4/-10)
• src/cli/program/route-args.test.ts (modified, +4/-0)
• src/cli/program/routes.test.ts (modified, +33/-0)
• src/commands/agents.commands.list.test.ts (modified, +13/-0)