diff --git a/extensions/clawrouter/usage.test.ts b/extensions/clawrouter/usage.test.ts
index 9cd33dcc223c..90c10b883b8b 100644
--- a/extensions/clawrouter/usage.test.ts
+++ b/extensions/clawrouter/usage.test.ts
@@ -222,20 +222,61 @@ describe("ClawRouter usage", () => {
     expect(snapshot.summary).toBeUndefined();
   });
 
-  it("rejects usage JSON containing invalid UTF-8", async () => {
+  it.each([
+    ["malformed JSON", new TextEncoder().encode('{"budget":')],
+    ["a non-object JSON root", new TextEncoder().encode("null")],
+  ])("reports %s as a malformed usage response", async (_label, body) => {
+    const snapshot = await fetchClawRouterUsage({
+      token: "test-token",
+      timeoutMs: 5000,
+      fetchGuard: mockFetchGuard(new Response(body)),
+    });
+
+    expect(snapshot).toEqual({
+      provider: "clawrouter",
+      displayName: "ClawRouter",
+      windows: [],
+      error: "Malformed usage response",
+    });
+  });
+
+  it("reports invalid UTF-8 as a malformed usage response", async () => {
     const prefix = new TextEncoder().encode(
       '{"budget":{"configured":true,"windowKey":"default/test-policy/2026-',
     );
     const suffix = new TextEncoder().encode('","limitMicros":1000000,"spentMicros":500000}}');
     const body = new Uint8Array([...prefix, 0xff, ...suffix]);
 
+    const snapshot = await fetchClawRouterUsage({
+      token: "test-token",
+      timeoutMs: 5000,
+      fetchGuard: mockFetchGuard(new Response(body)),
+    });
+
+    expect(snapshot).toEqual({
+      provider: "clawrouter",
+      displayName: "ClawRouter",
+      windows: [],
+      error: "Malformed usage response",
+    });
+  });
+
+  it("preserves response stream failures as transport errors", async () => {
+    const response = new Response(
+      new ReadableStream({
+        start(controller) {
+          controller.error(new TypeError("usage stream failed"));
+        },
+      }),
+    );
+
     await expect(
       fetchClawRouterUsage({
         token: "test-token",
         timeoutMs: 5000,
-        fetchGuard: mockFetchGuard(new Response(body)),
+        fetchGuard: mockFetchGuard(response),
       }),
-    ).rejects.toThrow(TypeError);
+    ).rejects.toThrow("usage stream failed");
   });
 
   it("cancels non-OK usage response body before throwing", async () => {
diff --git a/extensions/clawrouter/usage.ts b/extensions/clawrouter/usage.ts
index e6425ef1dcb4..dee85c9f75ec 100644
--- a/extensions/clawrouter/usage.ts
+++ b/extensions/clawrouter/usage.ts
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ import {
   fetchWithSsrFGuard,
   ssrfPolicyFromHttpBaseUrlAllowedHostname,
 } from "openclaw/plugin-sdk/ssrf-runtime";
-import { asFiniteNumberInRange } from "openclaw/plugin-sdk/string-coerce-runtime";
+import { asFiniteNumberInRange, asOptionalRecord } from "openclaw/plugin-sdk/string-coerce-runtime";
 import { normalizeClawRouterRootUrl } from "./provider-catalog.js";
 
 const CLAWROUTER_USAGE_RESPONSE_MAX_BYTES = 1024 * 1024;
@@ -72,16 +72,19 @@ function buildSummary(payload: ClawRouterUsagePayload): string | undefined {
 async function readClawRouterUsagePayload(
   response: Response,
   timeoutMs: number,
-): Promise<ClawRouterUsagePayload> {
+): Promise<ClawRouterUsagePayload | undefined> {
   const buffer = await readResponseWithLimit(response, CLAWROUTER_USAGE_RESPONSE_MAX_BYTES, {
     chunkTimeoutMs: timeoutMs,
     onOverflow: ({ maxBytes }) => new Error(`ClawRouter usage response exceeds ${maxBytes} bytes`),
     onIdleTimeout: ({ chunkTimeoutMs }) =>
       new Error(`ClawRouter usage response stalled: no data received for ${chunkTimeoutMs}ms`),
   });
-  return JSON.parse(
-    new TextDecoder("utf-8", { fatal: true }).decode(buffer),
-  ) as ClawRouterUsagePayload;
+  try {
+    const payload: unknown = JSON.parse(new TextDecoder("utf-8", { fatal: true }).decode(buffer));
+    return asOptionalRecord(payload) as ClawRouterUsagePayload | undefined;
+  } catch {
+    return undefined;
+  }
 }
 
 export async function fetchClawRouterUsage(params: {
@@ -116,6 +119,14 @@ export async function fetchClawRouterUsage(params: {
       throw new Error(`ClawRouter usage request failed (HTTP ${response.status})`);
     }
     const payload = await readClawRouterUsagePayload(response, params.timeoutMs);
+    if (!payload) {
+      return {
+        provider: "clawrouter",
+        displayName: "ClawRouter",
+        windows: [],
+        error: "Malformed usage response",
+      };
+    }
     const budget = payload.budget;
     const limitMicros = asFiniteNumberInRange(budget?.limitMicros, { min: 0 });
     const spentMicros = asFiniteNumberInRange(budget?.spentMicros, { min: 0 });