fix: make gateway nodes and local inference reliable under stress (#115185)

src/cli/node-cli/daemon.test.ts

@@ -200,6 +200,31 @@ describe("runNodeDaemonStatus", () => {
     mocks.service.readRuntime.mockReset().mockResolvedValue({ status: "running" });
   });
 
+  it("reports a failed service check instead of claiming the node is not installed", async () => {
+    mocks.service.isLoaded.mockRejectedValue(new Error("systemd unavailable"));
+
+    await runNodeDaemonStatus();
+
+    expect(mocks.runtime.error).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      "Node service check failed: Error: systemd unavailable",
+    );
+    expect(mocks.runtime.exit).toHaveBeenCalledWith(1);
+    expect(stdout()).not.toContain("not loaded");
+    expect(stdout()).not.toContain("openclaw node install");
+  });
+
+  it("reports a failed service check as JSON without inventing node status", async () => {
+    mocks.service.isLoaded.mockRejectedValue(new Error("systemd unavailable"));
+
+    await runNodeDaemonStatus({ json: true });
+
+    expect(mocks.runtime.writeJson).toHaveBeenCalledWith({
+      error: "Node service check failed: Error: systemd unavailable",
+    });
+    expect(mocks.runtime.exit).toHaveBeenCalledWith(1);
+    expect(mocks.runtime.error).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
+
   it("keeps missing service-unit status on stderr and prints recovery hints on stdout", async () => {
     mocks.service.readRuntime.mockResolvedValue({ status: "stopped", missingUnit: true });
 

src/cli/node-cli/daemon.ts

@@ -215,8 +215,20 @@ export async function runNodeDaemonStop(opts: NodeDaemonLifecycleOptions = {}) {
 export async function runNodeDaemonStatus(opts: NodeDaemonStatusOptions = {}) {
   const json = Boolean(opts.json);
   const service = resolveNodeService();
-  const [loaded, command, runtime] = await Promise.all([
-    service.isLoaded({ env: process.env }).catch(() => false),
+  let loaded: boolean;
+  try {
+    loaded = await service.isLoaded({ env: process.env });
+  } catch (error) {
+    const message = `Node service check failed: ${String(error)}`;
+    if (json) {
+      defaultRuntime.writeJson({ error: message });
+    } else {
+      defaultRuntime.error(message);
+    }
+    defaultRuntime.exit(1);
+    return;
+  }
+  const [command, runtime] = await Promise.all([
     service.readCommand(process.env).catch(() => null),
     service
       .readRuntime(process.env)