fix(plugins): retain cold-loaded tool registries

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -3118,6 +3118,7 @@ This audited record covers the complete v2026.5.28..v2026.5.31-beta.4 history: 4
 - Agents/sandbox: honor explicit Docker sandbox env variables with credential-looking names during container creation, and recreate affected sandbox containers when the effective env policy changes. Fixes #82695. (#82763) Thanks @joshavant.
 - Plugins: accept deprecated `api.on("deactivate")` registrations as a dated compatibility alias for `gateway_stop`, so external plugin cleanup handlers run on Gateway shutdown while authors get migration guidance.
 - Plugins: resolve bundled entry, dist-runtime, package-state, and public artifact paths from packaged roots, so bundled plugin probes and hardlinked public surfaces no longer fall back to source files or fail during restart. Fixes #78462. Fixes #75797. Refs #76865. Thanks @ginishuh and @ymebosma.
+- Plugins/tools: retain cold-loaded tool registries used by cached descriptors after runtime registry replacement, so contracted plugin tools keep executing in sub-agent sessions instead of failing with `plugin tool runtime missing`. Fixes #80847.
 - Media: ignore image MIME and filename hints when bytes sniff as generic containers, so zip/octet-stream payloads mislabeled as images do not become local image media or keep image file extensions when staged.
 - Update/doctor: avoid materializing `groupAllowFrom` for channel schemas that reject it, so package-swap doctor repairs do not fail on externalized Slack configs.
 - Gateway/media: prevent image filenames from overriding generic non-image byte sniffing, so zip/octet-stream payloads mislabeled as images are offloaded or rejected before they become inline image attachments.

src/plugins/runtime/standalone-runtime-registry-loader.ts

@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ function resolveRuntimeSubagentMode(
   return "default";
 }
 
-function installStandaloneRegistry(
+export function installStandaloneRuntimePluginRegistry(
   registry: PluginRegistry,
   params: {
     loadOptions: PluginLoadOptions;

src/plugins/tools.optional.test.ts

@@ -2147,6 +2147,51 @@ describe("resolvePluginTools optional tools", () => {
     expect(factory).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2);
   });
 
+  it("retains cold-loaded plugin tools for cached descriptor execution after active registry replacement", async () => {
+    const factory = vi.fn(() => makeTool("cached_lifecycle_tool"));
+    const gatewayRegistry = setRegistry([
+      {
+        pluginId: "cache-lifecycle-test",
+        optional: false,
+        source: "/tmp/cache-lifecycle-test.js",
+        names: ["cached_lifecycle_tool"],
+        factory,
+      },
+    ]);
+    const first = resolvePluginTools(
+      createResolveToolsParams({
+        toolAllowlist: ["cached_lifecycle_tool"],
+        allowGatewaySubagentBinding: true,
+      }),
+    );
+    const [tool] = resolvePluginTools(
+      createResolveToolsParams({
+        toolAllowlist: ["cached_lifecycle_tool"],
+        allowGatewaySubagentBinding: true,
+      }),
+    );
+    expectResolvedToolNames(first, ["cached_lifecycle_tool"]);
+    expect(tool?.name).toBe("cached_lifecycle_tool");
+    expect(factory).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+
+    const replacementRegistry = createToolRegistry([]);
+    replacementRegistry.plugins.push({ id: "cache-lifecycle-test", status: "loaded" });
+    setActivePluginRegistry?.(replacementRegistry as never, "provider-runtime", "default", "/tmp");
+    resolveRuntimePluginRegistryMock.mockReturnValue(undefined);
+    loadOpenClawPluginsMock.mockReset();
+    loadOpenClawPluginsMock
+      .mockReturnValueOnce(gatewayRegistry)
+      .mockReturnValue(createToolRegistry([]));
+
+    await expect(tool?.execute("call-1", {}, undefined)).resolves.toEqual({
+      content: [{ type: "text", text: "ok" }],
+    });
+    await expect(tool?.execute("call-2", {}, undefined)).resolves.toEqual({
+      content: [{ type: "text", text: "ok" }],
+    });
+    expect(loadOpenClawPluginsMock).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+  });
+
   it("does not reuse cached plugin tool descriptors across sandbox context changes", () => {
     const factory = vi.fn((rawCtx: unknown) => {
       const ctx = rawCtx as { sandboxed?: boolean };

src/plugins/tools.ts

@@ -24,7 +24,10 @@ import {
   buildPluginRuntimeLoadOptions,
   resolvePluginRuntimeLoadContext,
 } from "./runtime/load-context.js";
-import { ensureStandaloneRuntimePluginRegistryLoaded } from "./runtime/standalone-runtime-registry-loader.js";
+import {
+  ensureStandaloneRuntimePluginRegistryLoaded,
+  installStandaloneRuntimePluginRegistry,
+} from "./runtime/standalone-runtime-registry-loader.js";
 import { findUndeclaredPluginToolNames } from "./tool-contracts.js";
 import {
   buildPluginToolDescriptorCacheKey,
@@ -925,14 +928,24 @@ function resolvePluginToolRegistry(params: {
   }
 
   const forceStandaloneLoad = Boolean(channelRegistry || activeRegistry);
+  const shouldRetainColdLoadedToolRegistry =
+    forceStandaloneLoad &&
+    params.loadOptions.activate === false &&
+    params.loadOptions.toolDiscovery === true;
   const standaloneRegistry = ensureStandaloneRuntimePluginRegistryLoaded({
     surface: "active",
     forceLoad: forceStandaloneLoad,
-    installRegistry: !forceStandaloneLoad,
+    installRegistry: shouldRetainColdLoadedToolRegistry ? false : !forceStandaloneLoad,
     requiredPluginIds: params.onlyPluginIds,
     loadOptions: params.loadOptions,
   });
   if (registryHasScopedPluginTools(standaloneRegistry, params.onlyPluginIds)) {
+    if (shouldRetainColdLoadedToolRegistry) {
+      installStandaloneRuntimePluginRegistry(standaloneRegistry, {
+        loadOptions: params.loadOptions,
+        surface: "active",
+      });
+    }
     return standaloneRegistry;
   }
   return standaloneRegistry ?? channelRegistry ?? activeRegistry;