diff --git a/scripts/lib/plugin-npm-package-manifest.d.mts b/scripts/lib/plugin-npm-package-manifest.d.mts
index 2643afb937d5..8bdd1f845598 100644
--- a/scripts/lib/plugin-npm-package-manifest.d.mts
+++ b/scripts/lib/plugin-npm-package-manifest.d.mts
@@ -9,6 +9,12 @@ export function resolvePluginNpmCommand(
   shell: boolean;
   windowsVerbatimArguments?: boolean;
 };
+/** Run package-local npm ci with bounded retries for registry timeouts. */
+export function runPluginNpmCiWithRetry(
+  args: unknown,
+  options: Record<string, unknown>,
+  params?: Record<string, unknown>,
+): unknown;
 /** Build the package.json that should be used while packaging a plugin for npm. */
 export function resolveAugmentedPluginNpmPackageJson(params: unknown):
   | {
diff --git a/scripts/lib/plugin-npm-package-manifest.mjs b/scripts/lib/plugin-npm-package-manifest.mjs
index af9453917766..5ba7eeffcc5a 100644
--- a/scripts/lib/plugin-npm-package-manifest.mjs
+++ b/scripts/lib/plugin-npm-package-manifest.mjs
@@ -229,6 +229,36 @@ function spawnCommandSync(command, args, options) {
   return spawnSync(command, args, options);
 }
 
+/** @internal Directly tested release-script implementation detail. */
+export function runPluginNpmCiWithRetry(args, options, params = {}) {
+  const attempts = params.attempts ?? 3;
+  const timeoutMs = params.timeoutMs ?? 180_000;
+  const spawn = params.spawn ?? spawnNpmSync;
+  const cleanupAttempt = params.cleanupAttempt ?? (() => {});
+  const pluginDir = params.pluginDir ?? "plugin";
+
+  let result;
+  for (let attempt = 1; attempt <= attempts; attempt += 1) {
+    result = spawn(args, { ...options, timeout: timeoutMs });
+    if (result.error?.code !== "ETIMEDOUT") {
+      return result;
+    }
+
+    // A timed-out npm process can leave a partial tree that makes the next
+    // package attempt nondeterministic. Restore the staging invariant even
+    // when the retry budget is exhausted.
+    cleanupAttempt();
+    if (attempt === attempts) {
+      return result;
+    }
+    console.error(
+      `[plugin-npm-publish] bundled dependency install timed out for ${pluginDir} ` +
+        `(attempt ${attempt}/${attempts}); retrying`,
+    );
+  }
+  return result;
+}
+
 function resolveInstalledPackageDir(packageDir, packageName) {
   return path.join(packageDir, "node_modules", ...packageName.split("/"));
 }
@@ -433,7 +463,7 @@ function installPackageLocalBundledDependencies(params) {
       generateNpmPackageLock(params.packageDir, { installStrategy: "shallow" }),
       "utf8",
     );
-    const result = spawnNpmSync(
+    const result = runPluginNpmCiWithRetry(
       [
         "ci",
         "--install-strategy=shallow",
@@ -451,6 +481,10 @@ function installPackageLocalBundledDependencies(params) {
         env: process.env,
         stdio: ["ignore", "ignore", "inherit"],
       },
+      {
+        cleanupAttempt: () => fs.rmSync(nodeModulesPath, { recursive: true, force: true }),
+        pluginDir: params.pluginDir,
+      },
     );
     if (result.error) {
       throw result.error;
diff --git a/test/plugin-npm-package-manifest.test.ts b/test/plugin-npm-package-manifest.test.ts
index 9ae7a26da300..b4f346cc8a7f 100644
--- a/test/plugin-npm-package-manifest.test.ts
+++ b/test/plugin-npm-package-manifest.test.ts
@@ -1,12 +1,13 @@
 // Plugin npm manifest tests validate generated plugin package manifests.
 import { spawnSync } from "node:child_process";
-import { existsSync, mkdirSync, readFileSync, writeFileSync } from "node:fs";
+import { existsSync, mkdirSync, readFileSync, rmSync, writeFileSync } from "node:fs";
 import { dirname, join, win32 } from "node:path";
 import { afterEach, describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
 import {
   resolveAugmentedPluginNpmPackageJson,
   resolveAugmentedPluginNpmManifest,
   resolvePluginNpmCommand,
+  runPluginNpmCiWithRetry,
   withAugmentedPluginNpmManifestForPackage,
 } from "../scripts/lib/plugin-npm-package-manifest.mjs";
 import { cleanupTempDirs, makeTempRepoRoot, writeJsonFile } from "./helpers/temp-repo.js";
@@ -188,6 +189,99 @@ describe("plugin npm package manifest staging", () => {
     ).toThrow("OpenClaw refuses to shell out to bare npm on Windows");
   });
 
+  it("retries timed-out bundled dependency installs after cleaning partial output", () => {
+    const timeoutError = Object.assign(new Error("timed out"), { code: "ETIMEDOUT" });
+    const spawnResults = [
+      { error: timeoutError, status: null },
+      { error: undefined, status: 0 },
+    ];
+    const spawnOptions: Array<Record<string, unknown>> = [];
+    let cleanupCalls = 0;
+
+    const result = runPluginNpmCiWithRetry(
+      ["ci"],
+      { cwd: "/tmp/plugin" },
+      {
+        cleanupAttempt: () => {
+          cleanupCalls += 1;
+        },
+        pluginDir: "whatsapp",
+        spawn: (_args: string[], options: Record<string, unknown>) => {
+          spawnOptions.push(options);
+          return spawnResults.shift();
+        },
+        timeoutMs: 1234,
+      },
+    ) as { status: number | null };
+
+    expect(result.status).toBe(0);
+    expect(cleanupCalls).toBe(1);
+    expect(spawnOptions).toEqual([
+      { cwd: "/tmp/plugin", timeout: 1234 },
+      { cwd: "/tmp/plugin", timeout: 1234 },
+    ]);
+  });
+
+  it("does not retry ordinary bundled dependency install failures", () => {
+    let spawnCalls = 0;
+    const result = runPluginNpmCiWithRetry(
+      ["ci"],
+      {},
+      {
+        cleanupAttempt: () => {
+          throw new Error("cleanup should not run");
+        },
+        spawn: () => {
+          spawnCalls += 1;
+          return { error: undefined, status: 1 };
+        },
+      },
+    ) as { status: number | null };
+
+    expect(result.status).toBe(1);
+    expect(spawnCalls).toBe(1);
+  });
+
+  it("cleans an exhausted timeout before reusing the same package directory", () => {
+    const repoDir = makeTempRepoRoot(tempDirs, "openclaw-plugin-npm-timeout-");
+    const packageDir = join(repoDir, "extensions", "whatsapp");
+    const nodeModulesPath = join(packageDir, "node_modules");
+    const timeoutError = Object.assign(new Error("timed out"), { code: "ETIMEDOUT" });
+    mkdirSync(packageDir, { recursive: true });
+
+    const firstResult = runPluginNpmCiWithRetry(
+      ["ci"],
+      { cwd: packageDir },
+      {
+        attempts: 3,
+        cleanupAttempt: () => rmSync(nodeModulesPath, { recursive: true, force: true }),
+        pluginDir: "whatsapp",
+        spawn: () => {
+          mkdirSync(nodeModulesPath, { recursive: true });
+          return { error: timeoutError, status: null };
+        },
+      },
+    ) as { error?: NodeJS.ErrnoException };
+
+    expect(firstResult.error?.code).toBe("ETIMEDOUT");
+    expect(existsSync(nodeModulesPath)).toBe(false);
+
+    const secondResult = runPluginNpmCiWithRetry(
+      ["ci"],
+      { cwd: packageDir },
+      {
+        cleanupAttempt: () => rmSync(nodeModulesPath, { recursive: true, force: true }),
+        pluginDir: "whatsapp",
+        spawn: () => {
+          expect(existsSync(nodeModulesPath)).toBe(false);
+          return { error: undefined, status: 0 };
+        },
+      },
+    ) as { status: number | null };
+
+    expect(secondResult.status).toBe(0);
+  });
+
   it("overlays generated channel configs while packing and restores source manifest", () => {
     const repoDir = makeTempRepoRoot(tempDirs, "openclaw-plugin-npm-package-manifest-");
     const packageDir = join(repoDir, "extensions", "twitch");