fix(gateway): pin startup channel registry

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 - Voice-call/OpenAI: pass full plugin config into realtime transcription provider resolution so streaming calls can discover the bundled OpenAI realtime transcription provider again. Fixes #60936. Thanks @sliekens and @vincentkoc.
 - Plugins/OpenAI: enable `gpt-image-1` reference-image edits through `/images/edits` multipart uploads, and stop inferring unsupported resolution overrides when no explicit `size` or `resolution` is provided.
 - Gateway/startup: default `gateway.mode` to `local` when unset, detect PID recycling in gateway lock files on Windows and macOS, and show startup progress so healthy restarts stop getting blocked by stale locks. (#54801, #60085, #59843)
+- Gateway/channels: pin the initial startup channel registry before later plugin-registry churn so configured channels stay visible and `channels.status` stops falling back to empty `channelOrder` / `channels` payloads after runtime plugin loads.
 - Mobile pairing/Android: tighten secure endpoint handling so Tailscale and public remote setup reject cleartext endpoints, private LAN pairing still works, merged-role approvals mint both node and operator device tokens, and bootstrap tokens survive node auto-pair until operator approval finishes. (#60128, #60208, #60221)
 - Android/Talk Mode: restore spoken assistant replies on node-scoped sessions by keeping reply routing synced to the resolved node session key and pausing mic capture during reply playback. (#60306) Thanks @MKV21.
 - Telegram: fix current-model checks in the model picker, HTML-format non-default `/model` confirmations, explicit topic replies, persisted reaction ownership across restarts, caption-media placeholder and `file_id` preservation on download failure, and upgraded-install inbound image reads. (#60384, #60042, #59634, #59207, #59948, #59971)

src/gateway/server-plugin-bootstrap.ts

@@ -91,7 +91,10 @@ export function prepareGatewayPluginLoad(params: GatewayPluginBootstrapParams) {
 export function loadGatewayStartupPlugins(
   params: Omit<GatewayPluginBootstrapParams, "beforePrimeRegistry">,
 ) {
-  return prepareGatewayPluginLoad(params);
+  return prepareGatewayPluginLoad({
+    ...params,
+    beforePrimeRegistry: pinActivePluginChannelRegistry,
+  });
 }
 
 export function reloadDeferredGatewayPlugins(

src/gateway/server-plugins.test.ts

@@ -87,6 +87,7 @@ const createRegistry = (diagnostics: PluginDiagnostic[]): PluginRegistry => ({
 type ServerPluginsModule = typeof import("./server-plugins.js");
 type ServerPluginBootstrapModule = typeof import("./server-plugin-bootstrap.js");
 type PluginRuntimeModule = typeof import("../plugins/runtime/index.js");
+type PluginRuntimeRegistryModule = typeof import("../plugins/runtime.js");
 type GatewayRequestScopeModule = typeof import("../plugins/runtime/gateway-request-scope.js");
 type MethodScopesModule = typeof import("./method-scopes.js");
 type RuntimeStateModule = typeof import("../plugins/runtime-state.js");
@@ -94,6 +95,7 @@ type RuntimeStateModule = typeof import("../plugins/runtime-state.js");
 let serverPluginsModule: ServerPluginsModule;
 let serverPluginBootstrapModule: ServerPluginBootstrapModule;
 let runtimeModule: PluginRuntimeModule;
+let runtimeRegistryModule: PluginRuntimeRegistryModule;
 let gatewayRequestScopeModule: GatewayRequestScopeModule;
 let methodScopesModule: MethodScopesModule;
 let getActivePluginRegistryWorkspaceDirFromState: typeof import("../plugins/runtime-state.js").getActivePluginRegistryWorkspaceDirFromState;
@@ -131,6 +133,7 @@ async function loadTestModules() {
   serverPluginsModule = await import("./server-plugins.js");
   serverPluginBootstrapModule = await import("./server-plugin-bootstrap.js");
   runtimeModule = await import("../plugins/runtime/index.js");
+  runtimeRegistryModule = await import("../plugins/runtime.js");
   gatewayRequestScopeModule = await import("../plugins/runtime/gateway-request-scope.js");
   methodScopesModule = await import("./method-scopes.js");
   const runtimeStateModule: RuntimeStateModule = await import("../plugins/runtime-state.js");
@@ -230,6 +233,7 @@ beforeEach(() => {
 
 afterEach(() => {
   runtimeModule.clearGatewaySubagentRuntime();
+  runtimeRegistryModule.resetPluginRuntimeStateForTest();
 });
 
 describe("loadGatewayPlugins", () => {
@@ -287,6 +291,20 @@ describe("loadGatewayPlugins", () => {
     );
   });
 
+  test("pins the initial startup channel registry against later active-registry churn", async () => {
+    const startupRegistry = createRegistry([]);
+    loadOpenClawPlugins.mockReturnValue(startupRegistry);
+
+    loadGatewayStartupPluginsForTest({
+      pluginIds: ["slack"],
+    });
+
+    const replacementRegistry = createRegistry([]);
+    runtimeRegistryModule.setActivePluginRegistry(replacementRegistry);
+
+    expect(runtimeRegistryModule.getActivePluginChannelRegistry()).toBe(startupRegistry);
+  });
+
   test("keeps the raw activation source when a precomputed startup scope is reused", async () => {
     const rawConfig = { channels: { slack: { botToken: "x" } } };
     const resolvedConfig = {