diff --git a/docs/refactor/database-first.md b/docs/refactor/database-first.md
index 57656c3a271..1a4d705573e 100644
--- a/docs/refactor/database-first.md
+++ b/docs/refactor/database-first.md
@@ -634,6 +634,9 @@ sessionId}` and session key context.
   inline runs seed those entries into the per-agent runtime scratch namespace,
   and disk-backed tools overlay that SQLite scratch for attachment paths. The
   old subagent-run attachment-dir registry columns and cleanup hooks are gone.
+- CLI image hydration no longer maintains stable `openclaw-cli-images` cache
+  files. External CLI backends still receive file paths, but those paths are
+  per-run temp materializations with cleanup.
 - Cache-trace diagnostics, Anthropic payload diagnostics, raw model stream
   diagnostics, and diagnostics timeline events now write SQLite diagnostic rows
   instead of `logs/*.jsonl` files.
diff --git a/src/agents/cli-runner.helpers.test.ts b/src/agents/cli-runner.helpers.test.ts
index 187868c95ba..6de28eb2796 100644
--- a/src/agents/cli-runner.helpers.test.ts
+++ b/src/agents/cli-runner.helpers.test.ts
@@ -202,7 +202,7 @@ describe("buildCliArgs", () => {
 });
 
 describe("writeCliImages", () => {
-  it("uses stable hashed file paths so repeated image hydration reuses the same path", async () => {
+  it("materializes images into per-run temp paths and cleans them up", async () => {
     const workspaceDir = await fs.mkdtemp(
       path.join(resolvePreferredOpenClawTmpDir(), "openclaw-cli-write-images-"),
     );
@@ -225,12 +225,16 @@ describe("writeCliImages", () => {
 
     try {
       expect(first.paths).toHaveLength(1);
-      expect(second.paths).toEqual(first.paths);
-      expect(first.paths[0]).toContain(`${resolvePreferredOpenClawTmpDir()}/openclaw-cli-images/`);
+      expect(second.paths).toHaveLength(1);
+      expect(second.paths).not.toEqual(first.paths);
+      expect(first.paths[0]).toContain(`${resolvePreferredOpenClawTmpDir()}/openclaw-cli-images-`);
       expect(first.paths[0]).toMatch(/\.png$/);
       await expect(fs.readFile(first.paths[0])).resolves.toEqual(Buffer.from(image.data, "base64"));
+      await first.cleanup();
+      await expect(fs.access(first.paths[0])).rejects.toMatchObject({ code: "ENOENT" });
     } finally {
-      await fs.rm(first.paths[0], { force: true });
+      await first.cleanup();
+      await second.cleanup();
       await fs.rm(workspaceDir, { recursive: true, force: true });
     }
   });
@@ -254,7 +258,7 @@ describe("writeCliImages", () => {
     try {
       expect(written.paths[0]).toMatch(/\.heic$/);
     } finally {
-      await fs.rm(written.paths[0], { force: true });
+      await written.cleanup();
       await fs.rm(workspaceDir, { recursive: true, force: true });
     }
   });
diff --git a/src/agents/cli-runner/helpers.ts b/src/agents/cli-runner/helpers.ts
index 5172f430e18..c117c891ec3 100644
--- a/src/agents/cli-runner/helpers.ts
+++ b/src/agents/cli-runner/helpers.ts
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@ import type { SourceReplyDeliveryMode } from "../../auto-reply/get-reply-options
 import type { ThinkLevel } from "../../auto-reply/thinking.js";
 import type { CliBackendConfig } from "../../config/types.js";
 import type { OpenClawConfig } from "../../config/types.openclaw.js";
-import { privateFileStore } from "../../infra/private-file-store.js";
 import { tempWorkspace } from "../../infra/private-temp-workspace.js";
 import { resolvePreferredOpenClawTmpDir } from "../../infra/tmp-openclaw-dir.js";
 import { MAX_IMAGE_BYTES } from "../../media/constants.js";
@@ -206,7 +205,7 @@ export function resolvePromptInput(params: { backend: CliBackendConfig; prompt:
   return { argsPrompt: params.prompt };
 }
 
-function resolveCliImagePath(image: ImageContent): string {
+function resolveCliImageFileName(image: ImageContent): string {
   const ext = extensionForMime(image.mimeType) ?? ".bin";
   const digest = crypto
     .createHash("sha256")
@@ -214,14 +213,19 @@ function resolveCliImagePath(image: ImageContent): string {
     .update("\0")
     .update(image.data)
     .digest("hex");
-  return path.join(resolvePreferredOpenClawTmpDir(), "openclaw-cli-images", `${digest}${ext}`);
+  return `${digest}${ext}`;
 }
 
-function resolveCliImageRoot(params: { backend: CliBackendConfig; workspaceDir: string }): string {
+async function createCliImageRoot(params: {
+  backend: CliBackendConfig;
+  workspaceDir: string;
+}): Promise<string> {
   if (params.backend.imagePathScope === "workspace") {
-    return path.join(params.workspaceDir, ".openclaw-cli-images");
+    const root = path.join(params.workspaceDir, ".openclaw-cli-images", crypto.randomUUID());
+    await fs.mkdir(root, { recursive: true, mode: 0o700 });
+    return root;
   }
-  return path.join(resolvePreferredOpenClawTmpDir(), "openclaw-cli-images");
+  return await fs.mkdtemp(path.join(resolvePreferredOpenClawTmpDir(), "openclaw-cli-images-"));
 }
 
 function appendImagePathsToPrompt(prompt: string, paths: string[], prefix = ""): string {
@@ -275,23 +279,22 @@ export async function writeCliImages(params: {
   workspaceDir: string;
   images: ImageContent[];
 }): Promise<{ paths: string[]; cleanup: () => Promise<void> }> {
-  const imageRoot = resolveCliImageRoot({
+  const imageRoot = await createCliImageRoot({
     backend: params.backend,
     workspaceDir: params.workspaceDir,
   });
-  await fs.mkdir(imageRoot, { recursive: true, mode: 0o700 });
-  const store = privateFileStore(imageRoot);
   const paths: string[] = [];
   for (let i = 0; i < params.images.length; i += 1) {
     const image = params.images[i];
-    const fileName = path.basename(resolveCliImagePath(image));
+    const fileName = resolveCliImageFileName(image);
+    const filePath = path.join(imageRoot, fileName);
     const buffer = Buffer.from(image.data, "base64");
-    await store.writeText(fileName, buffer);
-    paths.push(store.path(fileName));
+    await fs.writeFile(filePath, buffer, { mode: 0o600 });
+    paths.push(filePath);
   }
-  // Keep content-addressed image paths stable across Claude CLI runs so prompt
-  // text and argv don't churn on every turn with fresh temp-dir suffixes.
-  const cleanup = async () => {};
+  const cleanup = async () => {
+    await fs.rm(imageRoot, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  };
   return { paths, cleanup };
 }