diff --git a/docs/refactor/database-first.md b/docs/refactor/database-first.md
index 73ca1e38480..3a50a28dc40 100644
--- a/docs/refactor/database-first.md
+++ b/docs/refactor/database-first.md
@@ -554,14 +554,15 @@ openclaw doctor --fix
 ```
 
 `openclaw doctor --fix` invokes the same state migration implementation after
-ordinary config preflight. Runtime startup must not import legacy files.
+ordinary config preflight and creates a verified backup before import. Runtime
+startup must not import legacy files.
 
 Migration properties:
 
 - One migration pass discovers all legacy file and sidecar database sources and
   produces a plan before mutating anything.
-- A pre-migration backup archive is created unless explicitly disabled by a
-  dangerous force flag.
+- A pre-migration backup archive is created. The standalone migrate command can
+  skip it only with an explicit dangerous force flag.
 - Imports are idempotent and keyed by source path, mtime, size, hash, and target
   table.
 - Successful source files are removed or archived after the target database has
diff --git a/src/commands/doctor-state-migrations.test.ts b/src/commands/doctor-state-migrations.test.ts
index 31701c50c94..edf8b9320e5 100644
--- a/src/commands/doctor-state-migrations.test.ts
+++ b/src/commands/doctor-state-migrations.test.ts
@@ -14,10 +14,8 @@ import { closeOpenClawAgentDatabasesForTest } from "../state/openclaw-agent-db.j
 import { closeOpenClawStateDatabaseForTest } from "../state/openclaw-state-db.js";
 import {
   autoMigrateLegacyStateDir,
-  autoMigrateLegacyState,
   detectLegacyStateMigrations,
   resetAutoMigrateLegacyStateDirForTest,
-  resetAutoMigrateLegacyStateForTest,
   runLegacyStateMigrations,
 } from "./doctor-state-migrations.js";
 
@@ -145,7 +143,6 @@ afterEach(async () => {
   resetPluginStateStoreForTests();
   closeOpenClawAgentDatabasesForTest();
   closeOpenClawStateDatabaseForTest();
-  resetAutoMigrateLegacyStateForTest();
   resetAutoMigrateLegacyStateDirForTest();
   await Promise.all(
     tempRoots.map((root) => fs.promises.rm(root, { recursive: true, force: true })),
@@ -236,21 +233,6 @@ async function runFreshStateDirMigration(root: string, env = {} as NodeJS.Proces
   return runStateDirMigration(root, env);
 }
 
-async function runAutoMigrateLegacyStateWithLog(params: {
-  root: string;
-  cfg: OpenClawConfig;
-  now?: () => number;
-}) {
-  const log = { info: vi.fn(), warn: vi.fn() };
-  const result = await autoMigrateLegacyState({
-    cfg: params.cfg,
-    env: { OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR: params.root } as NodeJS.ProcessEnv,
-    log,
-    now: params.now,
-  });
-  return { result, log };
-}
-
 function expectTargetAlreadyExistsWarning(result: StateDirMigrationResult, targetDir: string) {
   expect(result.migrated).toBe(false);
   expect(result.warnings).toEqual([
@@ -730,46 +712,6 @@ describe("doctor legacy state migrations", () => {
     expect(fs.existsSync(path.join(backupDir, "foo.txt"))).toBe(true);
   });
 
-  it("auto-migrates legacy agent dir on startup", async () => {
-    const { root, cfg } = await makeRootWithEmptyCfg();
-    writeLegacyAgentFiles(root, { "auth.json": "{}" });
-
-    const { result, log } = await runAutoMigrateLegacyStateWithLog({ root, cfg });
-
-    const targetAgentDir = path.join(root, "agents", "main", "agent");
-    expect(fs.existsSync(path.join(targetAgentDir, "auth.json"))).toBe(true);
-    expect(result.migrated).toBe(true);
-    expect(log.info).toHaveBeenCalled();
-  });
-
-  it("leaves legacy sessions for doctor on startup", async () => {
-    const { root, cfg } = await makeRootWithEmptyCfg();
-    const legacySessionsDir = writeLegacySessionsFixture({
-      root,
-      sessions: {
-        "+1555": { sessionId: "a", updatedAt: 10 },
-      },
-      transcripts: {
-        "a.jsonl": "a",
-      },
-    });
-
-    const { result, log } = await runAutoMigrateLegacyStateWithLog({
-      root,
-      cfg,
-      now: () => 123,
-    });
-
-    expect(result.migrated).toBe(false);
-    expect(log.info).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
-
-    const targetDir = path.join(root, "agents", "main", "sessions");
-    expect(fs.existsSync(path.join(targetDir, "a.jsonl"))).toBe(false);
-    expect(fs.existsSync(path.join(legacySessionsDir, "a.jsonl"))).toBe(true);
-    expect(fs.existsSync(path.join(legacySessionsDir, "sessions.json"))).toBe(true);
-    expect(Object.keys(readSessionsStore({ root, targetDir }))).toHaveLength(0);
-  });
-
   it("migrates legacy WhatsApp auth files without touching oauth.json", async () => {
     const { root, cfg } = await makeRootWithEmptyCfg();
     const oauthDir = ensureCredentialsDir(root);
@@ -896,21 +838,6 @@ describe("doctor legacy state migrations", () => {
     expect(store["agent:main:slack:channel:C123"]).toBeUndefined();
   });
 
-  it("leaves target sessions with legacy keys for doctor on startup", async () => {
-    const { root, cfg } = await makeRootWithEmptyCfg();
-    const targetDir = path.join(root, "agents", "main", "sessions");
-    writeJson5(path.join(targetDir, "sessions.json"), {
-      main: { sessionId: "legacy", updatedAt: 10 },
-    });
-
-    const { result, log } = await runAutoMigrateLegacyStateWithLog({ root, cfg });
-
-    expect(result.migrated).toBe(false);
-    expect(log.info).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
-    expect(fs.existsSync(path.join(targetDir, "sessions.json"))).toBe(true);
-    expect(Object.keys(readSessionsStore({ root, targetDir }))).toHaveLength(0);
-  });
-
   it("does nothing when no legacy state dir exists", async () => {
     const root = await makeTempRoot();
     const result = await runStateDirMigration(root);
diff --git a/src/commands/doctor-state-migrations.ts b/src/commands/doctor-state-migrations.ts
index 50c59a3a0ad..1308b412d90 100644
--- a/src/commands/doctor-state-migrations.ts
+++ b/src/commands/doctor-state-migrations.ts
@@ -1,12 +1,8 @@
 export type { LegacyStateDetection } from "../infra/state-migrations.js";
 export {
   autoMigrateLegacyStateDir,
-  autoMigrateLegacyAgentDir,
-  autoMigrateLegacyState,
   detectLegacyStateMigrations,
   migrateLegacyAgentDir,
   resetAutoMigrateLegacyStateDirForTest,
-  resetAutoMigrateLegacyAgentDirForTest,
-  resetAutoMigrateLegacyStateForTest,
   runLegacyStateMigrations,
 } from "../infra/state-migrations.js";
diff --git a/src/commands/doctor.e2e-harness.ts b/src/commands/doctor.e2e-harness.ts
index 40710e7c4f5..3b86177ec2c 100644
--- a/src/commands/doctor.e2e-harness.ts
+++ b/src/commands/doctor.e2e-harness.ts
@@ -141,6 +141,9 @@ export const autoMigrateLegacyStateDir = vi.fn().mockResolvedValue({
   changes: [],
   warnings: [],
 }) as unknown as MockFn;
+export const createPreMigrationBackup = vi
+  .fn()
+  .mockResolvedValue("/tmp/openclaw-backup.tgz") as unknown as MockFn;
 export const runChannelPluginStartupMaintenance = vi
   .fn()
   .mockResolvedValue(undefined) as unknown as MockFn;
@@ -462,6 +465,10 @@ vi.mock("./doctor-state-migrations.js", () => ({
   runLegacyStateMigrations,
 }));
 
+vi.mock("../commands/migrate/apply.js", () => ({
+  createPreMigrationBackup,
+}));
+
 vi.mock("../channels/plugins/lifecycle-startup.js", () => ({
   runChannelPluginStartupMaintenance,
 }));
@@ -506,6 +513,7 @@ export async function arrangeLegacyStateMigrationTest(): Promise<{
 
   detectLegacyStateMigrations.mockClear();
   runLegacyStateMigrations.mockClear();
+  createPreMigrationBackup.mockClear();
   detectLegacyStateMigrations.mockResolvedValueOnce(
     createLegacyStateMigrationDetectionResult({
       hasLegacySessions: true,
@@ -524,6 +532,7 @@ export async function arrangeLegacyStateMigrationTest(): Promise<{
     runtime,
     detectLegacyStateMigrations,
     runLegacyStateMigrations,
+    createPreMigrationBackup,
   };
 }
 
diff --git a/src/commands/doctor.runs-legacy-state-migrations-yes-mode-without.e2e.test.ts b/src/commands/doctor.runs-legacy-state-migrations-yes-mode-without.e2e.test.ts
index 65171bee030..732dd160b15 100644
--- a/src/commands/doctor.runs-legacy-state-migrations-yes-mode-without.e2e.test.ts
+++ b/src/commands/doctor.runs-legacy-state-migrations-yes-mode-without.e2e.test.ts
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ describe("doctor command", () => {
   });
 
   it("runs legacy state migrations in yes mode without prompting", async () => {
-    const { doctorCommand, runtime, runLegacyStateMigrations } =
+    const { doctorCommand, runtime, runLegacyStateMigrations, createPreMigrationBackup } =
       await arrangeLegacyStateMigrationTest();
 
     await (doctorCommand as (runtime: unknown, opts: Record<string, unknown>) => Promise<void>)(
@@ -47,12 +47,16 @@ describe("doctor command", () => {
       { yes: true },
     );
 
+    expect(createPreMigrationBackup).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
     expect(runLegacyStateMigrations).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    expect(runLegacyStateMigrations).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      expect.objectContaining({ backupPath: "/tmp/openclaw-backup.tgz" }),
+    );
     expect(confirm).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
   }, 30_000);
 
   it("runs legacy state migrations in non-interactive mode without prompting", async () => {
-    const { doctorCommand, runtime, runLegacyStateMigrations } =
+    const { doctorCommand, runtime, runLegacyStateMigrations, createPreMigrationBackup } =
       await arrangeLegacyStateMigrationTest();
 
     await (doctorCommand as (runtime: unknown, opts: Record<string, unknown>) => Promise<void>)(
@@ -60,7 +64,11 @@ describe("doctor command", () => {
       { nonInteractive: true },
     );
 
+    expect(createPreMigrationBackup).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
     expect(runLegacyStateMigrations).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    expect(runLegacyStateMigrations).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      expect.objectContaining({ backupPath: "/tmp/openclaw-backup.tgz" }),
+    );
     expect(confirm).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
   }, 30_000);
 
diff --git a/src/flows/doctor-health-contributions.ts b/src/flows/doctor-health-contributions.ts
index 2d5f8e7dd72..4bb0da9f4dc 100644
--- a/src/flows/doctor-health-contributions.ts
+++ b/src/flows/doctor-health-contributions.ts
@@ -224,6 +224,7 @@ async function runClaudeCliHealth(ctx: DoctorHealthFlowContext): Promise<void> {
 async function runLegacyStateHealth(ctx: DoctorHealthFlowContext): Promise<void> {
   const { detectLegacyStateMigrations, runLegacyStateMigrations } =
     await import("../commands/doctor-state-migrations.js");
+  const { createPreMigrationBackup } = await import("../commands/migrate/apply.js");
   const { note } = await import("../terminal/note.js");
   const legacyState = await detectLegacyStateMigrations({ cfg: ctx.cfg });
   if (legacyState.preview.length === 0) {
@@ -240,8 +241,13 @@ async function runLegacyStateHealth(ctx: DoctorHealthFlowContext): Promise<void>
   if (!migrate) {
     return;
   }
+  const backupPath = await createPreMigrationBackup({});
+  if (backupPath) {
+    note(backupPath, "Backup");
+  }
   const migrated = await runLegacyStateMigrations({
     detected: legacyState,
+    backupPath,
   });
   if (migrated.changes.length > 0) {
     note(migrated.changes.join("\n"), "Doctor changes");
diff --git a/src/infra/state-migrations.ts b/src/infra/state-migrations.ts
index 7f3464aefb3..065978d58ec 100644
--- a/src/infra/state-migrations.ts
+++ b/src/infra/state-migrations.ts
@@ -33,7 +33,6 @@ import {
   CRESTODIAN_RESCUE_PENDING_OWNER_ID,
   isRescuePendingOperation,
 } from "../crestodian/rescue-pending-state.js";
-import { createSubsystemLogger } from "../logging/subsystem.js";
 import {
   buildAgentMainSessionKey,
   DEFAULT_AGENT_ID,
@@ -110,9 +109,7 @@ type MigrationLogger = {
   warn: (message: string) => void;
 };
 
-let autoMigrateChecked = false;
 let autoMigrateStateDirChecked = false;
-let cachedLegacySessionSurfaces: LegacySessionSurface[] | null = null;
 
 type LegacySessionSurface = {
   isLegacyGroupSessionKey?: (key: string) => boolean;
@@ -170,6 +167,7 @@ function legacyMigrationSourceKey(source: MigrationSourceReport): string {
         source.targetTable ?? "",
         source.sha256 ?? "",
         String(source.sizeBytes ?? ""),
+        String(source.mtimeMs ?? ""),
         String(source.recordCount ?? ""),
       ].join("\0"),
       "utf8",
@@ -313,8 +311,7 @@ function getLegacySessionSurfaces(): LegacySessionSurface[] {
   // Legacy migrations run on cold doctor/startup paths. Prefer the narrower
   // setup plugin surface here so session-key cleanup does not materialize full
   // bundled channel runtimes.
-  cachedLegacySessionSurfaces ??= [...listBundledChannelLegacySessionSurfaces()];
-  return cachedLegacySessionSurfaces;
+  return [...listBundledChannelLegacySessionSurfaces()];
 }
 
 function isSurfaceGroupKey(key: string): boolean {
@@ -1989,15 +1986,6 @@ function collectLegacyMigrationSources(detected: LegacyStateDetection): Migratio
   );
 }
 
-export function resetAutoMigrateLegacyStateForTest() {
-  autoMigrateChecked = false;
-  cachedLegacySessionSurfaces = null;
-}
-
-export function resetAutoMigrateLegacyAgentDirForTest() {
-  resetAutoMigrateLegacyStateForTest();
-}
-
 export function resetAutoMigrateLegacyStateDirForTest() {
   autoMigrateStateDirChecked = false;
 }
@@ -2969,105 +2957,3 @@ export async function runLegacyStateMigrations(params: {
     throw error;
   }
 }
-
-export async function autoMigrateLegacyAgentDir(params: {
-  cfg: OpenClawConfig;
-  env?: NodeJS.ProcessEnv;
-  homedir?: () => string;
-  log?: MigrationLogger;
-  now?: () => number;
-}): Promise<{
-  migrated: boolean;
-  skipped: boolean;
-  changes: string[];
-  warnings: string[];
-}> {
-  return await autoMigrateLegacyState(params);
-}
-
-export async function autoMigrateLegacyState(params: {
-  cfg: OpenClawConfig;
-  env?: NodeJS.ProcessEnv;
-  homedir?: () => string;
-  log?: MigrationLogger;
-  now?: () => number;
-}): Promise<{
-  migrated: boolean;
-  skipped: boolean;
-  changes: string[];
-  warnings: string[];
-}> {
-  if (autoMigrateChecked) {
-    return { migrated: false, skipped: true, changes: [], warnings: [] };
-  }
-  autoMigrateChecked = true;
-
-  const env = params.env ?? process.env;
-  const stateDirResult = await autoMigrateLegacyStateDir({
-    env,
-    homedir: params.homedir,
-    log: params.log,
-  });
-
-  const logMigrationResults = (changes: string[], warnings: string[]) => {
-    const logger = params.log ?? createSubsystemLogger("state-migrations");
-    if (changes.length > 0) {
-      logger.info(
-        `Auto-migrated legacy state:\n${changes.map((entry) => `- ${entry}`).join("\n")}`,
-      );
-    }
-    if (warnings.length > 0) {
-      logger.warn(
-        `Legacy state migration warnings:\n${warnings.map((entry) => `- ${entry}`).join("\n")}`,
-      );
-    }
-  };
-
-  if (
-    normalizeEnvPathOverride(env.OPENCLAW_AGENT_DIR) ||
-    normalizeEnvPathOverride(env.PI_CODING_AGENT_DIR)
-  ) {
-    const changes = [...stateDirResult.changes];
-    const warnings = [...stateDirResult.warnings];
-    logMigrationResults(changes, warnings);
-    return {
-      migrated: stateDirResult.migrated,
-      skipped: true,
-      changes,
-      warnings,
-    };
-  }
-
-  const detected = await detectLegacyStateMigrations({
-    cfg: params.cfg,
-    env,
-    homedir: params.homedir,
-    includeSessions: false,
-    includeChannelPlans: false,
-  });
-  if (!detected.agentDir.hasLegacy) {
-    const changes = [...stateDirResult.changes];
-    const warnings = [...stateDirResult.warnings];
-    logMigrationResults(changes, warnings);
-    return {
-      migrated: stateDirResult.migrated,
-      skipped: false,
-      changes,
-      warnings,
-    };
-  }
-
-  const now = params.now ?? (() => Date.now());
-  const agentDir = await migrateLegacyAgentDir(detected, now);
-  const changes = [...stateDirResult.changes, ...agentDir.changes];
-  const warnings = [...stateDirResult.warnings, ...agentDir.warnings];
-
-  logMigrationResults(changes, warnings);
-
-  return {
-    migrated: changes.length > 0,
-    skipped: false,
-    changes,
-    warnings,
-  };
-}