diff --git a/src/agents/model-selection.ts b/src/agents/model-selection.ts
index 09a9ca90547..238b8276504 100644
--- a/src/agents/model-selection.ts
+++ b/src/agents/model-selection.ts
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ export type ModelRef = {
   model: string;
 };
 
-export type ThinkLevel = "off" | "minimal" | "low" | "medium" | "high" | "xhigh";
+export type ThinkLevel = "off" | "minimal" | "low" | "medium" | "high" | "xhigh" | "adaptive";
 
 export type ModelAliasIndex = {
   byAlias: Map<string, { alias: string; ref: ModelRef }>;
diff --git a/src/agents/openclaw-tools.plugin-context.test.ts b/src/agents/openclaw-tools.plugin-context.test.ts
index 45c30bf7ece..3609c0a7940 100644
--- a/src/agents/openclaw-tools.plugin-context.test.ts
+++ b/src/agents/openclaw-tools.plugin-context.test.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 import { describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
 
-const resolvePluginToolsMock = vi.fn(() => []);
+const resolvePluginToolsMock = vi.fn((params?: unknown) => {
+  void params;
+  return [];
+});
 
 vi.mock("../plugins/tools.js", () => ({
   resolvePluginTools: (params: unknown) => resolvePluginToolsMock(params),
diff --git a/src/agents/pi-embedded-runner/extra-params.ts b/src/agents/pi-embedded-runner/extra-params.ts
index dd7bad46453..75dc4e85324 100644
--- a/src/agents/pi-embedded-runner/extra-params.ts
+++ b/src/agents/pi-embedded-runner/extra-params.ts
@@ -518,6 +518,9 @@ function mapThinkingLevelToOpenRouterReasoningEffort(
   if (thinkingLevel === "off") {
     return "none";
   }
+  if (thinkingLevel === "adaptive") {
+    return "medium";
+  }
   return thinkingLevel;
 }
 
@@ -631,6 +634,7 @@ function mapThinkLevelToGoogleThinkingLevel(
     case "low":
       return "LOW";
     case "medium":
+    case "adaptive":
       return "MEDIUM";
     case "high":
     case "xhigh":
diff --git a/src/agents/pi-embedded-runner/utils.ts b/src/agents/pi-embedded-runner/utils.ts
index 07fba6458c3..9bac18ee7b4 100644
--- a/src/agents/pi-embedded-runner/utils.ts
+++ b/src/agents/pi-embedded-runner/utils.ts
@@ -6,6 +6,13 @@ export function mapThinkingLevel(level?: ThinkLevel): ThinkingLevel {
   if (!level) {
     return "off";
   }
+  // "adaptive" maps to "medium" at the pi-agent-core layer.  The Pi SDK
+  // provider then translates this to `thinking.type: "adaptive"` with
+  // `output_config.effort: "medium"` for models that support it (Opus 4.6,
+  // Sonnet 4.6).
+  if (level === "adaptive") {
+    return "medium";
+  }
   return level;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/auto-reply/thinking.test.ts b/src/auto-reply/thinking.test.ts
index 4588eee791e..90aede76047 100644
--- a/src/auto-reply/thinking.test.ts
+++ b/src/auto-reply/thinking.test.ts
@@ -33,6 +33,12 @@ describe("normalizeThinkLevel", () => {
   it("accepts on as low", () => {
     expect(normalizeThinkLevel("on")).toBe("low");
   });
+
+  it("accepts adaptive and auto aliases", () => {
+    expect(normalizeThinkLevel("adaptive")).toBe("adaptive");
+    expect(normalizeThinkLevel("auto")).toBe("adaptive");
+    expect(normalizeThinkLevel("Adaptive")).toBe("adaptive");
+  });
 });
 
 describe("listThinkingLevels", () => {
@@ -54,6 +60,11 @@ describe("listThinkingLevels", () => {
   it("excludes xhigh for non-codex models", () => {
     expect(listThinkingLevels(undefined, "gpt-4.1-mini")).not.toContain("xhigh");
   });
+
+  it("always includes adaptive", () => {
+    expect(listThinkingLevels(undefined, "gpt-4.1-mini")).toContain("adaptive");
+    expect(listThinkingLevels("anthropic", "claude-opus-4-6")).toContain("adaptive");
+  });
 });
 
 describe("listThinkingLevelLabels", () => {
diff --git a/src/auto-reply/thinking.ts b/src/auto-reply/thinking.ts
index 5a13c5a0920..0342e6fe7b2 100644
--- a/src/auto-reply/thinking.ts
+++ b/src/auto-reply/thinking.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-export type ThinkLevel = "off" | "minimal" | "low" | "medium" | "high" | "xhigh";
+export type ThinkLevel = "off" | "minimal" | "low" | "medium" | "high" | "xhigh" | "adaptive";
 export type VerboseLevel = "off" | "on" | "full";
 export type NoticeLevel = "off" | "on" | "full";
 export type ElevatedLevel = "off" | "on" | "ask" | "full";
@@ -45,6 +45,9 @@ export function normalizeThinkLevel(raw?: string | null): ThinkLevel | undefined
   }
   const key = raw.trim().toLowerCase();
   const collapsed = key.replace(/[\s_-]+/g, "");
+  if (collapsed === "adaptive" || collapsed === "auto") {
+    return "adaptive";
+  }
   if (collapsed === "xhigh" || collapsed === "extrahigh") {
     return "xhigh";
   }
@@ -91,6 +94,7 @@ export function listThinkingLevels(provider?: string | null, model?: string | nu
   if (supportsXHighThinking(provider, model)) {
     levels.push("xhigh");
   }
+  levels.push("adaptive");
   return levels;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/config/types.agent-defaults.ts b/src/config/types.agent-defaults.ts
index 5444f9e9950..7a7526948cc 100644
--- a/src/config/types.agent-defaults.ts
+++ b/src/config/types.agent-defaults.ts
@@ -171,7 +171,7 @@ export type AgentDefaultsConfig = {
   /** Vector memory search configuration (per-agent overrides supported). */
   memorySearch?: MemorySearchConfig;
   /** Default thinking level when no /think directive is present. */
-  thinkingDefault?: "off" | "minimal" | "low" | "medium" | "high" | "xhigh";
+  thinkingDefault?: "off" | "minimal" | "low" | "medium" | "high" | "xhigh" | "adaptive";
   /** Default verbose level when no /verbose directive is present. */
   verboseDefault?: "off" | "on" | "full";
   /** Default elevated level when no /elevated directive is present. */
diff --git a/src/config/zod-schema.agent-defaults.ts b/src/config/zod-schema.agent-defaults.ts
index 0f60ab980f4..e2381093492 100644
--- a/src/config/zod-schema.agent-defaults.ts
+++ b/src/config/zod-schema.agent-defaults.ts
@@ -125,6 +125,7 @@ export const AgentDefaultsSchema = z
         z.literal("medium"),
         z.literal("high"),
         z.literal("xhigh"),
+        z.literal("adaptive"),
       ])
       .optional(),
     verboseDefault: z.union([z.literal("off"), z.literal("on"), z.literal("full")]).optional(),
diff --git a/src/secrets/runtime.test.ts b/src/secrets/runtime.test.ts
index 113b1807cd6..e569dc24d65 100644
--- a/src/secrets/runtime.test.ts
+++ b/src/secrets/runtime.test.ts
@@ -169,7 +169,7 @@ describe("secrets runtime snapshot", () => {
               key: { source: "env", provider: "default", id: "SHADOW_KEY" },
             },
           },
-        }) as AuthProfileStore,
+        }) as unknown as AuthProfileStore,
     });
 
     const profile = snapshot.authStores[0]?.store.profiles["custom:explicit-keyref"] as Record<