Summary

Plugin-registered tools are unavailable in sub-agent sessions because createOpenClawTools() runs before loadOpenClawPlugins() completes for the sub-agent's execution context. Tools work correctly in the initial gateway session and after a gateway restart.

Reproduction

1. Configure a plugin that registers tools via api.registerTool() in its register() function (e.g., @honcho-ai/openclaw-honcho)
2. Add the plugin's tool names to an agent profile's tools.allow or tools.profile allowlist
3. Start the gateway — tools work in the primary session
4. Spawn a sub-agent session — tools are reported as unknown

Log Evidence

# Primary session — tools register correctly:
05:26:22 info gateway — Honcho memory plugin loaded
05:26:25 info gateway — Honcho memory ready

# Sub-agent session — tool resolver runs BEFORE plugin loads:
05:30:27 warn tools — tools.profile (coding) allowlist contains unknown entries
  (honcho_search_conclusions, honcho_search_messages, honcho_ask, honcho_context, honcho_session)
05:30:27 warn tools — tools.allow allowlist contains unknown entries
  (honcho_search_conclusions, honcho_search_messages, honcho_ask, honcho_context, honcho_session)

# Plugin loads 23 seconds AFTER tool resolution:
05:30:50 info plugins — Honcho memory plugin loaded

Root Cause

In the sub-agent initialization path, createOpenClawTools() (which calls resolvePluginTools() → buildPluginToolGroups() → stripPluginOnlyAllowlist()) executes before loadOpenClawPlugins() has called the plugin's register() function. The fresh plugin registry is empty when tool resolution happens.

Code Path (pi-embedded-BaSvmUpW.js)

1. Tool resolution (line ~115963): applyToolPolicyPipeline() validates allowlist entries against pluginGroups built from currently instantiated tools
2. Plugin loading (line ~147194): loadOpenClawPlugins() creates registry, calls register() on each plugin
3. The gap: Step 1 happens before step 2 for sub-agent sessions

Plugin SDK Limitation

The plugin SDK has no static tool declaration mechanism:

• openclaw.plugin.json manifest has no tools or toolNames field
• definePluginEntry() only supports register() for tool registration
• registerTool() options (name, names, optional) don't include a scope or global flag

Expected Behavior

Plugin tools registered during register() should be available to all sessions, including sub-agents spawned after initial gateway startup.

Workaround

Gateway restart makes all tools available. No plugin-side workaround exists.

Suggested Fix

Ensure loadOpenClawPlugins() completes before createOpenClawTools() for sub-agent execution contexts. Alternatively, add a static tool declaration mechanism to the plugin manifest so tool names can be pre-registered before register() runs.

Environment

• OpenClaw: >=2026.3.22
• Plugin: @honcho-ai/openclaw-honcho v1.2.1
• Plugin kind: memory