Bug Report

Environment

• OpenClaw version: 2026.4.25
• Node.js: v24.14.1
• OS: Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
• Installed plugins: 112 (19 enabled, 93 disabled)

Problem

openclaw status in text mode takes 20-30 seconds to produce output, appearing to hang. JSON mode (--json) completes in ~8 seconds. The process writes 0 bytes to stdout for the entire duration.

Evidence

1. strace shows 48K statx filesystem calls in 3 seconds — the CLI scans all 112 plugin directories
2. V8 profiler shows 15%+ CPU in json5.parse():
   • json5/lib/parse.js:13 — 977 ticks (4.4%)
   • json5/lib/parse.js:133 — 906 ticks (4.1%)
   • json5/lib/parse.js:570 — 664 ticks (3.0%)
3. 112 plugin manifests found at dist/extensions/*/openclaw.plugin.json
4. Text mode eventually completes after ~20-30s (not an infinite hang)

Root Cause

The root cause is not JSON5 parsing speed per se — it's that the manifest registry cache is hardcoded disabled.

The Smoking Gun

File: dist/manifest-registry-installed-BaIMBgdv.js:64

return loadPluginManifestRegistry({
    config: params.config,
    workspaceDir: params.workspaceDir,
    env: params.env,
    cache: false,  // ← THIS IS THE BUG
    candidates,
    diagnostics: [...diagnostics],
    installRecords: extractPluginInstallRecordsFromInstalledPluginIndex(params.index)
});

The cache is hardcoded to false. The existing cache infrastructure (1-second TTL, mtime-based invalidation) at dist/manifest-registry-BeaRFaM3.js:113 is completely bypassed.

Full Call Chain (Text Mode)

openclaw status (text)
  → dist/status-faD5DC8z.js:runDaemonStatus()
    → dist/status-faD5DC8z.js:printDaemonStatus() [opts.json = false]
      → (text formatter path loads)
      → dist/status-BW3nLVAj.js:buildPluginRegistrySnapshotReport():174
        → dist/manifest-registry-installed-BaIMBgdv.js:loadPluginManifestRegistryForInstalledIndex()
          → dist/manifest-registry-BeaRFaM3.js:loadPluginManifestRegistry({ cache: false }):317
            → discoverOpenClawPlugins() in dist/discovery-IHhcAvkF.js:695
              → For each of 112 plugins:
                → loadPluginManifest() in dist/manifest-C0Wa8IEc.js:1013
                  → JSON5.parse() in dist/manifest-C0Wa8IEc.js:1036

Why JSON Mode Is Fast

// dist/status-faD5DC8z.js:printDaemonStatus()
if (opts.json) {
    const sanitized = sanitizeDaemonStatusForJson(status);
    defaultRuntime.writeJson(sanitized);
    return;  // ← Early return, text formatter NEVER loaded
}

JSON mode never loads status-BW3nLVAj.js, so it never calls buildPluginRegistrySnapshotReport(), so it never triggers manifest parsing.

Cache Infrastructure Already Exists

// dist/manifest-registry-BeaRFaM3.js:113
const DEFAULT_MANIFEST_CACHE_MS = 1e3;  // 1 second TTL

// dist/manifest-registry-BeaRFaM3.js:317-324
const cacheEnabled = params.cache !== false && !params.installRecords && shouldUseManifestCache(env);
if (cacheEnabled) {
    const cached = registryCache.get(cacheKey);
    if (cached && cached.expiresAt > Date.now()) return cached.registry;
}

The cache works. It's just never enabled because cache: false is passed.

Reproduction

# Text mode — ~20-30s, 0 bytes output for most of it
$ time openclaw status
# JSON mode — ~8s
$ time openclaw status --json --timeout 3000
# channels status — ~2s (skips plugin diagnostics)
$ time openclaw channels status
# usage — ~2s (skips plugin diagnostics)
$ time openclaw status --usage

Suggested Fix

Option A (one-line): Change cache: false to cache: true in manifest-registry-installed-BaIMBgdv.js:64.

Option B (slightly better): Add cache parameter to loadPluginManifestRegistryForInstalledIndex() so callers can opt-in, and have status pass cache: true.

Option A is probably sufficient — the cache TTL is only 1 second, so stale data is minimal.

Workaround

Use openclaw status --json --timeout 3000 or openclaw channels status for quick checks.