Summary

openclaw doctor --fix correctly removes stale entries from plugins.allow[] and plugins.entries{} when a plugin is not found, but does not clean up plugins.slots.* references. A stale plugins.slots.<slot> reference causes a hard config validation failure — the entire config is rejected as invalid, and the gateway cannot start. The doctor reports "Repaired missing configured plugin" but leaves the slot untouched, so the user believes it was fixed when nothing actually changed.

This is a higher-severity gap than the existing #65293 (channel reference cleanup) because slot references are fatal to startup, whereas stale plugins.allow / plugins.entries entries are soft warnings only.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Configure a plugin in plugins.slots.memory (e.g. "openclaw-honcho")
2. Delete the plugin files from disk: rm -rf ~/.openclaw/npm/node_modules/@honcho-ai/openclaw-honcho
3. Run openclaw doctor --fix
4. Doctor reports "Repaired missing configured plugin" and installs/reinstalls the package
5. On a subsequent run, doctor may remove the plugin from plugins.allow[] and plugins.entries{} (treating them as stale) while plugins.slots.memory still references it
6. Run openclaw config validate — fails with:

   plugins.slots.memory: plugin not found: openclaw-honcho
   

7. Gateway cannot start. Running doctor again gives the same "repaired" message but the slot is still stale — unrecoverable loop.

Actual Behavior

• Doctor cleans plugins.allow[] and plugins.entries{} for stale plugins
• Doctor does NOT touch plugins.slots.* at all — no removal, no warning, no repair
• Doctor claims success ("Repaired missing configured plugin") but config validation still fails
• Compounding effect with v2026.5.2: each openclaw plugins install and openclaw doctor --fix wipes other previously-installed @openclaw/* packages from ~/.openclaw/npm/node_modules #76441: plugins install can wipe other packages from disk, creating the exact conditions that trigger this gap

Expected Behavior

doctor --fix should either:

• Remove the stale plugins.slots.<slot> entry when the referenced plugin is not found and cannot be installed, or
• Keep the plugin in plugins.allow[] and plugins.entries{} when plugins.slots.* still references it (treat the slot as authoritative), or
• At minimum, warn that slots still reference a missing plugin instead of claiming repair success

Root Cause Analysis

The stale-entry cleanup logic in doctor treats plugins.slots.* differently from plugins.allow[] and plugins.entries{}. Slot values are validated at startup (hard error) but not cleaned up during doctor repair. Additionally, when doctor removes entries from plugins.allow[] and plugins.entries{} while a slot still references the same plugin, it creates a contradictory config that can never validate.

Environment

• OpenClaw: 2026.5.2 (8b2a6e5)
• OS: Ubuntu 24.04, Linux x86_64, Node 24
• Install: npm global + systemd-managed gateway
• Plugin: @honcho-ai/openclaw-honcho 1.4.1

Impact

Users who lose plugin files on disk (npm registry issues, accidental deletion, #76441 wipe) cannot recover via doctor --fix and must manually edit openclaw.json to remove the slot reference. The misleading "repaired" message wastes debugging time.

Related Issues

• doctor --fix removes stale plugin from plugins.allow/entries but leaves dangling channel reference, causing Gateway boot loop #65293: doctor --fix leaves dangling channels.* references (same class of bug, but for channels instead of slots)
• v2026.5.2: each openclaw plugins install and openclaw doctor --fix wipes other previously-installed @openclaw/* packages from ~/.openclaw/npm/node_modules #76441: plugins install wipes other packages from disk (compounds this problem by removing files the slot needs)

AI-assisted disclosure: this bug report was drafted with AI assistance based on observed failure mode during gateway troubleshooting.