Summary

• Fixes Gateway lifecycle commands target stale SUDO_USER scope from root shell instead of root systemd user service #81410 by keeping effective-root gateway lifecycle commands on root's user systemd manager when HOME/XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/DBUS point at root and SUDO_USER is stale from an earlier sudo shell.
• Preserves the intentional sudo caller scope behavior for non-root user service management.
• Adds focused regression coverage for the stale SUDO_USER/root-owned user service case.

Credit

Thanks @Ericksza for the source report in #81410, and thanks @ChuckClose-tech for the additional live reproduction details on the same root-shell scope issue.

Validation

• pnpm -s vitest run src/daemon/systemd.test.ts
• pnpm check:changed

Related context: #63561 and #79515 remain open because they track adjacent systemd availability/status paths that need separate validation.

Clownfish 🐠 replacement reef notes:

• Cluster: gitcrawl-55-autonomous-terminal-gap
• Source PRs: none
• Credit: Credit Gateway lifecycle commands target stale SUDO_USER scope from root shell instead of root systemd user service #81410 by @Ericksza as the source report.; Credit the June 15 follow-up reproduction comment by @ChuckClose-tech if referenced in the PR body or changelog.; Mention [Bug]: openclaw gateway status and openclaw gateway install falsely report user systemd unavailable while the user service is enabled and active #63561 and openclaw status reports gateway service as failed while systemd user unit is active #79515 only as related context; do not mark them fixed by this PR.
• Validation: pnpm -s vitest run src/daemon/systemd.test.ts; pnpm check:changed

fish notes: model gpt-5.5, reasoning medium; reviewed against 73ad9f0.