fix(status): keep startup paths free of plugin warmup

src/agents/context.lookup.test.ts

@@ -82,6 +82,25 @@ describe("lookupContextTokens", () => {
     expect(lookupContextTokens("openrouter/claude-sonnet")).toBe(321_000);
   });
 
+  it("can skip async warmup for read-only callers", async () => {
+    const { ensureOpenClawModelsJson } = mockContextModuleDeps(() => ({
+      models: {
+        providers: {
+          openrouter: {
+            models: [{ id: "openrouter/claude-sonnet", contextWindow: 321_000 }],
+          },
+        },
+      },
+    }));
+
+    const { lookupContextTokens } = await import("./context.js");
+    expect(
+      lookupContextTokens("openrouter/claude-sonnet", { allowAsyncLoad: false }),
+    ).toBeUndefined();
+    await flushAsyncWarmup();
+    expect(ensureOpenClawModelsJson).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
+
   it("only warms eagerly for real openclaw startup commands that need model metadata", async () => {
     const argvSnapshot = process.argv;
     try {

src/agents/context.ts

@@ -225,12 +225,17 @@ function ensureContextWindowCacheLoaded(): Promise<void> {
   return loadPromise;
 }
 
-export function lookupContextTokens(modelId?: string): number | undefined {
+export function lookupContextTokens(
+  modelId?: string,
+  options?: { allowAsyncLoad?: boolean },
+): number | undefined {
   if (!modelId) {
     return undefined;
   }
   // Best-effort: kick off loading on demand, but don't block lookups.
-  void ensureContextWindowCacheLoaded();
+  if (options?.allowAsyncLoad !== false) {
+    void ensureContextWindowCacheLoaded();
+  }
   return MODEL_CACHE.get(modelId);
 }
 
@@ -354,6 +359,7 @@ export function resolveContextTokensForModel(params: {
   model?: string;
   contextTokensOverride?: number;
   fallbackContextTokens?: number;
+  allowAsyncLoad?: boolean;
 }): number | undefined {
   if (typeof params.contextTokensOverride === "number" && params.contextTokensOverride > 0) {
     return params.contextTokensOverride;
@@ -402,6 +408,7 @@ export function resolveContextTokensForModel(params: {
   if (params.provider && ref && !ref.model.includes("/")) {
     const qualifiedResult = lookupContextTokens(
       `${normalizeProviderId(ref.provider)}/${ref.model}`,
+      { allowAsyncLoad: params.allowAsyncLoad },
     );
     if (qualifiedResult !== undefined) {
       return qualifiedResult;
@@ -410,7 +417,9 @@ export function resolveContextTokensForModel(params: {
 
   // Bare key fallback.  For model-only calls with slash-containing IDs
   // (e.g. "google/gemini-2.5-pro") this IS the raw discovery cache key.
-  const bareResult = lookupContextTokens(params.model);
+  const bareResult = lookupContextTokens(params.model, {
+    allowAsyncLoad: params.allowAsyncLoad,
+  });
   if (bareResult !== undefined) {
     return bareResult;
   }
@@ -421,6 +430,7 @@ export function resolveContextTokensForModel(params: {
   if (!params.provider && ref && !ref.model.includes("/")) {
     const qualifiedResult = lookupContextTokens(
       `${normalizeProviderId(ref.provider)}/${ref.model}`,
+      { allowAsyncLoad: params.allowAsyncLoad },
     );
     if (qualifiedResult !== undefined) {
       return qualifiedResult;

src/commands/status.scan.fast-json.ts

@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ import { hasPotentialConfiguredChannels } from "../channels/config-presence.js";
 import { resolveConfigPath, resolveStateDir } from "../config/paths.js";
 import type { OpenClawConfig } from "../config/types.js";
 import { resolveOsSummary } from "../infra/os-summary.js";
-import { buildPluginCompatibilityNotices } from "../plugins/status.js";
 import { runExec } from "../process/exec.js";
 import type { RuntimeEnv } from "../runtime.js";
 import { getAgentLocalStatuses } from "./status.agent-local.js";
@@ -23,6 +22,7 @@ import { getStatusSummary } from "./status.summary.js";
 import { getUpdateCheckResult } from "./status.update.js";
 
 let pluginRegistryModulePromise: Promise<typeof import("../cli/plugin-registry.js")> | undefined;
+let pluginStatusModulePromise: Promise<typeof import("../plugins/status.js")> | undefined;
 let configIoModulePromise: Promise<typeof import("../config/io.js")> | undefined;
 let commandSecretTargetsModulePromise:
   | Promise<typeof import("../cli/command-secret-targets.js")>
@@ -40,6 +40,11 @@ function loadPluginRegistryModule() {
   return pluginRegistryModulePromise;
 }
 
+function loadPluginStatusModule() {
+  pluginStatusModulePromise ??= import("../plugins/status.js");
+  return pluginStatusModulePromise;
+}
+
 function loadConfigIoModule() {
   configIoModulePromise ??= import("../config/io.js");
   return configIoModulePromise;
@@ -194,7 +199,12 @@ export async function scanStatusJsonFast(
   const memoryPlugin = resolveMemoryPluginStatus(cfg);
   const memory = await resolveMemoryStatusSnapshot({ cfg, agentStatus, memoryPlugin });
   const pluginCompatibility = shouldCollectPluginCompatibility(cfg)
-    ? buildPluginCompatibilityNotices({ config: cfg })
+    ? await loadPluginStatusModule().then(({ buildPluginCompatibilityNotices }) =>
+        // Keep plugin status loading off the empty-config `status --json` fast path.
+        // The plugin status module pulls in the full loader graph and materially bloats
+        // startup RSS even when plugin compatibility is never consulted.
+        buildPluginCompatibilityNotices({ config: cfg }),
+      )
     : [];
 
   return {

src/commands/status.summary.test.ts

@@ -78,6 +78,7 @@ vi.mock("./status.link-channel.js", () => ({
 }));
 
 const { hasPotentialConfiguredChannels } = await import("../channels/config-presence.js");
+const { resolveContextTokensForModel } = await import("../agents/context.js");
 const { buildChannelSummary } = await import("../infra/channel-summary.js");
 const { resolveLinkChannelContext } = await import("./status.link-channel.js");
 const { getStatusSummary } = await import("./status.summary.js");
@@ -105,4 +106,12 @@ describe("getStatusSummary", () => {
     expect(buildChannelSummary).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
     expect(resolveLinkChannelContext).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
   });
+
+  it("does not trigger async context warmup while building status summaries", async () => {
+    await getStatusSummary();
+
+    expect(vi.mocked(resolveContextTokensForModel)).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      expect.objectContaining({ allowAsyncLoad: false }),
+    );
+  });
 });

src/commands/status.summary.ts

@@ -219,6 +219,9 @@ export async function getStatusSummary(
       model: configModel,
       contextTokensOverride: cfg.agents?.defaults?.contextTokens,
       fallbackContextTokens: DEFAULT_CONTEXT_TOKENS,
+      // Keep `status`/`status --json` startup read-only. These summary lookups
+      // should not kick off background provider discovery or plugin scans.
+      allowAsyncLoad: false,
     }) ?? DEFAULT_CONTEXT_TOKENS;
 
   const now = Date.now();
@@ -250,6 +253,7 @@ export async function getStatusSummary(
             model,
             contextTokensOverride: entry?.contextTokens,
             fallbackContextTokens: configContextTokens ?? undefined,
+            allowAsyncLoad: false,
           }) ?? null;
         const total = resolveFreshSessionTotalTokens(entry);
         const totalTokensFresh =