diff --git a/src/agents/cli-runner.test.ts b/src/agents/cli-runner.test.ts
index e77ac021fd7..350d1a2352d 100644
--- a/src/agents/cli-runner.test.ts
+++ b/src/agents/cli-runner.test.ts
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import os from "node:os";
 import path from "node:path";
 import { beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
 import type { OpenClawConfig } from "../config/config.js";
+import { resolvePreferredOpenClawTmpDir } from "../infra/tmp-openclaw-dir.js";
 import { runCliAgent } from "./cli-runner.js";
 import { resolveCliNoOutputTimeoutMs } from "./cli-runner/helpers.js";
 import type { EmbeddedContextFile } from "./pi-embedded-helpers.js";
@@ -187,6 +188,55 @@ describe("runCliAgent with process supervisor", () => {
     expect(promptCarrier).toContain("hi");
   });
 
+  it("hydrates prompt media refs into CLI image args", async () => {
+    supervisorSpawnMock.mockResolvedValueOnce(
+      createManagedRun({
+        reason: "exit",
+        exitCode: 0,
+        exitSignal: null,
+        durationMs: 50,
+        stdout: "ok",
+        stderr: "",
+        timedOut: false,
+        noOutputTimedOut: false,
+      }),
+    );
+
+    const tempDir = await fs.mkdtemp(
+      path.join(resolvePreferredOpenClawTmpDir(), "openclaw-cli-prompt-image-"),
+    );
+    const sourceImage = path.join(tempDir, "bb-image.png");
+    await fs.writeFile(
+      sourceImage,
+      Buffer.from(
+        "iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAQAAAC1HAwCAAAAC0lEQVR42mP8/woAAn8B9FD5fHAAAAAASUVORK5CYII=",
+        "base64",
+      ),
+    );
+
+    try {
+      await runCliAgent({
+        sessionId: "s1",
+        sessionFile: "/tmp/session.jsonl",
+        workspaceDir: tempDir,
+        prompt: `[media attached: ${sourceImage} (image/png)]\n\n<media:image>`,
+        provider: "codex-cli",
+        model: "gpt-5.2-codex",
+        timeoutMs: 1_000,
+        runId: "run-prompt-image",
+      });
+    } finally {
+      await fs.rm(tempDir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    }
+
+    const input = supervisorSpawnMock.mock.calls[0]?.[0] as { argv?: string[] };
+    const argv = input.argv ?? [];
+    const imageArgIndex = argv.indexOf("--image");
+    expect(imageArgIndex).toBeGreaterThanOrEqual(0);
+    expect(argv[imageArgIndex + 1]).toContain("openclaw-cli-images-");
+    expect(argv[imageArgIndex + 1]).not.toBe(sourceImage);
+  });
+
   it("fails with timeout when no-output watchdog trips", async () => {
     supervisorSpawnMock.mockResolvedValueOnce(
       createManagedRun({
diff --git a/src/agents/cli-runner.ts b/src/agents/cli-runner.ts
index 9056668e087..6d6ddcc0c1c 100644
--- a/src/agents/cli-runner.ts
+++ b/src/agents/cli-runner.ts
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ import {
   buildCliArgs,
   buildSystemPrompt,
   enqueueCliRun,
+  loadPromptRefImages,
   normalizeCliModel,
   parseCliJson,
   parseCliJsonl,
@@ -221,8 +222,12 @@ export async function runCliAgent(params: {
     let prompt = prependBootstrapPromptWarning(params.prompt, bootstrapPromptWarning.lines, {
       preserveExactPrompt: heartbeatPrompt,
     });
-    if (params.images && params.images.length > 0) {
-      const imagePayload = await writeCliImages(params.images);
+    const resolvedImages =
+      params.images && params.images.length > 0
+        ? params.images
+        : await loadPromptRefImages({ prompt, workspaceDir });
+    if (resolvedImages.length > 0) {
+      const imagePayload = await writeCliImages(resolvedImages);
       imagePaths = imagePayload.paths;
       cleanupImages = imagePayload.cleanup;
       if (!backend.imageArg) {
diff --git a/src/agents/cli-runner/helpers.ts b/src/agents/cli-runner/helpers.ts
index 98289396112..d71cd51f11d 100644
--- a/src/agents/cli-runner/helpers.ts
+++ b/src/agents/cli-runner/helpers.ts
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ import { buildModelAliasLines } from "../model-alias-lines.js";
 import { resolveDefaultModelForAgent } from "../model-selection.js";
 import { resolveOwnerDisplaySetting } from "../owner-display.js";
 import type { EmbeddedContextFile } from "../pi-embedded-helpers.js";
+import { detectImageReferences, loadImageFromRef } from "../pi-embedded-runner/run/images.js";
 import { detectRuntimeShell } from "../shell-utils.js";
 import { buildSystemPromptParams } from "../system-prompt-params.js";
 import { buildAgentSystemPrompt } from "../system-prompt.js";
@@ -324,6 +325,31 @@ export function appendImagePathsToPrompt(prompt: string, paths: string[]): strin
   return `${trimmed}${separator}${paths.join("\n")}`;
 }
 
+export async function loadPromptRefImages(params: {
+  prompt: string;
+  workspaceDir: string;
+}): Promise<ImageContent[]> {
+  const refs = detectImageReferences(params.prompt);
+  if (refs.length === 0) {
+    return [];
+  }
+
+  const seen = new Set<string>();
+  const images: ImageContent[] = [];
+  for (const ref of refs) {
+    const key = `${ref.type}:${ref.resolved}`;
+    if (seen.has(key)) {
+      continue;
+    }
+    seen.add(key);
+    const image = await loadImageFromRef(ref, params.workspaceDir);
+    if (image) {
+      images.push(image);
+    }
+  }
+  return images;
+}
+
 export async function writeCliImages(
   images: ImageContent[],
 ): Promise<{ paths: string[]; cleanup: () => Promise<void> }> {