diff --git a/extensions/matrix/runtime-api.ts b/extensions/matrix/runtime-api.ts
index bc8163c9969..04957e707c5 100644
--- a/extensions/matrix/runtime-api.ts
+++ b/extensions/matrix/runtime-api.ts
@@ -2,3 +2,4 @@
 // helpers without traversing the full plugin-sdk/runtime graph.
 export * from "./src/auth-precedence.js";
 export * from "./helper-api.js";
+export { sendMessageMatrix } from "./src/matrix/send.js";
diff --git a/extensions/matrix/src/matrix/thread-bindings.ts b/extensions/matrix/src/matrix/thread-bindings.ts
index edbbde5d000..593d88ed7eb 100644
--- a/extensions/matrix/src/matrix/thread-bindings.ts
+++ b/extensions/matrix/src/matrix/thread-bindings.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import path from "node:path";
+import { sendMessageMatrix } from "../../runtime-api.js";
 import {
   readJsonFileWithFallback,
   registerSessionBindingAdapter,
@@ -10,7 +11,6 @@ import {
 import { resolveMatrixStoragePaths } from "./client/storage.js";
 import type { MatrixAuth } from "./client/types.js";
 import type { MatrixClient } from "./sdk.js";
-import { sendMessageMatrix } from "./send.js";
 import {
   deleteMatrixThreadBindingManagerEntry,
   getMatrixThreadBindingManager,
diff --git a/src/channels/plugins/contracts/registry.ts b/src/channels/plugins/contracts/registry.ts
index cc2b8b7f34a..cf12d4f4355 100644
--- a/src/channels/plugins/contracts/registry.ts
+++ b/src/channels/plugins/contracts/registry.ts
@@ -223,10 +223,10 @@ bundledChannelRuntimeSetters.setLineRuntime({
   },
 } as never);
 
-vi.mock("../../../../extensions/matrix/src/matrix/send.js", async () => {
+vi.mock("../../../../extensions/matrix/runtime-api.js", async () => {
   const actual = await vi.importActual<
-    typeof import("../../../../extensions/matrix/src/matrix/send.js")
-  >("../../../../extensions/matrix/src/matrix/send.js");
+    typeof import("../../../../extensions/matrix/runtime-api.js")
+  >("../../../../extensions/matrix/runtime-api.js");
   return {
     ...actual,
     sendMessageMatrix: sendMessageMatrixMock,
diff --git a/src/hooks/workspace.ts b/src/hooks/workspace.ts
index 351690ab9d3..b4c2fa4a1f3 100644
--- a/src/hooks/workspace.ts
+++ b/src/hooks/workspace.ts
@@ -28,6 +28,11 @@ type HookPackageManifest = {
 } & Partial<Record<typeof MANIFEST_KEY, { hooks?: string[] }>>;
 const log = createSubsystemLogger("hooks/workspace");
 
+type LoadedHook = {
+  hook: Hook;
+  frontmatter: ParsedHookFrontmatter;
+};
+
 function filterHookEntries(
   entries: HookEntry[],
   config?: OpenClawConfig,
@@ -79,7 +84,7 @@ function loadHookFromDir(params: {
   source: HookSource;
   pluginId?: string;
   nameHint?: string;
-}): Hook | null {
+}): LoadedHook | null {
   const hookMdPath = path.join(params.hookDir, "HOOK.md");
   const content = readBoundaryFileUtf8({
     absolutePath: hookMdPath,
@@ -123,13 +128,16 @@ function loadHookFromDir(params: {
     }
 
     return {
-      name,
-      description,
-      source: params.source,
-      pluginId: params.pluginId,
-      filePath: hookMdPath,
-      baseDir,
-      handlerPath,
+      hook: {
+        name,
+        description,
+        source: params.source,
+        pluginId: params.pluginId,
+        filePath: hookMdPath,
+        baseDir,
+        handlerPath,
+      },
+      frontmatter,
     };
   } catch (err) {
     const message = err instanceof Error ? (err.stack ?? err.message) : String(err);
@@ -141,7 +149,11 @@ function loadHookFromDir(params: {
 /**
  * Scan a directory for hooks (subdirectories containing HOOK.md)
  */
-function loadHooksFromDir(params: { dir: string; source: HookSource; pluginId?: string }): Hook[] {
+function loadHooksFromDir(params: {
+  dir: string;
+  source: HookSource;
+  pluginId?: string;
+}): LoadedHook[] {
   const { dir, source, pluginId } = params;
 
   if (!fs.existsSync(dir)) {
@@ -153,7 +165,7 @@ function loadHooksFromDir(params: { dir: string; source: HookSource; pluginId?:
     return [];
   }
 
-  const hooks: Hook[] = [];
+  const hooks: LoadedHook[] = [];
   const entries = fs.readdirSync(dir, { withFileTypes: true });
 
   for (const entry of entries) {
@@ -211,16 +223,7 @@ export function loadHookEntriesFromDir(params: {
     source: params.source,
     pluginId: params.pluginId,
   });
-  return hooks.map((hook) => {
-    let frontmatter: ParsedHookFrontmatter = {};
-    const raw = readBoundaryFileUtf8({
-      absolutePath: hook.filePath,
-      rootPath: hook.baseDir,
-      boundaryLabel: "hook directory",
-    });
-    if (raw !== null) {
-      frontmatter = parseFrontmatter(raw);
-    }
+  return hooks.map(({ hook, frontmatter }) => {
     const entry: HookEntry = {
       hook: {
         ...hook,
diff --git a/src/plugins/bundle-mcp.test-support.ts b/src/plugins/bundle-mcp.test-support.ts
index 8b6723e7e13..009078f8f8a 100644
--- a/src/plugins/bundle-mcp.test-support.ts
+++ b/src/plugins/bundle-mcp.test-support.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import fs from "node:fs/promises";
 import os from "node:os";
 import path from "node:path";
+import { clearPluginDiscoveryCache } from "./discovery.js";
 import { clearPluginManifestRegistryCache } from "./manifest-registry.js";
 
 export function createBundleMcpTempHarness() {
@@ -13,6 +14,7 @@ export function createBundleMcpTempHarness() {
       return dir;
     },
     async cleanup() {
+      clearPluginDiscoveryCache();
       clearPluginManifestRegistryCache();
       await Promise.all(
         tempDirs
diff --git a/src/plugins/bundle-mcp.ts b/src/plugins/bundle-mcp.ts
index ebe1b369f3c..c4e2f0651bb 100644
--- a/src/plugins/bundle-mcp.ts
+++ b/src/plugins/bundle-mcp.ts
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@ import {
 } from "./bundle-manifest.js";
 import { normalizePluginsConfig, resolveEffectiveEnableState } from "./config-state.js";
 import { loadPluginManifestRegistry } from "./manifest-registry.js";
-import { safeRealpathSync } from "./path-safety.js";
 import type { PluginBundleFormat } from "./types.js";
 
 export type BundleMcpServerConfig = Record<string, unknown>;
@@ -122,8 +121,8 @@ function expandBundleRootPlaceholders(value: string, rootDir: string): string {
   return value.split(CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT_PLACEHOLDER).join(rootDir);
 }
 
-function canonicalizeBundlePath(targetPath: string): string {
-  return path.normalize(safeRealpathSync(targetPath) ?? path.resolve(targetPath));
+function normalizeBundlePath(targetPath: string): string {
+  return path.normalize(path.resolve(targetPath));
 }
 
 function normalizeExpandedAbsolutePath(value: string): string {
@@ -194,7 +193,7 @@ function loadBundleFileBackedMcpConfig(params: {
   rootDir: string;
   relativePath: string;
 }): BundleMcpConfig {
-  const rootDir = canonicalizeBundlePath(params.rootDir);
+  const rootDir = normalizeBundlePath(params.rootDir);
   const absolutePath = path.resolve(rootDir, params.relativePath);
   const opened = openBoundaryFileSync({
     absolutePath,
@@ -212,7 +211,7 @@ function loadBundleFileBackedMcpConfig(params: {
     }
     const raw = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(opened.fd, "utf-8")) as unknown;
     const servers = extractMcpServerMap(raw);
-    const baseDir = canonicalizeBundlePath(path.dirname(absolutePath));
+    const baseDir = normalizeBundlePath(path.dirname(absolutePath));
     return {
       mcpServers: Object.fromEntries(
         Object.entries(servers).map(([serverName, server]) => [
@@ -233,7 +232,7 @@ function loadBundleInlineMcpConfig(params: {
   if (!isRecord(params.raw.mcpServers)) {
     return { mcpServers: {} };
   }
-  const baseDir = canonicalizeBundlePath(params.baseDir);
+  const baseDir = normalizeBundlePath(params.baseDir);
   const servers = extractMcpServerMap(params.raw.mcpServers);
   return {
     mcpServers: Object.fromEntries(