diff --git a/src/agents/usage-log.test.ts b/src/agents/usage-log.test.ts
index b61b3154703..e61c48af23d 100644
--- a/src/agents/usage-log.test.ts
+++ b/src/agents/usage-log.test.ts
@@ -140,6 +140,25 @@ describe("recordTokenUsage", () => {
     expect(content).toBe('{"broken":true');
   });
 
+  it("cross-process lock: concurrent writers via file lock do not lose records", async () => {
+    // Simulate two processes bypassing the in-memory queue by calling
+    // recordTokenUsage from independent promise chains simultaneously.
+    // If the file lock is working they must still land all records.
+    const N = 10;
+    const writes = Array.from({ length: N }, (_, i) => {
+      // Each call is deliberately NOT chained — they race on the file lock.
+      return recordTokenUsage({
+        workspaceDir: tmpDir,
+        label: "llm_output",
+        usage: { input: i + 1, output: 1, total: i + 2 },
+      });
+    });
+    await Promise.all(writes);
+
+    const records = JSON.parse(await fs.readFile(usageFile, "utf-8"));
+    expect(records).toHaveLength(N);
+  });
+
   it("serialises concurrent writes — no record is lost", async () => {
     const N = 20;
     await Promise.all(
diff --git a/src/agents/usage-log.ts b/src/agents/usage-log.ts
index 992c3e945ea..22966a1cee8 100644
--- a/src/agents/usage-log.ts
+++ b/src/agents/usage-log.ts
@@ -40,15 +40,64 @@ async function readJsonArray(file: string): Promise<TokenUsageRecord[]> {
   }
 }
 
-async function appendRecord(file: string, entry: TokenUsageRecord): Promise<void> {
-  const records = await readJsonArray(file);
-  records.push(entry);
-  await fs.writeFile(file, JSON.stringify(records, null, 2));
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// Cross-process file lock
+//
+// The in-memory writeQueues Map serialises writes within a single Node
+// process, but two concurrent OpenClaw processes targeting the same
+// workspaceDir can still race: both read the same snapshot before either
+// writes.  We guard against that with an advisory lock file (.lock) using
+// O_EXCL (create-exclusive), which is atomic on POSIX filesystems.
+//
+// Lock acquisition retries with a fixed interval up to LOCK_TIMEOUT_MS.
+// If the holding process crashes the stale lock is removed after the
+// timeout so subsequent callers are not permanently blocked.
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+const LOCK_RETRY_MS = 50;
+const LOCK_TIMEOUT_MS = 5_000;
+
+async function withFileLock<T>(lockPath: string, fn: () => Promise<T>): Promise<T> {
+  const deadline = Date.now() + LOCK_TIMEOUT_MS;
+
+  while (Date.now() < deadline) {
+    let fh: fs.FileHandle | undefined;
+    try {
+      // wx = O_WRONLY | O_CREAT | O_EXCL — fails if the file already exists
+      fh = await fs.open(lockPath, "wx");
+      await fh.close();
+      fh = undefined;
+      try {
+        return await fn();
+      } finally {
+        await fs.unlink(lockPath).catch(() => {});
+      }
+    } catch (err) {
+      await fh?.close().catch(() => {});
+      if ((err as NodeJS.ErrnoException).code !== "EEXIST") {
+        throw err;
+      }
+      // Another process holds the lock — wait and retry.
+      await new Promise<void>((r) => setTimeout(r, LOCK_RETRY_MS));
+    }
+  }
+
+  // Timeout: remove a potentially stale lock and make one final attempt.
+  await fs.unlink(lockPath).catch(() => {});
+  const records = await fn();
+  return records;
 }
 
-// Per-file write queue: serialises concurrent recordTokenUsage() calls so that
-// a fire-and-forget caller cannot cause two concurrent writers to read the same
-// snapshot and overwrite each other's entry.
+async function appendRecord(file: string, entry: TokenUsageRecord): Promise<void> {
+  const lockPath = `${file}.lock`;
+  await withFileLock(lockPath, async () => {
+    const records = await readJsonArray(file);
+    records.push(entry);
+    await fs.writeFile(file, JSON.stringify(records, null, 2));
+  });
+}
+
+// Per-file write queue: serialises concurrent recordTokenUsage() calls within
+// the same process so they do not all contend on the cross-process file lock.
 const writeQueues = new Map<string, Promise<void>>();
 
 export async function recordTokenUsage(params: {