- Gateway mode falls back to the embedded agent when the Gateway request fails. Use `--local` to force embedded execution up front.

- `--local` still preloads the plugin registry first, so plugin-provided providers, tools, and channels stay available during embedded runs.

- Each `openclaw agent` invocation is treated as a one-shot run. Bundled or user-configured MCP servers opened for that run are retired after the reply, even when the command uses the Gateway path, so stdio MCP child processes do not stay alive between scripted invocations.

- `--channel`, `--reply-channel`, and `--reply-account` affect reply delivery, not session routing.

- `--json` keeps stdout reserved for the JSON response. Gateway, plugin, and embedded-fallback diagnostics are routed to stderr so scripts can parse stdout directly.

- When this command triggers `models.json` regeneration, SecretRef-managed provider credentials are persisted as non-secret markers (for example env var names, `secretref-env:ENV_VAR_NAME`, or `secretref-managed`), not resolved secret plaintext.