- Control UI/chat: hide retired and non-public Google Gemini model IDs from chat model catalogs and route the bare `gemini-3-pro` alias to Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview instead of the shut-down Gemini 3 Pro Preview. Thanks @BunsDev.

- CLI/infer: canonicalize case-only catalog model refs in `infer model run --model` so mixed-case provider/model strings resolve to the canonical catalog entry instead of failing with `Unknown model`. (#78940) Thanks @ai-hpc.

- CLI/infer: allow explicit local `infer model run --model <provider/model>` probes to use exact bundled static catalog rows before the provider is written to config, surfacing missing credentials as auth errors instead of `Unknown model`.

- CLI/install: refuse state-mutating OpenClaw CLI runs as root by default, keep an explicit `OPENCLAW_ALLOW_ROOT=1` escape hatch for intentional root/container use, and update DigitalOcean setup guidance to run OpenClaw as a non-root user. Fixes #67478. Thanks @Jerry-Xin and @natechicago.

- CLI/install: revert the beta-only global root-refusal guard so existing root-managed VPS installs keep working; the DigitalOcean split-brain protection will move to a narrower image/install-specific path. Refs #67478 and #67509. Thanks @vincentkoc.

- Auto-reply/media: resolve `scp` from `PATH` when staging sandbox media so nonstandard OpenSSH installs can copy remote attachments.

- Agents/PI: route PI-native OpenAI-compatible default streams through OpenClaw boundary-aware transports so local-compatible model runs keep API-key injection and transport policy.

- Gateway/media: require authenticated owner or admin context for managed outgoing image bytes instead of trusting requester-session headers.