- Plugins/context-engine: include the selected `plugins.slots.contextEngine` plugin in the gateway startup load plan so external context-engine plugins without `activation.onStartup` in their manifest are loaded before any agent turn resolves the active engine; prevents the "Context engine X is not registered; falling back to default engine legacy" warning after gateway startup. Fixes #76576. Thanks @hclsys.

- Plugins/tools: restore on-demand registry load for path-based plugins (origin "config") so tool factories registered via `plugins.load.paths` are resolved at agent request time when no pre-warmed channel registry is present; prevents "unknown method" errors after gateway startup. Fixes #76598. Thanks @hclsys.

- Plugins/hooks: include explicitly enabled hook-capable plugins in the Gateway startup runtime scope so embedded PI runs can see their `before_prompt_build` and `agent_end` hooks. Fixes #76649. Thanks @wwf3045 and @MkDev11.

- Plugins/OpenCode: expose Claude thinking profiles through the lightweight provider policy surface so directive and session validation keep `xhigh`, `adaptive`, and `max` for `opencode/claude-opus-4-7` instead of remapping `xhigh` to `high`. Fixes #76648. Thanks @aaajiao.

- Channels/QQ Bot: resolve structured `clientSecret` SecretRefs before QQ token exchange, expose the QQ Bot secret contract to secrets tooling, and reject legacy `secretref:/...` marker strings. (#74772) Thanks @xialonglee.

- Agents: keep active streamed provider replies alive by refreshing guarded fetch timeouts on raw body chunks and surface true prompt stream timeouts as explicit errors instead of partial assistant fragments. Fixes #76307. (#76633) Thanks @MkDev11.

- Plugins/externalization: keep official ACPX, Google Chat, and LINE install specs on production package names, leaving beta-tag probing to the explicit OpenClaw beta update channel. Thanks @vincentkoc.