diff --git a/src/agents/tools/image-tool.test.ts b/src/agents/tools/image-tool.test.ts
index 149b1aeb9d6..af4402005bb 100644
--- a/src/agents/tools/image-tool.test.ts
+++ b/src/agents/tools/image-tool.test.ts
@@ -302,6 +302,14 @@ const moonshotProvider = {
 
 function installImageUnderstandingProviderStubs(...providers: MediaUnderstandingProvider[]) {
   imageProviderHarness.setProviders(providers);
+  __testing.setProviderDepsForTest({
+    buildProviderRegistry: (overrides?: Record<string, MediaUnderstandingProvider>) =>
+      imageProviderHarness.buildProviderRegistry(overrides),
+    getMediaUnderstandingProvider: (
+      id: string,
+      registry: Map<string, MediaUnderstandingProvider>,
+    ) => imageProviderHarness.getMediaUnderstandingProvider(id, registry),
+  });
 }
 
 function makeModelDefinition(id: string, input: Array<"text" | "image">): ModelDefinitionConfig {
@@ -410,6 +418,7 @@ describe("image tool implicit imageModel config", () => {
 
   afterEach(() => {
     imageProviderHarness.reset();
+    __testing.setProviderDepsForTest();
   });
 
   it("stays disabled without auth when no pairing is possible", async () => {
@@ -860,6 +869,7 @@ describe("image tool MiniMax VLM routing", () => {
 
   afterEach(() => {
     imageProviderHarness.reset();
+    __testing.setProviderDepsForTest();
   });
 
   async function createMinimaxVlmFixture(baseResp: { status_code: number; status_msg: string }) {
diff --git a/src/agents/tools/image-tool.ts b/src/agents/tools/image-tool.ts
index 0797db4cdc8..c344bc6b1e9 100644
--- a/src/agents/tools/image-tool.ts
+++ b/src/agents/tools/image-tool.ts
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import type { OpenClawConfig } from "../../config/config.js";
 import { getMediaUnderstandingProvider } from "../../media-understanding/provider-registry.js";
 import { buildProviderRegistry } from "../../media-understanding/runner.js";
 import { loadWebMedia } from "../../media/web-media.js";
+import type { MediaUnderstandingProvider } from "../../plugin-sdk/media-understanding.js";
 import { resolveUserPath } from "../../utils.js";
 import { isMinimaxVlmProvider } from "../minimax-vlm.js";
 import {
@@ -38,10 +39,24 @@ const ANTHROPIC_IMAGE_PRIMARY = "anthropic/claude-opus-4-6";
 const ANTHROPIC_IMAGE_FALLBACK = "anthropic/claude-opus-4-5";
 const DEFAULT_MAX_IMAGES = 20;
 
+const imageToolProviderDeps = {
+  buildProviderRegistry,
+  getMediaUnderstandingProvider,
+};
+
 export const __testing = {
   decodeDataUrl,
   coerceImageAssistantText,
   resolveImageToolMaxTokens,
+  setProviderDepsForTest(overrides?: {
+    buildProviderRegistry?: typeof buildProviderRegistry;
+    getMediaUnderstandingProvider?: typeof getMediaUnderstandingProvider;
+  }) {
+    imageToolProviderDeps.buildProviderRegistry =
+      overrides?.buildProviderRegistry ?? buildProviderRegistry;
+    imageToolProviderDeps.getMediaUnderstandingProvider =
+      overrides?.getMediaUnderstandingProvider ?? getMediaUnderstandingProvider;
+  },
 } as const;
 
 function resolveImageToolMaxTokens(modelMaxTokens: number | undefined, requestedMaxTokens = 4096) {
@@ -139,13 +154,16 @@ async function runImagePrompt(params: {
 }> {
   const effectiveCfg = applyImageModelConfigDefaults(params.cfg, params.imageModelConfig);
   const providerCfg: OpenClawConfig = effectiveCfg ?? {};
-  const providerRegistry = buildProviderRegistry(undefined, providerCfg);
+  const providerRegistry = imageToolProviderDeps.buildProviderRegistry(undefined, providerCfg);
 
   const result = await runWithImageModelFallback({
     cfg: effectiveCfg,
     modelOverride: params.modelOverride,
     run: async (provider, modelId) => {
-      const imageProvider = getMediaUnderstandingProvider(provider, providerRegistry);
+      const imageProvider = imageToolProviderDeps.getMediaUnderstandingProvider(
+        provider,
+        providerRegistry as Map<string, MediaUnderstandingProvider>,
+      );
       if (!imageProvider) {
         throw new Error(`No media-understanding provider registered for ${provider}`);
       }