diff --git a/src/agents/command/session-store.test.ts b/src/agents/command/session-store.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..19ad241f7e2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/agents/command/session-store.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+import fs from "node:fs/promises";
+import os from "node:os";
+import path from "node:path";
+import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import type { OpenClawConfig } from "../../config/config.js";
+import { loadSessionStore, type SessionEntry } from "../../config/sessions.js";
+import type { EmbeddedPiRunResult } from "../pi-embedded.js";
+import { updateSessionStoreAfterAgentRun } from "./session-store.js";
+
+describe("updateSessionStoreAfterAgentRun", () => {
+  let tmpDir: string;
+  let storePath: string;
+
+  beforeEach(async () => {
+    tmpDir = await fs.mkdtemp(path.join(os.tmpdir(), "openclaw-session-store-"));
+    storePath = path.join(tmpDir, "sessions.json");
+  });
+
+  afterEach(async () => {
+    await fs.rm(tmpDir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  });
+
+  it("persists claude-cli session bindings without explicit cliBackends config", async () => {
+    const cfg = {} as OpenClawConfig;
+    const sessionKey = "agent:main:explicit:test-claude-cli";
+    const sessionId = "test-openclaw-session";
+    const sessionStore: Record<string, SessionEntry> = {
+      [sessionKey]: {
+        sessionId,
+        updatedAt: 1,
+      },
+    };
+    await fs.writeFile(storePath, JSON.stringify(sessionStore, null, 2));
+
+    const result: EmbeddedPiRunResult = {
+      meta: {
+        durationMs: 1,
+        agentMeta: {
+          sessionId: "cli-session-123",
+          provider: "claude-cli",
+          model: "claude-sonnet-4-6",
+          cliSessionBinding: {
+            sessionId: "cli-session-123",
+          },
+        },
+      },
+    };
+
+    await updateSessionStoreAfterAgentRun({
+      cfg,
+      sessionId,
+      sessionKey,
+      storePath,
+      sessionStore,
+      defaultProvider: "claude-cli",
+      defaultModel: "claude-sonnet-4-6",
+      result,
+    });
+
+    expect(sessionStore[sessionKey]?.cliSessionBindings?.["claude-cli"]).toEqual({
+      sessionId: "cli-session-123",
+    });
+    expect(sessionStore[sessionKey]?.cliSessionIds?.["claude-cli"]).toBe("cli-session-123");
+    expect(sessionStore[sessionKey]?.claudeCliSessionId).toBe("cli-session-123");
+
+    const persisted = loadSessionStore(storePath);
+    expect(persisted[sessionKey]?.cliSessionBindings?.["claude-cli"]).toEqual({
+      sessionId: "cli-session-123",
+    });
+    expect(persisted[sessionKey]?.cliSessionIds?.["claude-cli"]).toBe("cli-session-123");
+    expect(persisted[sessionKey]?.claudeCliSessionId).toBe("cli-session-123");
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/agents/model-selection.test.ts b/src/agents/model-selection.test.ts
index df3813d3390..fd59b78710b 100644
--- a/src/agents/model-selection.test.ts
+++ b/src/agents/model-selection.test.ts
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import { resetLogger, setLoggerOverride } from "../logging/logger.js";
 import {
   buildAllowedModelSet,
   inferUniqueProviderFromConfiguredModels,
+  isCliProvider,
   parseModelRef,
   buildModelAliasIndex,
   normalizeModelSelection,
@@ -130,6 +131,12 @@ describe("model-selection", () => {
     });
   });
 
+  describe("isCliProvider", () => {
+    it("treats claude-cli as a CLI provider even without explicit cliBackends config", () => {
+      expect(isCliProvider("claude-cli", {} as OpenClawConfig)).toBe(true);
+    });
+  });
+
   describe("modelKey", () => {
     it("keeps canonical OpenRouter native ids without duplicating the provider", () => {
       expect(modelKey("openrouter", "openrouter/hunter-alpha")).toBe("openrouter/hunter-alpha");
diff --git a/src/agents/model-selection.ts b/src/agents/model-selection.ts
index dd42d24847a..313c2251aa5 100644
--- a/src/agents/model-selection.ts
+++ b/src/agents/model-selection.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import { CLAUDE_CLI_BACKEND_ID } from "../../extensions/anthropic/cli-backend-api.js";
 import { resolveThinkingDefaultForModel } from "../auto-reply/thinking.shared.js";
 import type { OpenClawConfig } from "../config/config.js";
 import {
@@ -6,6 +7,7 @@ import {
   toAgentModelListLike,
 } from "../config/model-input.js";
 import { createSubsystemLogger } from "../logging/subsystem.js";
+import { resolveRuntimeCliBackends } from "../plugins/cli-backends.runtime.js";
 import { sanitizeForLog, stripAnsi } from "../terminal/ansi.js";
 import {
   resolveAgentConfig,
@@ -27,29 +29,7 @@ import { normalizeProviderModelIdWithRuntime } from "./provider-model-normalizat
 
 let log: ReturnType<typeof createSubsystemLogger> | null = null;
 
-type CliBackendRuntimeModule = typeof import("../plugins/cli-backends.runtime.js");
-
-const CLI_BACKEND_RUNTIME_CANDIDATES = [
-  "../plugins/cli-backends.runtime.js",
-  "../plugins/cli-backends.runtime.ts",
-] as const;
-
-let cliBackendRuntimeModule: CliBackendRuntimeModule | undefined;
-
-function loadCliBackendRuntime(): CliBackendRuntimeModule | null {
-  if (cliBackendRuntimeModule) {
-    return cliBackendRuntimeModule;
-  }
-  for (const candidate of CLI_BACKEND_RUNTIME_CANDIDATES) {
-    try {
-      cliBackendRuntimeModule = require(candidate) as CliBackendRuntimeModule;
-      return cliBackendRuntimeModule;
-    } catch {
-      // Try source/runtime candidates in order.
-    }
-  }
-  return null;
-}
+const BUILTIN_CLI_PROVIDER_IDS = new Set([normalizeProviderId(CLAUDE_CLI_BACKEND_ID)]);
 
 function getLog(): ReturnType<typeof createSubsystemLogger> {
   log ??= createSubsystemLogger("model-selection");
@@ -112,7 +92,10 @@ export {
 
 export function isCliProvider(provider: string, cfg?: OpenClawConfig): boolean {
   const normalized = normalizeProviderId(provider);
-  const cliBackends = loadCliBackendRuntime()?.resolveRuntimeCliBackends() ?? [];
+  if (BUILTIN_CLI_PROVIDER_IDS.has(normalized)) {
+    return true;
+  }
+  const cliBackends = resolveRuntimeCliBackends();
   if (cliBackends.some((backend) => normalizeProviderId(backend.id) === normalized)) {
     return true;
   }