fix(config): avoid failing startup on implicit memory slot (#47494)

* fix(config): avoid failing on implicit memory slot

* fix(config): satisfy build for memory slot guard

* docs(changelog): note implicit memory slot startup fix (#47494)

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 - CLI: avoid loading provider discovery during startup model normalization. (#46522) Thanks @ItsAditya-xyz and @vincentkoc.
 - Tlon: honor explicit empty allowlists and defer cite expansion. (#46788) Thanks @zpbrent and @vincentkoc.
 - ACP: require admin scope for mutating internal actions. (#46789) Thanks @tdjackey and @vincentkoc.
+- Gateway/config validation: stop treating the implicit default memory slot as a required explicit plugin config, so startup no longer fails with `plugins.slots.memory: plugin not found: memory-core` when `memory-core` was only inferred. (#47494) Thanks @ngutman.
 
 ## 2026.3.13
 

src/config/config.plugin-validation.test.ts

@@ -173,6 +173,24 @@ describe("config plugin validation", () => {
     }
   });
 
+  it("does not fail validation for the implicit default memory slot when plugins config is explicit", async () => {
+    const res = validateConfigObjectWithPlugins(
+      {
+        agents: { list: [{ id: "pi" }] },
+        plugins: {
+          entries: { acpx: { enabled: true } },
+        },
+      },
+      {
+        env: {
+          ...suiteEnv(),
+          OPENCLAW_BUNDLED_PLUGINS_DIR: path.join(suiteHome, "missing-bundled-plugins"),
+        },
+      },
+    );
+    expect(res.ok).toBe(true);
+  });
+
   it("warns for removed legacy plugin ids instead of failing validation", async () => {
     const removedId = "google-antigravity-auth";
     const res = validateInSuite({

src/config/validation.ts

@@ -528,8 +528,17 @@ function validateConfigObjectWithPluginsBase(
     }
   }
 
+  // The default memory slot is inferred; only a user-configured slot should block startup.
+  const pluginSlots = pluginsConfig?.slots;
+  const hasExplicitMemorySlot =
+    pluginSlots !== undefined && Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty.call(pluginSlots, "memory");
   const memorySlot = normalizedPlugins.slots.memory;
-  if (typeof memorySlot === "string" && memorySlot.trim() && !knownIds.has(memorySlot)) {
+  if (
+    hasExplicitMemorySlot &&
+    typeof memorySlot === "string" &&
+    memorySlot.trim() &&
+    !knownIds.has(memorySlot)
+  ) {
     pushMissingPluginIssue("plugins.slots.memory", memorySlot);
   }