diff --git a/src/extension-host/tts-runtime-setup.test.ts b/src/extension-host/tts-runtime-setup.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..4f02fa60325
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/extension-host/tts-runtime-setup.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,128 @@
+import { mkdtempSync, rmSync, writeFileSync } from "node:fs";
+import os from "node:os";
+import path from "node:path";
+import { afterEach, describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import { withEnv } from "../test-utils/env.js";
+import type { ResolvedTtsConfig } from "../tts/tts.js";
+import {
+  resolveExtensionHostTtsProvider,
+  resolveExtensionHostTtsRequestSetup,
+} from "./tts-runtime-setup.js";
+
+const tempDirs: string[] = [];
+
+function createPrefsPath(contents: object): string {
+  const tempDir = mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), "openclaw-tts-setup-"));
+  tempDirs.push(tempDir);
+  const prefsPath = path.join(tempDir, "tts.json");
+  writeFileSync(prefsPath, JSON.stringify(contents), "utf8");
+  return prefsPath;
+}
+
+function createResolvedConfig(overrides?: Partial<ResolvedTtsConfig>): ResolvedTtsConfig {
+  return {
+    auto: "off",
+    mode: "final",
+    provider: "edge",
+    providerSource: "default",
+    modelOverrides: {
+      enabled: true,
+      allowText: true,
+      allowProvider: false,
+      allowVoice: true,
+      allowModelId: true,
+      allowVoiceSettings: true,
+      allowNormalization: true,
+      allowSeed: true,
+    },
+    elevenlabs: {
+      baseUrl: "https://api.elevenlabs.io",
+      voiceId: "voice-id",
+      modelId: "eleven_multilingual_v2",
+      voiceSettings: {
+        stability: 0.5,
+        similarityBoost: 0.75,
+        style: 0,
+        useSpeakerBoost: true,
+        speed: 1,
+      },
+    },
+    openai: {
+      baseUrl: "https://api.openai.com/v1",
+      model: "gpt-4o-mini-tts",
+      voice: "alloy",
+    },
+    edge: {
+      enabled: true,
+      voice: "en-US-MichelleNeural",
+      lang: "en-US",
+      outputFormat: "audio-24khz-48kbitrate-mono-mp3",
+      outputFormatConfigured: false,
+      saveSubtitles: false,
+    },
+    maxTextLength: 4096,
+    timeoutMs: 30_000,
+    ...overrides,
+  };
+}
+
+afterEach(() => {
+  for (const tempDir of tempDirs.splice(0)) {
+    rmSync(tempDir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  }
+});
+
+describe("tts-runtime-setup", () => {
+  it("prefers the stored provider over config and environment", () => {
+    const prefsPath = createPrefsPath({ tts: { provider: "elevenlabs" } });
+    const config = createResolvedConfig({
+      provider: "openai",
+      providerSource: "config",
+      openai: {
+        baseUrl: "https://api.openai.com/v1",
+        model: "gpt-4o-mini-tts",
+        voice: "alloy",
+        apiKey: "config-openai-key",
+      },
+    });
+
+    withEnv({ OPENAI_API_KEY: "env-openai-key", ELEVENLABS_API_KEY: undefined }, () => {
+      expect(resolveExtensionHostTtsProvider(config, prefsPath)).toBe("elevenlabs");
+    });
+  });
+
+  it("returns a validation error when text exceeds the configured hard limit", () => {
+    const config = createResolvedConfig({ maxTextLength: 5 });
+    const prefsPath = createPrefsPath({});
+
+    expect(
+      resolveExtensionHostTtsRequestSetup({
+        text: "too-long",
+        config,
+        prefsPath,
+      }),
+    ).toEqual({
+      error: "Text too long (8 chars, max 5)",
+    });
+  });
+
+  it("uses the override provider to build the host-owned fallback order", () => {
+    const config = createResolvedConfig({
+      provider: "edge",
+      providerSource: "config",
+    });
+    const prefsPath = createPrefsPath({});
+
+    expect(
+      resolveExtensionHostTtsRequestSetup({
+        text: "hello world",
+        config,
+        prefsPath,
+        providerOverride: "elevenlabs",
+      }),
+    ).toEqual({
+      config,
+      providers: ["elevenlabs", "openai", "edge"],
+    });
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/extension-host/tts-runtime-setup.ts b/src/extension-host/tts-runtime-setup.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..f9521070dba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/extension-host/tts-runtime-setup.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+import { existsSync, readFileSync } from "node:fs";
+import type { TtsProvider } from "../config/types.tts.js";
+import type { ResolvedTtsConfig } from "../tts/tts.js";
+import {
+  resolveExtensionHostTtsApiKey,
+  resolveExtensionHostTtsProviderOrder,
+} from "./tts-runtime-registry.js";
+
+type TtsUserPrefs = {
+  tts?: {
+    provider?: TtsProvider;
+  };
+};
+
+function readExtensionHostTtsPrefs(prefsPath: string): TtsUserPrefs {
+  try {
+    if (!existsSync(prefsPath)) {
+      return {};
+    }
+    const raw = readFileSync(prefsPath, "utf8");
+    const parsed = JSON.parse(raw) as TtsUserPrefs;
+    return parsed && typeof parsed === "object" ? parsed : {};
+  } catch {
+    return {};
+  }
+}
+
+export function resolveExtensionHostTtsProvider(
+  config: ResolvedTtsConfig,
+  prefsPath: string,
+): TtsProvider {
+  const prefs = readExtensionHostTtsPrefs(prefsPath);
+  if (prefs.tts?.provider) {
+    return prefs.tts.provider;
+  }
+  if (config.providerSource === "config") {
+    return config.provider;
+  }
+
+  if (resolveExtensionHostTtsApiKey(config, "openai")) {
+    return "openai";
+  }
+  if (resolveExtensionHostTtsApiKey(config, "elevenlabs")) {
+    return "elevenlabs";
+  }
+  return "edge";
+}
+
+export function resolveExtensionHostTtsRequestSetup(params: {
+  text: string;
+  config: ResolvedTtsConfig;
+  prefsPath: string;
+  providerOverride?: TtsProvider;
+}):
+  | {
+      config: ResolvedTtsConfig;
+      providers: TtsProvider[];
+    }
+  | {
+      error: string;
+    } {
+  if (params.text.length > params.config.maxTextLength) {
+    return {
+      error: `Text too long (${params.text.length} chars, max ${params.config.maxTextLength})`,
+    };
+  }
+
+  const provider =
+    params.providerOverride ?? resolveExtensionHostTtsProvider(params.config, params.prefsPath);
+  return {
+    config: params.config,
+    providers: resolveExtensionHostTtsProviderOrder(provider),
+  };
+}
diff --git a/src/tts/tts.ts b/src/tts/tts.ts
index 619820cdd5f..2fd61dbb3ea 100644
--- a/src/tts/tts.ts
+++ b/src/tts/tts.ts
@@ -24,6 +24,10 @@ import {
   resolveExtensionHostTtsApiKey,
   resolveExtensionHostTtsProviderOrder,
 } from "../extension-host/tts-runtime-registry.js";
+import {
+  resolveExtensionHostTtsProvider,
+  resolveExtensionHostTtsRequestSetup,
+} from "../extension-host/tts-runtime-setup.js";
 import { logVerbose } from "../globals.js";
 import { stripMarkdown } from "../line/markdown-to-line.js";
 import { CONFIG_DIR, resolveUserPath } from "../utils.js";
@@ -420,23 +424,7 @@ export function setTtsEnabled(prefsPath: string, enabled: boolean): void {
   setTtsAutoMode(prefsPath, enabled ? "always" : "off");
 }
 
-export function getTtsProvider(config: ResolvedTtsConfig, prefsPath: string): TtsProvider {
-  const prefs = readPrefs(prefsPath);
-  if (prefs.tts?.provider) {
-    return prefs.tts.provider;
-  }
-  if (config.providerSource === "config") {
-    return config.provider;
-  }
-
-  if (resolveTtsApiKey(config, "openai")) {
-    return "openai";
-  }
-  if (resolveTtsApiKey(config, "elevenlabs")) {
-    return "elevenlabs";
-  }
-  return "edge";
-}
+export const getTtsProvider = resolveExtensionHostTtsProvider;
 
 export function setTtsProvider(prefsPath: string, provider: TtsProvider): void {
   updatePrefs(prefsPath, (prefs) => {
@@ -482,35 +470,6 @@ export const resolveTtsProviderOrder = resolveExtensionHostTtsProviderOrder;
 
 export const isTtsProviderConfigured = isExtensionHostTtsProviderConfigured;
 
-function resolveTtsRequestSetup(params: {
-  text: string;
-  cfg: OpenClawConfig;
-  prefsPath?: string;
-  providerOverride?: TtsProvider;
-}):
-  | {
-      config: ResolvedTtsConfig;
-      providers: TtsProvider[];
-    }
-  | {
-      error: string;
-    } {
-  const config = resolveTtsConfig(params.cfg);
-  const prefsPath = params.prefsPath ?? resolveTtsPrefsPath(config);
-  if (params.text.length > config.maxTextLength) {
-    return {
-      error: `Text too long (${params.text.length} chars, max ${config.maxTextLength})`,
-    };
-  }
-
-  const userProvider = getTtsProvider(config, prefsPath);
-  const provider = params.providerOverride ?? userProvider;
-  return {
-    config,
-    providers: resolveExtensionHostTtsProviderOrder(provider),
-  };
-}
-
 export async function textToSpeech(params: {
   text: string;
   cfg: OpenClawConfig;
@@ -518,10 +477,12 @@ export async function textToSpeech(params: {
   channel?: string;
   overrides?: TtsDirectiveOverrides;
 }): Promise<TtsResult> {
-  const setup = resolveTtsRequestSetup({
+  const config = resolveTtsConfig(params.cfg);
+  const prefsPath = params.prefsPath ?? resolveTtsPrefsPath(config);
+  const setup = resolveExtensionHostTtsRequestSetup({
     text: params.text,
-    cfg: params.cfg,
-    prefsPath: params.prefsPath,
+    config,
+    prefsPath,
     providerOverride: params.overrides?.provider,
   });
   if ("error" in setup) {
@@ -542,10 +503,12 @@ export async function textToSpeechTelephony(params: {
   cfg: OpenClawConfig;
   prefsPath?: string;
 }): Promise<TtsTelephonyResult> {
-  const setup = resolveTtsRequestSetup({
+  const config = resolveTtsConfig(params.cfg);
+  const prefsPath = params.prefsPath ?? resolveTtsPrefsPath(config);
+  const setup = resolveExtensionHostTtsRequestSetup({
     text: params.text,
-    cfg: params.cfg,
-    prefsPath: params.prefsPath,
+    config,
+    prefsPath,
   });
   if ("error" in setup) {
     return { success: false, error: setup.error };