diff --git a/src/agents/auth-profiles.runtime-snapshot-save.test.ts b/src/agents/auth-profiles.runtime-snapshot-save.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..5ab2635d996
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/agents/auth-profiles.runtime-snapshot-save.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+import fs from "node:fs/promises";
+import os from "node:os";
+import path from "node:path";
+import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import {
+  activateSecretsRuntimeSnapshot,
+  clearSecretsRuntimeSnapshot,
+  prepareSecretsRuntimeSnapshot,
+} from "../secrets/runtime.js";
+import { ensureAuthProfileStore, markAuthProfileUsed } from "./auth-profiles.js";
+
+describe("auth profile runtime snapshot persistence", () => {
+  it("does not write resolved plaintext keys during usage updates", async () => {
+    const stateDir = await fs.mkdtemp(path.join(os.tmpdir(), "openclaw-auth-runtime-save-"));
+    const agentDir = path.join(stateDir, "agents", "main", "agent");
+    const authPath = path.join(agentDir, "auth-profiles.json");
+    try {
+      await fs.mkdir(agentDir, { recursive: true });
+      await fs.writeFile(
+        authPath,
+        `${JSON.stringify(
+          {
+            version: 1,
+            profiles: {
+              "openai:default": {
+                type: "api_key",
+                provider: "openai",
+                keyRef: { source: "env", id: "OPENAI_API_KEY" },
+              },
+            },
+          },
+          null,
+          2,
+        )}\n`,
+        "utf8",
+      );
+
+      const snapshot = await prepareSecretsRuntimeSnapshot({
+        config: {},
+        env: { OPENAI_API_KEY: "sk-runtime-openai" },
+        agentDirs: [agentDir],
+      });
+      activateSecretsRuntimeSnapshot(snapshot);
+
+      const runtimeStore = ensureAuthProfileStore(agentDir);
+      expect(runtimeStore.profiles["openai:default"]).toMatchObject({
+        type: "api_key",
+        key: "sk-runtime-openai",
+        keyRef: { source: "env", id: "OPENAI_API_KEY" },
+      });
+
+      await markAuthProfileUsed({
+        store: runtimeStore,
+        profileId: "openai:default",
+        agentDir,
+      });
+
+      const persisted = JSON.parse(await fs.readFile(authPath, "utf8")) as {
+        profiles: Record<string, { key?: string; keyRef?: unknown }>;
+      };
+      expect(persisted.profiles["openai:default"]?.key).toBeUndefined();
+      expect(persisted.profiles["openai:default"]?.keyRef).toEqual({
+        source: "env",
+        id: "OPENAI_API_KEY",
+      });
+    } finally {
+      clearSecretsRuntimeSnapshot();
+      await fs.rm(stateDir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    }
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/agents/auth-profiles.store.save.test.ts b/src/agents/auth-profiles.store.save.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..20aac07d200
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/agents/auth-profiles.store.save.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+import fs from "node:fs/promises";
+import os from "node:os";
+import path from "node:path";
+import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import { resolveAuthStorePath } from "./auth-profiles/paths.js";
+import { saveAuthProfileStore } from "./auth-profiles/store.js";
+import type { AuthProfileStore } from "./auth-profiles/types.js";
+
+describe("saveAuthProfileStore", () => {
+  it("strips plaintext when keyRef/tokenRef are present", async () => {
+    const agentDir = await fs.mkdtemp(path.join(os.tmpdir(), "openclaw-auth-save-"));
+    try {
+      const store: AuthProfileStore = {
+        version: 1,
+        profiles: {
+          "openai:default": {
+            type: "api_key",
+            provider: "openai",
+            key: "sk-runtime-value",
+            keyRef: { source: "env", id: "OPENAI_API_KEY" },
+          },
+          "github-copilot:default": {
+            type: "token",
+            provider: "github-copilot",
+            token: "gh-runtime-token",
+            tokenRef: { source: "env", id: "GITHUB_TOKEN" },
+          },
+          "anthropic:default": {
+            type: "api_key",
+            provider: "anthropic",
+            key: "sk-anthropic-plain",
+          },
+        },
+      };
+
+      saveAuthProfileStore(store, agentDir);
+
+      const parsed = JSON.parse(await fs.readFile(resolveAuthStorePath(agentDir), "utf8")) as {
+        profiles: Record<
+          string,
+          { key?: string; keyRef?: unknown; token?: string; tokenRef?: unknown }
+        >;
+      };
+
+      expect(parsed.profiles["openai:default"]?.key).toBeUndefined();
+      expect(parsed.profiles["openai:default"]?.keyRef).toEqual({
+        source: "env",
+        id: "OPENAI_API_KEY",
+      });
+
+      expect(parsed.profiles["github-copilot:default"]?.token).toBeUndefined();
+      expect(parsed.profiles["github-copilot:default"]?.tokenRef).toEqual({
+        source: "env",
+        id: "GITHUB_TOKEN",
+      });
+
+      expect(parsed.profiles["anthropic:default"]?.key).toBe("sk-anthropic-plain");
+    } finally {
+      await fs.rm(agentDir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    }
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/agents/auth-profiles/store.ts b/src/agents/auth-profiles/store.ts
index 1253c6b18a9..389a4f81ff6 100644
--- a/src/agents/auth-profiles/store.ts
+++ b/src/agents/auth-profiles/store.ts
@@ -486,9 +486,24 @@ export function ensureAuthProfileStore(
 
 export function saveAuthProfileStore(store: AuthProfileStore, agentDir?: string): void {
   const authPath = resolveAuthStorePath(agentDir);
+  const profiles = Object.fromEntries(
+    Object.entries(store.profiles).map(([profileId, credential]) => {
+      if (credential.type === "api_key" && credential.keyRef && credential.key !== undefined) {
+        const sanitized = { ...credential } as Record<string, unknown>;
+        delete sanitized.key;
+        return [profileId, sanitized];
+      }
+      if (credential.type === "token" && credential.tokenRef && credential.token !== undefined) {
+        const sanitized = { ...credential } as Record<string, unknown>;
+        delete sanitized.token;
+        return [profileId, sanitized];
+      }
+      return [profileId, credential];
+    }),
+  ) as AuthProfileStore["profiles"];
   const payload = {
     version: AUTH_STORE_VERSION,
-    profiles: store.profiles,
+    profiles,
     order: store.order ?? undefined,
     lastGood: store.lastGood ?? undefined,
     usageStats: store.usageStats ?? undefined,
diff --git a/src/agents/models-config.providers.ts b/src/agents/models-config.providers.ts
index fd6ee1e25f1..96b0c805493 100644
--- a/src/agents/models-config.providers.ts
+++ b/src/agents/models-config.providers.ts
@@ -1034,17 +1034,8 @@ export async function resolveImplicitCopilotProvider(params: {
     }
   }
 
-  // pi-coding-agent's ModelRegistry marks a model "available" only if its
-  // `AuthStorage` has auth configured for that provider (via auth.json/env/etc).
-  // Our Copilot auth lives in OpenClaw's auth-profiles store instead, so we also
-  // write a runtime-only auth.json entry for pi-coding-agent to pick up.
-  //
-  // This is safe because it's (1) within OpenClaw's agent dir, (2) contains the
-  // GitHub token (not the exchanged Copilot token), and (3) matches existing
-  // patterns for OAuth-like providers in pi-coding-agent.
-  // Note: we deliberately do not write pi-coding-agent's `auth.json` here.
-  // OpenClaw uses its own auth store and exchanges tokens at runtime.
-  // `models list` uses OpenClaw's auth heuristics for availability.
+  // We deliberately do not write pi-coding-agent auth.json here.
+  // OpenClaw keeps auth in auth-profiles and resolves runtime availability from that store.
 
   // We intentionally do NOT define custom models for Copilot in models.json.
   // pi-coding-agent treats providers with models as replacements requiring apiKey.
diff --git a/src/agents/pi-auth-json.ts b/src/agents/pi-auth-json.ts
index 122efb7b9f6..33fb5e4f497 100644
--- a/src/agents/pi-auth-json.ts
+++ b/src/agents/pi-auth-json.ts
@@ -4,6 +4,10 @@ import { ensureAuthProfileStore } from "./auth-profiles.js";
 import type { AuthProfileCredential } from "./auth-profiles/types.js";
 import { normalizeProviderId } from "./model-selection.js";
 
+/**
+ * @deprecated Legacy bridge for older flows that still expect `agentDir/auth.json`.
+ * Runtime auth resolution uses auth-profiles directly and should not depend on this module.
+ */
 type AuthJsonCredential =
   | {
       type: "api_key";
@@ -110,6 +114,8 @@ function credentialsEqual(a: AuthJsonCredential | undefined, b: AuthJsonCredenti
  * registry/catalog output.
  *
  * Syncs all credential types: api_key, token (as api_key), and oauth.
+ *
+ * @deprecated Runtime auth now comes from OpenClaw auth-profiles snapshots.
  */
 export async function ensurePiAuthJsonFromAuthProfiles(agentDir: string): Promise<{
   wrote: boolean;