From fb5409eac2f9da032d6574dda913c973e9e2011f Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Frank Yang <frank.ekn@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 22 Feb 2026 20:01:20 -0800
Subject: [PATCH] fix(config): avoid mutating caller config when unsetting
 paths

---
 src/config/io.ts                   |  5 ++++-
 src/config/io.write-config.test.ts | 24 ++++++++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 28 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/src/config/io.ts b/src/config/io.ts
index fba3be8d63f..2fa4eb6a2a6 100644
--- a/src/config/io.ts
+++ b/src/config/io.ts
@@ -1011,10 +1011,13 @@ export function createConfigIO(overrides: ConfigIoDeps = {}) {
 
     const dir = path.dirname(configPath);
     await deps.fs.promises.mkdir(dir, { recursive: true, mode: 0o700 });
-    const outputConfig =
+    const outputConfigBase =
       envRefMap && changedPaths
         ? (restoreEnvRefsFromMap(cfgToWrite, "", envRefMap, changedPaths) as OpenClawConfig)
         : cfgToWrite;
+    const outputConfig = options.unsetPaths?.length
+      ? cloneUnknown(outputConfigBase)
+      : outputConfigBase;
     if (options.unsetPaths?.length) {
       for (const unsetPath of options.unsetPaths) {
         if (!Array.isArray(unsetPath) || unsetPath.length === 0) {
diff --git a/src/config/io.write-config.test.ts b/src/config/io.write-config.test.ts
index 110d81ef61e..cacf96ea306 100644
--- a/src/config/io.write-config.test.ts
+++ b/src/config/io.write-config.test.ts
@@ -124,6 +124,30 @@ describe("config io write", () => {
     });
   });
 
+  it("does not mutate caller config when unsetPaths is applied on first write", async () => {
+    await withTempHome("openclaw-config-io-", async (home) => {
+      const configPath = path.join(home, ".openclaw", "openclaw.json");
+      const io = createConfigIO({
+        env: {} as NodeJS.ProcessEnv,
+        homedir: () => home,
+        logger: silentLogger,
+      });
+
+      const input: Record<string, unknown> = {
+        gateway: { mode: "local" },
+        commands: { ownerDisplay: "hash" },
+      };
+
+      await io.writeConfigFile(input, { unsetPaths: [["commands", "ownerDisplay"]] });
+
+      expect((input.commands as Record<string, unknown>).ownerDisplay).toBe("hash");
+      const persisted = JSON.parse(await fs.readFile(configPath, "utf-8")) as {
+        commands?: Record<string, unknown>;
+      };
+      expect(persisted.commands ?? {}).not.toHaveProperty("ownerDisplay");
+    });
+  });
+
   it("preserves env var references when writing", async () => {
     await withTempHome("openclaw-config-io-", async (home) => {
       const { configPath, io, snapshot } = await writeConfigAndCreateIo({