fix(update): detect nested macOS gateway ancestry (#85391)

* fix(update): detect nested macOS gateway ancestry * fix(release): refresh shrinkwrap for CI npm * fix(update): inherit gateway runtime pid for update guard
2026-08-07 02:22:46 +00:00 · 2026-05-23 00:00:38 +08:00
parent faf2a6cb9e
commit adc6adccd8
20 changed files with 286 additions and 24 deletions
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 - Codex app-server: disable native Code Mode when the effective exec host is `node` and keep OpenClaw `exec`/`process` available, so `/exec host=node` routes shell commands through the selected node instead of the gateway. Fixes #85012. (#85090) Thanks @sahilsatralkar.
 - Gateway: defer provider auth-state prewarm until after startup readiness so early gateway tool/session requests are not blocked by provider auth discovery. (#85272) Thanks @dutifulbob.
 - Agents/Codex: show the first plan update as a transient chat status notice without counting it as final assistant content.
+- CLI/update: walk the macOS process ancestry and honor the inherited Gateway runtime PID before package updates stop the managed Gateway service, so nested in-band updater children can refuse instead of killing the LaunchAgent-supervised Gateway that owns them. Fixes #85120.
 - Gateway/LaunchAgent: wait for launchd reload bootout to finish and fall back to kickstart when bootstrap races, so reload handoff does not leave the service deregistered. Fixes #84630. (#84641) Thanks @NianJiuZst.
 - Gateway/LaunchAgent: treat a concurrent launchd bootstrap as a successful restart when the service is already loaded, avoiding false macOS Gateway restart failures. Fixes #84721. (#84722) Thanks @googlerest.
 - Gateway/service: include the active `openclaw` command bin directory in managed service PATH generation and doctor audit expectations for npm-global macOS installs. Fixes #84201. (#84475) Thanks @jbetala7.
--- a/extensions/acpx/npm-shrinkwrap.json
+++ b/extensions/acpx/npm-shrinkwrap.json
@@ -903,6 +903,7 @@
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      "license": "Apache-2.0",
+      "peer": true,
      "peerDependencies": {
        "bare-abort-controller": "*"
      },
@@ -2238,6 +2239,7 @@
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      "license": "MIT",
+      "peer": true,
      "funding": {
        "url": "https://github.com/sponsors/colinhacks"
      }
--- a/extensions/amazon-bedrock-mantle/npm-shrinkwrap.json
+++ b/extensions/amazon-bedrock-mantle/npm-shrinkwrap.json
@@ -1314,6 +1314,7 @@
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      "license": "MIT",
+      "peer": true,
      "engines": {
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@@ -1350,6 +1351,7 @@
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      "license": "MIT",
+      "peer": true,
      "funding": {
        "url": "https://github.com/sponsors/colinhacks"
      }
--- a/extensions/amazon-bedrock/npm-shrinkwrap.json
+++ b/extensions/amazon-bedrock/npm-shrinkwrap.json
@@ -1188,6 +1188,7 @@
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+      "peer": true,
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@@ -1224,6 +1225,7 @@
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      "license": "MIT",
+      "peer": true,
      "funding": {
        "url": "https://github.com/sponsors/colinhacks"
      }
--- a/extensions/anthropic-vertex/npm-shrinkwrap.json
+++ b/extensions/anthropic-vertex/npm-shrinkwrap.json
@@ -1321,6 +1321,7 @@
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      "license": "MIT",
+      "peer": true,
      "engines": {
        "node": ">=10.0.0"
      },
@@ -1372,6 +1373,7 @@
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      "license": "MIT",
+      "peer": true,
      "funding": {
        "url": "https://github.com/sponsors/colinhacks"
      }
--- a/extensions/codex/npm-shrinkwrap.json
+++ b/extensions/codex/npm-shrinkwrap.json
@@ -1866,6 +1866,7 @@
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      "license": "MIT",
+      "peer": true,
      "engines": {
        "node": ">=10.0.0"
      },
@@ -1917,6 +1918,7 @@
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      "license": "MIT",
+      "peer": true,
      "funding": {
        "url": "https://github.com/sponsors/colinhacks"
      }
--- a/extensions/diagnostics-otel/npm-shrinkwrap.json
+++ b/extensions/diagnostics-otel/npm-shrinkwrap.json
@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@
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      "license": "Apache-2.0",
+      "peer": true,
      "engines": {
        "node": ">=8.0.0"
      }
@@ -580,6 +581,7 @@
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      "license": "MIT",
+      "peer": true,
      "bin": {
        "acorn": "bin/acorn"
      },
--- a/extensions/discord/npm-shrinkwrap.json
+++ b/extensions/discord/npm-shrinkwrap.json
@@ -432,7 +432,8 @@
      "version": "0.1.1",
      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/opusscript/-/opusscript-0.1.1.tgz",
      "integrity": "sha512-mL0fZZOUnXdZ78woRXp18lApwpp0lF5tozJOD1Wut0dgrA9WuQTgSels/CSmFleaAZrJi/nci5KOVtbuxeWoQA==",
-      "license": "MIT"
+      "license": "MIT",
+      "peer": true
    },
    "node_modules/prism-media": {
      "version": "1.3.5",
--- a/extensions/memory-lancedb/npm-shrinkwrap.json
+++ b/extensions/memory-lancedb/npm-shrinkwrap.json
@@ -209,6 +209,7 @@
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      "integrity": "sha512-v/ShMp57iBnBp4lDgV8Jx3d3Q5/Hac25FWmQ98eMahUiHPXcvwIMKJD0hBIgclm/FCG+LwPkAKtkRO1O/W0YGg==",
      "license": "Apache-2.0",
+      "peer": true,
      "dependencies": {
        "@swc/helpers": "^0.5.11",
        "@types/command-line-args": "^5.2.3",
--- a/extensions/twitch/npm-shrinkwrap.json
+++ b/extensions/twitch/npm-shrinkwrap.json
@@ -168,6 +168,7 @@
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      "integrity": "sha512-ylsJoPInCw9BwOqxKcx+1k2ce9QG3vJpKFzPdIyHh49HvM/ulQZ0CAGysydugDYXF0iO/TGryh7PluSwx5fIwA==",
      "license": "MIT",
+      "peer": true,
      "dependencies": {
        "@d-fischer/logger": "^4.2.1",
        "@d-fischer/shared-utils": "^3.6.1",
@@ -288,6 +289,7 @@
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      "license": "MIT",
+      "peer": true,
      "engines": {
        "node": ">=10.0.0"
      },
--- a/extensions/whatsapp/npm-shrinkwrap.json
+++ b/extensions/whatsapp/npm-shrinkwrap.json
@@ -1178,6 +1178,7 @@
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      "license": "MIT",
+      "peer": true,
      "dependencies": {
        "@wasm-audio-decoders/flac": "^0.2.4",
        "@wasm-audio-decoders/ogg-vorbis": "^0.1.15",
@@ -1417,6 +1418,7 @@
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      "license": "MIT",
+      "peer": true,
      "dependencies": {
        "@jimp/core": "1.6.1",
        "@jimp/diff": "1.6.1",
@@ -1461,6 +1463,7 @@
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      "license": "MIT",
+      "peer": true,
      "dependencies": {
        "@keyv/serialize": "^1.1.1"
      }
--- a/npm-shrinkwrap.json
+++ b/npm-shrinkwrap.json
@@ -1567,6 +1567,7 @@
      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/@modelcontextprotocol/sdk/-/sdk-1.29.0.tgz",
      "integrity": "sha512-zo37mZA9hJWpULgkRpowewez1y6ML5GsXJPY8FI0tBBCd77HEvza4jDqRKOXgHNn867PVGCyTdzqpz0izu5ZjQ==",
      "license": "MIT",
+      "peer": true,
      "dependencies": {
        "@hono/node-server": "^1.19.9",
        "ajv": "^8.17.1",
@@ -2813,6 +2814,7 @@
      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/express/-/express-5.2.1.tgz",
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      "license": "MIT",
+      "peer": true,
      "dependencies": {
        "accepts": "^2.0.0",
        "body-parser": "^2.2.1",
@@ -3230,6 +3232,7 @@
      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/grammy/-/grammy-1.43.0.tgz",
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      "license": "MIT",
+      "peer": true,
      "dependencies": {
        "@grammyjs/types": "3.27.3",
        "abort-controller": "^3.0.0",
@@ -3298,6 +3301,7 @@
      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/hono/-/hono-4.12.18.tgz",
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      "license": "MIT",
+      "peer": true,
      "engines": {
        "node": ">=16.9.0"
      }
@@ -5064,6 +5068,7 @@
      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/undici/-/undici-8.3.0.tgz",
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      "license": "MIT",
+      "peer": true,
      "engines": {
        "node": ">=22.19.0"
      }
@@ -5287,6 +5292,7 @@
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      "license": "MIT",
+      "peer": true,
      "funding": {
        "url": "https://github.com/sponsors/colinhacks"
      }
--- a/src/cli/gateway-cli/run.option-collisions.test.ts
+++ b/src/cli/gateway-cli/run.option-collisions.test.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import path from "node:path";
 import { Command } from "commander";
 import { beforeAll, beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
+import { GATEWAY_SERVICE_RUNTIME_PID_ENV } from "../../daemon/constants.js";
 import { SUPERVISOR_HINT_ENV_VARS } from "../../infra/supervisor-markers.js";
 import { withEnvAsync } from "../../test-utils/env.js";
 import { withTempSecretFiles } from "../../test-utils/secret-file-fixture.js";
@@ -17,6 +18,7 @@ const forceFreePortAndWait = vi.fn(async (_port: number, _opts: unknown) => ({
  waitedMs: 0,
  escalatedToSigkill: false,
 }));
+const cleanStaleGatewayProcessesSync = vi.fn((_port?: number) => []);
 const waitForPortBindable = vi.fn(async (_port: number, _opts?: unknown) => 0);
 const ensureDevGatewayConfig = vi.fn(async (_opts?: unknown) => {});
 type GatewayLoopStart = (params?: { startupStartedAt?: number }) => Promise<unknown>;
@@ -122,6 +124,10 @@ vi.mock("../../gateway/net.js", async (importOriginal) => {
  };
 });

+vi.mock("../../infra/restart-stale-pids.js", () => ({
+  cleanStaleGatewayProcessesSync: (port?: number) => cleanStaleGatewayProcessesSync(port),
+}));
+
 vi.mock("../../gateway/server.js", () => ({
  startGatewayServer: (port: number, opts?: unknown) => startGatewayServer(port, opts),
 }));
@@ -226,6 +232,7 @@ describe("gateway run option collisions", () => {
    setVerbose.mockClear();
    setConsoleSubsystemFilter.mockClear();
    forceFreePortAndWait.mockClear();
+    cleanStaleGatewayProcessesSync.mockClear();
    waitForPortBindable.mockClear();
    ensureDevGatewayConfig.mockClear();
    runGatewayLoop.mockClear();
@@ -278,6 +285,20 @@ describe("gateway run option collisions", () => {
    expect(gatewayStartOptions().auth?.token).toBe("tok_run");
  });

+  it("marks service-mode gateway descendants with the live gateway pid", async () => {
+    await withEnvAsync(
+      {
+        OPENCLAW_SERVICE_MARKER: "openclaw",
+        [GATEWAY_SERVICE_RUNTIME_PID_ENV]: undefined,
+      },
+      async () => {
+        await runGatewayCli(["gateway", "run", "--allow-unconfigured"]);
+
+        expect(process.env[GATEWAY_SERVICE_RUNTIME_PID_ENV]).toBe(String(process.pid));
+      },
+    );
+  });
+
  it("blocks --force port cleanup from an older binary with newer config", async () => {
    configState.snapshot = {
      exists: true,
--- a/src/cli/gateway-cli/run.ts
+++ b/src/cli/gateway-cli/run.ts
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import type {
 import { CONFIG_PATH, resolveGatewayPort, resolveStateDir } from "../../config/paths.js";
 import type { OpenClawConfig } from "../../config/types.openclaw.js";
 import { hasConfiguredSecretInput } from "../../config/types.secrets.js";
+import { GATEWAY_SERVICE_RUNTIME_PID_ENV } from "../../daemon/constants.js";
 import {
  defaultGatewayBindMode,
  isContainerEnvironment,
@@ -465,6 +466,9 @@ async function maybeWriteGatewayStartupFailureBundle(err: unknown): Promise<void

 export async function runGatewayCommand(opts: GatewayRunOpts) {
  installQaParentWatchdog();
+  if (process.env.OPENCLAW_SERVICE_MARKER?.trim()) {
+    process.env[GATEWAY_SERVICE_RUNTIME_PID_ENV] = String(process.pid);
+  }
  const isDevProfile = normalizeOptionalLowercaseString(process.env.OPENCLAW_PROFILE) === "dev";
  const devMode = Boolean(opts.dev) || isDevProfile;
  if (opts.reset && !devMode) {
--- a/src/cli/update-cli.test.ts
+++ b/src/cli/update-cli.test.ts
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
 import { TEST_BUNDLED_RUNTIME_SIDECAR_PATHS } from "../../test/helpers/bundled-runtime-sidecars.js";
 import type { OpenClawConfig, ConfigFileSnapshot } from "../config/types.openclaw.js";
 import type { PluginInstallRecord } from "../config/types.plugins.js";
+import { GATEWAY_SERVICE_RUNTIME_PID_ENV } from "../daemon/constants.js";
 import { writePackageDistInventory } from "../infra/package-dist-inventory.js";
 import { isBetaTag } from "../infra/update-channels.js";
 import type { UpdateRunResult } from "../infra/update-runner.js";
@@ -929,6 +930,7 @@ describe("update-cli", () => {
      {
        OPENCLAW_SERVICE_MARKER: "openclaw",
        OPENCLAW_SERVICE_KIND: "gateway",
+        [GATEWAY_SERVICE_RUNTIME_PID_ENV]: "7777",
      },
      async () => {
        await updateCommand({ yes: true });
@@ -938,6 +940,7 @@ describe("update-cli", () => {
    const spawnEnv = spawnCall()?.[2]?.env;
    expect(spawnEnv?.OPENCLAW_SERVICE_MARKER).toBeUndefined();
    expect(spawnEnv?.OPENCLAW_SERVICE_KIND).toBeUndefined();
+    expect(spawnEnv?.[GATEWAY_SERVICE_RUNTIME_PID_ENV]).toBeUndefined();
  });

  it("passes pre-update plugin install records into the post-core update process", async () => {
@@ -2044,6 +2047,37 @@ describe("update-cli", () => {
    expect(packageInstallCommandCall()).toBeUndefined();
  });

+  it("refuses package updates from inherited gateway runtime pid when process ancestry is truncated", async () => {
+    mockPackageInstallStatus(createCaseDir("openclaw-update"));
+    serviceLoaded.mockResolvedValue(true);
+    serviceReadRuntime.mockResolvedValue({
+      status: "running",
+      pid: 4242,
+      state: "running",
+    });
+    mockGetSelfAndAncestorPidsSync.mockReturnValue(new Set<number>([process.pid]));
+
+    await withEnvAsync(
+      {
+        OPENCLAW_SERVICE_MARKER: "openclaw",
+        OPENCLAW_SERVICE_KIND: "gateway",
+        [GATEWAY_SERVICE_RUNTIME_PID_ENV]: "4242",
+      },
+      async () => {
+        await updateCommand({ yes: true });
+      },
+    );
+
+    const errors = vi.mocked(defaultRuntime.error).mock.calls.map((call) => String(call[0]));
+    expect(errors.join("\n")).toContain(
+      "openclaw update detected it is running inside the gateway process tree.",
+    );
+    expect(errors.join("\n")).toContain("Gateway PID 4242 is an ancestor");
+    expect(defaultRuntime.exit).toHaveBeenCalledWith(1);
+    expect(serviceStop).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    expect(packageInstallCommandCall()).toBeUndefined();
+  });
+
  it("blocks package updates when the target requires a newer Node runtime", async () => {
    mockPackageInstallStatus(createCaseDir("openclaw-update"));
    vi.mocked(fetchNpmPackageTargetStatus).mockResolvedValue({
--- a/src/cli/update-cli/update-command.ts
+++ b/src/cli/update-cli/update-command.ts
@@ -29,7 +29,11 @@ import { asResolvedSourceConfig, asRuntimeConfig } from "../../config/materializ
 import { CONFIG_PATH, resolveIncludeRoots } from "../../config/paths.js";
 import type { OpenClawConfig } from "../../config/types.openclaw.js";
 import type { PluginInstallRecord } from "../../config/types.plugins.js";
-import { GATEWAY_SERVICE_KIND, GATEWAY_SERVICE_MARKER } from "../../daemon/constants.js";
+import {
+  GATEWAY_SERVICE_KIND,
+  GATEWAY_SERVICE_MARKER,
+  GATEWAY_SERVICE_RUNTIME_PID_ENV,
+} from "../../daemon/constants.js";
 import { resolveGatewayInstallEntrypoint } from "../../daemon/gateway-entrypoint.js";
 import { disableCurrentOpenClawUpdateLaunchdJob } from "../../daemon/launchd.js";
 import { resolveGatewayRestartLogPath } from "../../daemon/restart-logs.js";
@@ -770,8 +774,40 @@ Gateway PID ${pid} is an ancestor of this process, so this updater cannot safely
 Run \`${replaceCliName(formatCliCommand("openclaw update"), CLI_NAME)}\` from a shell outside the gateway service, or stop the gateway service first and then update.`;
 }

-function isGatewayAncestorPid(pid: unknown): pid is number {
-  return typeof pid === "number" && pid > 0 && getSelfAndAncestorPidsSync().has(pid);
+function parsePositivePid(value: unknown): number | null {
+  if (typeof value === "number" && Number.isFinite(value) && value > 0) {
+    return Math.floor(value);
+  }
+  if (typeof value !== "string") {
+    return null;
+  }
+  const trimmed = value.trim();
+  if (!/^\d+$/u.test(trimmed)) {
+    return null;
+  }
+  const parsed = Number.parseInt(trimmed, 10);
+  return Number.isFinite(parsed) && parsed > 0 ? parsed : null;
+}
+
+function isInheritedGatewayRuntimePid(
+  pid: number,
+  env: Record<string, string | undefined> = process.env,
+): boolean {
+  if (!isRunningInsideGatewayService(env)) {
+    return false;
+  }
+  return parsePositivePid(env[GATEWAY_SERVICE_RUNTIME_PID_ENV]) === pid;
+}
+
+function isGatewayAncestorPid(
+  pid: unknown,
+  env: Record<string, string | undefined> = process.env,
+): pid is number {
+  const parsed = parsePositivePid(pid);
+  if (parsed === null) {
+    return false;
+  }
+  return isInheritedGatewayRuntimePid(parsed, env) || getSelfAndAncestorPidsSync().has(parsed);
 }

 function gatewayAncestryBlockMessage(pid: unknown): string | undefined {
@@ -1048,6 +1084,7 @@ function stripGatewayServiceMarkerEnv(env: NodeJS.ProcessEnv): NodeJS.ProcessEnv
  const resolvedEnv = { ...env };
  delete resolvedEnv.OPENCLAW_SERVICE_MARKER;
  delete resolvedEnv.OPENCLAW_SERVICE_KIND;
+  delete resolvedEnv[GATEWAY_SERVICE_RUNTIME_PID_ENV];
  return resolvedEnv;
 }

--- a/src/daemon/constants.ts
+++ b/src/daemon/constants.ts
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ export const GATEWAY_SYSTEMD_SERVICE_NAME = "openclaw-gateway";
 export const GATEWAY_WINDOWS_TASK_NAME = "OpenClaw Gateway";
 export const GATEWAY_SERVICE_MARKER = "openclaw";
 export const GATEWAY_SERVICE_KIND = "gateway";
+export const GATEWAY_SERVICE_RUNTIME_PID_ENV = "OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_SERVICE_PID";
 const NODE_LAUNCH_AGENT_LABEL = "ai.openclaw.node";
 const NODE_SYSTEMD_SERVICE_NAME = "openclaw-node";
 const NODE_WINDOWS_TASK_NAME = "OpenClaw Node";
--- a/src/infra/restart-stale-pids.test.ts
+++ b/src/infra/restart-stale-pids.test.ts
@@ -151,7 +151,10 @@ function installInitialBusyPoll(
  resolvePoll: (call: number) => MockLsofResult,
 ): () => number {
  let call = 0;
-  mockSpawnSync.mockImplementation(() => {
+  mockSpawnSync.mockImplementation((command: unknown) => {
+    if (command !== "lsof") {
+      return createLsofResult();
+    }
    call += 1;
    if (call === 1) {
      return createOpenClawBusyResult(stalePid);
@@ -301,7 +304,9 @@ describe.skipIf(isWindows)("restart-stale-pids", () => {
      });

      expect(findGatewayPidsOnPortSync(18789)).toEqual([stalePid]);
-      const psCall = mockSpawnSync.mock.calls.find((call) => call[0] === "ps");
+      const psCall = mockSpawnSync.mock.calls.find(
+        (call) => call[0] === "ps" && Array.isArray(call[1]) && (call[1] as unknown[])[0] === "-ww",
+      );
      expect(psCall?.[1]).toEqual(["-ww", "-p", String(stalePid), "-o", "command="]);
      expect(psCall?.[2]).toEqual({ timeout: 2000, encoding: "utf8" });
    });
@@ -442,6 +447,47 @@ describe.skipIf(isWindows)("restart-stale-pids", () => {
      },
    );

+    it("excludes the full ancestor chain on macOS via ps - nested in-band updater regression for #85120", () => {
+      const origDescriptor = Object.getOwnPropertyDescriptor(process, "platform");
+      const toolHostPid = process.pid + 3101;
+      const gatewayGrandparentPid = process.pid + 3102;
+      const benignStalePid = process.pid + 3103;
+      Object.defineProperty(process, "platform", { value: "darwin", configurable: true });
+      try {
+        mockSpawnSync.mockImplementation((command: unknown, args: unknown) => {
+          if (command === "ps" && Array.isArray(args) && args[0] === "-o") {
+            const targetPid = args[3];
+            if (targetPid === String(toolHostPid)) {
+              return { error: null, status: 0, stdout: `${gatewayGrandparentPid}\n`, stderr: "" };
+            }
+            if (targetPid === String(gatewayGrandparentPid)) {
+              return { error: null, status: 0, stdout: "1\n", stderr: "" };
+            }
+            return { error: null, status: 0, stdout: "0\n", stderr: "" };
+          }
+          return {
+            error: null,
+            status: 0,
+            stdout: lsofOutput([
+              { pid: toolHostPid, cmd: "openclaw-gateway" },
+              { pid: gatewayGrandparentPid, cmd: "openclaw-gateway" },
+              { pid: benignStalePid, cmd: "openclaw-gateway" },
+            ]),
+            stderr: "",
+          };
+        });
+
+        const pids = withStubbedPpid(toolHostPid, () => findGatewayPidsOnPortSync(18789));
+        expect(pids).not.toContain(toolHostPid);
+        expect(pids).not.toContain(gatewayGrandparentPid);
+        expect(pids).toContain(benignStalePid);
+      } finally {
+        if (origDescriptor) {
+          Object.defineProperty(process, "platform", origDescriptor);
+        }
+      }
+    });
+
    it("excludes pids whose command does not include 'openclaw'", () => {
      const otherPid = process.pid + 2;
      mockSpawnSync.mockReturnValue({
@@ -462,6 +508,36 @@ describe.skipIf(isWindows)("restart-stale-pids", () => {
      expect(mockCallRecordArg(mockSpawnSync, 0, 2, "lsof options").timeout).toBe(400);
    });

+    it("uses the caller timeout for macOS ancestor ps probes", () => {
+      const origDescriptor = Object.getOwnPropertyDescriptor(process, "platform");
+      const gatewayParentPid = process.pid + 3151;
+      Object.defineProperty(process, "platform", { value: "darwin", configurable: true });
+      try {
+        mockSpawnSync.mockImplementation((command: unknown, args: unknown) => {
+          if (command === "ps" && Array.isArray(args) && args[0] === "-o") {
+            return { error: null, status: 0, stdout: "1\n", stderr: "" };
+          }
+          return {
+            error: null,
+            status: 0,
+            stdout: lsofOutput([{ pid: process.pid + 3152, cmd: "openclaw-gateway" }]),
+            stderr: "",
+          };
+        });
+
+        withStubbedPpid(gatewayParentPid, () => findGatewayPidsOnPortSync(18789, 400));
+        const ancestorPsCall = mockSpawnSync.mock.calls.find(
+          (call) =>
+            call[0] === "ps" && Array.isArray(call[1]) && (call[1] as unknown[])[0] === "-o",
+        );
+        expect(ancestorPsCall?.[2]).toEqual({ timeout: 400, encoding: "utf8" });
+      } finally {
+        if (origDescriptor) {
+          Object.defineProperty(process, "platform", origDescriptor);
+        }
+      }
+    });
+
    it("deduplicates pids from dual-stack listeners (IPv4+IPv6 emit same pid twice)", () => {
      // Dual-stack listeners cause lsof to emit the same PID twice in -Fpc output
      // (once for the IPv4 socket, once for IPv6). Without dedup, terminateStaleProcessesSync
@@ -1213,9 +1289,50 @@ describe.skipIf(isWindows)("restart-stale-pids", () => {
      vi.spyOn(process, "kill").mockReturnValue(true);
      // No openclaw pids in status-1 output means the port is free for this cleanup.
      expect(cleanStaleGatewayProcessesSync()).toContain(stalePid);
-      // Completed with one argv verification after the status-1 poll output:
-      // initial lsof + poll lsof + ps argv check.
-      expect(getCallCount()).toBe(3);
+      // Completed with one initial lsof and one status-1 poll lsof. The
+      // separate `ps` argv verification is intentionally not counted here.
+      expect(getCallCount()).toBe(2);
+    });
+
+    it("uses the short poll timeout for macOS ancestor ps probes", () => {
+      const origDescriptor = Object.getOwnPropertyDescriptor(process, "platform");
+      const stalePid = process.pid + 810;
+      const gatewayParentPid = process.pid + 811;
+      let lsofCall = 0;
+      Object.defineProperty(process, "platform", { value: "darwin", configurable: true });
+      try {
+        mockSpawnSync.mockImplementation((command: unknown, args: unknown) => {
+          if (command === "ps" && Array.isArray(args) && args[0] === "-o") {
+            return { error: null, status: 0, stdout: "1\n", stderr: "" };
+          }
+          if (command === "lsof") {
+            lsofCall += 1;
+            if (lsofCall === 1) {
+              return createOpenClawBusyResult(stalePid);
+            }
+            return createLsofResult({
+              stdout: lsofOutput([{ pid: gatewayParentPid, cmd: "openclaw-gateway" }]),
+            });
+          }
+          return createLsofResult();
+        });
+
+        vi.spyOn(process, "kill").mockReturnValue(true);
+        const killed = withStubbedPpid(gatewayParentPid, () => cleanStaleGatewayProcessesSync());
+        expect(killed).toContain(stalePid);
+        const ancestorPsTimeouts = mockSpawnSync.mock.calls
+          .filter(
+            (call) =>
+              call[0] === "ps" && Array.isArray(call[1]) && (call[1] as unknown[])[0] === "-o",
+          )
+          .map((call) => (call[2] as { timeout?: number } | undefined)?.timeout);
+        expect(ancestorPsTimeouts).toContain(2000);
+        expect(ancestorPsTimeouts).toContain(400);
+      } finally {
+        if (origDescriptor) {
+          Object.defineProperty(process, "platform", origDescriptor);
+        }
+      }
    });
  });

--- a/src/infra/restart-stale-pids.ts
+++ b/src/infra/restart-stale-pids.ts
@@ -104,6 +104,22 @@ function readParentPidFromProc(pid: number): number | null {
  }
 }

+function readParentPidFromPs(pid: number, spawnTimeoutMs: number): number | null {
+  try {
+    const res = spawnSync("ps", ["-o", "ppid=", "-p", String(pid)], {
+      encoding: "utf8",
+      timeout: spawnTimeoutMs,
+    });
+    if (res.error || res.status !== 0 || !res.stdout.trim()) {
+      return null;
+    }
+    const parsed = Number.parseInt(res.stdout.trim(), 10);
+    return Number.isFinite(parsed) && parsed > 0 ? parsed : null;
+  } catch {
+    return null;
+  }
+}
+
 /**
 * Collect the set of PIDs whose termination would cascade-kill the caller:
 * the current process, its direct parent, and — where the platform permits
@@ -129,24 +145,28 @@ function readParentPidFromProc(pid: number): number | null {
 * install where the gateway spawns a direct-child sidecar.
 *
 * The walk is best-effort. `process.ppid` is provided by Node via a direct
- * syscall and is always available; transitive ancestors are only read on
- * Linux via `/proc`. macOS/Windows stop at ppid, which is sufficient for
- * the direct-child sidecar topology this bug describes; extending those
- * platforms can be done without touching the call sites.
+ * syscall and is always available; transitive ancestors are read on Linux via
+ * `/proc` and on macOS via `ps`. Windows stops at ppid.
 *
- * The function takes no parameters and exposes no hooks. Tests exercise
- * the real walk by stubbing `process.ppid` (and, on Linux, by mocking
- * `node:fs` to inject `/proc/<pid>/status` payloads) — there is no
- * reachable override for runtime callers to mutate.
+ * The function exposes no runtime hooks. Tests exercise the real walk by
+ * stubbing `process.ppid` (and, on Linux, by mocking `node:fs` to inject
+ * `/proc/<pid>/status` payloads) — there is no reachable override for
+ * runtime callers to mutate.
 */
-export function getSelfAndAncestorPidsSync(): Set<number> {
+export function getSelfAndAncestorPidsSync(spawnTimeoutMs = SPAWN_TIMEOUT_MS): Set<number> {
  const pids = new Set<number>([process.pid]);
  const immediateParent = getParentPid();
  if (!Number.isFinite(immediateParent) || immediateParent <= 0) {
    return pids;
  }
  pids.add(immediateParent);
-  if (process.platform !== "linux") {
+  const readTransitiveParent =
+    process.platform === "linux"
+      ? readParentPidFromProc
+      : process.platform === "darwin"
+        ? (pid: number) => readParentPidFromPs(pid, spawnTimeoutMs)
+        : null;
+  if (!readTransitiveParent) {
    return pids;
  }
  // Transitive ancestor walk. Each hop's validity (positive pid, not already
@@ -155,7 +175,7 @@ export function getSelfAndAncestorPidsSync(): Set<number> {
  // parent` after the same check, so no separate top-of-loop guard is needed.
  let current = immediateParent;
  for (let depth = 0; depth < MAX_ANCESTOR_WALK_DEPTH; depth++) {
-    const parent = readParentPidFromProc(current);
+    const parent = readTransitiveParent(current);
    if (parent == null || parent <= 0 || pids.has(parent)) {
      break;
    }
@@ -171,8 +191,9 @@ export function getSelfAndAncestorPidsSync(): Set<number> {
 * rationale). On Linux the ancestor lookup reads up to
 * `MAX_ANCESTOR_WALK_DEPTH` entries from `/proc/<pid>/status`; each read is
 * a virtual-filesystem access (no disk I/O, no external process), wrapped
- * in try/catch and degrades silently. On macOS/Windows the lookup is
- * in-memory via `process.ppid` only.
+ * in try/catch and degrades silently. On macOS the lookup shells out to `ps`
+ * with the caller's spawn timeout. Windows only uses the in-memory direct
+ * parent from `process.ppid`.
 */
 function parseLsofEntries(stdout: string): Array<{ pid: number; cmd?: string }> {
  const entries: Array<{ pid: number; cmd?: string }> = [];
@@ -239,7 +260,7 @@ function parsePidsFromLsofOutput(stdout: string, spawnTimeoutMs: number): number
  // same PID twice. Return each PID at most once to avoid double-killing.
  // Exclude self and ancestors — terminating any ancestor cascade-kills the
  // caller via the supervisor, recreating the #68451 restart loop.
-  const excluded = getSelfAndAncestorPidsSync();
+  const excluded = getSelfAndAncestorPidsSync(spawnTimeoutMs);
  const pids: number[] = [];
  for (const entry of parseLsofEntries(stdout)) {
    if (excluded.has(entry.pid)) {
--- a/src/infra/restart.test.ts
+++ b/src/infra/restart.test.ts
@@ -166,7 +166,8 @@ describe.runIf(process.platform !== "win32")("cleanStaleGatewayProcessesSync", (

    expect(killed).toEqual([stalePid]);
    expect(resolveGatewayPortMock).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
-    expect(spawnSyncMock).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2);
+    const lsofCalls = spawnSyncMock.mock.calls.filter((call) => call[0] === "/usr/sbin/lsof");
+    expect(lsofCalls).toHaveLength(2);
    const [command, args, options] = requireFirstSpawnSyncCall();
    expect(command).toBe("/usr/sbin/lsof");
    expect(args).toEqual(["-nP", "-iTCP:19999", "-sTCP:LISTEN", "-Fpc"]);