diff --git a/extensions/qa-lab/src/live-transports/whatsapp/whatsapp-live.runtime.test.ts b/extensions/qa-lab/src/live-transports/whatsapp/whatsapp-live.runtime.test.ts
index 285b86a3d794..82d587a7ee29 100644
--- a/extensions/qa-lab/src/live-transports/whatsapp/whatsapp-live.runtime.test.ts
+++ b/extensions/qa-lab/src/live-transports/whatsapp/whatsapp-live.runtime.test.ts
@@ -255,6 +255,67 @@ describe("WhatsApp QA live runtime", () => {
     expect(report).not.toContain("+15550000002");
   });
 
+  it("publishes WhatsApp gateway debug artifacts only when files exist", async () => {
+    const tempRoot = await fs.mkdtemp(path.join(os.tmpdir(), "openclaw-wa-debug-test-"));
+    const debugDir = path.join(tempRoot, "gateway-debug");
+    try {
+      await expect(testing.hasWhatsAppGatewayDebugArtifacts(debugDir)).resolves.toBe(false);
+      await fs.mkdir(debugDir);
+      await expect(testing.hasWhatsAppGatewayDebugArtifacts(debugDir)).resolves.toBe(false);
+      await fs.writeFile(path.join(debugDir, "gateway.stderr.log"), "stderr\n");
+      await expect(testing.hasWhatsAppGatewayDebugArtifacts(debugDir)).resolves.toBe(true);
+    } finally {
+      await fs.rm(tempRoot, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    }
+  });
+
+  it("redacts published WhatsApp run output without advertising empty debug artifacts", async () => {
+    const tempRoot = await fs.mkdtemp(path.join(os.tmpdir(), "openclaw-wa-publish-test-"));
+    const debugDir = path.join(tempRoot, "gateway-debug");
+    try {
+      await fs.mkdir(debugDir);
+      const emptyDebugView = await testing.buildPublishedWhatsAppQaRunView({
+        cleanupIssues: [
+          "WhatsApp QA failed before scenario completion: private setup failure details",
+        ],
+        gatewayDebugDirPath: debugDir,
+        preservedGatewayDebugArtifacts: true,
+        redactMetadata: true,
+        scenarioResults: [
+          {
+            id: "whatsapp-canary",
+            title: "WhatsApp DM canary",
+            standardId: "canary",
+            status: "fail",
+            details: "private setup failure details",
+          },
+        ],
+      });
+
+      expect(emptyDebugView.gatewayDebugDirPath).toBeUndefined();
+      expect(emptyDebugView.cleanupIssues).toEqual([
+        "WhatsApp QA failed before scenario completion: " +
+          "details redacted (OPENCLAW_QA_REDACT_PUBLIC_METADATA=1)",
+      ]);
+      expect(emptyDebugView.scenarioResults[0]?.details).toBe(
+        "details redacted (OPENCLAW_QA_REDACT_PUBLIC_METADATA=1)",
+      );
+
+      await fs.writeFile(path.join(debugDir, "gateway.stderr.log"), "stderr\n");
+      await expect(
+        testing.buildPublishedWhatsAppQaRunView({
+          cleanupIssues: [],
+          gatewayDebugDirPath: debugDir,
+          preservedGatewayDebugArtifacts: true,
+          redactMetadata: true,
+          scenarioResults: [],
+        }),
+      ).resolves.toMatchObject({ gatewayDebugDirPath: debugDir });
+    } finally {
+      await fs.rm(tempRoot, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    }
+  });
+
   it("redacts published scenario details before rendering public artifacts", () => {
     const publishedScenarios = testing.redactWhatsAppQaScenarioResults([
       {
diff --git a/extensions/qa-lab/src/live-transports/whatsapp/whatsapp-live.runtime.ts b/extensions/qa-lab/src/live-transports/whatsapp/whatsapp-live.runtime.ts
index f9089e9c5871..dada0212b62c 100644
--- a/extensions/qa-lab/src/live-transports/whatsapp/whatsapp-live.runtime.ts
+++ b/extensions/qa-lab/src/live-transports/whatsapp/whatsapp-live.runtime.ts
@@ -31,7 +31,6 @@ import {
 } from "../shared/credential-lease.runtime.js";
 import {
   appendQaLiveLaneIssue as appendLiveLaneIssue,
-  buildQaLiveLaneArtifactsError as buildLiveLaneArtifactsError,
   redactQaLiveLaneDetails,
   redactQaLiveLaneIssues,
 } from "../shared/live-artifacts.js";
@@ -2950,6 +2949,43 @@ function appendPreScenarioFailureResults(params: {
   }
 }
 
+async function hasWhatsAppGatewayDebugArtifacts(gatewayDebugDirPath: string) {
+  try {
+    const entries = await fs.readdir(gatewayDebugDirPath);
+    return entries.length > 0;
+  } catch (error) {
+    if ((error as NodeJS.ErrnoException).code === "ENOENT") {
+      return false;
+    }
+    throw error;
+  }
+}
+
+async function buildPublishedWhatsAppQaRunView(params: {
+  cleanupIssues: string[];
+  gatewayDebugDirPath: string;
+  preservedGatewayDebugArtifacts: boolean;
+  redactMetadata: boolean;
+  scenarioResults: WhatsAppQaScenarioResult[];
+}) {
+  const publishedCleanupIssues = params.redactMetadata
+    ? redactQaLiveLaneIssues(params.cleanupIssues)
+    : params.cleanupIssues;
+  const publishedScenarioResults = params.redactMetadata
+    ? redactWhatsAppQaScenarioResults(params.scenarioResults)
+    : params.scenarioResults;
+  const gatewayDebugDirPath =
+    params.preservedGatewayDebugArtifacts &&
+    (await hasWhatsAppGatewayDebugArtifacts(params.gatewayDebugDirPath))
+      ? params.gatewayDebugDirPath
+      : undefined;
+  return {
+    cleanupIssues: publishedCleanupIssues,
+    gatewayDebugDirPath,
+    scenarioResults: publishedScenarioResults,
+  };
+}
+
 function formatWhatsAppScenarioProgressLine(params: {
   details?: string;
   index: number;
@@ -3171,17 +3207,7 @@ export async function runWhatsAppQaLive(params: {
       }
     }
   } catch (error) {
-    cleanupIssues.push(
-      buildLiveLaneArtifactsError({
-        heading: "WhatsApp QA failed before scenario completion.",
-        details: [formatErrorMessage(error)],
-        artifacts: {
-          gatewayDebug: gatewayDebugDirPath,
-        },
-      }),
-    );
-    preservedGatewayDebugArtifacts = true;
-    await fs.mkdir(gatewayDebugDirPath, { recursive: true }).catch(() => {});
+    appendLiveLaneIssue(cleanupIssues, "WhatsApp QA failed before scenario completion", error);
     appendPreScenarioFailureResults({
       details: formatErrorMessage(error),
       scenarioResults,
@@ -3221,19 +3247,20 @@ export async function runWhatsAppQaLive(params: {
   const summaryPath = path.join(outputDir, QA_EVIDENCE_FILENAME);
   const observedMessagesPath = path.join(outputDir, "whatsapp-qa-observed-messages.json");
   const credentialFingerprint = fingerprintQaCredentialId(credentialLease?.credentialId);
-  const publishedCleanupIssues = redactPublicMetadata
-    ? redactQaLiveLaneIssues(cleanupIssues)
-    : cleanupIssues;
-  const publishedScenarioResults = redactPublicMetadata
-    ? redactWhatsAppQaScenarioResults(scenarioResults)
-    : scenarioResults;
+  const publishedRunView = await buildPublishedWhatsAppQaRunView({
+    cleanupIssues,
+    gatewayDebugDirPath,
+    preservedGatewayDebugArtifacts,
+    redactMetadata: redactPublicMetadata,
+    scenarioResults,
+  });
   const evidence = buildLiveTransportEvidenceSummary({
     artifactPaths: [
       { kind: "summary", path: path.basename(summaryPath) },
       { kind: "report", path: path.basename(reportPath) },
       { kind: "transport-observations", path: path.basename(observedMessagesPath) },
     ],
-    checks: publishedScenarioResults.map(({ standardId, ...check }) => ({
+    checks: publishedRunView.scenarioResults.map(({ standardId, ...check }) => ({
       ...check,
       coverageIds: standardId ? [`channels.whatsapp.${standardId}`] : undefined,
     })),
@@ -3259,13 +3286,13 @@ export async function runWhatsAppQaLive(params: {
   await fs.writeFile(
     reportPath,
     `${renderWhatsAppQaMarkdown({
-      cleanupIssues: publishedCleanupIssues,
+      cleanupIssues: publishedRunView.cleanupIssues,
       credentialFingerprint,
       credentialSource: credentialLease?.source ?? requestedCredentialSource,
       finishedAt,
-      gatewayDebugDirPath: preservedGatewayDebugArtifacts ? gatewayDebugDirPath : undefined,
+      gatewayDebugDirPath: publishedRunView.gatewayDebugDirPath,
       redactMetadata: redactPublicMetadata,
-      scenarios: publishedScenarioResults,
+      scenarios: publishedRunView.scenarioResults,
       startedAt,
       sutPhoneE164: runtimeEnv?.sutPhoneE164,
     })}\n`,
@@ -3275,7 +3302,7 @@ export async function runWhatsAppQaLive(params: {
     reportPath,
     summaryPath,
     observedMessagesPath,
-    gatewayDebugDirPath: preservedGatewayDebugArtifacts ? gatewayDebugDirPath : undefined,
+    gatewayDebugDirPath: publishedRunView.gatewayDebugDirPath,
     scenarios: scenarioResults,
   };
 }
@@ -3283,6 +3310,7 @@ export async function runWhatsAppQaLive(params: {
 export const testing = {
   assertSafeArchiveEntries,
   appendPreScenarioFailureResults,
+  buildPublishedWhatsAppQaRunView,
   buildWhatsAppQaConfig,
   callWhatsAppGatewayMessageAction,
   callWhatsAppGatewayPoll,
@@ -3296,6 +3324,7 @@ export const testing = {
   formatWhatsAppScenarioProgressLine,
   fingerprintWhatsAppCredentialId: fingerprintQaCredentialId,
   formatWhatsAppScenarioWaitDiagnostics,
+  hasWhatsAppGatewayDebugArtifacts,
   isTransientWhatsAppQaDriverError,
   matchesWhatsAppApprovalResolvedText,
   parseWhatsAppQaCredentialPayload,
diff --git a/src/commands/migrate/apply.test.ts b/src/commands/migrate/apply.test.ts
index a65007c682af..2572e39d909c 100644
--- a/src/commands/migrate/apply.test.ts
+++ b/src/commands/migrate/apply.test.ts
@@ -9,9 +9,14 @@ import { runMigrationApply } from "./apply.js";
 
 const stateDir = mkdtempSync(path.join(tmpdir(), "openclaw-migrate-apply-"));
 
-vi.mock("../../config/paths.js", () => ({
-  resolveStateDir: () => stateDir,
-}));
+vi.mock("../../config/paths.js", async (importActual) => {
+  const actual = await importActual<typeof import("../../config/paths.js")>();
+  return {
+    ...actual,
+    resolveGatewayPort: () => 18789,
+    resolveStateDir: () => stateDir,
+  };
+});
 
 function buildEmptyPlan(): MigrationPlan {
   return {