diff --git a/docs/past-failures.md b/docs/past-failures.md
index c4f5cae..15debb0 100644
--- a/docs/past-failures.md
+++ b/docs/past-failures.md
@@ -6,6 +6,12 @@
 - Cause: the node daemon reused the server session id as the ACPX session name, but a stale ACPX session could exist without the backing ACP metadata OpenClaw needs to initialize.
 - Mitigation: the Go ACPX runner now treats that exact metadata-missing failure as recoverable both during `sessions ensure` and during the first prompt run, recreates the named ACPX session once with `sessions new --name <session>`, and retries. Regression tests cover the ensure path and the OpenClaw prompt-time failure shape.
 
+## 2026-05-13: OpenClaw executable detection could accept a broken wrapper
+
+- Symptom: `openclaw` was present on `PATH`, but `acpx openclaw` failed before ACP `initialize` because the first executable was a wrapper that depended on unavailable local state.
+- Cause: detection treated executable presence as enough, while OpenClaw's ACPX target needs `openclaw acp` to run as a clean stdio ACP server from the daemon environment.
+- Mitigation: OpenClaw detection now probes every `openclaw` executable directory on `PATH` with ACPX `sessions ensure`, persists the first PATH ordering that initializes successfully, and omits OpenClaw if none can start ACP. A regression test covers a broken wrapper before a working executable.
+
 ## 2026-05-12: Installer rejected valid Node 24 runtimes
 
 - Symptom: remote bootstrap failed early with `could not determine Node.js major version` even though `node -v` reported `v24.13.1`.
diff --git a/internal/app/app.go b/internal/app/app.go
index 8278465..3ae7bf8 100644
--- a/internal/app/app.go
+++ b/internal/app/app.go
@@ -250,13 +250,21 @@ func detectAgents(ctx context.Context, runner acpx.Runner) []nodeconfig.AgentCon
 	detectedCandidates := detectInstalledAgents(candidates)
 	agents := make([]nodeconfig.AgentConfig, 0, len(candidates))
 	for _, candidate := range detectedCandidates {
+		env := detectedAgentEnv(candidate)
+		if candidate.ACPXAgent == "openclaw" {
+			var ok bool
+			env, ok = verifiedOpenClawEnv(ctx, runner, env)
+			if !ok {
+				continue
+			}
+		}
 		agent := nodeconfig.AgentConfig{
 			ID:        candidate.ID,
 			Name:      candidate.Name,
 			ACPXAgent: candidate.ACPXAgent,
 			Command:   defaultACPXCommand(),
 			Args:      []string{},
-			Env:       detectedAgentEnv(candidate),
+			Env:       env,
 			Labels:    []string{"detected"},
 		}
 		agents = append(agents, agent)
@@ -264,6 +272,62 @@ func detectAgents(ctx context.Context, runner acpx.Runner) []nodeconfig.AgentCon
 	return agents
 }
 
+func verifiedOpenClawEnv(ctx context.Context, runner acpx.Runner, fallback map[string]string) (map[string]string, bool) {
+	candidateDirs := openClawPathDirs()
+	if len(candidateDirs) == 0 {
+		return nil, false
+	}
+
+	baseEntries := filepath.SplitList(os.Getenv("PATH"))
+	nodeDirs := lookPathDir("node")
+	for _, dir := range candidateDirs {
+		pathEntries := uniquePathEntries([]string{dir}, nodeDirs, baseEntries)
+		env := map[string]string{
+			"PATH": strings.Join(pathEntries, string(os.PathListSeparator)),
+		}
+		probeCtx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(ctx, 10*time.Second)
+		err := runner.Ensure(probeCtx, acpx.RunRequest{
+			Command: defaultACPXCommand(),
+			Agent:   "openclaw",
+			Session: "amesh-detect-openclaw",
+			Env:     envList(env),
+		})
+		cancel()
+		if err == nil {
+			return env, true
+		}
+		log.Printf("openclaw ACP readiness probe failed for PATH prefix %s: %v", dir, err)
+	}
+
+	if len(fallback) > 0 {
+		return fallback, false
+	}
+	return nil, false
+}
+
+func openClawPathDirs() []string {
+	seen := map[string]struct{}{}
+	dirs := make([]string, 0)
+	for _, dir := range filepath.SplitList(os.Getenv("PATH")) {
+		dir = strings.TrimSpace(dir)
+		if dir == "" {
+			continue
+		}
+		path := filepath.Join(dir, "openclaw")
+		info, err := os.Stat(path)
+		if err != nil || info.IsDir() || info.Mode()&0o111 == 0 {
+			continue
+		}
+		clean := filepath.Clean(dir)
+		if _, ok := seen[clean]; ok {
+			continue
+		}
+		seen[clean] = struct{}{}
+		dirs = append(dirs, clean)
+	}
+	return dirs
+}
+
 func detectedAgentEnv(candidate detectableAgent) map[string]string {
 	pathEntries := uniquePathEntries(
 		filepath.SplitList(os.Getenv("PATH")),
diff --git a/internal/app/app_test.go b/internal/app/app_test.go
index 2ba6ffe..d2161e3 100644
--- a/internal/app/app_test.go
+++ b/internal/app/app_test.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package app
 import (
 	"context"
 	"errors"
+	"fmt"
 	"io"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
@@ -554,6 +555,55 @@ exit 1
 	}
 }
 
+func TestDetectAgentsVerifiesOpenClawACPReadinessAcrossPathCandidates(t *testing.T) {
+	home := t.TempDir()
+	badDir := filepath.Join(t.TempDir(), "bad-bin")
+	goodDir := filepath.Join(t.TempDir(), "good-bin")
+	nodeDir := filepath.Join(t.TempDir(), "node-bin")
+	t.Setenv("HOME", home)
+	t.Setenv("PATH", strings.Join([]string{badDir, goodDir, nodeDir}, string(os.PathListSeparator)))
+	t.Setenv("AMESH_ACPX_PATH", "")
+
+	managed := filepath.Join(home, ".local", "share", "amesh", "acpx", "bin", "acpx")
+	writeExecutable(t, managed, fmt.Sprintf(`#!/bin/sh
+if [ "$1" = "--help" ]; then
+cat <<'EOF'
+Commands:
+  openclaw [options] [prompt...]          Use openclaw agent
+EOF
+exit 0
+fi
+if [ "$1" = "openclaw" ] && [ "$2" = "sessions" ] && [ "$3" = "ensure" ]; then
+  if [ "$(command -v openclaw)" = "%s/openclaw" ]; then
+    exit 0
+  fi
+  echo "ACP agent exited before initialize completed: wrapper unavailable" >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+exit 1
+`, goodDir))
+	writeExecutable(t, filepath.Join(nodeDir, "node"), "#!/bin/sh\nexit 0\n")
+	writeExecutable(t, filepath.Join(badDir, "openclaw"), "#!/bin/sh\nexit 1\n")
+	writeExecutable(t, filepath.Join(goodDir, "openclaw"), "#!/bin/sh\nexit 0\n")
+
+	got := detectAgents(context.Background(), acpx.Runner{})
+	wantPath := strings.Join([]string{goodDir, nodeDir, badDir}, string(os.PathListSeparator))
+	want := []nodeconfig.AgentConfig{
+		{
+			ID:        "agent-openclaw",
+			Name:      "OpenClaw",
+			ACPXAgent: "openclaw",
+			Command:   managed,
+			Args:      []string{},
+			Env:       map[string]string{"PATH": wantPath},
+			Labels:    []string{"detected"},
+		},
+	}
+	if !reflect.DeepEqual(got, want) {
+		t.Fatalf("detectAgents() = %#v, want %#v", got, want)
+	}
+}
+
 type fakeDaemonClient struct {
 	mu                      sync.Mutex
 	connectErr              error