diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 725747ca31fc..8de3b741f134 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -114,6 +114,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 - Android: prompt before replacing a changed Gateway TLS thumbprint, showing the old and new SHA-256 fingerprints so users can accept expected certificate rotations instead of hard failing on pin mismatch. (#83077) Thanks @sliekens.
 - CLI/status: render extra gateway-like service diagnostics as warning/info output instead of error output. Fixes #46930. (#82922) thanks @giodl73-repo.
 - Agents/failover: classify Moonshot/Kimi exhausted-balance HTTP 429 payloads as billing instead of generic rate limits, preserving billing guidance and fallback behavior. Fixes #43447. (#83079) Thanks @leno23.
+- Plugin SDK: bundle `openclaw/plugin-sdk/zod` into the published package artifact and verify the packed zod subpath stays self-contained, so pnpm global installs can register plugins without a package-local `zod` symlink. Fixes #78398. (#78515) Thanks @ggzeng.
 
 ## 2026.5.17
 
diff --git a/scripts/openclaw-npm-postpublish-verify.ts b/scripts/openclaw-npm-postpublish-verify.ts
index f9fcd369c9f6..1c098e281e82 100644
--- a/scripts/openclaw-npm-postpublish-verify.ts
+++ b/scripts/openclaw-npm-postpublish-verify.ts
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ import {
 import { builtinModules } from "node:module";
 import { createRequire } from "node:module";
 import { tmpdir } from "node:os";
-import { isAbsolute, join, relative } from "node:path";
+import { dirname, isAbsolute, join, relative } from "node:path";
 import { pathToFileURL } from "node:url";
 import { formatErrorMessage } from "../src/infra/errors.ts";
 import { BUNDLED_RUNTIME_SIDECAR_PATHS } from "../src/plugins/runtime-sidecar-paths.ts";
@@ -129,6 +129,7 @@ export function collectInstalledPackageErrors(params: {
   }
 
   errors.push(...collectInstalledContextEngineRuntimeErrors(params.packageRoot));
+  errors.push(...collectInstalledPluginSdkZodArtifactErrors(params.packageRoot));
   errors.push(...collectInstalledRootDependencyManifestErrors(params.packageRoot));
 
   return errors;
@@ -214,6 +215,97 @@ export function collectInstalledContextEngineRuntimeErrors(packageRoot: string):
   return errors;
 }
 
+function resolveInstalledDistRelativeImport(params: {
+  distRoot: string;
+  importerPath: string;
+  specifier: string;
+}): string | null {
+  if (!params.specifier.startsWith(".")) {
+    return null;
+  }
+
+  const candidatePath = join(dirname(params.importerPath), params.specifier);
+  const candidatePaths = [
+    candidatePath,
+    `${candidatePath}.js`,
+    `${candidatePath}.mjs`,
+    `${candidatePath}.cjs`,
+    join(candidatePath, "index.js"),
+    join(candidatePath, "index.mjs"),
+    join(candidatePath, "index.cjs"),
+  ];
+
+  for (const resolvedPath of candidatePaths) {
+    const relativePath = relative(params.distRoot, resolvedPath);
+    if (
+      relativePath.length === 0 ||
+      relativePath.startsWith("..") ||
+      isAbsolute(relativePath) ||
+      !existsSync(resolvedPath)
+    ) {
+      continue;
+    }
+    return resolvedPath;
+  }
+
+  return null;
+}
+
+export function collectInstalledPluginSdkZodArtifactErrors(packageRoot: string): string[] {
+  const distRoot = join(packageRoot, "dist");
+  const entryRelativePath = "dist/plugin-sdk/zod.js";
+  const entryPath = join(packageRoot, entryRelativePath);
+  const pending = [entryPath];
+  const visited = new Set<string>();
+
+  while (pending.length > 0) {
+    const filePath = pending.pop();
+    if (!filePath || visited.has(filePath)) {
+      continue;
+    }
+    visited.add(filePath);
+
+    if (!existsSync(filePath)) {
+      return [`installed package is missing required plugin SDK artifact: ${entryRelativePath}`];
+    }
+
+    const relativePath = relative(packageRoot, filePath).replaceAll("\\", "/");
+    const fileStat = lstatSync(filePath);
+    if (!fileStat.isFile() || fileStat.size > MAX_INSTALLED_ROOT_DIST_JS_BYTES) {
+      return [
+        `installed package plugin SDK artifact '${relativePath}' is invalid or exceeds ${MAX_INSTALLED_ROOT_DIST_JS_BYTES} bytes.`,
+      ];
+    }
+
+    const source = readFileSync(filePath, "utf8");
+    const parsedSpecifiers = extractJavaScriptImportSpecifiers(source);
+    if (!parsedSpecifiers.ok) {
+      return [
+        `installed package plugin SDK artifact '${relativePath}' could not be parsed for runtime dependency verification: ${parsedSpecifiers.error}.`,
+      ];
+    }
+
+    for (const specifier of parsedSpecifiers.specifiers) {
+      if (specifier === "zod" || specifier.startsWith("zod/")) {
+        return [
+          `installed package plugin SDK zod artifact must be self-contained but ${relativePath} imports ${specifier}.`,
+        ];
+      }
+
+      const resolvedPath = resolveInstalledDistRelativeImport({
+        distRoot,
+        importerPath: filePath,
+        specifier,
+      });
+      if (resolvedPath) {
+        pending.push(resolvedPath);
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
+  return [];
+}
+
 function listInstalledRootDistJavaScriptFiles(packageRoot: string): string[] {
   return listDistJavaScriptFiles(packageRoot, {
     skipRelativePath: (relativePath) => relativePath.startsWith("extensions/"),
diff --git a/src/infra/tsdown-config.test.ts b/src/infra/tsdown-config.test.ts
index 33a09834907e..d5aa1e4fcb65 100644
--- a/src/infra/tsdown-config.test.ts
+++ b/src/infra/tsdown-config.test.ts
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import tsdownConfig from "../../tsdown.config.ts";
 
 type TsdownConfigEntry = {
   deps?: {
+    alwaysBundle?: string[] | ((id: string) => boolean);
     neverBundle?: string[] | ((id: string) => boolean);
   };
   entry?: Record<string, string> | string[];
@@ -226,6 +227,21 @@ describe("tsdown config", () => {
     expect(externalize("qrcode-terminal/lib/main.js", undefined, false)).toBe(true);
   });
 
+  it("always bundles plugin SDK package-local runtime dependencies", () => {
+    const unifiedGraph = requireUnifiedDistGraph();
+    const alwaysBundle = unifiedGraph.deps?.alwaysBundle;
+
+    if (typeof alwaysBundle !== "function") {
+      throw new Error("expected unified graph alwaysBundle predicate");
+    }
+
+    expect(alwaysBundle("@openclaw/fs-safe")).toBe(true);
+    expect(alwaysBundle("@openclaw/fs-safe/path")).toBe(true);
+    expect(alwaysBundle("zod")).toBe(true);
+    expect(alwaysBundle("zod/v4/core")).toBe(true);
+    expect(alwaysBundle("not-a-runtime-dependency")).toBe(false);
+  });
+
   it("suppresses unresolved imports from extension source", () => {
     const configured = unifiedDistGraph()?.inputOptions?.({})?.onLog;
     const handled: TsdownLog[] = [];
diff --git a/test/openclaw-npm-postpublish-verify.test.ts b/test/openclaw-npm-postpublish-verify.test.ts
index 0521fc99cbad..b9d339328e8b 100644
--- a/test/openclaw-npm-postpublish-verify.test.ts
+++ b/test/openclaw-npm-postpublish-verify.test.ts
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import {
   buildPublishedInstallScenarios,
   collectInstalledBundledRuntimeSidecarPaths,
   collectInstalledContextEngineRuntimeErrors,
+  collectInstalledPluginSdkZodArtifactErrors,
   collectInstalledRootDependencyManifestErrors,
   collectInstalledPackageErrors,
   normalizeInstalledBinaryVersion,
@@ -146,6 +147,77 @@ describe("collectInstalledContextEngineRuntimeErrors", () => {
   });
 });
 
+describe("collectInstalledPluginSdkZodArtifactErrors", () => {
+  function withInstalledPackageRoot(run: (packageRoot: string) => void): void {
+    const packageRoot = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), "openclaw-postpublish-zod-sdk-"));
+    try {
+      run(packageRoot);
+    } finally {
+      rmSync(packageRoot, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    }
+  }
+
+  function writeInstalledFile(packageRoot: string, relativePath: string, contents: string): void {
+    const filePath = join(packageRoot, ...relativePath.split("/"));
+    mkdirSync(dirname(filePath), { recursive: true });
+    writeFileSync(filePath, contents, "utf8");
+  }
+
+  it("requires the plugin-sdk zod artifact", () => {
+    withInstalledPackageRoot((packageRoot) => {
+      expect(collectInstalledPluginSdkZodArtifactErrors(packageRoot)).toEqual([
+        "installed package is missing required plugin SDK artifact: dist/plugin-sdk/zod.js",
+      ]);
+    });
+  });
+
+  it("rejects plugin-sdk zod artifacts with a bare zod export", () => {
+    withInstalledPackageRoot((packageRoot) => {
+      writeInstalledFile(
+        packageRoot,
+        "dist/plugin-sdk/zod.js",
+        'import "../zod-D2c0iocA.js";\nexport * from "zod";\n',
+      );
+
+      expect(collectInstalledPluginSdkZodArtifactErrors(packageRoot)).toEqual([
+        "installed package plugin SDK zod artifact must be self-contained but dist/plugin-sdk/zod.js imports zod.",
+      ]);
+    });
+  });
+
+  it("rejects plugin-sdk zod artifacts when a reachable local chunk imports zod", () => {
+    withInstalledPackageRoot((packageRoot) => {
+      writeInstalledFile(
+        packageRoot,
+        "dist/plugin-sdk/zod.js",
+        'export { z } from "../zod-D2c0iocA.js";\n',
+      );
+      writeInstalledFile(
+        packageRoot,
+        "dist/zod-D2c0iocA.js",
+        'import * as zodCore from "zod/v4/core";\nexport const z = zodCore;\n',
+      );
+
+      expect(collectInstalledPluginSdkZodArtifactErrors(packageRoot)).toEqual([
+        "installed package plugin SDK zod artifact must be self-contained but dist/zod-D2c0iocA.js imports zod/v4/core.",
+      ]);
+    });
+  });
+
+  it("accepts plugin-sdk zod artifacts that only import package-local chunks", () => {
+    withInstalledPackageRoot((packageRoot) => {
+      writeInstalledFile(
+        packageRoot,
+        "dist/plugin-sdk/zod.js",
+        'export { z } from "../zod-D2c0iocA.js";\n',
+      );
+      writeInstalledFile(packageRoot, "dist/zod-D2c0iocA.js", "export const z = {};\n");
+
+      expect(collectInstalledPluginSdkZodArtifactErrors(packageRoot)).toEqual([]);
+    });
+  });
+});
+
 describe("normalizeInstalledBinaryVersion", () => {
   it("accepts decorated CLI version output", () => {
     expect(normalizeInstalledBinaryVersion("OpenClaw 2026.4.8 (9ece252)")).toBe("2026.4.8");
diff --git a/test/release-check.test.ts b/test/release-check.test.ts
index 25888d883918..e2f2e99bec45 100644
--- a/test/release-check.test.ts
+++ b/test/release-check.test.ts
@@ -553,6 +553,7 @@ describe("collectMissingPackPaths", () => {
           packageRoot,
         }),
       ).toEqual([
+        "installed package is missing required plugin SDK artifact: dist/plugin-sdk/zod.js",
         "installed package root dist file 'typescript-compiler.js' is invalid or exceeds 6291456 bytes.",
       ]);
     } finally {
diff --git a/tsdown.config.ts b/tsdown.config.ts
index d914a37014ae..ed45819f3f27 100644
--- a/tsdown.config.ts
+++ b/tsdown.config.ts
@@ -183,7 +183,12 @@ function shouldNeverBundleDependency(id: string): boolean {
 }
 
 function shouldAlwaysBundleDependency(id: string): boolean {
-  return id === "@openclaw/fs-safe" || id.startsWith("@openclaw/fs-safe/");
+  return (
+    id === "@openclaw/fs-safe" ||
+    id.startsWith("@openclaw/fs-safe/") ||
+    id === "zod" ||
+    id.startsWith("zod/")
+  );
 }
 
 function listBundledPluginEntrySources(