fix(inspector): accept channel factory seams

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 ### Fixed
 
 - Classify `createChatChannelPlugin` as channel factory metadata in synthetic probe plans so channel-core plugins do not fail as unknown registrars.
+- Treat `createChatChannelPlugin` and `defineChannelPluginEntry` as channel registration equivalents when validating fixture expectations.
 
 ## 0.3.4 - 2026-04-29
 

src/inspector.js

@@ -11,6 +11,9 @@ import { readOpenClawTargetSurface } from "./openclaw-target.js";
 import { buildCompatibilityReport, buildReport } from "./report.js";
 
 const execFileAsync = promisify(execFile);
+const registrationEquivalents = new Map([
+  ["registerChannel", new Set(["createChatChannelPlugin", "defineChannelPluginEntry", "registerChannel"])],
+]);
 
 export async function inspectFixtureSet(config, options = {}) {
   const { inspections, failures } = await inspectConfiguredFixtures(config, options);
@@ -58,7 +61,7 @@ async function inspectConfiguredFixtures(config, options = {}) {
       ["manifestContracts", inspection.manifestContracts],
     ]) {
       const expected = fixture.expect?.[key] ?? [];
-      const missing = expected.filter((value) => !observed.includes(value));
+      const missing = expected.filter((value) => !satisfiesExpectedSeam(key, value, observed));
       if (missing.length > 0) {
         failures.push(`${fixture.id}: missing ${key}: ${missing.join(", ")}`);
       }
@@ -68,6 +71,17 @@ async function inspectConfiguredFixtures(config, options = {}) {
   return { inspections, failures };
 }
 
+function satisfiesExpectedSeam(key, expected, observed) {
+  if (observed.includes(expected)) {
+    return true;
+  }
+  if (key !== "registrations") {
+    return false;
+  }
+  const equivalents = registrationEquivalents.get(expected);
+  return Boolean(equivalents && observed.some((value) => equivalents.has(value)));
+}
+
 export async function inspectPlugin(fixture, options = {}) {
   const config = options.config ?? { rootDir: options.rootDir ?? process.cwd() };
   const checkoutPath = fixtureCheckoutPath(config, fixture);

test/inspector.test.js

@@ -65,6 +65,42 @@ test("fixture set inspection reports missing expected seams", async () => {
   assert.match(report.breakages[0].message, /llm_output/);
 });
 
+test("fixture set inspection treats channel factories as channel registration coverage", async () => {
+  const dir = await mkdtemp(path.join(os.tmpdir(), "plugin-inspector-channel-factory-"));
+  await mkdir(path.join(dir, "fixture"), { recursive: true });
+  await writeFile(
+    path.join(dir, "fixture", "index.js"),
+    [
+      'import { createChatChannelPlugin } from "openclaw/plugin-sdk/channel-core";',
+      "",
+      "export const channel = createChatChannelPlugin({ id: 'fixture-channel' });",
+    ].join("\n"),
+    "utf8",
+  );
+
+  const report = await inspectFixtureSet({
+    version: 1,
+    submoduleRoot: ".",
+    rootDir: dir,
+    fixtures: [
+      {
+        id: "fixture",
+        path: "fixture",
+        repo: "https://github.com/openclaw/fixture.git",
+        priority: "high",
+        seams: ["channel"],
+        expect: {
+          registrations: ["registerChannel"],
+        },
+      },
+    ],
+  });
+
+  assert.equal(report.status, "pass");
+  assert.deepEqual(report.breakages, []);
+  assert.deepEqual(report.fixtures[0].registrations, ["createChatChannelPlugin"]);
+});
+
 test("capture entrypoint imports a local fixture and records registrations", async () => {
   const dir = await mkdtemp(path.join(os.tmpdir(), "plugin-inspector-capture-"));
   const entrypoint = path.join(dir, "fixture.mjs");