diff --git a/backend/app/services/openclaw/provisioning.py b/backend/app/services/openclaw/provisioning.py
index d775e38d..3a1d76f2 100644
--- a/backend/app/services/openclaw/provisioning.py
+++ b/backend/app/services/openclaw/provisioning.py
@@ -601,7 +601,8 @@ class OpenClawGatewayControlPlane(GatewayControlPlane):
         if agent_just_created:
             await asyncio.sleep(0.75)
 
-        # Retry agents.update a few times to handle gateway hot-reload race.
+        # Retry agents.update only when this call just created the agent.
+        # If create reported "already exists", "not found" should fail fast.
         _update_retries = 5
         _update_delay = 0.5
         for _attempt in range(_update_retries):
@@ -617,7 +618,12 @@ class OpenClawGatewayControlPlane(GatewayControlPlane):
                 )
                 break
             except OpenClawGatewayError as exc:
-                if _is_missing_agent_error(exc) and _attempt < _update_retries - 1:
+                should_retry = (
+                    agent_just_created
+                    and _is_missing_agent_error(exc)
+                    and _attempt < _update_retries - 1
+                )
+                if should_retry:
                     await asyncio.sleep(_update_delay)
                     _update_delay = min(_update_delay * 2, 4.0)
                     continue
diff --git a/backend/tests/test_agent_provisioning_utils.py b/backend/tests/test_agent_provisioning_utils.py
index a5fec525..871c62b8 100644
--- a/backend/tests/test_agent_provisioning_utils.py
+++ b/backend/tests/test_agent_provisioning_utils.py
@@ -530,6 +530,89 @@ async def test_control_plane_upsert_agent_handles_already_exists(monkeypatch):
     assert calls[1][0] == "agents.update"
 
 
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_control_plane_upsert_agent_retries_update_after_create_race(monkeypatch):
+    calls: list[tuple[str, dict[str, object] | None]] = []
+    sleeps: list[float] = []
+    update_attempts = 0
+
+    async def _fake_sleep(seconds: float) -> None:
+        sleeps.append(seconds)
+
+    async def _fake_openclaw_call(method, params=None, config=None):
+        nonlocal update_attempts
+        _ = config
+        calls.append((method, params))
+        if method == "agents.create":
+            return {"ok": True}
+        if method == "agents.update":
+            update_attempts += 1
+            if update_attempts < 3:
+                raise agent_provisioning.OpenClawGatewayError('agent "board-agent-a" not found')
+            return {"ok": True}
+        if method == "config.get":
+            return {"hash": None, "config": {"agents": {"list": []}}}
+        if method == "config.patch":
+            return {"ok": True}
+        raise AssertionError(f"Unexpected method: {method}")
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(agent_provisioning, "openclaw_call", _fake_openclaw_call)
+    monkeypatch.setattr(agent_provisioning.asyncio, "sleep", _fake_sleep)
+    cp = agent_provisioning.OpenClawGatewayControlPlane(
+        agent_provisioning.GatewayClientConfig(url="ws://gateway.example/ws", token=None),
+    )
+    await cp.upsert_agent(
+        agent_provisioning.GatewayAgentRegistration(
+            agent_id="board-agent-a",
+            name="Board Agent A",
+            workspace_path="/tmp/workspace-board-agent-a",
+            heartbeat={"every": "10m", "target": "last", "includeReasoning": False},
+        ),
+    )
+
+    update_calls = [method for method, _ in calls if method == "agents.update"]
+    assert len(update_calls) == 3
+    assert sleeps == [0.75, 0.5, 1.0]
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_control_plane_upsert_agent_missing_after_already_exists_fails_fast(monkeypatch):
+    calls: list[tuple[str, dict[str, object] | None]] = []
+    sleeps: list[float] = []
+
+    async def _fake_sleep(seconds: float) -> None:
+        sleeps.append(seconds)
+
+    async def _fake_openclaw_call(method, params=None, config=None):
+        _ = config
+        calls.append((method, params))
+        if method == "agents.create":
+            raise agent_provisioning.OpenClawGatewayError("already exists")
+        if method == "agents.update":
+            raise agent_provisioning.OpenClawGatewayError('agent "board-agent-a" not found')
+        raise AssertionError(f"Unexpected method: {method}")
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(agent_provisioning, "openclaw_call", _fake_openclaw_call)
+    monkeypatch.setattr(agent_provisioning.asyncio, "sleep", _fake_sleep)
+    cp = agent_provisioning.OpenClawGatewayControlPlane(
+        agent_provisioning.GatewayClientConfig(url="ws://gateway.example/ws", token=None),
+    )
+
+    with pytest.raises(agent_provisioning.OpenClawGatewayError):
+        await cp.upsert_agent(
+            agent_provisioning.GatewayAgentRegistration(
+                agent_id="board-agent-a",
+                name="Board Agent A",
+                workspace_path="/tmp/workspace-board-agent-a",
+                heartbeat={"every": "10m", "target": "last", "includeReasoning": False},
+            ),
+        )
+
+    update_calls = [method for method, _ in calls if method == "agents.update"]
+    assert len(update_calls) == 1
+    assert sleeps == []
+
+
 def test_is_missing_agent_error_matches_gateway_agent_not_found() -> None:
     assert agent_provisioning._is_missing_agent_error(
         agent_provisioning.OpenClawGatewayError('agent "mc-abc" not found'),