fix(onboard): honor NEMOCLAW_POLICY_PRESETS on recreate

src/lib/onboard.ts

@@ -3685,11 +3685,26 @@ async function createSandbox(
 
     const previousEntry: SandboxEntry | null = registry.getSandbox(sandboxName);
     const previousPolicies = previousEntry?.policies ?? null;
-    if (previousPolicies && previousPolicies.length > 0) {
+    if (shouldCarryPreviousPolicies(previousPolicies)) {
       onboardSession.updateSession((current: Session) => {
         current.policyPresets = previousPolicies;
         return current;
       });
+    } else {
+      onboardSession.updateSession((current: Session) => {
+        current.policyPresets = null;
+        return current;
+      });
+      if (
+        Array.isArray(previousPolicies) &&
+        previousPolicies.length > 0 &&
+        isNonInteractive() &&
+        (process.env.NEMOCLAW_POLICY_PRESETS || "").trim().length > 0
+      ) {
+        note(
+          `  [non-interactive] NEMOCLAW_POLICY_PRESETS overrides previous presets on recreate (was: ${previousPolicies.join(", ")}).`,
+        );
+      }
     }
 
     note(`  Deleting and recreating sandbox '${sandboxName}'...`);
@@ -5741,6 +5756,20 @@ function arePolicyPresetsApplied(sandboxName: string, selectedPresets: string[]
   return selectedPresets.every((preset) => applied.has(preset));
 }
 
+// Skip carrying previous policies forward on --recreate-sandbox when the user
+// explicitly set NEMOCLAW_POLICY_PRESETS for the new run (#2675).
+function shouldCarryPreviousPolicies(
+  previousPolicies: string[] | null | undefined,
+  options: { nonInteractive?: boolean; envPolicyPresetsRaw?: string } = {},
+): boolean {
+  if (!Array.isArray(previousPolicies) || previousPolicies.length === 0) return false;
+  const nonInteractive = options.nonInteractive ?? isNonInteractive();
+  const envRaw = (
+    options.envPolicyPresetsRaw ?? process.env.NEMOCLAW_POLICY_PRESETS ?? ""
+  ).trim();
+  return !(nonInteractive && envRaw.length > 0);
+}
+
 /**
  * Prompt the user to select a policy tier (restricted / balanced / open).
  * Uses the same radio-style TUI as presetsCheckboxSelector (single-select).
@@ -7738,6 +7767,7 @@ module.exports = {
   isNonInteractive,
   isOpenclawReady,
   arePolicyPresetsApplied,
+  shouldCarryPreviousPolicies,
   getSuggestedPolicyPresets,
   computeSetupPresetSuggestions,
   LOCAL_INFERENCE_PROVIDERS,

test/onboard.test.ts

@@ -91,6 +91,10 @@ type OnboardTestInternals = {
     flavor: "openai" | "anthropic",
   ) => string;
   parsePolicyPresetEnv: (value: string | null) => string[];
+  shouldCarryPreviousPolicies: (
+    previousPolicies: string[] | null | undefined,
+    options?: { nonInteractive?: boolean; envPolicyPresetsRaw?: string },
+  ) => boolean;
   patchStagedDockerfile: ShimFn<void>;
   pullAndResolveBaseImageDigest: () => { digest: string; ref: string } | null;
   SANDBOX_BASE_IMAGE: string;
@@ -164,6 +168,7 @@ const {
   isLoopbackHostname,
   normalizeProviderBaseUrl,
   parsePolicyPresetEnv,
+  shouldCarryPreviousPolicies,
   patchStagedDockerfile,
   pullAndResolveBaseImageDigest,
   SANDBOX_BASE_IMAGE,
@@ -281,6 +286,26 @@ describe("onboard helpers", () => {
     expect(getSuggestedPolicyPresets({})).not.toContain("local-inference");
   });
 
+  describe("shouldCarryPreviousPolicies (#2675)", () => {
+    it("drops previous policies when NEMOCLAW_POLICY_PRESETS overrides on recreate", () => {
+      expect(
+        shouldCarryPreviousPolicies(["npm"], {
+          nonInteractive: true,
+          envPolicyPresetsRaw: "pypi",
+        }),
+      ).toBe(false);
+    });
+
+    it("ignores env var in interactive mode (previous list still wins)", () => {
+      expect(
+        shouldCarryPreviousPolicies(["npm"], {
+          nonInteractive: false,
+          envPolicyPresetsRaw: "pypi",
+        }),
+      ).toBe(true);
+    });
+  });
+
   describe("computeSetupPresetSuggestions", () => {
     const known = [
       "npm",