diff --git a/agents/hermes/Dockerfile b/agents/hermes/Dockerfile
index 0289064f649..560c70919f7 100644
--- a/agents/hermes/Dockerfile
+++ b/agents/hermes/Dockerfile
@@ -95,7 +95,11 @@ RUN chmod -R a+rX /opt/nemoclaw-blueprint/
 COPY scripts/lib/sandbox-init.sh /usr/local/lib/nemoclaw/sandbox-init.sh
 COPY agents/hermes/start.sh /usr/local/bin/nemoclaw-start
 COPY agents/hermes/validate-env-secret-boundary.py /usr/local/lib/nemoclaw/validate-hermes-env-secret-boundary.py
-RUN chmod 755 /usr/local/bin/nemoclaw-start /usr/local/lib/nemoclaw/sandbox-init.sh /usr/local/lib/nemoclaw/validate-hermes-env-secret-boundary.py
+# Host recovery restores these guards from this immutable image path before it
+# relaunches a stopped gateway. Keep the contract aligned with the OpenClaw image.
+COPY nemoclaw-blueprint/scripts/*.js /usr/local/lib/nemoclaw/preloads/
+RUN chmod 755 /usr/local/bin/nemoclaw-start /usr/local/lib/nemoclaw/sandbox-init.sh /usr/local/lib/nemoclaw/validate-hermes-env-secret-boundary.py \
+    && find /usr/local/lib/nemoclaw/preloads -type f -name '*.js' -exec chmod 644 {} +
 
 # Wrap the hermes CLI so the runtime env secret boundary is enforced for
 # `hermes gateway` no matter how it is invoked. The entrypoint guard alone left
diff --git a/agents/hermes/start.sh b/agents/hermes/start.sh
index c7d47b2e5b0..2504c52fd18 100755
--- a/agents/hermes/start.sh
+++ b/agents/hermes/start.sh
@@ -746,6 +746,58 @@ else
   _SANDBOX_HOME="${HOME:-/sandbox}"
 fi
 
+# ── Node preload guards (#2478) — best-effort, MUST NEVER abort startup ──────────
+# The OpenClaw entrypoint (scripts/nemoclaw-start.sh) installs the sandbox-safety-net
+# and ciao-network-guard NODE_OPTIONS preloads; the Hermes entrypoint did not. The
+# gateway-recovery path refuses to relaunch unless NODE_OPTIONS advertises both
+# guards ("proxy-env present but NODE_OPTIONS missing safety-net preload or ciao
+# preload — refusing unguarded gateway relaunch", #2478), so a Hermes gateway that
+# stops can never be brought back with `recover`. Install the same guards here.
+#
+# This script runs `set -euo pipefail`, so the install is written to be incapable of
+# aborting the entrypoint: it is invoked as `… || true` (errexit suppressed through
+# the whole function), every fallible command sits inside an `if`, all vars are
+# `${x:-}`-safe, and a guard is only added to NODE_OPTIONS once its /tmp copy exists
+# and is non-empty. Worst case it logs a warning and the gateway still starts.
+# The optional positional argument is a test seam. Production always reads the
+# image-owned recovery directory populated by agents/hermes/Dockerfile.
+install_nemoclaw_node_guards() {
+  _SANDBOX_SAFETY_NET=""
+  _CIAO_GUARD_SCRIPT=""
+  _nemoclaw_guard_dir=""
+  local _nemoclaw_guard_dirs="${1:-/usr/local/lib/nemoclaw/preloads}"
+  # Production uses an image-owned, root-read-only directory only. Never accept
+  # an environment-selected path here: the sandbox user could plant a malicious
+  # preload that the entrypoint would --require into the gateway.
+  # shellcheck disable=SC2086  # intentional word-split over the candidate dir list
+  for _gd in $_nemoclaw_guard_dirs; do
+    if [ -f "$_gd/sandbox-safety-net.js" ] && [ -f "$_gd/ciao-network-guard.js" ]; then
+      _nemoclaw_guard_dir="$_gd"
+      break
+    fi
+  done
+  if [ -z "$_nemoclaw_guard_dir" ]; then
+    echo "[gateway] WARNING: NemoClaw preload guards not found — recover may refuse relaunch (#2478)" >&2
+    return 0
+  fi
+  if emit_sandbox_sourced_file /tmp/nemoclaw-sandbox-safety-net.js <"$_nemoclaw_guard_dir/sandbox-safety-net.js" 2>/dev/null && [ -s /tmp/nemoclaw-sandbox-safety-net.js ]; then
+    _SANDBOX_SAFETY_NET=/tmp/nemoclaw-sandbox-safety-net.js
+    export NODE_OPTIONS="${NODE_OPTIONS:+$NODE_OPTIONS }--require $_SANDBOX_SAFETY_NET"
+  else
+    echo "[gateway] WARNING: could not install sandbox-safety-net preload (#2478)" >&2
+  fi
+  if emit_sandbox_sourced_file /tmp/nemoclaw-ciao-network-guard.js <"$_nemoclaw_guard_dir/ciao-network-guard.js" 2>/dev/null && [ -s /tmp/nemoclaw-ciao-network-guard.js ]; then
+    _CIAO_GUARD_SCRIPT=/tmp/nemoclaw-ciao-network-guard.js
+    export NODE_OPTIONS="${NODE_OPTIONS:+$NODE_OPTIONS }--require $_CIAO_GUARD_SCRIPT"
+  else
+    echo "[gateway] WARNING: could not install ciao-network-guard preload (#2478)" >&2
+  fi
+  return 0
+}
+# Invoked with `|| true` so set -e is suppressed for the whole function — a guard
+# failure can never take the gateway down.
+install_nemoclaw_node_guards || true
+
 # SECURITY FIX: Write proxy config to a standalone file via
 # emit_sandbox_sourced_file() (444, root-owned when running as root) instead of
 # appending inline to .bashrc/.profile. The old approach rewrote files under
@@ -792,6 +844,16 @@ hermes() {
 }
 # nemoclaw-configure-guard end
 GUARDENVEOF
+    # Node preload guards for connect + recovery sessions (#2478). The gateway-
+    # recovery path sources this file and refuses to relaunch unless NODE_OPTIONS
+    # advertises the safety-net + ciao guards, so re-export them here (only if
+    # install_nemoclaw_node_guards actually staged them).
+    if [ -n "${_SANDBOX_SAFETY_NET:-}" ]; then
+      echo "export NODE_OPTIONS=\"\${NODE_OPTIONS:+\$NODE_OPTIONS }--require ${_SANDBOX_SAFETY_NET}\""
+    fi
+    if [ -n "${_CIAO_GUARD_SCRIPT:-}" ]; then
+      echo "export NODE_OPTIONS=\"\${NODE_OPTIONS:+\$NODE_OPTIONS }--require ${_CIAO_GUARD_SCRIPT}\""
+    fi
   } | emit_sandbox_sourced_file "$_PROXY_ENV_FILE"
 }
 
diff --git a/test/hermes-node-guard-install.test.ts b/test/hermes-node-guard-install.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..10aabb90a57
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/hermes-node-guard-install.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,106 @@
+// SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2026 NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+
+import { spawnSync } from "node:child_process";
+import fs from "node:fs";
+import os from "node:os";
+import path from "node:path";
+
+import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+
+const ROOT = path.resolve(import.meta.dirname, "..");
+const START_SCRIPT = path.join(ROOT, "agents", "hermes", "start.sh");
+const DOCKERFILE = path.join(ROOT, "agents", "hermes", "Dockerfile");
+
+function extractGuardInstaller(source: string): string {
+  const start = source.indexOf("install_nemoclaw_node_guards() {");
+  const end = source.indexOf("\n# Invoked with", start);
+  expect(start).toBeGreaterThanOrEqual(0);
+  expect(end).toBeGreaterThan(start);
+  return source.slice(start, end);
+}
+
+function shellQuote(value: string): string {
+  return `'${value.replaceAll("'", "'\\''")}'`;
+}
+
+function runGuardInstaller(sourceDir: string, emitFunction: string) {
+  const tempDir = fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), "hermes-node-guards-"));
+  const safetyTarget = path.join(tempDir, "sandbox-safety-net.js");
+  const ciaoTarget = path.join(tempDir, "ciao-network-guard.js");
+  const source = fs
+    .readFileSync(START_SCRIPT, "utf8")
+    .replaceAll("/tmp/nemoclaw-sandbox-safety-net.js", safetyTarget)
+    .replaceAll("/tmp/nemoclaw-ciao-network-guard.js", ciaoTarget);
+  const script = [
+    "set -euo pipefail",
+    emitFunction,
+    extractGuardInstaller(source),
+    'NODE_OPTIONS=""',
+    `install_nemoclaw_node_guards ${shellQuote(sourceDir)}`,
+    'printf "NODE_OPTIONS=%s\\n" "$NODE_OPTIONS"',
+  ].join("\n");
+  const result = spawnSync("bash", ["--noprofile", "--norc", "-c", script], {
+    encoding: "utf8",
+    timeout: 5000,
+  });
+  return { ciaoTarget, result, safetyTarget, tempDir };
+}
+
+describe("Hermes Node guard installation", () => {
+  it("stages both image-owned guards and exports them through NODE_OPTIONS", () => {
+    const sourceDir = fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), "hermes-node-guard-source-"));
+    fs.writeFileSync(path.join(sourceDir, "sandbox-safety-net.js"), "// safety\n");
+    fs.writeFileSync(path.join(sourceDir, "ciao-network-guard.js"), "// ciao\n");
+    const harness = runGuardInstaller(sourceDir, 'emit_sandbox_sourced_file() { cat >"$1"; }');
+    try {
+      expect(harness.result.status, harness.result.stderr).toBe(0);
+      expect(fs.readFileSync(harness.safetyTarget, "utf8")).toBe("// safety\n");
+      expect(fs.readFileSync(harness.ciaoTarget, "utf8")).toBe("// ciao\n");
+      expect(harness.result.stdout).toContain(`--require ${harness.safetyTarget}`);
+      expect(harness.result.stdout).toContain(`--require ${harness.ciaoTarget}`);
+    } finally {
+      fs.rmSync(sourceDir, { force: true, recursive: true });
+      fs.rmSync(harness.tempDir, { force: true, recursive: true });
+    }
+  });
+
+  it("keeps startup alive when guard staging fails", () => {
+    const sourceDir = fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), "hermes-node-guard-source-"));
+    fs.writeFileSync(path.join(sourceDir, "sandbox-safety-net.js"), "// safety\n");
+    fs.writeFileSync(path.join(sourceDir, "ciao-network-guard.js"), "// ciao\n");
+    const harness = runGuardInstaller(sourceDir, "emit_sandbox_sourced_file() { return 1; }");
+    try {
+      expect(harness.result.status, harness.result.stderr).toBe(0);
+      expect(harness.result.stdout).toBe("NODE_OPTIONS=\n");
+      expect(harness.result.stderr).toContain("could not install sandbox-safety-net preload");
+      expect(harness.result.stderr).toContain("could not install ciao-network-guard preload");
+    } finally {
+      fs.rmSync(sourceDir, { force: true, recursive: true });
+      fs.rmSync(harness.tempDir, { force: true, recursive: true });
+    }
+  });
+
+  it("keeps startup alive when the image guard directory is missing", () => {
+    const missingDir = path.join(os.tmpdir(), `missing-hermes-guards-${process.pid}`);
+    const harness = runGuardInstaller(missingDir, 'emit_sandbox_sourced_file() { cat >"$1"; }');
+    try {
+      expect(harness.result.status, harness.result.stderr).toBe(0);
+      expect(harness.result.stdout).toBe("NODE_OPTIONS=\n");
+      expect(harness.result.stderr).toContain("NemoClaw preload guards not found");
+    } finally {
+      fs.rmSync(harness.tempDir, { force: true, recursive: true });
+    }
+  });
+
+  it("copies the recovery preloads into the Hermes image contract", () => {
+    const dockerfile = fs.readFileSync(DOCKERFILE, "utf8");
+    expect(dockerfile).toContain(
+      "COPY nemoclaw-blueprint/scripts/*.js /usr/local/lib/nemoclaw/preloads/",
+    );
+    expect(dockerfile).toContain(
+      "find /usr/local/lib/nemoclaw/preloads -type f -name '*.js' -exec chmod 644 {} +",
+    );
+    expect(fs.readFileSync(START_SCRIPT, "utf8")).not.toContain("NEMOCLAW_GUARD_DIRS");
+  });
+});