diff --git a/src/commands/sandbox/agent.test.ts b/src/commands/sandbox/agent.test.ts
index 5731ab9a2af..3c62fb32b3f 100644
--- a/src/commands/sandbox/agent.test.ts
+++ b/src/commands/sandbox/agent.test.ts
@@ -49,4 +49,14 @@ describe("SandboxAgentCommand oclif parse path", () => {
     await SandboxAgentCommand.run(["--help"], rootDir);
     expect(runAgentPassthroughMock).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
   });
+
+  it("prints wrapper help and does not dispatch on a bare no-args invocation (#5658)", async () => {
+    // `nemoclaw <name> agent` with no further args cannot succeed in-sandbox
+    // (openclaw agent requires -m), so short-circuit to wrapper help locally
+    // instead of paying sandbox-exec latency to surface an upstream error.
+    await SandboxAgentCommand.run(["alpha"], rootDir);
+    expect(runAgentPassthroughMock).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    const help = logSpy.mock.calls.map((c: unknown[]) => String(c[0])).join("\n");
+    expect(help).toMatch(/openclaw agent/);
+  });
 });
diff --git a/src/commands/sandbox/agent.ts b/src/commands/sandbox/agent.ts
index 89a4bcc349a..c841c600528 100644
--- a/src/commands/sandbox/agent.ts
+++ b/src/commands/sandbox/agent.ts
@@ -34,7 +34,11 @@ export default class SandboxAgentCommand extends NemoClawCommand {
       printAgentPassthroughHelp();
       return;
     }
-    if (hasAgentPassthroughHelpToken(extraArgs)) {
+    // A bare `<name> agent` with no further args cannot succeed in-sandbox
+    // (`openclaw agent` requires `-m`), so treat it like a help request and
+    // print the wrapper summary locally instead of paying sandbox-exec latency
+    // only to surface an upstream "Missing required option -m" error (#5658).
+    if (extraArgs.length === 0 || hasAgentPassthroughHelpToken(extraArgs)) {
       printAgentPassthroughHelp();
       return;
     }