diff --git a/src/lib/onboard/policy-resume-selection.test.ts b/src/lib/onboard/policy-resume-selection.test.ts
index cde2b2f385b..ae7bcf77919 100644
--- a/src/lib/onboard/policy-resume-selection.test.ts
+++ b/src/lib/onboard/policy-resume-selection.test.ts
@@ -10,9 +10,9 @@ type Preset = { name: string; access?: string };
 function policies(
   options: { applied?: string[]; custom?: string[]; customOwnsObservability?: boolean } = {},
 ) {
-  const setupPresets = ["npm", "brave", "tavily", "observability-otlp-local"].map((name) => ({
-    name,
-  }));
+  const setupPresets = ["npm", "brave", "tavily", "slack", "observability-otlp-local"].map(
+    (name) => ({ name }),
+  );
   const customPresets = (options.custom ?? []).map((name) => ({ name }));
   return {
     setupPolicyPresetSupported: () => true,
@@ -87,6 +87,21 @@ describe("preparePolicyPresetResumeSelection web search reconciliation", () => {
   });
 });
 
+describe("preparePolicyPresetResumeSelection required preset reconciliation", () => {
+  it("marks an empty recording for reconciliation when Slack becomes required (#6042)", () => {
+    const result = preparePolicyPresetResumeSelection({ policies: policies() }, "alpha", {
+      recordedPolicyPresets: [],
+      enabledChannels: ["slack"],
+      agent: "openclaw",
+      webSearchConfig: null,
+      webSearchSupported: true,
+    });
+
+    expect(result.policyPresets).toEqual(["slack"]);
+    expect(result.recordedPolicyPresetsNeedReconcile).toBe(true);
+  });
+});
+
 describe("preparePolicyPresetResumeSelection tier-default preservation (#6844)", () => {
   // These exercise the real tiers.yaml through classifyPresetProvenance (no tier
   // stub): `brave` is a Balanced default, and Restricted lists no such default.
diff --git a/test/onboard.test.ts b/test/onboard.test.ts
index 669455f9f91..b929f1ef725 100644
--- a/test/onboard.test.ts
+++ b/test/onboard.test.ts
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ type OnboardTestInternals = {
     session: T,
     selectedAgentName: string,
   ) => T;
+  arePolicyPresetsApplied: (sandboxName: string, selectedPresets?: string[]) => boolean;
   pullAndResolveBaseImageDigest: () => { digest: string | null; ref: string } | null;
   createSetupInference: (overrides?: Partial<SetupInferenceDeps>) => SetupInference;
   SANDBOX_BASE_IMAGE: string;
@@ -90,6 +91,7 @@ const {
   getResumeConfigConflicts,
   getResumeSandboxConflict,
   clearAgentScopedResumeState,
+  arePolicyPresetsApplied,
   createSetupInference,
   SANDBOX_BASE_IMAGE,
 } = onboardTestInternals;
@@ -98,6 +100,10 @@ const createDirectSetupInferenceHarness =
   createDirectSetupInferenceHarnessFactory(createSetupInference);
 
 describe("onboard helpers", () => {
+  it("does not treat an empty policy preset selection as already applied (#6042)", () => {
+    expect(arePolicyPresetsApplied("unused", [])).toBe(false);
+  });
+
   it("adds host proxy variables to sandbox startup env args", () => {
     const envArgs = ["CHAT_UI_URL=http://127.0.0.1:18789"];