diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 9ffaa5d23..117bc22ab 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 - WhatsApp: honor per-account `dmPolicy` overrides (account-level settings now take precedence over channel defaults for inbound DMs). (#10082) Thanks @mcaxtr.
 - Media: accept `MEDIA:`-prefixed paths (lenient whitespace) when loading outbound media to prevent `ENOENT` for tool-returned local media paths. (#13107) Thanks @mcaxtr.
 - Agents/Image tool: allow workspace-local image paths by including the active workspace directory in local media allowlists, and trust sandbox-validated paths in image loaders to prevent false "not under an allowed directory" rejections. (#15541)
+- Agents/Image tool: propagate the effective workspace root into tool wiring so workspace-local image paths are accepted by default when running without an explicit `workspaceDir`. (#16722)
 - Cron/Slack: preserve agent identity (name and icon) when cron jobs deliver outbound messages. (#16242) Thanks @robbyczgw-cla.
 - Cron: prevent `cron list`/`cron status` from silently skipping past-due recurring jobs by using maintenance recompute semantics. (#16156) Thanks @zerone0x.
 - Cron: repair missing/corrupt `nextRunAtMs` for the updated job without globally recomputing unrelated due jobs during `cron update`. (#15750)
diff --git a/src/agents/openclaw-tools.ts b/src/agents/openclaw-tools.ts
index 5fc4bba92..4825ebccb 100644
--- a/src/agents/openclaw-tools.ts
+++ b/src/agents/openclaw-tools.ts
@@ -60,11 +60,12 @@ export function createOpenClawTools(options?: {
   /** If true, omit the message tool from the tool list. */
   disableMessageTool?: boolean;
 }): AnyAgentTool[] {
+  const workspaceDir = options?.workspaceDir?.trim() || process.cwd();
   const imageTool = options?.agentDir?.trim()
     ? createImageTool({
         config: options?.config,
         agentDir: options.agentDir,
-        workspaceDir: options?.workspaceDir,
+        workspaceDir,
         sandbox:
           options?.sandboxRoot && options?.sandboxFsBridge
             ? { root: options.sandboxRoot, bridge: options.sandboxFsBridge }
@@ -157,7 +158,7 @@ export function createOpenClawTools(options?: {
   const pluginTools = resolvePluginTools({
     context: {
       config: options?.config,
-      workspaceDir: options?.workspaceDir,
+      workspaceDir,
       agentDir: options?.agentDir,
       agentId: resolveSessionAgentId({
         sessionKey: options?.agentSessionKey,
diff --git a/src/agents/pi-tools.ts b/src/agents/pi-tools.ts
index ae162c85b..acffdedf5 100644
--- a/src/agents/pi-tools.ts
+++ b/src/agents/pi-tools.ts
@@ -321,7 +321,7 @@ export function createOpenClawCodingTools(options?: {
     pathPrepend: options?.exec?.pathPrepend ?? execConfig.pathPrepend,
     safeBins: options?.exec?.safeBins ?? execConfig.safeBins,
     agentId,
-    cwd: options?.workspaceDir,
+    cwd: workspaceRoot,
     allowBackground,
     scopeKey,
     sessionKey: options?.sessionKey,
@@ -386,7 +386,7 @@ export function createOpenClawCodingTools(options?: {
       agentDir: options?.agentDir,
       sandboxRoot,
       sandboxFsBridge,
-      workspaceDir: options?.workspaceDir,
+      workspaceDir: workspaceRoot,
       sandboxed: !!sandbox,
       config: options?.config,
       pluginToolAllowlist: collectExplicitAllowlist([
diff --git a/src/agents/tools/image-tool.e2e.test.ts b/src/agents/tools/image-tool.e2e.test.ts
index ee5c30a46..5a93a32b1 100644
--- a/src/agents/tools/image-tool.e2e.test.ts
+++ b/src/agents/tools/image-tool.e2e.test.ts
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import os from "node:os";
 import path from "node:path";
 import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
 import type { OpenClawConfig } from "../../config/config.js";
+import { createOpenClawCodingTools } from "../pi-tools.js";
 import { createHostSandboxFsBridge } from "../test-helpers/host-sandbox-fs-bridge.js";
 import { __testing, createImageTool, resolveImageModelConfigForTool } from "./image-tool.js";
 
@@ -219,6 +220,64 @@ describe("image tool implicit imageModel config", () => {
     }
   });
 
+  it("allows workspace images via createOpenClawCodingTools default workspace root", async () => {
+    const workspaceParent = await fs.mkdtemp(
+      path.join(process.cwd(), ".openclaw-workspace-image-"),
+    );
+    try {
+      const workspaceDir = path.join(workspaceParent, "workspace");
+      await fs.mkdir(workspaceDir, { recursive: true });
+      const imagePath = path.join(workspaceDir, "photo.png");
+      const pngB64 =
+        "iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAQAAAC1HAwCAAAAC0lEQVR42mP8/woAAn8B9FD5fHAAAAAASUVORK5CYII=";
+      await fs.writeFile(imagePath, Buffer.from(pngB64, "base64"));
+
+      const fetch = vi.fn().mockResolvedValue({
+        ok: true,
+        status: 200,
+        statusText: "OK",
+        headers: new Headers(),
+        json: async () => ({
+          content: "ok",
+          base_resp: { status_code: 0, status_msg: "" },
+        }),
+      });
+      // @ts-expect-error partial global
+      global.fetch = fetch;
+      vi.stubEnv("MINIMAX_API_KEY", "minimax-test");
+
+      const agentDir = await fs.mkdtemp(path.join(os.tmpdir(), "openclaw-image-"));
+      const cfg: OpenClawConfig = {
+        agents: {
+          defaults: {
+            model: { primary: "minimax/MiniMax-M2.1" },
+            imageModel: { primary: "minimax/MiniMax-VL-01" },
+          },
+        },
+      };
+
+      const tools = createOpenClawCodingTools({ config: cfg, agentDir });
+      const tool = tools.find((candidate) => candidate.name === "image");
+      expect(tool).not.toBeNull();
+      if (!tool) {
+        throw new Error("expected image tool");
+      }
+
+      await expect(
+        tool.execute("t1", {
+          prompt: "Describe the image.",
+          image: imagePath,
+        }),
+      ).resolves.toMatchObject({
+        content: [{ type: "text", text: "ok" }],
+      });
+
+      expect(fetch).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    } finally {
+      await fs.rm(workspaceParent, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    }
+  });
+
   it("sandboxes image paths like the read tool", async () => {
     const stateDir = await fs.mkdtemp(path.join(os.tmpdir(), "openclaw-image-sandbox-"));
     const agentDir = path.join(stateDir, "agent");
diff --git a/src/agents/tools/image-tool.ts b/src/agents/tools/image-tool.ts
index fb7c40d20..849853402 100644
--- a/src/agents/tools/image-tool.ts
+++ b/src/agents/tools/image-tool.ts
@@ -358,9 +358,14 @@ export function createImageTool(options?: {
     if (!workspaceDir) {
       return roots;
     }
-    const normalized = workspaceDir.startsWith("~") ? resolveUserPath(workspaceDir) : workspaceDir;
-    if (!roots.includes(normalized)) {
-      roots.push(normalized);
+    const expanded = workspaceDir.startsWith("~") ? resolveUserPath(workspaceDir) : workspaceDir;
+    const resolved = path.resolve(expanded);
+    // Defensive: never allow "/" as an implicit media root.
+    if (resolved === path.parse(resolved).root) {
+      return roots;
+    }
+    if (!roots.includes(resolved)) {
+      roots.push(resolved);
     }
     return roots;
   })();