diff --git a/hermes_cli/plugins.py b/hermes_cli/plugins.py
index 7eb9a400c..40d48993a 100644
--- a/hermes_cli/plugins.py
+++ b/hermes_cli/plugins.py
@@ -144,6 +144,46 @@ def _get_enabled_plugins() -> Optional[set]:
 _VALID_PLUGIN_KINDS: Set[str] = {"standalone", "backend", "exclusive"}
 
 
+def _looks_like_exclusive_plugin(plugin_dir: Path) -> bool:
+    """Heuristic: does *plugin_dir* implement an exclusive provider contract?
+
+    Today this is primarily used to keep memory provider plugins discovered under
+    ``$HERMES_HOME/plugins`` out of the general plugin loader. Those plugins are
+    selected via ``memory.provider`` and register via
+    ``ctx.register_memory_provider(...)`` rather than generic tool/hook APIs.
+
+    We scan a small set of Python files under the plugin root so wrapper-style
+    packages that re-export their real implementation from ``src/`` still get
+    classified correctly.
+    """
+    py_files = []
+    init_file = plugin_dir / "__init__.py"
+    if init_file.exists():
+        py_files.append(init_file)
+    try:
+        for path in sorted(plugin_dir.rglob("*.py")):
+            if path == init_file:
+                continue
+            py_files.append(path)
+            if len(py_files) >= 12:
+                break
+    except Exception:
+        pass
+
+    scanned = 0
+    for path in py_files:
+        try:
+            source = path.read_text(errors="replace")
+        except Exception:
+            continue
+        scanned += len(source)
+        if "register_memory_provider" in source or "MemoryProvider" in source:
+            return True
+        if scanned >= 32768:
+            break
+    return False
+
+
 @dataclass
 class PluginManifest:
     """Parsed representation of a plugin.yaml manifest."""
@@ -753,16 +793,24 @@ class PluginManager:
             name = data.get("name", plugin_dir.name)
             key = f"{prefix}/{plugin_dir.name}" if prefix else name
 
-            raw_kind = data.get("kind", "standalone")
-            if not isinstance(raw_kind, str):
-                raw_kind = "standalone"
-            kind = raw_kind.strip().lower()
-            if kind not in _VALID_PLUGIN_KINDS:
-                logger.warning(
-                    "Plugin %s: unknown kind '%s' (valid: %s); treating as 'standalone'",
-                    key, raw_kind, ", ".join(sorted(_VALID_PLUGIN_KINDS)),
-                )
-                kind = "standalone"
+            raw_kind = data.get("kind")
+            if raw_kind is None:
+                kind = "exclusive" if _looks_like_exclusive_plugin(plugin_dir) else "standalone"
+                if kind == "exclusive":
+                    logger.debug(
+                        "Auto-classifying plugin %s as exclusive based on provider-style register() contract",
+                        key,
+                    )
+            else:
+                if not isinstance(raw_kind, str):
+                    raw_kind = "standalone"
+                kind = raw_kind.strip().lower()
+                if kind not in _VALID_PLUGIN_KINDS:
+                    logger.warning(
+                        "Plugin %s: unknown kind '%s' (valid: %s); treating as 'standalone'",
+                        key, raw_kind, ", ".join(sorted(_VALID_PLUGIN_KINDS)),
+                    )
+                    kind = "standalone"
 
             # Auto-coerce user-installed memory providers to kind="exclusive"
             # so they're routed to plugins/memory discovery instead of being
diff --git a/tests/gateway/test_status.py b/tests/gateway/test_status.py
index e91bb6e41..ba8593848 100644
--- a/tests/gateway/test_status.py
+++ b/tests/gateway/test_status.py
@@ -51,6 +51,24 @@ class TestGatewayPidState:
         assert status.get_running_pid() is None
         assert not pid_path.exists()
 
+    def test_get_running_pid_removes_stale_json_pid_file(self, tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+        monkeypatch.setenv("HERMES_HOME", str(tmp_path))
+        pid_path = tmp_path / "gateway.pid"
+        pid_path.write_text(json.dumps({
+            "pid": 99999,
+            "kind": "hermes-gateway",
+            "argv": ["python", "-m", "hermes_cli.main", "gateway"],
+            "start_time": None,
+        }))
+
+        def _raise_missing(pid, sig):
+            raise ProcessLookupError
+
+        monkeypatch.setattr(status.os, "kill", _raise_missing)
+
+        assert status.get_running_pid() is None
+        assert not pid_path.exists()
+
     def test_get_running_pid_accepts_gateway_metadata_when_cmdline_unavailable(self, tmp_path, monkeypatch):
         monkeypatch.setenv("HERMES_HOME", str(tmp_path))
         pid_path = tmp_path / "gateway.pid"
diff --git a/tests/hermes_cli/test_plugins.py b/tests/hermes_cli/test_plugins.py
index 157f967e5..3d31908e0 100644
--- a/tests/hermes_cli/test_plugins.py
+++ b/tests/hermes_cli/test_plugins.py
@@ -100,6 +100,41 @@ class TestPluginDiscovery:
         assert "hello_plugin" in mgr._plugins
         assert mgr._plugins["hello_plugin"].enabled
 
+    def test_user_memory_provider_plugins_are_classified_exclusive(self, tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+        """Wrapper-style user memory providers should bypass the general loader."""
+        plugins_dir = tmp_path / "hermes_test" / "plugins"
+        plugin_dir = plugins_dir / "memory_plugin"
+        plugin_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+        (plugin_dir / "plugin.yaml").write_text(
+            yaml.safe_dump({
+                "name": "memory_plugin",
+                "version": "0.1.0",
+                "description": "Wrapper-style memory provider plugin",
+            })
+        )
+        (plugin_dir / "__init__.py").write_text(
+            'from .src.memory_plugin_impl import register\n'
+        )
+        impl_dir = plugin_dir / "src" / "memory_plugin_impl"
+        impl_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+        (impl_dir / "__init__.py").write_text(
+            'def register(ctx):\n    ctx.register_memory_provider(object())\n'
+        )
+        hermes_home = tmp_path / "hermes_test"
+        monkeypatch.setenv("HERMES_HOME", str(hermes_home))
+        (hermes_home / "config.yaml").write_text(
+            yaml.safe_dump({"plugins": {"enabled": ["memory_plugin"]}})
+        )
+
+        mgr = PluginManager()
+        mgr.discover_and_load()
+
+        assert "memory_plugin" in mgr._plugins
+        loaded = mgr._plugins["memory_plugin"]
+        assert loaded.manifest.kind == "exclusive"
+        assert not loaded.enabled
+        assert "exclusive plugin" in (loaded.error or "")
+
     def test_discover_project_plugins(self, tmp_path, monkeypatch):
         """Plugins in ./.hermes/plugins/ are discovered."""
         project_dir = tmp_path / "project"