diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index ed7195a9b..95a54c4b9 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 - Dev tooling: prevent `CLAUDE.md` symlink target regressions by excluding CLAUDE symlink sentinels from `oxfmt` and marking them `-text` in `.gitattributes`, so formatter/EOL normalization cannot reintroduce trailing-newline targets. Thanks @vincentkoc.
 - Cron: honor `cron.maxConcurrentRuns` in the timer loop so due jobs can execute up to the configured parallelism instead of always running serially. (#11595) Thanks @Takhoffman.
 - Cron/Isolation: force fresh session IDs for isolated cron runs so `sessionTarget="isolated"` executions never reuse prior run context. (#23470) Thanks @echoVic.
+- Cron/Service: execute manual `cron.run` jobs outside the cron lock (while still persisting started/finished state atomically) so `cron.list` and `cron.status` remain responsive during long forced runs. (#23628) Thanks @dsgraves.
 - Agents/Compaction: restore embedded compaction safeguard/context-pruning extension loading in production by wiring bundled extension factories into the resource loader instead of runtime file-path resolution. (#22349) Thanks @Glucksberg.
 - Feishu/Media: for inbound video messages that include both `file_key` (video) and `image_key` (thumbnail), prefer `file_key` when downloading media so video attachments are saved instead of silently failing on thumbnail keys. (#23633)
 - Hooks/Cron: suppress duplicate main-session events for delivered hook turns and mark `SILENT_REPLY_TOKEN` (`NO_REPLY`) early exits as delivered to prevent hook context pollution. (#20678) Thanks @JonathanWorks.
diff --git a/src/cron/service.read-ops-nonblocking.test.ts b/src/cron/service.read-ops-nonblocking.test.ts
index e6a24957a..1af332c19 100644
--- a/src/cron/service.read-ops-nonblocking.test.ts
+++ b/src/cron/service.read-ops-nonblocking.test.ts
@@ -162,6 +162,59 @@ describe("CronService read ops while job is running", () => {
     }
   });
 
+  it("keeps list and status responsive during manual cron.run execution", async () => {
+    const store = await makeStorePath();
+    const enqueueSystemEvent = vi.fn();
+    const requestHeartbeatNow = vi.fn();
+    const isolatedRun = createDeferredIsolatedRun();
+
+    const cron = new CronService({
+      storePath: store.storePath,
+      cronEnabled: true,
+      log: noopLogger,
+      enqueueSystemEvent,
+      requestHeartbeatNow,
+      runIsolatedAgentJob: isolatedRun.runIsolatedAgentJob,
+    });
+
+    try {
+      await cron.start();
+      const job = await cron.add({
+        name: "manual run isolation",
+        enabled: true,
+        deleteAfterRun: false,
+        schedule: {
+          kind: "at",
+          at: new Date("2030-01-01T00:00:00.000Z").toISOString(),
+        },
+        sessionTarget: "isolated",
+        wakeMode: "next-heartbeat",
+        payload: { kind: "agentTurn", message: "manual run" },
+        delivery: { mode: "none" },
+      });
+
+      const runPromise = cron.run(job.id, "force");
+      await isolatedRun.runStarted;
+
+      await expect(
+        withTimeout(cron.list({ includeDisabled: true }), 300, "cron.list during cron.run"),
+      ).resolves.toBeTypeOf("object");
+      await expect(withTimeout(cron.status(), 300, "cron.status during cron.run")).resolves.toEqual(
+        expect.objectContaining({ enabled: true, storePath: store.storePath }),
+      );
+
+      isolatedRun.completeRun({ status: "ok", summary: "manual done" });
+      await expect(runPromise).resolves.toEqual({ ok: true, ran: true });
+
+      const completed = await cron.list({ includeDisabled: true });
+      expect(completed[0]?.state.lastStatus).toBe("ok");
+      expect(completed[0]?.state.runningAtMs).toBeUndefined();
+    } finally {
+      cron.stop();
+      await store.cleanup();
+    }
+  });
+
   it("keeps list and status responsive during startup catch-up runs", async () => {
     const store = await makeStorePath();
     const enqueueSystemEvent = vi.fn();
diff --git a/src/cron/service/ops.ts b/src/cron/service/ops.ts
index 9c71ae4f1..0a60b88f5 100644
--- a/src/cron/service/ops.ts
+++ b/src/cron/service/ops.ts
@@ -12,7 +12,15 @@ import {
 import { locked } from "./locked.js";
 import type { CronServiceState } from "./state.js";
 import { ensureLoaded, persist, warnIfDisabled } from "./store.js";
-import { armTimer, emit, executeJob, runMissedJobs, stopTimer, wake } from "./timer.js";
+import {
+  applyJobResult,
+  armTimer,
+  emit,
+  executeJobCore,
+  runMissedJobs,
+  stopTimer,
+  wake,
+} from "./timer.js";
 
 async function ensureLoadedForRead(state: CronServiceState) {
   await ensureLoaded(state, { skipRecompute: true });
@@ -201,7 +209,7 @@ export async function remove(state: CronServiceState, id: string) {
 }
 
 export async function run(state: CronServiceState, id: string, mode?: "due" | "force") {
-  return await locked(state, async () => {
+  const prepared = await locked(state, async () => {
     warnIfDisabled(state, "run");
     await ensureLoaded(state, { skipRecompute: true });
     const job = findJobOrThrow(state, id);
@@ -213,12 +221,82 @@ export async function run(state: CronServiceState, id: string, mode?: "due" | "f
     if (!due) {
       return { ok: true, ran: false, reason: "not-due" as const };
     }
-    await executeJob(state, job, now, { forced: mode === "force" });
+
+    // Reserve this run under lock, then execute outside lock so read ops
+    // (`list`, `status`) stay responsive while the run is in progress.
+    job.state.runningAtMs = now;
+    job.state.lastError = undefined;
+    emit(state, { jobId: job.id, action: "started", runAtMs: now });
+    const executionJob = JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(job)) as typeof job;
+    return {
+      ok: true,
+      ran: true,
+      jobId: job.id,
+      startedAt: now,
+      executionJob,
+    } as const;
+  });
+
+  if (!prepared.ran) {
+    return prepared;
+  }
+
+  let coreResult:
+    | Awaited<ReturnType<typeof executeJobCore>>
+    | {
+        status: "error";
+        error: string;
+      };
+  try {
+    coreResult = await executeJobCore(state, prepared.executionJob);
+  } catch (err) {
+    coreResult = { status: "error", error: String(err) };
+  }
+  const endedAt = state.deps.nowMs();
+
+  await locked(state, async () => {
+    await ensureLoaded(state, { skipRecompute: true });
+    const job = state.store?.jobs.find((entry) => entry.id === prepared.jobId);
+    if (!job) {
+      return;
+    }
+
+    const shouldDelete = applyJobResult(state, job, {
+      status: coreResult.status,
+      error: coreResult.error,
+      delivered: coreResult.delivered,
+      startedAt: prepared.startedAt,
+      endedAt,
+    });
+
+    emit(state, {
+      jobId: job.id,
+      action: "finished",
+      status: coreResult.status,
+      error: coreResult.error,
+      summary: coreResult.summary,
+      delivered: coreResult.delivered,
+      sessionId: coreResult.sessionId,
+      sessionKey: coreResult.sessionKey,
+      runAtMs: prepared.startedAt,
+      durationMs: job.state.lastDurationMs,
+      nextRunAtMs: job.state.nextRunAtMs,
+      model: coreResult.model,
+      provider: coreResult.provider,
+      usage: coreResult.usage,
+    });
+
+    if (shouldDelete && state.store) {
+      state.store.jobs = state.store.jobs.filter((entry) => entry.id !== job.id);
+      emit(state, { jobId: job.id, action: "removed" });
+    }
+
     recomputeNextRuns(state);
     await persist(state);
     armTimer(state);
-    return { ok: true, ran: true } as const;
   });
+
+  return { ok: true, ran: true } as const;
 }
 
 export function wakeNow(
diff --git a/src/cron/service/timer.ts b/src/cron/service/timer.ts
index 8b80dbd90..5b334d3a8 100644
--- a/src/cron/service/timer.ts
+++ b/src/cron/service/timer.ts
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ const MIN_REFIRE_GAP_MS = 2_000;
  * on top of the per-provider / per-agent timeouts to prevent one stuck job
  * from wedging the entire cron lane.
  */
-const DEFAULT_JOB_TIMEOUT_MS = 10 * 60_000; // 10 minutes
+export const DEFAULT_JOB_TIMEOUT_MS = 10 * 60_000; // 10 minutes
 
 type TimedCronRunOutcome = CronRunOutcome &
   CronRunTelemetry & {
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ function errorBackoffMs(consecutiveErrors: number): number {
  * Handles consecutive error tracking, exponential backoff, one-shot disable,
  * and nextRunAtMs computation. Returns `true` if the job should be deleted.
  */
-function applyJobResult(
+export function applyJobResult(
   state: CronServiceState,
   job: CronJob,
   result: {
@@ -556,7 +556,7 @@ export async function runDueJobs(state: CronServiceState) {
   }
 }
 
-async function executeJobCore(
+export async function executeJobCore(
   state: CronServiceState,
   job: CronJob,
   abortSignal?: AbortSignal,