diff --git a/bin/lib/onboard.js b/bin/lib/onboard.js
index 252a303c8..30a5e889a 100644
--- a/bin/lib/onboard.js
+++ b/bin/lib/onboard.js
@@ -363,6 +363,9 @@ async function preflight() {
     console.log("  Cleaning up previous NemoClaw session...");
     run("openshell forward stop 18789 2>/dev/null || true", { ignoreError: true });
     run("openshell gateway destroy -g nemoclaw 2>/dev/null || true", { ignoreError: true });
+    // Sandboxes under the destroyed gateway no longer exist in OpenShell —
+    // clear the local registry so `nemoclaw list` stays consistent. (#532)
+    registry.clearAll();
     console.log("  ✓ Previous session cleaned up");
   }
 
@@ -420,8 +423,9 @@ async function preflight() {
 async function startGateway(gpu) {
   step(2, 7, "Starting OpenShell gateway");
 
-  // Destroy old gateway
+  // Destroy old gateway — also clear registry since its sandboxes are gone. (#532)
   run("openshell gateway destroy -g nemoclaw 2>/dev/null || true", { ignoreError: true });
+  registry.clearAll();
 
   const gwArgs = ["--name", "nemoclaw"];
   // Do NOT pass --gpu here. On DGX Spark (and most GPU hosts), inference is
diff --git a/bin/lib/registry.js b/bin/lib/registry.js
index c42a44fdf..f5ea54c86 100644
--- a/bin/lib/registry.js
+++ b/bin/lib/registry.js
@@ -91,7 +91,12 @@ function setDefault(name) {
   return true;
 }
 
+function clearAll() {
+  save({ sandboxes: {}, defaultSandbox: null });
+}
+
 module.exports = {
+  clearAll,
   load,
   save,
   getSandbox,
diff --git a/test/registry.test.js b/test/registry.test.js
index 0f471b0be..80bc10e79 100644
--- a/test/registry.test.js
+++ b/test/registry.test.js
@@ -102,4 +102,29 @@ describe("registry", () => {
     const { sandboxes } = registry.listSandboxes();
     assert.equal(sandboxes.length, 0);
   });
+
+  it("clearAll removes all sandboxes and resets default", () => {
+    registry.registerSandbox({ name: "alpha" });
+    registry.registerSandbox({ name: "beta" });
+    registry.setDefault("beta");
+    registry.clearAll();
+    const { sandboxes, defaultSandbox } = registry.listSandboxes();
+    assert.equal(sandboxes.length, 0);
+    assert.equal(defaultSandbox, null);
+  });
+
+  it("clearAll persists empty state to disk", () => {
+    registry.registerSandbox({ name: "persist-me" });
+    registry.clearAll();
+    const data = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(regFile, "utf-8"));
+    assert.deepEqual(data.sandboxes, {});
+    assert.equal(data.defaultSandbox, null);
+  });
+
+  it("clearAll is safe to call on empty registry", () => {
+    registry.clearAll();
+    const { sandboxes, defaultSandbox } = registry.listSandboxes();
+    assert.equal(sandboxes.length, 0);
+    assert.equal(defaultSandbox, null);
+  });
 });