diff --git a/extensions/irc/src/monitor.test.ts b/extensions/irc/src/monitor.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b8af37265e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/extensions/irc/src/monitor.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import { resolveIrcInboundTarget } from "./monitor.js";
+
+describe("irc monitor inbound target", () => {
+  it("keeps channel target for group messages", () => {
+    expect(
+      resolveIrcInboundTarget({
+        target: "#openclaw",
+        senderNick: "alice",
+      }),
+    ).toEqual({
+      isGroup: true,
+      target: "#openclaw",
+      rawTarget: "#openclaw",
+    });
+  });
+
+  it("maps DM target to sender nick and preserves raw target", () => {
+    expect(
+      resolveIrcInboundTarget({
+        target: "openclaw-bot",
+        senderNick: "alice",
+      }),
+    ).toEqual({
+      isGroup: false,
+      target: "alice",
+      rawTarget: "openclaw-bot",
+    });
+  });
+
+  it("falls back to raw target when sender nick is empty", () => {
+    expect(
+      resolveIrcInboundTarget({
+        target: "openclaw-bot",
+        senderNick: " ",
+      }),
+    ).toEqual({
+      isGroup: false,
+      target: "openclaw-bot",
+      rawTarget: "openclaw-bot",
+    });
+  });
+});
diff --git a/extensions/irc/src/monitor.ts b/extensions/irc/src/monitor.ts
index 1489b5f9b5..bcfd88138e 100644
--- a/extensions/irc/src/monitor.ts
+++ b/extensions/irc/src/monitor.ts
@@ -16,6 +16,20 @@ export type IrcMonitorOptions = {
   onMessage?: (message: IrcInboundMessage, client: IrcClient) => void | Promise<void>;
 };
 
+export function resolveIrcInboundTarget(params: { target: string; senderNick: string }): {
+  isGroup: boolean;
+  target: string;
+  rawTarget: string;
+} {
+  const rawTarget = params.target;
+  const isGroup = isChannelTarget(rawTarget);
+  if (isGroup) {
+    return { isGroup: true, target: rawTarget, rawTarget };
+  }
+  const senderNick = params.senderNick.trim();
+  return { isGroup: false, target: senderNick || rawTarget, rawTarget };
+}
+
 export async function monitorIrcProvider(opts: IrcMonitorOptions): Promise<{ stop: () => void }> {
   const core = getIrcRuntime();
   const cfg = opts.config ?? (core.config.loadConfig() as CoreConfig);
@@ -83,16 +97,20 @@ export async function monitorIrcProvider(opts: IrcMonitorOptions): Promise<{ sto
         return;
       }
 
-      const isGroup = isChannelTarget(event.target);
+      const inboundTarget = resolveIrcInboundTarget({
+        target: event.target,
+        senderNick: event.senderNick,
+      });
       const message: IrcInboundMessage = {
         messageId: makeIrcMessageId(),
-        target: event.target,
+        target: inboundTarget.target,
+        rawTarget: inboundTarget.rawTarget,
         senderNick: event.senderNick,
         senderUser: event.senderUser,
         senderHost: event.senderHost,
         text: event.text,
         timestamp: Date.now(),
-        isGroup,
+        isGroup: inboundTarget.isGroup,
       };
 
       core.channel.activity.record({
diff --git a/extensions/irc/src/onboarding.test.ts b/extensions/irc/src/onboarding.test.ts
index be3c7b6ee9..400e34fc73 100644
--- a/extensions/irc/src/onboarding.test.ts
+++ b/extensions/irc/src/onboarding.test.ts
@@ -72,4 +72,47 @@ describe("irc onboarding", () => {
     expect(result.cfg.channels?.irc?.groupPolicy).toBe("allowlist");
     expect(Object.keys(result.cfg.channels?.irc?.groups ?? {})).toEqual(["#openclaw", "#ops"]);
   });
+
+  it("writes DM allowFrom to top-level config for non-default account prompts", async () => {
+    const prompter: WizardPrompter = {
+      intro: vi.fn(async () => {}),
+      outro: vi.fn(async () => {}),
+      note: vi.fn(async () => {}),
+      select: vi.fn(async () => "allowlist"),
+      multiselect: vi.fn(async () => []),
+      text: vi.fn(async ({ message }: { message: string }) => {
+        if (message === "IRC allowFrom (nick or nick!user@host)") {
+          return "Alice, Bob!ident@example.org";
+        }
+        throw new Error(`Unexpected prompt: ${message}`);
+      }) as WizardPrompter["text"],
+      confirm: vi.fn(async () => false),
+      progress: vi.fn(() => ({ update: vi.fn(), stop: vi.fn() })),
+    };
+
+    const promptAllowFrom = ircOnboardingAdapter.dmPolicy?.promptAllowFrom;
+    expect(promptAllowFrom).toBeTypeOf("function");
+
+    const cfg: CoreConfig = {
+      channels: {
+        irc: {
+          accounts: {
+            work: {
+              host: "irc.libera.chat",
+              nick: "openclaw-work",
+            },
+          },
+        },
+      },
+    };
+
+    const updated = (await promptAllowFrom?.({
+      cfg,
+      prompter,
+      accountId: "work",
+    })) as CoreConfig;
+
+    expect(updated.channels?.irc?.allowFrom).toEqual(["alice", "bob!ident@example.org"]);
+    expect(updated.channels?.irc?.accounts?.work?.allowFrom).toBeUndefined();
+  });
 });
diff --git a/extensions/irc/src/onboarding.ts b/extensions/irc/src/onboarding.ts
index 5fe158893d..6f0508f676 100644
--- a/extensions/irc/src/onboarding.ts
+++ b/extensions/irc/src/onboarding.ts
@@ -105,8 +105,17 @@ function setIrcDmPolicy(cfg: CoreConfig, dmPolicy: DmPolicy): CoreConfig {
   };
 }
 
-function setIrcAllowFrom(cfg: CoreConfig, accountId: string, allowFrom: string[]): CoreConfig {
-  return updateIrcAccountConfig(cfg, accountId, { allowFrom });
+function setIrcAllowFrom(cfg: CoreConfig, allowFrom: string[]): CoreConfig {
+  return {
+    ...cfg,
+    channels: {
+      ...cfg.channels,
+      irc: {
+        ...cfg.channels?.irc,
+        allowFrom,
+      },
+    },
+  };
 }
 
 function setIrcNickServ(
@@ -157,9 +166,7 @@ async function promptIrcAllowFrom(params: {
   prompter: WizardPrompter;
   accountId?: string;
 }): Promise<CoreConfig> {
-  const accountId = params.accountId?.trim() || resolveDefaultIrcAccountId(params.cfg);
-  const resolved = resolveIrcAccount({ cfg: params.cfg, accountId });
-  const existing = resolved.config.allowFrom ?? [];
+  const existing = params.cfg.channels?.irc?.allowFrom ?? [];
 
   await params.prompter.note(
     [
@@ -188,7 +195,7 @@ async function promptIrcAllowFrom(params: {
         .filter(Boolean),
     ),
   ];
-  return setIrcAllowFrom(params.cfg, accountId, normalized);
+  return setIrcAllowFrom(params.cfg, normalized);
 }
 
 async function promptIrcNickServConfig(params: {
diff --git a/extensions/irc/src/types.ts b/extensions/irc/src/types.ts
index b01350f73c..124b240ee5 100644
--- a/extensions/irc/src/types.ts
+++ b/extensions/irc/src/types.ts
@@ -77,7 +77,10 @@ export type CoreConfig = OpenClawConfig & {
 
 export type IrcInboundMessage = {
   messageId: string;
+  /** Conversation peer id: channel name for groups, sender nick for DMs. */
   target: string;
+  /** Raw IRC PRIVMSG target (bot nick for DMs, channel for groups). */
+  rawTarget?: string;
   senderNick: string;
   senderUser?: string;
   senderHost?: string;
diff --git a/src/config/types.channels.ts b/src/config/types.channels.ts
index 073fccf326..465e5de284 100644
--- a/src/config/types.channels.ts
+++ b/src/config/types.channels.ts
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 import type { GroupPolicy } from "./types.base.js";
 import type { DiscordConfig } from "./types.discord.js";
-import type { IrcConfig } from "./types.irc.js";
 import type { GoogleChatConfig } from "./types.googlechat.js";
 import type { IMessageConfig } from "./types.imessage.js";
+import type { IrcConfig } from "./types.irc.js";
 import type { MSTeamsConfig } from "./types.msteams.js";
 import type { SignalConfig } from "./types.signal.js";
 import type { SlackConfig } from "./types.slack.js";