Bug type

Behavior bug (incorrect output/state without crash)

Summary

The Control UI model picker sends bare model IDs (e.g. k2p5) instead of full provider/model keys (e.g. kimi-coding/k2p5), causing the gateway to prepend the wrong provider and reject the switch with "model not allowed".

Steps to reproduce

1. Configure multiple providers in openclaw.json (e.g. anthropic, openai-codex, kimi-coding)
2. Set agent primary model to openai-codex/gpt-5.4
3. Open the Control UI Chat tab
4. Use the model dropdown to switch to a model from a different provider (e.g. k2p5 · kimi-coding)
5. Observe the error banner

Expected behavior

Model switches successfully to kimi-coding/k2p5. The dropdown reflects the new selection and the next message uses the selected model.

Actual behavior

Error banner: "Failed to set model: GatewayRequestError: model not allowed: openai-codex/k2p5"

The UI sends the bare model ID ("k2p5") via sessions.patch. The gateway prepends the current session's provider ("openai-codex") instead of the model's actual provider ("kimi-coding"), producing an invalid key "openai-codex/k2p5" which is not in the allowlist.

Additional issues after page refresh:

• W_() and G_() also return bare model IDs (ignoring modelProvider), creating duplicate entries in the dropdown
• getSessionDefaults() falls back to hardcoded DEFAULT_MODEL = "claude-opus-4-6" when agents.defaults.model.primary is not set, showing "Default (claude-opus-4-6)" regardless of the agent's actual primary

OpenClaw version

2026.3.13 (61d171a)

Operating system

Debian 12 (bookworm) / amd64

Install method

npm global

Model

openai-codex/gpt-5.4, anthropic/claude-opus-4-6, kimi-coding/k2p5

Provider / routing chain

openclaw -> openai-codex / anthropic / kimi-coding (direct)

Config file / key location

~/.openclaw/openclaw.json ; agents.defaults.models ; agents.list[].model.primary

Additional provider/model setup details

Three providers configured: anthropic (claude-sonnet-4-6, claude-opus-4-6), openai-codex (gpt-5.4), kimi-coding (k2p5).
Agent "main" has model.primary = "openai-codex/gpt-5.4" with fallbacks to anthropic and kimi.
No agents.defaults.model.primary set (per-agent config only).

Logs, screenshots, and evidence

Gateway log when switching to kimi:
> Failed to set model: GatewayRequestError: model not allowed: openai-codex/k2p5

Gateway log when switching to opus:
> Failed to set model: GatewayRequestError: model not allowed: openai-codex/claude-opus-4-6

Root causes identified in minified dist (verified by patching):

1. K_() in control-ui/assets/index-*.js: <select> option value uses `t.id` instead of `provider/t.id`
2. W_() and G_(): read `session.model` but ignore `session.modelProvider`
3. getSessionDefaults() in reply-*.js: `const DEFAULT_MODEL = "claude-opus-4-6"` used as fallback when no explicit default is configured

BELOW 👇 What it looks like when fixed (with no agents.defaults.primary.model but a primary model defined per agent).

Impact and severity

Affected: All users with multiple providers who use the Control UI model dropdown
Severity: High (completely blocks cross-provider model switching via UI)
Frequency: 100% repro on any multi-provider setup
Consequence: Users cannot switch models across providers in the Control UI. Workaround is using /model command in TUI.

Additional information

Related issues: #48369, #48256, #46480, #46453, #47620

Workaround: Use /model provider/model-id in the TUI or session_status tool.

Local patches applied and verified on dist files:

• K_(): changed option value from t.id to provider/t.id
• W_()/G_(): combined modelProvider + '/' + model
• getSessionDefaults(): added defaultModelExplicit flag, returns null when not explicitly configured
• Added agentModelProvider/agentModel to sessions.list defaults for per-agent primary resolution

UX suggestion: when no global default is set, hide the "Default" option and label the agent's primary model with "(primary)" in the dropdown.