fix(delegate-task): trust user-configured category models without fuzzy validation (fixes #2740)

src/tools/delegate-task/categories.ts

@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import type { CategoryConfig, CategoriesConfig } from "../../config/schema"
 import { DEFAULT_CATEGORIES, CATEGORY_PROMPT_APPENDS } from "./constants"
 import { resolveModel } from "../../shared/model-resolver"
 import { isModelAvailable } from "../../shared/model-availability"
+import { normalizeModel } from "../../shared/model-normalization"
 import { CATEGORY_MODEL_REQUIREMENTS } from "../../shared/model-requirements"
 import { log } from "../../shared/logger"
 
@@ -16,6 +17,7 @@ export interface ResolveCategoryConfigResult {
   config: CategoryConfig
   promptAppend: string
   model: string | undefined
+  isUserConfiguredModel: boolean
 }
 
 /**
@@ -56,6 +58,7 @@ export function resolveCategoryConfig(
     inheritedModel: defaultConfig?.model, // Category's built-in model takes precedence over system default
     systemDefault: systemDefaultModel,
   })
+  const isUserConfiguredModel = normalizeModel(userConfig?.model) !== undefined
   const config: CategoryConfig = {
     ...defaultConfig,
     ...userConfig,
@@ -70,5 +73,5 @@ export function resolveCategoryConfig(
       : userConfig.prompt_append
   }
 
-  return { config, promptAppend, model }
+  return { config, promptAppend, model, isUserConfiguredModel }
 }

src/tools/delegate-task/category-resolver.ts

@@ -110,6 +110,7 @@ Available categories: ${allCategoryNames}`,
       userModel: explicitCategoryModel ?? overrideModel,
       userFallbackModels: normalizedConfiguredFallbackModels,
       categoryDefaultModel: resolved.model,
+      isUserConfiguredCategoryModel: resolved.isUserConfiguredModel,
       fallbackChain: requirement.fallbackChain,
       availableModels,
       systemDefaultModel,

src/tools/delegate-task/model-selection.test.ts

@@ -102,6 +102,16 @@ describe("resolveModelForDelegateTask", () => {
 
 				expect(result).toEqual({ model: "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6" })
 			})
+
+			test("#then trusts user-configured category model without fuzzy validation", () => {
+				const result = resolveModelForDelegateTask({
+					categoryDefaultModel: "new-api-openai/gpt-5.4-high",
+					isUserConfiguredCategoryModel: true,
+					availableModels: new Set(["openai/gpt-5.4"]),
+				})
+
+				expect(result).toEqual({ model: "new-api-openai/gpt-5.4-high" })
+			})
 		})
 
 		describe("#when user fallback models include variant syntax", () => {

src/tools/delegate-task/model-selection.ts

@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import { normalizeModel } from "../../shared/model-normalization"
 import { fuzzyMatchModel } from "../../shared/model-availability"
 import { transformModelForProvider } from "../../shared/provider-model-id-transform"
 import { hasConnectedProvidersCache, hasProviderModelsCache } from "../../shared/connected-providers-cache"
+import { log } from "../../shared/logger"
 import { parseModelString, parseVariantFromModelID } from "./model-string-parser"
 
 function isExplicitHighModel(model: string): boolean {
@@ -48,6 +49,7 @@ export function resolveModelForDelegateTask(input: {
   userModel?: string
   userFallbackModels?: string[]
   categoryDefaultModel?: string
+  isUserConfiguredCategoryModel?: boolean
   fallbackChain?: FallbackEntry[]
   availableModels: Set<string>
   systemDefaultModel?: string
@@ -67,6 +69,13 @@ export function resolveModelForDelegateTask(input: {
   const explicitHighBaseModel = categoryDefault ? getExplicitHighBaseModel(categoryDefault) : null
   const explicitHighModel = explicitHighBaseModel ? categoryDefault : undefined
   if (categoryDefault) {
+    if (input.isUserConfiguredCategoryModel) {
+      log("[resolveModelForDelegateTask] using user-configured category model (bypass validation)", {
+        categoryDefaultModel: categoryDefault,
+      })
+      return { model: categoryDefault }
+    }
+
     if (input.availableModels.size === 0) {
       return { model: categoryDefault }
     }