diff --git a/packages/coding-agent/src/main.ts b/packages/coding-agent/src/main.ts
index 2399ea72c..93370f24d 100644
--- a/packages/coding-agent/src/main.ts
+++ b/packages/coding-agent/src/main.ts
@@ -885,6 +885,10 @@ export async function buildSessionOptions(
 	// - supports --provider <name> --model <pattern>
 	// - supports --model <provider>/<pattern>
 	const modelMatchPreferences = getModelMatchPreferences(activeSettings);
+	// True when a configured `default` role was deliberately left unresolved for
+	// createAgentSession's post-extension re-resolution (issue #6694); the
+	// scoped thinking-level seed below must be deferred along with the model.
+	let deferredDefaultRole = false;
 	if (parsed.model) {
 		const resolved = resolveCliModel({
 			cliProvider: parsed.provider,
@@ -953,9 +957,13 @@ export async function buildSessionOptions(
 		// here and the session would run on an unrelated in-scope provider without
 		// any error. Leaving `options.model` unset lets createAgentSession's
 		// post-extension default-role resolution reclaim it against the fully
-		// registered, still enabledModels-scoped catalog (issue #6694). Only seed
-		// the first scoped model when no default role is configured to reclaim.
-		if (!options.model && !remembered) options.model = scopedModels[0].model;
+		// registered, still enabledModels-scoped catalog (issue #6694).
+		// Defer ONLY for a settings-derived scope: createAgentSession re-resolves
+		// against `settings.enabledModels` and never sees CLI `--models`, so
+		// deferring under an explicit CLI scope would let the saved default
+		// escape it — keep pinning the first scoped model there.
+		deferredDefaultRole = !options.model && Boolean(remembered) && !((parsed.models?.length ?? 0) > 0);
+		if (!options.model && !deferredDefaultRole) options.model = scopedModels[0].model;
 	}
 
 	if (parsed.noPrewalk && (parsed.prewalk || parsed.prewalkInto !== undefined)) {
@@ -1014,6 +1022,10 @@ export async function buildSessionOptions(
 	} else if (
 		scopedModels.length > 0 &&
 		scopedModels[0].explicitThinkingLevel === true &&
+		// A deferred default role resolves its own model (and any explicit
+		// thinking suffix) after extensions register; seeding the fallback
+		// scoped model's level here would override it in createAgentSession.
+		!deferredDefaultRole &&
 		!parsed.continue &&
 		!parsed.resume
 	) {
diff --git a/packages/coding-agent/test/sdk-model-selection.test.ts b/packages/coding-agent/test/sdk-model-selection.test.ts
index 59cbb490a..213b33c83 100644
--- a/packages/coding-agent/test/sdk-model-selection.test.ts
+++ b/packages/coding-agent/test/sdk-model-selection.test.ts
@@ -1093,4 +1093,44 @@ describe("createAgentSession deferred model pattern resolution", () => {
 			exitSpy.mockRestore();
 		}
 	});
+	test("pins the first CLI --models scoped model even when the saved default role is out of scope", async () => {
+		const scopedTarget = getBundledModel("openai", "gpt-4o-mini");
+		const savedDefault = getBundledModel("anthropic", "claude-sonnet-4-5");
+		if (!scopedTarget || !savedDefault) {
+			throw new Error("Expected bundled openai and anthropic models");
+		}
+		const authStorage = await AuthStorage.create(path.join(tempDir, "cli-scope-auth.db"));
+		authStoragesToClose.push(authStorage);
+		authStorage.setRuntimeApiKey(scopedTarget.provider, "test-key");
+		authStorage.setRuntimeApiKey(savedDefault.provider, "test-key");
+		const modelRegistry = new ModelRegistry(authStorage, path.join(tempDir, "cli-scope-models.yml"));
+		const settings = Settings.isolated({});
+		settings.setModelRole("default", `${savedDefault.provider}/${savedDefault.id}`);
+
+		const parsed = parseArgs(["--models", `${scopedTarget.provider}/${scopedTarget.id}`]);
+		const scopedModels = await resolveModelScope(
+			parsed.models ?? [],
+			modelRegistry,
+			getModelMatchPreferences(settings),
+			settings,
+		);
+		expect(scopedModels.map(scoped => `${scoped.model.provider}/${scoped.model.id}`)).toEqual([
+			`${scopedTarget.provider}/${scopedTarget.id}`,
+		]);
+
+		const cliOptions = await buildCliSessionOptions(
+			parsed,
+			scopedModels,
+			SessionManager.inMemory(),
+			modelRegistry,
+			settings,
+		);
+		// The issue #6694 deferral must NOT apply to an explicit CLI scope:
+		// createAgentSession re-resolves the default role against
+		// `settings.enabledModels` only and never sees `--models`, so leaving
+		// `options.model` unset would let the saved out-of-scope default
+		// silently escape the scope the user just asked for.
+		expect(cliOptions.model?.provider).toBe(scopedTarget.provider);
+		expect(cliOptions.model?.id).toBe(scopedTarget.id);
+	});
 });