diff --git a/packages/catalog/CHANGELOG.md b/packages/catalog/CHANGELOG.md
index 05aaaf4f9..e42a2972d 100644
--- a/packages/catalog/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/packages/catalog/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 
 ### Fixed
 
-- Fixed Synthetic models losing their thinking selector, vision input, output cap and pricing: the discovery mapper read `supports_reasoning`, `supports_vision` and `max_tokens`, none of which Synthetic sends. It advertises `supported_features`, `reasoning_parameters.efforts`, `input_modalities`, `max_output_length` and `$`-prefixed `pricing`, so any route without a bundled reference (the `syn:*` router aliases, newly added routes such as `hf:moonshotai/Kimi-K3`) resolved to `reasoning: false` — hiding the effort dial and dropping `reasoning_effort` from every request — plus text-only input, zero cost, and an 8k output cap low enough to end turns on `length` and trigger recovery compaction. Effort ladders now come from the per-model wire vocabulary, with the router's `none` tier mapped onto `minimal`; a route whose wire vocabulary contains no known tier reports non-reasoning rather than fabricating an unadvertised ladder, the wire vocabulary overrides stale bundled reference ladders, and a populated `supported_features` list without `tools` no longer downgrades routes a bundled reference already marked tool-capable. An advertised effort vocabulary is authoritative over the bundled reference's reasoning flag, a route with at least one named tier reasons even if that tier stands alone (only a `none`-only vocabulary is the off-switch), and a present-but-empty `supported_features` list now marks the route tool-less rather than falling back to the reference default.
+- Fixed Synthetic models losing their thinking selector, vision input, output cap and pricing: the discovery mapper read `supports_reasoning`, `supports_vision` and `max_tokens`, none of which Synthetic sends. It advertises `supported_features`, `reasoning_parameters.efforts`, `input_modalities`, `max_output_length` and `$`-prefixed `pricing`, so any route without a bundled reference (the `syn:*` router aliases, newly added routes such as `hf:moonshotai/Kimi-K3`) resolved to `reasoning: false` — hiding the effort dial and dropping `reasoning_effort` from every request — plus text-only input, zero cost, and an 8k output cap low enough to end turns on `length` and trigger recovery compaction. Effort ladders now come from the per-model wire vocabulary, with the router's `none` tier mapped onto `minimal`; a route whose wire vocabulary contains no known tier reports non-reasoning rather than fabricating an unadvertised ladder, the wire vocabulary overrides stale bundled reference ladders, and a populated `supported_features` list without `tools` no longer downgrades routes a bundled reference already marked tool-capable. An advertised effort vocabulary is authoritative over the bundled reference's reasoning flag, a route with at least one named tier reasons even if that tier stands alone (only a `none`-only vocabulary is the off-switch), and a present-but-empty `supported_features` list now marks the route tool-less rather than falling back to the reference default. The production model-manager merge (`mergeDynamicModel`) now treats Synthetic's discovered `reasoning` as authoritative instead of OR-ing the stale bundled flag back over a wire-advertised off-state — matching the existing Copilot `input` precedent — so a `none`-only route stays non-reasoning through `createModelManager`, not just in the raw fetcher.
 
 ## [17.2.1] - 2026-07-30
 
diff --git a/packages/catalog/src/model-manager.ts b/packages/catalog/src/model-manager.ts
index ca7230aac..00a8a7c75 100644
--- a/packages/catalog/src/model-manager.ts
+++ b/packages/catalog/src/model-manager.ts
@@ -484,13 +484,25 @@ function mergeDynamicModel<TApi extends Api>(existingModel: Model<TApi>, dynamic
 	const supportsImage = dynamicInputAuthoritative
 		? dynamicModel.input.includes("image")
 		: existingModel.input.includes("image") || dynamicModel.input.includes("image");
+	// Synthetic's discovery is authoritative (`dynamicModelsAuthoritative`) and
+	// its per-model `reasoning_parameters.efforts` vocabulary is the route's
+	// whole truth: when the wire advertises only the `none` off-state the
+	// mapper emits `reasoning: false`, and OR-ing the bundled reference's
+	// stale `reasoning: true` back would re-arm an effort dial the route
+	// doesn't expose. Other providers keep the OR so a bundled reasoning flag
+	// survives a discovery row that simply omits the capability.
+	const dynamicReasoningAuthoritative =
+		existingModel.provider === "synthetic" && dynamicModel.provider === "synthetic";
+	const reasoning = dynamicReasoningAuthoritative
+		? dynamicModel.reasoning
+		: existingModel.reasoning || dynamicModel.reasoning;
 	// Re-build from spec stage: sparse compat comes from `compatConfig` (the
 	// verbatim override vocabulary), never the resolved `compat` record.
 	return buildModel({
 		...existingModel,
 		...dynamicModel,
 		name: preferDiscoveryName(dynamicModel.name, existingModel.name, dynamicModel.id),
-		reasoning: existingModel.reasoning || dynamicModel.reasoning,
+		reasoning,
 		input: supportsImage ? ["text", "image"] : ["text"],
 		cost: {
 			input: preferDiscoveryCost(dynamicModel.cost.input, existingModel.cost.input),
diff --git a/packages/catalog/test/synthetic-provider.test.ts b/packages/catalog/test/synthetic-provider.test.ts
index 374dc85a2..209e7e7b3 100644
--- a/packages/catalog/test/synthetic-provider.test.ts
+++ b/packages/catalog/test/synthetic-provider.test.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import { describe, expect, test } from "bun:test";
 import { buildModel } from "@oh-my-pi/pi-catalog/build";
 import { Effort } from "@oh-my-pi/pi-catalog/effort";
+import { createModelManager } from "@oh-my-pi/pi-catalog/model-manager";
 import { syntheticModelManagerOptions } from "@oh-my-pi/pi-catalog/provider-models/openai-compat";
 import type { FetchImpl } from "@oh-my-pi/pi-catalog/types";
 
@@ -247,6 +248,32 @@ describe("Synthetic provider discovery", () => {
 		expect(bare?.reasoning).toBe(false);
 	});
 
+	test("keeps the wire-off state authoritative through the production manager merge", async () => {
+		// The CLI resolves models through `createModelManager`, which merges the
+		// dynamic row over the bundled reference. `hf:zai-org/GLM-5.2` has a baked
+		// `reasoning: true` reference; without the wire-vocabulary override the
+		// merge would OR that flag back and `buildModel` would fabricate a ladder
+		// for a route that advertised only `none`.
+		const { fetch } = syntheticModelsFetch([
+			{
+				id: "hf:zai-org/GLM-5.2",
+				object: "model",
+				name: "zai-org/GLM-5.2",
+				reasoning_parameters: { efforts: ["none"] },
+				input_modalities: ["text"],
+				context_length: 202752,
+				max_output_length: 32768,
+				supported_features: ["tools"],
+			},
+		]);
+		const manager = createModelManager(syntheticModelManagerOptions({ apiKey: "syn-test-key", fetch }));
+		const { models } = await manager.refresh("online");
+
+		const glm = models.find(model => model.id === "hf:zai-org/GLM-5.2");
+		expect(glm?.reasoning).toBe(false);
+		expect(glm?.thinking).toBeUndefined();
+	});
+
 	test("serves no dynamic models without an API key", () => {
 		expect(syntheticModelManagerOptions().fetchDynamicModels).toBeUndefined();
 	});