diff --git a/src/CodexAcpClient.ts b/src/CodexAcpClient.ts
index ed8bdb1..a9d7f2b 100644
--- a/src/CodexAcpClient.ts
+++ b/src/CodexAcpClient.ts
@@ -441,15 +441,30 @@ export class CodexAcpClient {
      * Falls back to model defaults if parameters are missing or unsupported.
      */
     createModelId(availableModels: Model[], modelId: string | null, reasoningEffort: ReasoningEffort | null): ModelId {
-        const selectedModel =
-            availableModels.find(m => m.id === modelId) ??
-            availableModels.find(m => m.isDefault);
-
-        if (!selectedModel) {
+        const selectedModel = availableModels.find(m => m.id === modelId);
+        if (selectedModel) {
+            return ModelId.create(selectedModel.id, reasoningEffort ?? selectedModel.defaultReasoningEffort);
+        }
+
+        // The configured model is not in Codex's advertised catalog. This is
+        // expected for custom providers (e.g. a self-hosted or third-party
+        // model), whose model ids the catalog does not enumerate. Keep the
+        // requested model id instead of silently substituting the built-in
+        // default. This mirrors the Codex CLI, which keeps the configured model
+        // and merely warns "Model metadata not found. Defaulting to fallback
+        // metadata." Substituting the default here pins a wrong model id onto
+        // every turn and makes requests to custom-provider endpoints fail with
+        // "unknown model".
+        if (modelId) {
+            return ModelId.create(modelId, reasoningEffort ?? "medium");
+        }
+
+        const defaultModel = availableModels.find(m => m.isDefault);
+        if (!defaultModel) {
             throw new Error(`Model selection failed: No model found for ID "${modelId}" and no default model is defined.`);
         }
 
-        return ModelId.create(selectedModel.id, reasoningEffort ?? selectedModel.defaultReasoningEffort);
+        return ModelId.create(defaultModel.id, reasoningEffort ?? defaultModel.defaultReasoningEffort);
     }
 
     async subscribeToSessionEvents(
diff --git a/src/CodexAcpServer.ts b/src/CodexAcpServer.ts
index 720ff95..f5d628a 100644
--- a/src/CodexAcpServer.ts
+++ b/src/CodexAcpServer.ts
@@ -694,6 +694,10 @@ export class CodexAcpServer {
     private applyModelChange(sessionState: SessionState, value: string): void {
         const model = sessionState.availableModels.find(m => m.id === value);
         if (!model) {
+            const currentModel = ModelId.fromString(sessionState.currentModelId).model;
+            if (value === currentModel) {
+                return;
+            }
             throw RequestError.invalidParams();
         }
         const currentEffort = ModelId.fromString(sessionState.currentModelId).effort;
@@ -763,12 +767,17 @@ export class CodexAcpServer {
 
     private createSessionConfigOptions(sessionState: SessionState): Array<acp.SessionConfigOption> {
         const currentModelId = ModelId.fromString(sessionState.currentModelId);
-        return [
+        const configOptions = [
             sessionState.agentMode.toConfigOption(),
             createModelConfigOption(sessionState.availableModels, currentModelId.model),
-            createReasoningEffortConfigOption(sessionState.supportedReasoningEfforts, currentModelId.effort),
-            createFastModeConfigOption(sessionState.fastModeEnabled),
         ];
+        if (sessionState.supportedReasoningEfforts.length > 0) {
+            configOptions.push(
+                createReasoningEffortConfigOption(sessionState.supportedReasoningEfforts, currentModelId.effort),
+            );
+        }
+        configOptions.push(createFastModeConfigOption(sessionState.fastModeEnabled));
+        return configOptions;
     }
 
     private createSessionConfigOptionsResponse(sessionState: SessionState): {
diff --git a/src/ModelConfigOption.ts b/src/ModelConfigOption.ts
index 00bb515..035b59f 100644
--- a/src/ModelConfigOption.ts
+++ b/src/ModelConfigOption.ts
@@ -14,6 +14,19 @@ export function findSupportedEffort(
 }
 
 export function createModelConfigOption(availableModels: Array<Model>, currentBaseModelId: string): SessionConfigOption {
+    const options: Array<{ value: string; name: string; description: string | null }> = availableModels.map(model => ({
+        value: model.id,
+        name: model.displayName,
+        description: model.description,
+    }));
+    if (!availableModels.some(model => model.id === currentBaseModelId)) {
+        options.unshift({
+            value: currentBaseModelId,
+            name: currentBaseModelId,
+            description: null,
+        });
+    }
+
     return {
         id: MODEL_CONFIG_ID,
         name: "Model",
@@ -21,11 +34,7 @@ export function createModelConfigOption(availableModels: Array<Model>, currentBa
         category: "model",
         type: "select",
         currentValue: currentBaseModelId,
-        options: availableModels.map(model => ({
-            value: model.id,
-            name: model.displayName,
-            description: model.description,
-        })),
+        options,
     };
 }
 
diff --git a/src/__tests__/CodexACPAgent/CodexAcpClient.test.ts b/src/__tests__/CodexACPAgent/CodexAcpClient.test.ts
index 54436c6..a1dea3a 100644
--- a/src/__tests__/CodexACPAgent/CodexAcpClient.test.ts
+++ b/src/__tests__/CodexACPAgent/CodexAcpClient.test.ts
@@ -1824,6 +1824,16 @@ describe('ACP server test', { timeout: 40_000 }, () => {
         expect(result).toEqual(ModelId.create('5.2-codex', 'medium'));
     });
 
+    it('should keep a model id that is not in the advertised catalog (custom provider)', () => {
+        const result = fixture.getCodexAcpClient().createModelId(mockModels, 'MiniMax-M3', 'high');
+        expect(result).toEqual(ModelId.create('MiniMax-M3', 'high'));
+    });
+
+    it('should default the effort for an uncatalogued model when reasoningEffort is null', () => {
+        const result = fixture.getCodexAcpClient().createModelId(mockModels, 'MiniMax-M3', null);
+        expect(result).toEqual(ModelId.create('MiniMax-M3', 'medium'));
+    });
+
     /**
      * Sets up a mock fixture with turnStart/awaitTurnCompleted spied on,
      * and a given session state. Returns the fixture and turnStart spy.
diff --git a/src/__tests__/CodexACPAgent/session-config-options.test.ts b/src/__tests__/CodexACPAgent/session-config-options.test.ts
index bf8dc5c..391cc04 100644
--- a/src/__tests__/CodexACPAgent/session-config-options.test.ts
+++ b/src/__tests__/CodexACPAgent/session-config-options.test.ts
@@ -90,6 +90,35 @@ describe("Session config options", () => {
         );
     });
 
+    it("shows the current uncataloged model as its own selectable option", async () => {
+        const {fast, slow} = buildModels();
+        const {codexAcpAgent, response} = await createSession("custom-model[high]", [fast, slow]);
+
+        const ids = response.configOptions?.map(o => o.id);
+        expect(ids).toEqual([MODE_CONFIG_ID, MODEL_CONFIG_ID, "fast-mode"]);
+
+        const modelOption = response.configOptions?.find(o => o.id === MODEL_CONFIG_ID);
+        expect(modelOption).toMatchObject({
+            category: "model",
+            currentValue: "custom-model",
+            type: "select",
+            options: [
+                {value: "custom-model", name: "custom-model", description: null},
+                {value: "fast-model", name: "Fast model", description: "Frontier"},
+                {value: "slow-model", name: "Slow model", description: "Strong"},
+            ],
+        });
+        expect(response.configOptions?.some(o => o.id === REASONING_EFFORT_CONFIG_ID)).toBe(false);
+
+        await codexAcpAgent.setSessionConfigOption({
+            sessionId: "session-id",
+            configId: MODEL_CONFIG_ID,
+            value: "custom-model",
+        });
+
+        expect(codexAcpAgent.getSessionState("session-id").currentModelId).toBe("custom-model[high]");
+    });
+
     it("keeps the legacy models list as combined model/effort entries", async () => {
         const {fast, slow} = buildModels();
         const {response} = await createSession("fast-model[medium]", [fast, slow]);