diff --git a/src/cli/commands/import/__tests__/import-runtime-handler.test.ts b/src/cli/commands/import/__tests__/import-runtime-handler.test.ts
index 799663e38..63f178924 100644
--- a/src/cli/commands/import/__tests__/import-runtime-handler.test.ts
+++ b/src/cli/commands/import/__tests__/import-runtime-handler.test.ts
@@ -32,7 +32,8 @@ const mockFailResult = vi.fn((...args: unknown[]) => ({
   logPath: 'test.log',
 }));
 
-vi.mock('../import-utils', () => ({
+vi.mock('../import-utils', async importOriginal => ({
+  ...(await importOriginal<typeof import('../import-utils')>()),
   resolveProjectContext: (...args: unknown[]) => mockResolveProjectContext(...args),
   resolveImportTarget: (...args: unknown[]) => mockResolveImportTarget(...args),
   resolveImportContext: (...args: unknown[]) => mockResolveImportContext(...args),
diff --git a/src/cli/commands/import/__tests__/strip-reserved-tags.test.ts b/src/cli/commands/import/__tests__/strip-reserved-tags.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b0b20d408
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/cli/commands/import/__tests__/strip-reserved-tags.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+import { TagsSchema } from '../../../../schema/schemas/primitives/tags';
+import { stripReservedTags } from '../import-utils';
+import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest';
+
+// Regression: a runtime retained after its CloudFormation stack was deleted keeps orphaned
+// aws:cloudformation:* tags. The import commands used to copy them verbatim into agentcore.json,
+// where TagsSchema rejects the reserved "aws:" prefix and blocks the import.
+describe('stripReservedTags', () => {
+  const orphaned = {
+    'aws:cloudformation:stack-name': 'AgentCore-MyProject-default',
+    'aws:cloudformation:logical-id': 'ApplicationAgentMyAgentRuntime140BFE6B',
+    'aws:cloudformation:stack-id':
+      'arn:aws:cloudformation:us-east-1:123456789012:stack/AgentCore-MyProject-default/abc',
+  };
+
+  it('drops every aws: reserved key, leaving no tags to persist', () => {
+    expect(stripReservedTags(orphaned)).toBeUndefined();
+  });
+
+  it('keeps user tags and removes only reserved ones', () => {
+    const kept = stripReservedTags({ ...orphaned, team: 'life-sciences', env: 'test' });
+    expect(kept).toEqual({ team: 'life-sciences', env: 'test' });
+  });
+
+  it('passes undefined through', () => {
+    expect(stripReservedTags(undefined)).toBeUndefined();
+  });
+
+  it('produces tags that survive the config schema (the actual blocker)', () => {
+    // Before the fix, feeding orphaned tags straight to TagsSchema throws "aws:" reserved.
+    expect(() => TagsSchema.parse(orphaned)).toThrow();
+    const cleaned = stripReservedTags({ ...orphaned, team: 'life-sciences' });
+    expect(() => TagsSchema.parse(cleaned)).not.toThrow();
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/cli/commands/import/import-evaluator.ts b/src/cli/commands/import/import-evaluator.ts
index 21e68ed07..c136284bb 100644
--- a/src/cli/commands/import/import-evaluator.ts
+++ b/src/cli/commands/import/import-evaluator.ts
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ import {
 } from '../../aws/agentcore-control';
 import { ANSI } from '../../constants';
 import { withCommandRunTelemetry } from '../../telemetry/cli-command-run.js';
-import { failResult, parseAndValidateArn } from './import-utils';
+import { failResult, parseAndValidateArn, stripReservedTags } from './import-utils';
 import { executeResourceImport } from './resource-import';
 import type { ImportResourceOptions, ImportResourceResult, ResourceImportDescriptor } from './types';
 import { ResourceNotFoundException } from '@aws-sdk/client-bedrock-agentcore-control';
@@ -51,6 +51,8 @@ export function toEvaluatorSpec(detail: GetEvaluatorResult, localName: string):
     );
   }
 
+  const tags = stripReservedTags(detail.tags);
+
   return {
     success: true,
     evaluator: {
@@ -59,7 +61,7 @@ export function toEvaluatorSpec(detail: GetEvaluatorResult, localName: string):
       ...(detail.description && { description: detail.description }),
       config,
       ...(detail.kmsKeyArn && { kmsKeyArn: detail.kmsKeyArn }),
-      ...(detail.tags && Object.keys(detail.tags).length > 0 && { tags: detail.tags }),
+      ...(tags && { tags }),
     },
   };
 }
diff --git a/src/cli/commands/import/import-gateway.ts b/src/cli/commands/import/import-gateway.ts
index 163a6ede2..24220d9e0 100644
--- a/src/cli/commands/import/import-gateway.ts
+++ b/src/cli/commands/import/import-gateway.ts
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ import {
   findResourceInDeployedState,
   parseAndValidateArn,
   resolveImportContext,
+  stripReservedTags,
   toStackName,
 } from './import-utils';
 import { findLogicalIdByProperty, findLogicalIdsByType } from './template-utils';
@@ -310,6 +311,8 @@ export function toGatewaySpec(options: {
     };
   }
 
+  const tags = stripReservedTags(gateway.tags);
+
   return {
     name: localName,
     resourceName: gateway.name,
@@ -322,7 +325,7 @@ export function toGatewaySpec(options: {
     exceptionLevel,
     ...(policyEngineConfiguration && { policyEngineConfiguration }),
     ...(gateway.roleArn && { executionRoleArn: gateway.roleArn }),
-    ...(gateway.tags && Object.keys(gateway.tags).length > 0 && { tags: gateway.tags }),
+    ...(tags && { tags }),
   };
 }
 
diff --git a/src/cli/commands/import/import-memory.ts b/src/cli/commands/import/import-memory.ts
index 90a799633..5a4b60344 100644
--- a/src/cli/commands/import/import-memory.ts
+++ b/src/cli/commands/import/import-memory.ts
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import type { MemoryDetail, MemorySummary } from '../../aws/agentcore-control';
 import { getMemoryDetail, listAllMemories } from '../../aws/agentcore-control';
 import { ANSI } from '../../constants';
 import { withCommandRunTelemetry } from '../../telemetry/cli-command-run.js';
-import { parseAndValidateArn } from './import-utils';
+import { parseAndValidateArn, stripReservedTags } from './import-utils';
 import { executeResourceImport } from './resource-import';
 import type { ImportResourceOptions, ImportResourceResult, ResourceImportDescriptor } from './types';
 import type { Command } from '@commander-js/extra-typings';
@@ -72,12 +72,14 @@ function toMemorySpec(memory: MemoryDetail, localName: string): Memory {
     })
     .filter(Boolean);
 
+  const tags = stripReservedTags(memory.tags);
+
   return {
     name: localName,
     eventExpiryDuration: Math.max(3, Math.min(365, memory.eventExpiryDuration)),
     strategies,
     ...(indexedKeys && indexedKeys.length > 0 && { indexedKeys }),
-    ...(memory.tags && Object.keys(memory.tags).length > 0 && { tags: memory.tags }),
+    ...(tags && { tags }),
     ...(memory.encryptionKeyArn && { encryptionKeyArn: memory.encryptionKeyArn }),
     ...(memory.executionRoleArn && { executionRoleArn: memory.executionRoleArn }),
   };
diff --git a/src/cli/commands/import/import-runtime.ts b/src/cli/commands/import/import-runtime.ts
index 58aa53fad..a6c706716 100644
--- a/src/cli/commands/import/import-runtime.ts
+++ b/src/cli/commands/import/import-runtime.ts
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ import type { AgentRuntimeDetail, AgentRuntimeSummary } from '../../aws/agentcor
 import { getAgentRuntimeDetail, listAllAgentRuntimes } from '../../aws/agentcore-control';
 import { ANSI } from '../../constants';
 import { withCommandRunTelemetry } from '../../telemetry/cli-command-run.js';
-import { copyAgentSource, failResult, parseAndValidateArn } from './import-utils';
+import { copyAgentSource, failResult, parseAndValidateArn, stripReservedTags } from './import-utils';
 import { executeResourceImport } from './resource-import';
 import type { ImportResourceResult, ResourceImportDescriptor, RuntimeImportOptions } from './types';
 import type { Command } from '@commander-js/extra-typings';
@@ -65,8 +65,9 @@ function toAgentEnvSpec(
     spec.envVars = Object.entries(runtime.environmentVariables).map(([name, value]) => ({ name, value }));
   }
 
-  if (runtime.tags && Object.keys(runtime.tags).length > 0) {
-    spec.tags = runtime.tags;
+  const tags = stripReservedTags(runtime.tags);
+  if (tags) {
+    spec.tags = tags;
   }
 
   if (runtime.lifecycleConfiguration) {
diff --git a/src/cli/commands/import/import-utils.ts b/src/cli/commands/import/import-utils.ts
index aac02d6e0..48f43455d 100644
--- a/src/cli/commands/import/import-utils.ts
+++ b/src/cli/commands/import/import-utils.ts
@@ -15,6 +15,20 @@ import * as path from 'node:path';
 
 const { green, reset } = ANSI;
 
+/**
+ * Drop AWS-managed reserved tags (aws:* keys) when importing an existing resource.
+ * CloudFormation stamps aws:cloudformation:{stack-id,stack-name,logical-id} on every
+ * resource it provisions; a runtime retained after its stack is deleted keeps them as
+ * orphans. They are not customer-writable, so persisting them into agentcore.json would
+ * fail TagKeySchema ("aws:" is reserved) and block the import.
+ * Returns undefined when nothing user-owned remains, so callers can omit the tags field.
+ */
+export function stripReservedTags(tags: Record<string, string> | undefined): Record<string, string> | undefined {
+  if (!tags) return undefined;
+  const userTags = Object.fromEntries(Object.entries(tags).filter(([key]) => !key.startsWith('aws:')));
+  return Object.keys(userTags).length > 0 ? userTags : undefined;
+}
+
 export interface ImportContext {
   ctx: ProjectContext;
   target: AwsDeploymentTarget;