diff --git a/agent/chat_completion_helpers.py b/agent/chat_completion_helpers.py
index 9a5bcba0924..5c9c8cd771d 100644
--- a/agent/chat_completion_helpers.py
+++ b/agent/chat_completion_helpers.py
@@ -1210,14 +1210,16 @@ def try_activate_fallback(agent, reason: "FailoverReason | None" = None) -> bool
             agent._transport_cache.clear()
         agent._fallback_activated = True
 
-        # Clear the credential pool when the fallback provider doesn't match
-        # the pool's provider.  The pool was seeded for the primary provider;
-        # leaving it attached means downstream recovery (rate_limit / billing /
-        # auth) calls ``_swap_credential`` with a primary entry which overwrites
-        # the agent's ``base_url`` back to the primary's endpoint — every
-        # fallback request then 404s against the wrong host.  See #33163.
+        # Rebind the credential pool to the fallback provider when the provider
+        # changes.  Keeping the primary pool attached would make downstream
+        # recovery (rate_limit / billing / auth) mutate the wrong credential
+        # set and can overwrite the fallback's base_url back to the primary
+        # endpoint.  See #33163.
+        #
         # When the fallback shares the pool's provider (e.g. both openrouter
-        # entries with different routing) the pool is preserved.
+        # entries with different routing) the pool is preserved.  When the
+        # providers differ, load the fallback provider's own pool if one exists
+        # so provider-specific rotation continues to work after the switch.
         _existing_pool = getattr(agent, "_credential_pool", None)
         if _existing_pool is not None:
             _pool_provider = (getattr(_existing_pool, "provider", "") or "").strip().lower()
@@ -1228,6 +1230,22 @@ def try_activate_fallback(agent, reason: "FailoverReason | None" = None) -> bool
                     fb_provider, fb_model, _pool_provider,
                 )
                 agent._credential_pool = None
+        if getattr(agent, "_credential_pool", None) is None:
+            try:
+                from agent.credential_pool import load_pool
+
+                fallback_pool = load_pool(fb_provider)
+                if fallback_pool and fallback_pool.has_credentials():
+                    agent._credential_pool = fallback_pool
+                    logger.info(
+                        "Fallback to %s/%s: attached fallback credential pool",
+                        fb_provider, fb_model,
+                    )
+            except Exception as exc:
+                logger.debug(
+                    "Fallback to %s/%s: could not attach credential pool: %s",
+                    fb_provider, fb_model, exc,
+                )
 
         # Honor per-provider / per-model request_timeout_seconds for the
         # fallback target (same knob the primary client uses).  None = use
diff --git a/tests/run_agent/test_fallback_credential_isolation.py b/tests/run_agent/test_fallback_credential_isolation.py
index 54e352b3b88..0427772be98 100644
--- a/tests/run_agent/test_fallback_credential_isolation.py
+++ b/tests/run_agent/test_fallback_credential_isolation.py
@@ -11,8 +11,8 @@ _swap_credential continue operating on the PRIMARY's credential pool during
 fallback calls, contaminating primary state with fallback-provider errors.
 """
 
-import sys
-from unittest.mock import MagicMock
+from types import SimpleNamespace
+from unittest.mock import MagicMock, patch
 
 
 
@@ -81,10 +81,8 @@ class TestFallbackCredentialIsolation:
 
     def test_fallback_clears_primary_pool(self):
         """When switching from openai-codex to openrouter, the codex pool is cleared."""
-        # Import the real method
-        sys.path.insert(0, "/mnt/g/knowledge/project/hermes-agent")
-        # We test the isolation logic directly, not the full _try_activate_fallback
-        # which has many dependencies. Instead we verify the pool-clearing guard.
+        # We test the isolation logic directly here as a minimal guard; the
+        # integration-style test below calls the real fallback activator.
 
         agent = _make_agent(provider="openai-codex", base_url="https://chatgpt.com/backend-api/codex")
         agent._fallback_activated = True
@@ -122,6 +120,53 @@ class TestFallbackCredentialIsolation:
             "Pool should be preserved when fallback provider matches pool provider"
         )
 
+    def test_fallback_attaches_matching_pool_after_clear(self):
+        """Provider-switch fallback should attach the fallback provider's pool."""
+        from agent.chat_completion_helpers import try_activate_fallback
+
+        agent = _make_agent(
+            provider="ollama-cloud",
+            model="glm-5.2",
+            base_url="https://ollama.com/v1",
+            api_mode="chat_completions",
+        )
+        agent._fallback_chain = [{"provider": "openai-codex", "model": "gpt-5.5"}]
+        agent._credential_pool = _make_pool("ollama-cloud")
+        agent._buffer_status = MagicMock()
+        agent._is_azure_openai_url.return_value = False
+        agent._is_direct_openai_url.return_value = False
+        agent._provider_model_requires_responses_api.return_value = False
+        agent._anthropic_prompt_cache_policy.return_value = (False, False)
+        agent._ensure_lmstudio_runtime_loaded = MagicMock()
+        agent._replace_primary_openai_client = MagicMock()
+        agent.context_compressor = None
+
+        fallback_client = SimpleNamespace(
+            api_key="codex-key",
+            base_url="https://chatgpt.com/backend-api/codex",
+            _custom_headers={},
+        )
+        fallback_pool = _make_pool("openai-codex")
+
+        with patch(
+            "agent.auxiliary_client.resolve_provider_client",
+            return_value=(fallback_client, "gpt-5.5"),
+        ) as resolve_provider_client, patch(
+            "agent.credential_pool.load_pool",
+            return_value=fallback_pool,
+        ) as load_pool:
+            assert try_activate_fallback(agent) is True
+
+        resolve_provider_client.assert_called_once()
+        load_pool.assert_called_once_with("openai-codex")
+        assert agent.provider == "openai-codex"
+        assert agent.model == "gpt-5.5"
+        assert agent.base_url == "https://chatgpt.com/backend-api/codex"
+        assert agent.api_mode == "codex_responses"
+        assert agent._credential_pool is fallback_pool
+        assert agent._credential_pool.provider == "openai-codex"
+        assert agent._transport_cache == {}
+
 
 # ── Test: _recover_with_credential_pool rejects mismatched pool ──────