fix: fall back to provider's default model when model config is empty (#8303)

When a user configures a provider (e.g. `hermes auth add openai-codex`)
but never selects a model via `hermes model`, the gateway and CLI would
pass an empty model string to the API, causing:
  'Codex Responses request model must be a non-empty string'

Now both gateway (_resolve_session_agent_runtime) and CLI
(_ensure_runtime_credentials) detect an empty model and fill it from
the provider's first catalog entry in _PROVIDER_MODELS. This covers
all providers that have a static model list (openai-codex, anthropic,
gemini, copilot, etc.).

The fix is conservative: it only triggers when model is truly empty
and a known provider was resolved. Explicit model choices are never
overridden.

cli.py

@@ -2735,6 +2735,22 @@ class HermesCLI:
         if runtime_model and isinstance(runtime_model, str):
             self.model = runtime_model
 
+        # If model is still empty (e.g. user ran `hermes auth add openai-codex`
+        # without `hermes model`), fall back to the provider's first catalog
+        # model so the API call doesn't fail with "model must be non-empty".
+        if not self.model and resolved_provider:
+            try:
+                from hermes_cli.models import get_default_model_for_provider
+                _default = get_default_model_for_provider(resolved_provider)
+                if _default:
+                    self.model = _default
+                    logger.info(
+                        "No model configured — defaulting to %s for provider %s",
+                        _default, resolved_provider,
+                    )
+            except Exception:
+                pass
+
         # Normalize model for the resolved provider (e.g. swap non-Codex
         # models when provider is openai-codex).  Fixes #651.
         model_changed = self._normalize_model_for_provider(resolved_provider)

gateway/run.py

@@ -900,6 +900,23 @@ class GatewayRunner:
             model, runtime_kwargs = self._apply_session_model_override(
                 resolved_session_key, model, runtime_kwargs
             )
+
+        # When the config has no model.default but a provider was resolved
+        # (e.g. user ran `hermes auth add openai-codex` without `hermes model`),
+        # fall back to the provider's first catalog model so the API call
+        # doesn't fail with "model must be a non-empty string".
+        if not model and runtime_kwargs.get("provider"):
+            try:
+                from hermes_cli.models import get_default_model_for_provider
+                model = get_default_model_for_provider(runtime_kwargs["provider"])
+                if model:
+                    logger.info(
+                        "No model configured — defaulting to %s for provider %s",
+                        model, runtime_kwargs["provider"],
+                    )
+            except Exception:
+                pass
+
         return model, runtime_kwargs
 
     def _resolve_turn_agent_config(self, user_message: str, model: str, runtime_kwargs: dict) -> dict:

hermes_cli/models.py

@@ -546,6 +546,20 @@ _PROVIDER_ALIASES = {
 }
 
 
+def get_default_model_for_provider(provider: str) -> str:
+    """Return the default model for a provider, or empty string if unknown.
+
+    Uses the first entry in _PROVIDER_MODELS as the default.  This is the
+    model a user would be offered first in the ``hermes model`` picker.
+
+    Used as a fallback when the user has configured a provider but never
+    selected a model (e.g. ``hermes auth add openai-codex`` without
+    ``hermes model``).
+    """
+    models = _PROVIDER_MODELS.get(provider, [])
+    return models[0] if models else ""
+
+
 def _openrouter_model_is_free(pricing: Any) -> bool:
     """Return True when both prompt and completion pricing are zero."""
     if not isinstance(pricing, dict):

tests/test_empty_model_fallback.py

@@ -0,0 +1,120 @@
+"""Tests for empty model fallback — when provider is configured but model is missing."""
+
+from unittest.mock import MagicMock, patch
+import pytest
+
+
+class TestGetDefaultModelForProvider:
+    """Unit tests for hermes_cli.models.get_default_model_for_provider."""
+
+    def test_known_provider_returns_first_model(self):
+        from hermes_cli.models import get_default_model_for_provider
+        result = get_default_model_for_provider("openai-codex")
+        # Should return first model from _PROVIDER_MODELS["openai-codex"]
+        assert result
+        assert isinstance(result, str)
+
+    def test_openrouter_returns_empty(self):
+        """OpenRouter uses dynamic model fetch, no static catalog entry."""
+        from hermes_cli.models import get_default_model_for_provider
+        # OpenRouter is not in _PROVIDER_MODELS — it uses live fetching
+        result = get_default_model_for_provider("openrouter")
+        assert result == ""
+
+    def test_unknown_provider_returns_empty(self):
+        from hermes_cli.models import get_default_model_for_provider
+        assert get_default_model_for_provider("nonexistent-provider") == ""
+
+    def test_custom_provider_returns_empty(self):
+        """Custom provider has no model catalog — should return empty."""
+        from hermes_cli.models import get_default_model_for_provider
+        # Custom providers don't have entries in _PROVIDER_MODELS
+        assert get_default_model_for_provider("some-random-custom") == ""
+
+
+class TestGatewayEmptyModelFallback:
+    """Test that _resolve_session_agent_runtime fills in empty model from provider catalog."""
+
+    def test_empty_model_filled_from_provider(self):
+        """When config has no model but provider is openai-codex, use first codex model."""
+        from gateway.run import GatewayRunner
+
+        runner = object.__new__(GatewayRunner)
+        runner._session_model_overrides = {}
+
+        # Mock _resolve_gateway_model to return empty string
+        # Mock _resolve_runtime_agent_kwargs to return openai-codex provider
+        with patch("gateway.run._resolve_gateway_model", return_value=""), \
+             patch("gateway.run._resolve_runtime_agent_kwargs", return_value={
+                 "provider": "openai-codex",
+                 "api_key": "test-key",
+                 "base_url": "https://chatgpt.com/backend-api/codex",
+                 "api_mode": "codex_responses",
+             }):
+            model, kwargs = runner._resolve_session_agent_runtime()
+
+        # Model should have been filled in from provider catalog
+        assert model, "Model should not be empty when provider is known"
+        assert isinstance(model, str)
+        assert kwargs["provider"] == "openai-codex"
+
+    def test_nonempty_model_not_overridden(self):
+        """When config has a model set, don't override it."""
+        from gateway.run import GatewayRunner
+
+        runner = object.__new__(GatewayRunner)
+        runner._session_model_overrides = {}
+
+        with patch("gateway.run._resolve_gateway_model", return_value="gpt-5.4"), \
+             patch("gateway.run._resolve_runtime_agent_kwargs", return_value={
+                 "provider": "openai-codex",
+                 "api_key": "test-key",
+                 "base_url": "https://chatgpt.com/backend-api/codex",
+                 "api_mode": "codex_responses",
+             }):
+            model, kwargs = runner._resolve_session_agent_runtime()
+
+        assert model == "gpt-5.4", "Explicit model should not be overridden"
+
+    def test_empty_model_no_provider_stays_empty(self):
+        """When both model and provider are empty, model stays empty."""
+        from gateway.run import GatewayRunner
+
+        runner = object.__new__(GatewayRunner)
+        runner._session_model_overrides = {}
+
+        with patch("gateway.run._resolve_gateway_model", return_value=""), \
+             patch("gateway.run._resolve_runtime_agent_kwargs", return_value={
+                 "provider": "",
+                 "api_key": "test-key",
+                 "base_url": "https://example.com",
+                 "api_mode": "chat_completions",
+             }):
+            model, kwargs = runner._resolve_session_agent_runtime()
+
+        # Can't fill in a default without knowing the provider
+        assert model == ""
+
+
+class TestResolveGatewayModel:
+    """Test _resolve_gateway_model reads model from config correctly."""
+
+    def test_returns_default_key(self):
+        from gateway.run import _resolve_gateway_model
+        assert _resolve_gateway_model({"model": {"default": "gpt-5.4"}}) == "gpt-5.4"
+
+    def test_returns_model_key_fallback(self):
+        from gateway.run import _resolve_gateway_model
+        assert _resolve_gateway_model({"model": {"model": "gpt-5.4"}}) == "gpt-5.4"
+
+    def test_returns_empty_when_missing(self):
+        from gateway.run import _resolve_gateway_model
+        assert _resolve_gateway_model({"model": {}}) == ""
+
+    def test_returns_empty_when_no_model_section(self):
+        from gateway.run import _resolve_gateway_model
+        assert _resolve_gateway_model({}) == ""
+
+    def test_string_model_config(self):
+        from gateway.run import _resolve_gateway_model
+        assert _resolve_gateway_model({"model": "my-model"}) == "my-model"