diff --git a/hermes_cli/models.py b/hermes_cli/models.py
index 1dc8a7aca66..cf693ae28b4 100644
--- a/hermes_cli/models.py
+++ b/hermes_cli/models.py
@@ -110,16 +110,16 @@ def _codex_curated_models() -> list[str]:
 # $HERMES_HOME/models_dev_cache.json as of 2026-04-28. Whenever xAI renames
 # or retires a model, the disk cache picks it up on the next refresh and the
 # fallback here only matters until that refresh lands.
+#
+# Models retired by xAI on May 15, 2026 are excluded — see
+# https://docs.x.ai/developers/migration/may-15-retirement
+# (grok-4, grok-4-0709, grok-4-fast{,-reasoning,-non-reasoning},
+#  grok-4-1-fast{,-reasoning,-non-reasoning}, grok-code-fast-1 → grok-4.3).
 _XAI_STATIC_FALLBACK: list[str] = [
     "grok-4.20-0309-reasoning",
     "grok-4.20-0309-non-reasoning",
     "grok-4.20-multi-agent-0309",
-    "grok-4-1-fast",
-    "grok-4-1-fast-non-reasoning",
-    "grok-4-fast",
-    "grok-4-fast-non-reasoning",
-    "grok-4",
-    "grok-code-fast-1",
+    "grok-4.3",
 ]
 
 
@@ -210,7 +210,6 @@ _PROVIDER_MODELS: dict[str, list[str]] = {
         "gemini-3-pro-preview",
         "gemini-3-flash-preview",
         "gemini-2.5-pro",
-        "grok-code-fast-1",
     ],
     "gemini": [
         "gemini-3.1-pro-preview",
diff --git a/hermes_cli/setup.py b/hermes_cli/setup.py
index ad5d80b921f..534d23546e9 100644
--- a/hermes_cli/setup.py
+++ b/hermes_cli/setup.py
@@ -89,7 +89,6 @@ _DEFAULT_PROVIDER_MODELS = {
         "claude-sonnet-4.5",
         "claude-haiku-4.5",
         "gemini-2.5-pro",
-        "grok-code-fast-1",
     ],
     "gemini": [
         "gemini-3.1-pro-preview", "gemini-3-pro-preview",