diff --git a/hermes_cli/model_switch.py b/hermes_cli/model_switch.py
index d75aca5cd08..1bdb76b0f0f 100644
--- a/hermes_cli/model_switch.py
+++ b/hermes_cli/model_switch.py
@@ -1079,6 +1079,7 @@ def list_authenticated_providers(
     from hermes_cli.models import (
         OPENROUTER_MODELS, _PROVIDER_MODELS,
         _MODELS_DEV_PREFERRED, _merge_with_models_dev, provider_model_ids,
+        get_curated_nous_model_ids,
     )
 
     results: List[dict] = []
@@ -1160,9 +1161,12 @@ def list_authenticated_providers(
     # Build curated model lists keyed by hermes provider ID
     curated: dict[str, list[str]] = dict(_PROVIDER_MODELS)
     curated["openrouter"] = [mid for mid, _ in OPENROUTER_MODELS]
-    # "nous" shares OpenRouter's curated list if not separately defined
-    if "nous" not in curated:
-        curated["nous"] = curated["openrouter"]
+    # "nous" pulls from the remote model-catalog manifest published at
+    # https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/api/model-catalog.json so
+    # newly added Portal models surface in the /model picker without
+    # requiring a Hermes release. Falls back to the in-repo
+    # _PROVIDER_MODELS["nous"] snapshot when the manifest is unreachable.
+    curated["nous"] = get_curated_nous_model_ids()
     # Ollama Cloud uses dynamic discovery (no static curated list)
     if "ollama-cloud" not in curated:
         from hermes_cli.models import fetch_ollama_cloud_models
diff --git a/tests/hermes_cli/test_model_catalog.py b/tests/hermes_cli/test_model_catalog.py
index 2b757ac79b2..8910705c74d 100644
--- a/tests/hermes_cli/test_model_catalog.py
+++ b/tests/hermes_cli/test_model_catalog.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 
 import json
+import os
 import time
 from pathlib import Path
 from unittest.mock import patch
@@ -282,3 +283,48 @@ class TestIntegrationWithModelsModule:
             result = get_curated_nous_model_ids()
 
         assert result == ["anthropic/claude-opus-4.7", "moonshotai/kimi-k2.6"]
+
+    def test_picker_nous_row_uses_manifest(self, tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+        """The /model picker must surface the manifest's nous list, not the
+        in-repo _PROVIDER_MODELS["nous"] snapshot. Regression: before this
+        fix, list_authenticated_providers() built the curated dict from
+        _PROVIDER_MODELS only — so newly-added Portal models never reached
+        the slash-command picker until the next Hermes release.
+        """
+        # We deliberately do NOT use the ``isolated_home`` fixture here:
+        # that fixture monkeypatches ``Path.home`` to ``tmp_path``, which
+        # trips the auth-store seat-belt in ``_auth_file_path()`` because
+        # ``HERMES_HOME / auth.json`` then resolves to the same path the
+        # seat-belt thinks is the "real" user store. Use the autouse
+        # ``_hermetic_environment`` HERMES_HOME directly instead.
+        import importlib
+        from hermes_cli import model_catalog
+        importlib.reload(model_catalog)
+        try:
+            from hermes_cli.model_switch import list_picker_providers
+
+            active_home = Path(os.environ["HERMES_HOME"])
+            (active_home / "auth.json").write_text(
+                json.dumps(
+                    {
+                        "providers": {"nous": {"access_token": "fake"}},
+                        "credential_pool": {},
+                    }
+                )
+            )
+
+            with patch.object(
+                model_catalog, "_fetch_manifest", return_value=_valid_manifest()
+            ):
+                picker = list_picker_providers(
+                    current_provider="nous", max_models=99
+                )
+        finally:
+            model_catalog.reset_cache()
+
+        nous_row = next((r for r in picker if r["slug"] == "nous"), None)
+        assert nous_row is not None, "nous row must appear when authed"
+        assert nous_row["models"] == [
+            "anthropic/claude-opus-4.7",
+            "moonshotai/kimi-k2.6",
+        ]