diff --git a/hermes_cli/auth.py b/hermes_cli/auth.py
index 365abd33375..5f0c44f7ed5 100644
--- a/hermes_cli/auth.py
+++ b/hermes_cli/auth.py
@@ -3181,6 +3181,9 @@ def _prompt_manual_callback_paste(redirect_uri: str) -> dict:
     print("not on your laptop) — that is expected.  Copy the FULL URL")
     print("from your browser's address bar of that failed page and paste")
     print("it below.  A bare '?code=...&state=...' fragment also works.")
+    print("If the consent page shows the authorization code in-page")
+    print("(xAI's current behavior) rather than redirecting, paste the")
+    print("bare code value on its own.")
     print("───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────")
     try:
         raw = input("Callback URL: ")
@@ -6965,7 +6968,21 @@ def _xai_oauth_loopback_login(
             provider="xai-oauth",
             code="xai_authorization_failed",
         )
-    if callback.get("state") != state:
+    callback_state = callback.get("state")
+    # Manual-paste bare-code path: when a user pastes only the opaque
+    # authorization code (no ``code=``/``state=`` query parameters),
+    # ``_parse_pasted_callback`` returns ``state=None``.  xAI's consent
+    # page renders the code in-page rather than redirecting through the
+    # 127.0.0.1 callback, so on many remote setups (Cloud Shell, headless
+    # VPS, container consoles) the bare code is the only thing the user
+    # can obtain.  PKCE (code_verifier) still binds the exchange to this
+    # client, so the local state-equality check is redundant on the
+    # bare-code path — we substitute the locally generated state to keep
+    # the rest of the validation chain (and the token exchange) unchanged.
+    # See #26923 (AccursedGalaxy comment, 2026-05-20).
+    if callback_state is None and manual_paste:
+        callback_state = state
+    if callback_state != state:
         raise AuthError(
             "xAI authorization failed: state mismatch.",
             provider="xai-oauth",
diff --git a/tests/hermes_cli/test_auth_manual_paste.py b/tests/hermes_cli/test_auth_manual_paste.py
index 7230b2a365c..2c567ff6ee5 100644
--- a/tests/hermes_cli/test_auth_manual_paste.py
+++ b/tests/hermes_cli/test_auth_manual_paste.py
@@ -330,6 +330,107 @@ def test_xai_loopback_login_manual_paste_state_mismatch_raises(monkeypatch):
     assert exc.value.code == "xai_state_mismatch"
 
 
+def test_xai_loopback_login_manual_paste_bare_code_succeeds(monkeypatch):
+    """Bare-code paste (state=None) must complete login under manual_paste.
+
+    xAI's consent page renders the authorization code in-page rather than
+    redirecting through 127.0.0.1, so on remote/headless setups the only
+    value the user can obtain is the opaque code with no ``state=``
+    parameter. ``_parse_pasted_callback`` correctly returns
+    ``state=None`` for that input. The login flow must accept this case
+    (PKCE still protects the exchange); historically it raised
+    ``xai_state_mismatch``. Regression for the bare-code branch of #26923.
+    """
+    monkeypatch.setattr(
+        auth_mod, "_xai_oauth_discovery",
+        lambda *_a, **_k: {
+            "authorization_endpoint": "https://auth.x.ai/oauth2/authorize",
+            "token_endpoint": "https://auth.x.ai/oauth2/token",
+        },
+    )
+    monkeypatch.setattr(
+        auth_mod, "_prompt_manual_callback_paste",
+        lambda _ru: {
+            "code": "bare-opaque-code",
+            "state": None,
+            "error": None,
+            "error_description": None,
+        },
+    )
+
+    def _fake_token_post(*_a, **_k):
+        return _StubTokenResponse(
+            {
+                "access_token": "at",
+                "refresh_token": "rt",
+                "id_token": "",
+                "expires_in": 3600,
+                "token_type": "Bearer",
+            }
+        )
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(auth_mod.httpx, "post", _fake_token_post)
+
+    with contextlib.redirect_stdout(io.StringIO()):
+        creds = auth_mod._xai_oauth_loopback_login(manual_paste=True)
+
+    assert creds["tokens"]["access_token"] == "at"
+    assert creds["tokens"]["refresh_token"] == "rt"
+
+
+def test_xai_loopback_login_loopback_path_rejects_missing_state(monkeypatch):
+    """Loopback (manual_paste=False) must NOT accept ``state=None``.
+
+    The bare-code relaxation only applies to the manual-paste path,
+    where the user demonstrably has no way to supply ``state``. The
+    HTTP-server path always sees ``state`` populated from the real
+    callback query string, so missing state there means something is
+    wrong (a malformed callback, an attacker-supplied request) and
+    must still raise ``xai_state_mismatch``.
+    """
+    monkeypatch.setattr(
+        auth_mod, "_xai_oauth_discovery",
+        lambda *_a, **_k: {
+            "authorization_endpoint": "https://auth.x.ai/oauth2/authorize",
+            "token_endpoint": "https://auth.x.ai/oauth2/token",
+        },
+    )
+
+    class _StubServer:
+        def shutdown(self):
+            return None
+
+        def server_close(self):
+            return None
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(
+        auth_mod, "_xai_start_callback_server",
+        lambda *_a, **_k: (
+            _StubServer(),
+            None,
+            {"code": "fake", "state": None, "error": None,
+             "error_description": None},
+            "http://127.0.0.1:56121/callback",
+        ),
+    )
+    monkeypatch.setattr(
+        auth_mod, "_xai_wait_for_callback",
+        lambda *_a, **_k: {
+            "code": "fake",
+            "state": None,
+            "error": None,
+            "error_description": None,
+        },
+    )
+    monkeypatch.setattr(auth_mod, "_xai_validate_loopback_redirect_uri", lambda _u: None)
+    monkeypatch.setattr(auth_mod, "_print_loopback_ssh_hint", lambda *_a, **_k: None)
+
+    with contextlib.redirect_stdout(io.StringIO()):
+        with pytest.raises(auth_mod.AuthError) as exc:
+            auth_mod._xai_oauth_loopback_login(manual_paste=False, open_browser=False)
+    assert exc.value.code == "xai_state_mismatch"
+
+
 def test_xai_loopback_login_manual_paste_missing_code_raises(monkeypatch):
     """Empty paste must surface as ``xai_code_missing``, not crash."""
     monkeypatch.setattr(