diff --git a/src/agents/command/attempt-execution.ts b/src/agents/command/attempt-execution.ts
index 8b36d780e90..6c2f3910bfa 100644
--- a/src/agents/command/attempt-execution.ts
+++ b/src/agents/command/attempt-execution.ts
@@ -206,7 +206,7 @@ export async function persistCliTurnTranscript(params: {
     threadId: params.threadId,
     sessionCwd: params.sessionCwd,
     assistant: {
-      api: provider,
+      api: "cli",
       provider,
       model,
       usage: params.result.meta.agentMeta?.usage,
diff --git a/src/commands/agent.cli-provider.test.ts b/src/commands/agent.cli-provider.test.ts
index 453c6536f1b..b7db92c427e 100644
--- a/src/commands/agent.cli-provider.test.ts
+++ b/src/commands/agent.cli-provider.test.ts
@@ -200,6 +200,7 @@ describe("agentCommand CLI provider handling", () => {
         });
         expect(messages[1]).toMatchObject({
           role: "assistant",
+          api: "cli",
           provider: "google-gemini-cli",
           model: "gemini-3.1-pro-preview",
           content: [{ type: "text", text: "hello from cli" }],