diff --git a/extensions/anthropic/index.test.ts b/extensions/anthropic/index.test.ts
index ec9791b52da..5aa2a73be27 100644
--- a/extensions/anthropic/index.test.ts
+++ b/extensions/anthropic/index.test.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import { describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
+import { createCapturedPluginRegistration } from "../../src/test-utils/plugin-registration.js";
 import { registerSingleProviderPlugin } from "../../test/helpers/plugins/plugin-registration.js";
 
 const { readClaudeCliCredentialsForSetupMock, readClaudeCliCredentialsForRuntimeMock } = vi.hoisted(
@@ -18,6 +19,23 @@ vi.mock("./cli-auth-seam.js", () => {
 import anthropicPlugin from "./index.js";
 
 describe("anthropic provider replay hooks", () => {
+  it("registers the claude-cli backend", async () => {
+    const captured = createCapturedPluginRegistration();
+    await anthropicPlugin.register(captured.api);
+
+    expect(captured.cliBackends).toContainEqual(
+      expect.objectContaining({
+        id: "claude-cli",
+        bundleMcp: true,
+        config: expect.objectContaining({
+          command: "claude",
+          modelArg: "--model",
+          sessionArg: "--session-id",
+        }),
+      }),
+    );
+  });
+
   it("owns native reasoning output mode for Claude transports", async () => {
     const provider = await registerSingleProviderPlugin(anthropicPlugin);
 
diff --git a/src/agents/model-selection.test.ts b/src/agents/model-selection.test.ts
index a4570bfa67d..2eb17fd6863 100644
--- a/src/agents/model-selection.test.ts
+++ b/src/agents/model-selection.test.ts
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ import { describe, it, expect, vi } from "vitest";
 import type { OpenClawConfig } from "../config/config.js";
 import { resetLogger, setLoggerOverride } from "../logging/logger.js";
 import { createEmptyPluginRegistry } from "../plugins/registry-empty.js";
-import { setActivePluginRegistry } from "../plugins/runtime.js";
+import { getActivePluginRegistry, setActivePluginRegistry } from "../plugins/runtime.js";
 import {
   buildAllowedModelSet,
   inferUniqueProviderFromConfiguredModels,
@@ -135,17 +135,26 @@ describe("model-selection", () => {
 
   describe("isCliProvider", () => {
     it("treats runtime-registered CLI backends as CLI providers", () => {
+      const previousRegistry = getActivePluginRegistry();
       const registry = createEmptyPluginRegistry();
-      registry.cliBackends.push({
-        pluginId: "anthropic",
-        backend: {
-          id: "claude-cli",
-          label: "Claude CLI",
-          command: ["claude"],
-        },
-      });
-      setActivePluginRegistry(registry);
-      expect(isCliProvider("claude-cli", {} as OpenClawConfig)).toBe(true);
+      try {
+        registry.cliBackends = [
+          {
+            pluginId: "example-plugin",
+            source: "test",
+            backend: {
+              id: "example-cli",
+              config: {
+                command: "example",
+              },
+            },
+          },
+        ];
+        setActivePluginRegistry(registry);
+        expect(isCliProvider("example-cli", {} as OpenClawConfig)).toBe(true);
+      } finally {
+        setActivePluginRegistry(previousRegistry ?? createEmptyPluginRegistry());
+      }
     });
   });