diff --git a/src/cli/capability-cli.test.ts b/src/cli/capability-cli.test.ts
index 6b3978c0a27b..c81e99f2b250 100644
--- a/src/cli/capability-cli.test.ts
+++ b/src/cli/capability-cli.test.ts
@@ -2979,6 +2979,34 @@ describe("capability cli", () => {
     expect(firstEmbeddingProviderCall()?.model).toBe("text-embedding-3-large");
   });
 
+  it.each([
+    {
+      name: "embedding create",
+      argv: ["capability", "embedding", "create", "--text", "hello"],
+    },
+    {
+      name: "image generate",
+      argv: ["capability", "image", "generate", "--prompt", "portrait"],
+    },
+    {
+      name: "image edit",
+      argv: ["capability", "image", "edit", "--file", "photo.png", "--prompt", "crop it"],
+    },
+    {
+      name: "video generate",
+      argv: ["capability", "video", "generate", "--prompt", "clip"],
+    },
+  ])("rejects malformed model refs before $name provider dispatch", async ({ argv }) => {
+    for (const model of ["openai/", "/gpt-4.1-mini"]) {
+      await expect(runCap(...argv, "--model", model, "--json")).rejects.toThrow("exit 1");
+      expectRuntimeErrorContains("Model overrides must use the form <provider/model>.");
+      expect(mocks.resolveCommandConfigWithSecrets).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+      expect(mocks.createEmbeddingProvider).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+      expect(mocks.generateImage).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+      expect(mocks.generateVideo).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    }
+  });
+
   it("cleans provider auth profiles and usage stats on logout", async () => {
     mocks.loadAuthProfileStoreForRuntime.mockReturnValue({
       profiles: {
diff --git a/src/cli/capability-cli/embedding.ts b/src/cli/capability-cli/embedding.ts
index 6ee49873ea97..dfee2c518836 100644
--- a/src/cli/capability-cli/embedding.ts
+++ b/src/cli/capability-cli/embedding.ts
@@ -16,8 +16,8 @@ import {
   formatEnvelopeForText,
   providerHasGenericConfig,
   providerSummaryText,
+  requireProviderModelOverride,
   resolveLocalCapabilityRuntimeConfig,
-  resolveModelRefOverride,
 } from "./shared.js";
 
 async function closeEmbeddingProviderWithRetry(provider: {
@@ -40,18 +40,19 @@ async function runMemoryEmbeddingCreate(params: {
   provider?: string;
   model?: string;
 }) {
+  const modelRef = requireProviderModelOverride(params.model);
   const cfg = await resolveLocalCapabilityRuntimeConfig({
     commandName: "infer embedding create",
     targetIds: getMemoryEmbeddingCommandSecretTargetIds(),
   });
-  const modelRef = resolveModelRefOverride(params.model);
-  const requestedProvider = normalizeOptionalString(params.provider) || modelRef.provider || "auto";
+  const requestedProvider =
+    normalizeOptionalString(params.provider) || modelRef?.provider || "auto";
   const result = await createEmbeddingProvider({
     config: cfg,
     agentDir: resolveAgentDir(cfg, resolveDefaultAgentId(cfg)),
     provider: requestedProvider,
     fallback: "none",
-    model: modelRef.model ?? "",
+    model: modelRef?.model ?? "",
   });
   if (!result.provider) {
     throw new Error(result.providerUnavailableReason ?? "No embedding provider available.");
diff --git a/src/cli/capability-cli/image.ts b/src/cli/capability-cli/image.ts
index 683574be7808..5816d2d623d5 100644
--- a/src/cli/capability-cli/image.ts
+++ b/src/cli/capability-cli/image.ts
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ async function runImageGenerate(params: {
   output?: string;
   timeoutMs?: number;
 }) {
+  requireProviderModelOverride(params.model);
   const cfg = await resolveLocalCapabilityRuntimeConfig({
     commandName: `infer ${params.capability}`,
     targetIds: getModelsCommandSecretTargetIds(),
diff --git a/src/cli/capability-cli/video.ts b/src/cli/capability-cli/video.ts
index 7d7f740f3dd1..109237cc368e 100644
--- a/src/cli/capability-cli/video.ts
+++ b/src/cli/capability-cli/video.ts
@@ -109,6 +109,7 @@ async function runVideoGenerate(params: {
   watermark?: boolean;
   timeoutMs?: number;
 }) {
+  requireProviderModelOverride(params.model);
   const cfg = await resolveLocalCapabilityRuntimeConfig({
     commandName: "infer video.generate",
     targetIds: getModelsCommandSecretTargetIds(),