diff --git a/src/cli/models-cli.test.ts b/src/cli/models-cli.test.ts
index 891d43a40e9d..3392afd5b5dd 100644
--- a/src/cli/models-cli.test.ts
+++ b/src/cli/models-cli.test.ts
@@ -196,6 +196,68 @@ describe("models cli", () => {
     expect(detected).toBe(false);
   });
 
+  it.each(["--plain", "--json"])(
+    "does not treat required provider value %s as a model output flag",
+    async (provider) => {
+      const program = createProgram();
+      let jsonMode = true;
+      program.hook("preAction", (_command, actionCommand) => {
+        jsonMode = isCommandJsonOutputMode(actionCommand, process.argv);
+      });
+
+      const originalArgv = process.argv;
+      process.argv = ["node", "openclaw", "models", "auth", "list", "--provider", provider];
+      try {
+        await program.parseAsync(["models", "auth", "list", "--provider", provider], {
+          from: "user",
+        });
+      } finally {
+        process.argv = originalArgv;
+      }
+
+      expect(jsonMode).toBe(false);
+      expectCommandOptions(modelsAuthListCommand, { provider, json: false });
+    },
+  );
+
+  it.each([
+    {
+      name: "an ignored parent status alias and a JSON-looking provider value",
+      args: ["models", "--status-json", "auth", "list", "--provider", "--json"],
+      provider: "--json",
+      json: false,
+    },
+    {
+      name: "a real JSON flag after a status-alias-looking provider value",
+      args: ["models", "auth", "list", "--provider", "--status-json", "--json"],
+      provider: "--status-json",
+      json: true,
+    },
+    {
+      name: "a real JSON flag before a plain-looking provider value",
+      args: ["models", "auth", "list", "--json", "--provider", "--plain"],
+      provider: "--plain",
+      json: true,
+    },
+  ])("classifies $name by its actual Commander role", async ({ args, provider, json }) => {
+    const program = createProgram();
+    let jsonMode = !json;
+    program.hook("preAction", (_command, actionCommand) => {
+      jsonMode = isCommandJsonOutputMode(actionCommand, process.argv);
+    });
+
+    const originalArgv = process.argv;
+    process.argv = ["node", "openclaw", ...args];
+    try {
+      await program.parseAsync(args, { from: "user" });
+    } finally {
+      process.argv = originalArgv;
+    }
+
+    expect(jsonMode).toBe(json);
+    expectCommandOptions(modelsAuthListCommand, { provider, json });
+  });
+
   it.each([
     ["aliases list --plain", ["models", "aliases", "list", "--plain"]],
     ["fallbacks list --plain", ["models", "fallbacks", "list", "--plain"]],
diff --git a/src/cli/models-cli.ts b/src/cli/models-cli.ts
index ec49f0a552f8..1260313a91e5 100644
--- a/src/cli/models-cli.ts
+++ b/src/cli/models-cli.ts
@@ -53,7 +53,9 @@ export function registerModelsCli(program: Command) {
     );
   const hasJsonOutput = (opts?: { json?: boolean }): boolean =>
     Boolean(opts?.json || models.opts<{ json?: boolean }>().json);
-  setCommandJsonMode(models, "output", ({ argv }) => isModelsStatusJsonOutput(argv));
+  setCommandJsonMode(models, "output", ({ argv, command }) =>
+    isModelsStatusJsonOutput(argv, command),
+  );
 
   models
     .command("list")
diff --git a/src/cli/models-output-mode.ts b/src/cli/models-output-mode.ts
index f8ba7a1f602b..7e5f8dbfa699 100644
--- a/src/cli/models-output-mode.ts
+++ b/src/cli/models-output-mode.ts
@@ -1,20 +1,28 @@
+import type { Command } from "commander";
 import { hasMachineOutputOption } from "./machine-output-argv.js";
 import { resolveModelsParentCommandPath } from "./parent-command-path.js";
+import { hasCommanderOptionToken } from "./program/commander-parse-facts.js";
+
+function hasModelsOutputOption(argv: readonly string[], token: string, command?: Command): boolean {
+  return command
+    ? hasCommanderOptionToken(command, argv, new Set([token]), "flag")
+    : hasMachineOutputOption(argv, token);
+}
 
 /** Resolve the parent-command alias for `models status --json`. */
-export function isModelsStatusJsonOutput(argv: readonly string[]): boolean {
+export function isModelsStatusJsonOutput(argv: readonly string[], command?: Command): boolean {
   return (
-    hasMachineOutputOption(argv, "--json") ||
+    hasModelsOutputOption(argv, "--json", command) ||
     (resolveModelsParentCommandPath(argv)?.length === 1 &&
-      hasMachineOutputOption(argv, "--status-json"))
+      hasModelsOutputOption(argv, "--status-json", command))
   );
 }
 
-export function isModelsPlainMachineOutput(argv: readonly string[]): boolean {
+export function isModelsPlainMachineOutput(argv: readonly string[], command?: Command): boolean {
   const commandPath = resolveModelsParentCommandPath(argv);
   return (
     commandPath !== null &&
-    (hasMachineOutputOption(argv, "--plain") ||
-      (commandPath.length === 1 && hasMachineOutputOption(argv, "--status-plain")))
+    (hasModelsOutputOption(argv, "--plain", command) ||
+      (commandPath.length === 1 && hasModelsOutputOption(argv, "--status-plain", command)))
   );
 }
diff --git a/src/cli/program/preaction-output-mode.test.ts b/src/cli/program/preaction-output-mode.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..af16a0d522cc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/cli/program/preaction-output-mode.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+import { Command } from "commander";
+import { afterEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
+import { loggingState } from "../../logging/state.js";
+
+const mocks = vi.hoisted(() => ({
+  ensureConfigReady: vi.fn(async () => {}),
+  routeLogsToStderr: vi.fn(),
+}));
+
+vi.mock("../../globals.js", () => ({ setVerbose: vi.fn() }));
+vi.mock("../../runtime.js", () => ({
+  defaultRuntime: { error: vi.fn(), exit: vi.fn(), log: vi.fn() },
+}));
+vi.mock("../../logging/console.js", () => ({
+  routeLogsToStderr: mocks.routeLogsToStderr,
+}));
+vi.mock("../banner.js", () => ({ emitCliBanner: vi.fn() }));
+vi.mock("../cli-name.js", () => ({ resolveCliName: () => "openclaw" }));
+vi.mock("./config-guard.js", () => ({ ensureConfigReady: mocks.ensureConfigReady }));
+vi.mock("../plugin-registry.js", () => ({ ensurePluginRegistryLoaded: vi.fn() }));
+
+const originalArgv = [...process.argv];
+const originalTitle = process.title;
+const originalForceStderr = loggingState.forceConsoleToStderr;
+const originalEarlyConsoleRoutingRestore = loggingState.earlyConsoleRoutingRestore;
+
+describe("preaction model output owner", () => {
+  afterEach(() => {
+    vi.clearAllMocks();
+    process.argv = originalArgv;
+    process.title = originalTitle;
+    loggingState.forceConsoleToStderr = originalForceStderr;
+    loggingState.earlyConsoleRoutingRestore = originalEarlyConsoleRoutingRestore;
+  });
+
+  it.each([
+    {
+      name: "plain-looking provider value",
+      args: ["models", "auth", "list", "--provider", "--plain"],
+    },
+    {
+      name: "ignored parent plain alias and plain-looking provider value",
+      args: ["models", "--status-plain", "auth", "list", "--provider", "--plain"],
+    },
+  ])("restores human stdout for $name", async ({ args }) => {
+    const program = new Command().name("openclaw").enablePositionalOptions();
+    program
+      .command("models")
+      .option("--status-plain")
+      .command("auth")
+      .command("list")
+      .option("--provider <id>")
+      .action(() => {});
+
+    const { registerPreActionHooks } = await import("./preaction.js");
+    registerPreActionHooks(program, "test");
+    loggingState.forceConsoleToStderr = true;
+    loggingState.earlyConsoleRoutingRestore = false;
+    process.argv = ["node", "openclaw", ...args];
+
+    await program.parseAsync(process.argv);
+
+    expect(loggingState.forceConsoleToStderr).toBe(false);
+    expect(mocks.routeLogsToStderr).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/cli/program/preaction.ts b/src/cli/program/preaction.ts
index b79ece805dae..8c20d76c6f7c 100644
--- a/src/cli/program/preaction.ts
+++ b/src/cli/program/preaction.ts
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ export function registerPreActionHooks(program: Command, programVersion: string)
       return;
     }
     const jsonOutputMode = isCommandJsonOutputMode(actionCommand, argv);
-    const machineOutputMode = jsonOutputMode || isModelsPlainMachineOutput(argv);
+    const machineOutputMode = jsonOutputMode || isModelsPlainMachineOutput(argv, actionCommand);
     applyResolvedCommandOutputMode(jsonOutputMode, machineOutputMode);
     const { commandPath, startupPolicy } = resolveCliExecutionStartupContext({
       argv,
diff --git a/test/cli-json-stdout.e2e.test.ts b/test/cli-json-stdout.e2e.test.ts
index 7bbbf264fbf6..1e4c3543d021 100644
--- a/test/cli-json-stdout.e2e.test.ts
+++ b/test/cli-json-stdout.e2e.test.ts
@@ -781,6 +781,30 @@ describe("cli json stdout contract", () => {
     );
   });
 
+  it.each(["--plain", "--json"])(
+    "keeps human auth-list output on stdout when provider value is %s",
+    async (provider) => {
+      await withTempHome(
+        async (tempHome) => {
+          const result = runBuiltCli(tempHome, ["models", "auth", "list", "--provider", provider], {
+            CI: "1",
+            NO_COLOR: "1",
+            OPENCLAW_CONFIG_PATH: path.join(tempHome, "missing-openclaw.json"),
+            OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR: path.join(tempHome, "isolated-state"),
+          });
+
+          expect(result.status, result.stderr).toBe(0);
+          expect(result.stdout).toContain("Agent: main\n");
+          expect(result.stdout).toContain(`Provider: ${provider}\n`);
+          expect(result.stdout).toContain("Profiles: (none)\n");
+          expect(result.stderr).not.toContain("Agent: main");
+          expect(result.stderr).not.toContain(`Provider: ${provider}`);
+        },
+        { prefix: "openclaw-models-output-option-value-e2e-" },
+      );
+    },
+  );
+
   it("preserves model catalog refresh success payloads and persisted rows", async () => {
     await withTempHome(
       async (tempHome) => {