diff --git a/extensions/openai/openai-provider.test.ts b/extensions/openai/openai-provider.test.ts
index d2e7f9a96567..94f2aac9142a 100644
--- a/extensions/openai/openai-provider.test.ts
+++ b/extensions/openai/openai-provider.test.ts
@@ -878,6 +878,16 @@ describe("buildOpenAIProvider", () => {
   it.each([
     ["fails", () => new Response("temporarily unavailable", { status: 503 })],
     ["returns no models", () => Response.json({ models: [] })],
+    [
+      "returns hidden-only models",
+      () =>
+        Response.json({
+          models: [
+            { slug: "gpt-5.6-sol", display_name: "GPT-5.6 Sol", visibility: "hide" },
+            { slug: "gpt-5.5", display_name: "GPT-5.5", show_in_picker: false },
+          ],
+        }),
+    ],
   ])("keeps static OpenAI OAuth rows when Codex catalog discovery %s", async (_label, response) => {
     const release = vi.fn(async () => undefined);
     const fetchGuard: LiveModelCatalogFetchGuard = vi.fn(async () => ({
diff --git a/extensions/openai/openai-provider.ts b/extensions/openai/openai-provider.ts
index f17786772bbc..61453498b1e5 100644
--- a/extensions/openai/openai-provider.ts
+++ b/extensions/openai/openai-provider.ts
@@ -488,6 +488,9 @@ async function buildOpenAICodexLiveProviderConfig(params: {
       .map(buildOpenAICodexModelFromLiveRow)
       .filter((model): model is ModelDefinitionConfig => Boolean(model));
     if (models.length > 0) {
+      // Successful Codex OAuth discovery is account-scoped and authoritative
+      // for the picker/list catalog. Do not merge static OpenAI fallback rows
+      // into a successful live catalog.
       return {
         baseUrl: OPENAI_CODEX_RESPONSES_BASE_URL,
         api: "openai-chatgpt-responses",