diff --git a/hive-subagent-mcp/src/session.rs b/hive-subagent-mcp/src/session.rs
index 37d48b90..19930820 100644
--- a/hive-subagent-mcp/src/session.rs
+++ b/hive-subagent-mcp/src/session.rs
@@ -814,6 +814,52 @@ fn validate_name(name: &str) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
         .map_err(|e| anyhow::anyhow!("invalid subagent name {name:?}: {e}"))
 }
 
+/// Env var carrying the nix-configured `hyperhive.availableModels` as a
+/// comma-separated list, forwarded onto this daemon's unit by
+/// `nix/agent-modules/mcp.nix` the same way `HIVE_TOOL_GROUPS` is.
+const AVAILABLE_MODELS_ENV: &str = "HIVE_AVAILABLE_MODELS";
+
+/// The models this daemon may spawn a subagent on, from
+/// [`AVAILABLE_MODELS_ENV`]. `None` when the var is absent.
+fn available_models() -> Option<String> {
+    std::env::var(AVAILABLE_MODELS_ENV).ok()
+}
+
+/// Refuse a `model` the operator hasn't made available to this agent.
+///
+/// Default-open on purpose: this is a safety rail, not a security boundary,
+/// so an absent `allowed` (or one naming nothing) restricts nothing and an
+/// agent deployed before this gate existed keeps working unchanged. A `None`
+/// model isn't a choice of model either — it lets claude fall back to its own
+/// default — so there is nothing to check.
+///
+/// # Errors
+///
+/// A named model absent from `allowed`; the message names it and every
+/// permitted one, since it is all the caller sees.
+fn check_model(model: Option<&str>, allowed: Option<&str>) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
+    let (Some(model), Some(allowed)) = (model, allowed) else {
+        return Ok(());
+    };
+    // Same split/trim/skip-empty rules as `ToolGroup::parse_list`.
+    let allowed: Vec<&str> = allowed
+        .split(',')
+        .map(str::trim)
+        .filter(|token| !token.is_empty())
+        .collect();
+    if allowed.is_empty()
+        || allowed
+            .iter()
+            .any(|entry| entry.eq_ignore_ascii_case(model.trim()))
+    {
+        return Ok(());
+    }
+    anyhow::bail!(
+        "model `{model}` is not available to this agent — {AVAILABLE_MODELS_ENV} permits: {}",
+        allowed.join(", ")
+    );
+}
+
 /// Extend the ambient `OTEL_RESOURCE_ATTRIBUTES` with a `subagent=<name>`
 /// attribute, so every token/cost/tool-call data point this subagent's own
 /// claude process emits carries it alongside the parent's `agent=<name>`
@@ -949,7 +995,8 @@ pub struct StartRequest {
 ///
 /// # Errors
 ///
-/// A name already running, an invalid name, an archive failure, or the
+/// A name already running, an invalid name, a `model` the operator hasn't
+/// made available (see [`check_model`]), an archive failure, or the
 /// underlying `Claude::spawn` failing (binary missing, etc.) — the last
 /// case is the only one that can happen *after* commit-to-run, and it's
 /// exactly why nothing is registered in `running` until spawn actually
@@ -957,6 +1004,7 @@ pub struct StartRequest {
 pub fn start(state: &Arc<State>, req: StartRequest) -> anyhow::Result<String> {
     let name = req.name.as_str();
     validate_name(name)?;
+    check_model(req.model.as_deref(), available_models().as_deref())?;
     if !state.reserve(name) {
         anyhow::bail!("subagent `{name}` is already running — use `continue` or `interrupt`");
     }
@@ -1064,8 +1112,9 @@ fn start_reserved(
 ///
 /// # Errors
 ///
-/// An invalid name, one already running, `Claude::spawn` failing, or the
-/// resumed turn failing within `RESUME_GRACE` — in practice a missed resume.
+/// An invalid name, one already running, a `model` the operator hasn't made
+/// available (see [`check_model`]), `Claude::spawn` failing, or the resumed
+/// turn failing within `RESUME_GRACE` — in practice a missed resume.
 pub async fn continue_(
     state: &Arc<State>,
     name: &str,
@@ -1075,6 +1124,7 @@ pub async fn continue_(
     dir: Option<&str>,
 ) -> anyhow::Result<String> {
     validate_name(name)?;
+    check_model(model.as_deref(), available_models().as_deref())?;
     if !state.reserve(name) {
         anyhow::bail!(
             "subagent `{name}` is already running — use `interrupt` first if you meant to redirect it"
@@ -3325,4 +3375,50 @@ mod tests {
             "the safety property is unchanged: no ambient MCP discovery either way"
         );
     }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn an_unset_model_whitelist_allows_any_model() {
+        assert!(check_model(Some("opus"), None).is_ok());
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn an_unset_model_whitelist_allows_an_omitted_model() {
+        assert!(check_model(None, None).is_ok());
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn a_listed_model_is_allowed() {
+        assert!(check_model(Some("sonnet"), Some("haiku,sonnet,opus")).is_ok());
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn an_unlisted_model_is_rejected_naming_what_is_permitted() {
+        let err = check_model(Some("opus"), Some("haiku,sonnet"))
+            .expect_err("a model outside the list must be refused")
+            .to_string();
+        assert!(
+            err.contains("opus") && err.contains("haiku, sonnet"),
+            "the rejection is all the caller sees, so it must name the model \
+             and the permitted ones: {err}"
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn a_set_whitelist_still_allows_an_omitted_model() {
+        assert!(
+            check_model(None, Some("haiku")).is_ok(),
+            "omitting `model` lets claude pick its own default — it is not a \
+             choice of model, so there is nothing to gate"
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn whitespace_and_empty_entries_are_ignored() {
+        assert!(check_model(Some("sonnet"), Some(" haiku , sonnet ,, ")).is_ok());
+        assert!(check_model(Some("opus"), Some(" haiku , sonnet ,, ")).is_err());
+        assert!(
+            check_model(Some("opus"), Some("  ,, ")).is_ok(),
+            "a var naming nothing restricts nothing — default open"
+        );
+    }
 }
diff --git a/nix/agent-modules/mcp.nix b/nix/agent-modules/mcp.nix
index 3c96ab36..bbda68b2 100644
--- a/nix/agent-modules/mcp.nix
+++ b/nix/agent-modules/mcp.nix
@@ -388,6 +388,20 @@ in
         # `null` when the agent has no groups declared, which systemd drops
         # — the same "absent" the harness itself would see.
         HIVE_TOOL_GROUPS = config.systemd.services.hive-agent.environment.HIVE_TOOL_GROUPS or null;
+        # Same `hyperhive.availableModels` the harness's own assertions gate
+        # the primary session's model against, so a subagent can't be spawned
+        # on a model the operator didn't make available to this agent. The
+        # option renders into the *global* environment for the web UI's
+        # quick-picker, which a systemd unit doesn't inherit, so set it here
+        # from the option directly. `null` for an empty list, which systemd
+        # drops: the daemon reads an absent var as "no restriction" (this is
+        # a safety rail, not a security boundary), matching the harness
+        # assertion that an empty list waives too.
+        HIVE_AVAILABLE_MODELS =
+          if config.hyperhive.availableModels == [ ] then
+            null
+          else
+            lib.concatStringsSep "," config.hyperhive.availableModels;
         # HYPERHIVE_HARNESS_DIR / HYPERHIVE_STATE_DIR: see
         # `hive-bash-daemon`'s own comment above — same global injection,
         # same reasoning.