diff --git a/hive-subagent-mcp/src/session.rs b/hive-subagent-mcp/src/session.rs
index 071a3064..37d48b90 100644
--- a/hive-subagent-mcp/src/session.rs
+++ b/hive-subagent-mcp/src/session.rs
@@ -814,52 +814,6 @@ 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>`
@@ -995,8 +949,7 @@ pub struct StartRequest {
 ///
 /// # Errors
 ///
-/// A name already running, an invalid name, a `model` the operator hasn't
-/// made available (see `check_model`), an archive failure, or the
+/// A name already running, an invalid name, 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
@@ -1004,7 +957,6 @@ 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`");
     }
@@ -1086,7 +1038,8 @@ fn start_reserved(
 
 /// Give an existing named session a new turn — resuming it whether that
 /// means "the previous turn finished, here's the next instruction" or "the
-/// daemon restarted, reattaching." Refuses a name already running.
+/// daemon restarted, reattaching." Refuses a name already running (same
+/// concurrent-run hazard as `start`).
 ///
 /// A name with **no** session to resume is still not *pre-checked* here:
 /// claude's own `--resume` answers that, and the pre-check that used to live
@@ -1111,9 +1064,8 @@ fn start_reserved(
 ///
 /// # Errors
 ///
-/// 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.
+/// An invalid name, one already running, `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,
@@ -1123,7 +1075,6 @@ 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"
@@ -3374,50 +3325,4 @@ 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 bbda68b2..3c96ab36 100644
--- a/nix/agent-modules/mcp.nix
+++ b/nix/agent-modules/mcp.nix
@@ -388,20 +388,6 @@ 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.