diff --git a/src/features/claude-code-session-state/state.test.ts b/src/features/claude-code-session-state/state.test.ts
index a0f1e0420..3f860b060 100644
--- a/src/features/claude-code-session-state/state.test.ts
+++ b/src/features/claude-code-session-state/state.test.ts
@@ -37,6 +37,18 @@ describe("claude-code-session-state", () => {
       expect(getSessionAgent(sessionID)).toBe(agent)
     })
 
+    test("should strip zero-width ordering prefixes before storing agent for session", () => {
+      // given
+      const sessionID = "test-session-prefixed"
+      const agent = "\u200B\u200B\u200BPrometheus (Plan Builder)"
+
+      // when
+      setSessionAgent(sessionID, agent)
+
+      // then
+      expect(getSessionAgent(sessionID)).toBe("Prometheus (Plan Builder)")
+    })
+
     test("should NOT overwrite existing agent (first-write wins)", () => {
       // given
       const sessionID = "test-session-1"
@@ -69,6 +81,18 @@ describe("claude-code-session-state", () => {
       // then
       expect(getSessionAgent(sessionID)).toBe("sisyphus")
     })
+
+    test("should strip zero-width ordering prefixes when overwriting existing agent", () => {
+      // given
+      const sessionID = "test-session-prefixed-update"
+      setSessionAgent(sessionID, "sisyphus")
+
+      // when
+      updateSessionAgent(sessionID, "\u200B\u200BHephaestus (Deep Agent)")
+
+      // then
+      expect(getSessionAgent(sessionID)).toBe("Hephaestus (Deep Agent)")
+    })
   })
 
   describe("clearSessionAgent", () => {
diff --git a/src/features/claude-code-session-state/state.ts b/src/features/claude-code-session-state/state.ts
index 929661d2c..f044b4ec6 100644
--- a/src/features/claude-code-session-state/state.ts
+++ b/src/features/claude-code-session-state/state.ts
@@ -21,6 +21,10 @@ function normalizeRegisteredAgentName(name: string): string {
   return name.replace(ZERO_WIDTH_CHARACTERS_REGEX, "").toLowerCase()
 }
 
+function normalizeStoredAgentName(name: string): string {
+  return name.replace(ZERO_WIDTH_CHARACTERS_REGEX, "")
+}
+
 export function registerAgentName(name: string): void {
   const normalizedName = normalizeRegisteredAgentName(name)
   registeredAgentNames.add(normalizedName)
@@ -48,12 +52,12 @@ const sessionAgentMap = new Map<string, string>()
 
 export function setSessionAgent(sessionID: string, agent: string): void {
   if (!sessionAgentMap.has(sessionID)) {
-    sessionAgentMap.set(sessionID, agent)
+    sessionAgentMap.set(sessionID, normalizeStoredAgentName(agent))
   }
 }
 
 export function updateSessionAgent(sessionID: string, agent: string): void {
-  sessionAgentMap.set(sessionID, agent)
+  sessionAgentMap.set(sessionID, normalizeStoredAgentName(agent))
 }
 
 export function getSessionAgent(sessionID: string): string | undefined {
diff --git a/src/plugin-handlers/agent-override-protection.ts b/src/plugin-handlers/agent-override-protection.ts
index 1954b6529..476937b8c 100644
--- a/src/plugin-handlers/agent-override-protection.ts
+++ b/src/plugin-handlers/agent-override-protection.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 const PARENTHETICAL_SUFFIX_PATTERN = /\s*(\([^)]*\)\s*)+$/u
+const ZERO_WIDTH_CHARACTERS_PATTERN = /[\u200B\u200C\u200D\uFEFF]/g
 
 export function normalizeProtectedAgentName(agentName: string): string {
   return agentName
+    .replace(ZERO_WIDTH_CHARACTERS_PATTERN, "")
     .trim()
     .toLowerCase()
     .replace(PARENTHETICAL_SUFFIX_PATTERN, "")
diff --git a/src/plugin/chat-message.test.ts b/src/plugin/chat-message.test.ts
index 45ce7df99..11b4b6a48 100644
--- a/src/plugin/chat-message.test.ts
+++ b/src/plugin/chat-message.test.ts
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import { createAutoSlashCommandHook } from "../hooks/auto-slash-command"
 import { createStartWorkHook } from "../hooks/start-work"
 import { readBoulderState } from "../features/boulder-state"
 import { _resetForTesting, setMainSession, subagentSessions, registerAgentName, updateSessionAgent, getSessionAgent } from "../features/claude-code-session-state"
+import { getAgentListDisplayName } from "../shared/agent-display-names"
 import { clearSessionModel, getSessionModel, setSessionModel } from "../shared/session-model-state"
 
 type ChatMessagePart = { type: string; text?: string; [key: string]: unknown }
@@ -374,6 +375,31 @@ describe("createChatMessageHandler - TUI variant passthrough", () => {
     expect(getSessionModel("test-session")).toEqual({ providerID: "openai", modelID: "gpt-5.4" })
   })
 
+  test("treats prefixed list-display agent names as explicit model overrides", async () => {
+    //#given
+    setMainSession("test-session")
+    setSessionModel("test-session", { providerID: "openai", modelID: "gpt-5.4" })
+    const args = createMockHandlerArgs({
+      shouldOverride: false,
+      pluginConfig: {
+        agents: {
+          prometheus: { model: "anthropic/claude-opus-4-6" },
+        },
+      },
+    })
+    const handler = createChatMessageHandler(args)
+    const input = createMockInput(getAgentListDisplayName("prometheus"))
+    const output = createMockOutput()
+
+    //#when
+    await handler(input, output)
+
+    //#then
+    expect(output.message["model"]).toBeUndefined()
+    expect(getSessionModel("test-session")).toEqual({ providerID: "openai", modelID: "gpt-5.4" })
+    expect(getSessionAgent("test-session")).toBe("Prometheus (Plan Builder)")
+  })
+
   test("respects a mid-conversation model switch instead of reusing the previous stored model", async () => {
     //#given
     setMainSession("test-session")
diff --git a/src/plugin/chat-message.ts b/src/plugin/chat-message.ts
index 0d69ce3d4..ecce834b3 100644
--- a/src/plugin/chat-message.ts
+++ b/src/plugin/chat-message.ts
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import type { OhMyOpenCodeConfig } from "../config"
 import type { PluginContext } from "./types"
 
 import { hasConnectedProvidersCache } from "../shared"
+import { getAgentConfigKey } from "../shared/agent-display-names"
 import { getSessionModel, setSessionModel } from "../shared/session-model-state"
 import { getMainSessionID, setSessionAgent, subagentSessions } from "../features/claude-code-session-state"
 import { applyUltraworkModelOverrideOnMessage } from "./ultrawork-model-override"
@@ -46,11 +47,12 @@ function hasExplicitAgentModelOverride(
   pluginConfig: OhMyOpenCodeConfig
 ): boolean {
   const configuredAgents = pluginConfig.agents
-  if (!agent || !configuredAgents || !(agent in configuredAgents)) {
+  const normalizedAgent = typeof agent === "string" ? getAgentConfigKey(agent) : undefined
+  if (!normalizedAgent || !configuredAgents || !(normalizedAgent in configuredAgents)) {
     return false
   }
 
-  const configuredAgent = configuredAgents[agent as keyof typeof configuredAgents]
+  const configuredAgent = configuredAgents[normalizedAgent as keyof typeof configuredAgents]
   const configuredModel = configuredAgent?.model
   return typeof configuredModel === "string" && configuredModel.trim().length > 0
 }