[irisitymichaelgrundberg]

Part of #513 (the Claude half).

A caller can now start one Claude session on a chosen model without writing anything to disk. POST /api/sessions takes an optional model, and the session launches with claude --model <id>.

Why

The only per-request way to pick Claude's model has been modelOverride, which the route writes into <workingDir>/.claude/settings.local.json. That model outlives the session, and every later claude run in the directory starts on it, including runs outside Codeman. A caller that wants one session on Fable and the next on Sonnet has no way to say so without editing the user's checkout.

What it does

• model in CreateSessionSchema. It is optional, at most 100 characters, and uses the same character set as the registry's model-claude pattern. A value the schema accepts therefore can't be refused at launch. An empty string means no per-session model, as it does for modelOverride.
• The route prefers it. When the CLI's model source is claude-settings-file, the route now takes body.model first and falls back to the app-wide default model as before. The session hands it to the existing --model slot in Claude's launch template.
• modelOverride is unchanged. A caller who wants the model written into the case still sends that field. If a caller sends both, the file gets modelOverride and this session runs on model.
• Claude only. Every other CLI takes its model in its own config object, such as codexConfig.model, so the route refuses a top-level model for them with INVALID_INPUT. Otherwise it would be dropped without a word. The check keys on the registry's model-source capability, so the branch adds no CLI id check.
• It survives recovery. SessionState now carries model, the model the session launched with. Mux recovery in server.ts and reboot restore both pass it back, so a recovered session relaunches on the same --model and not on the account default. Sessions launched on the app-wide default model keep that one across a restart too.

CLAUDE.md used to say model choice goes through settings.local.json, "NOT --model". It now describes both routes: modelOverride writes a lasting default into the case, and model sets one session's launch flag. The endpoint reference in skills/codeman/reference/endpoints.md and its plugin mirror list model among the create fields. That paragraph's two line references had gone stale, so they now name the handler and sessionCapacityMessage().

Testing

• npm test passes, as do typecheck, lint and format.
• The new test/routes/session-routes-claude-model.test.ts creates sessions through app.inject(), starts each one, and reads the model the session hands the mux. It covers:
  • a model the caller names;
  • that model winning over the app-wide default;
  • the default still applying when the caller names none, or names an empty string;
  • model and modelOverride sent together, where the launch gets model and the case file gets modelOverride;
  • a model with shell characters failing the request with 400;
  • a model sent with codex refused before any session is made.
• The new test/session-model-recovery.test.ts checks that toState() carries the model and that a session rebuilt from that state launches on it. restoreMuxSessions() can't be reached under vitest, so a source check pins both recovery constructors, the way test/remote-wake.test.ts pins its wiring.
• test/cli-registry-spawn-golden.test.ts pins how a model renders, including one that opens with a dash: it lands as --model "--dangerously-skip-permissions", and Claude's option parser, Commander, takes the word after --model as its value.
• Each new test fails without the change it covers.

No changeset, following the repository's convention for contributors.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[Ark0N]

Merged and shipped in 1.34.0. Thanks @irisitymichaelgrundberg! Keying the non-Claude refusal on the registry's model source instead of a CLI id, and carrying the model through both recovery paths, is exactly right. The CLAUDE.md rewrite of the "NOT --model" rule was careful too.

A few items were applied while landing (06c4c7d):

• SessionState.model is now published and persisted only for a CLI that takes a session model (a new cliTakesSessionModel(), same capability check as your refusal), so a codex or opencode cron session no longer reports Claude's default.
• The model schema refuses a leading dash, since the value lands in argv.
• model together with attachRemoteSession is a 400 now, instead of being silently ignored. advisorModel (new in this release) gets the same refusal.
• This landed alongside the new per-session advisor. A session with both gets --model <id> plus the one merged --settings JSON on both launch paths, and both survive every recovery path. Tests pin the combination.