diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index fb10efc..3a7847f 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 
 ## Unreleased
 
+- Honor host-resolved image input on the generate transport, including explicit text-only restrictions; fall back to catalog metadata only when host input is absent or empty. Filter unsupported modality strings without unsafe casts.
+
 - Reset the generate transport's idle timeout on every received chunk, allowing active reasoning streams to exceed the timeout overall while still aborting stalled streams (#87).
 
 - Batch consecutive tool-result images after all tool results on the generate transport, preventing interleaved user messages from breaking multi-tool turns with "Tool result is missing".
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 6949106..ec04fca 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -143,6 +143,8 @@ The provider advertises image input only for models marked with the `image` inpu
 
 For vision-capable models, Pi's native provider adapters forward image blocks from user messages and tool results using the documented OpenAI or Anthropic message schema. Unknown and text-only models remain marked text-only in Pi.
 
+The legacy generate transport resolves image support from the host's `model.input` when the host supplies it, and falls back to the capability snapshot otherwise. Because the snapshot is generated from a single CLI release, a host that marks a model as `["text", "image"]` — for example through a `models.yml` or `models.json` model override — can send images on both transports before the catalog catches up. A host that narrows a catalogued vision model to text is likewise honored.
+
 ## Pricing display
 
 The Command Code Provider API does not currently include prices in its model catalog. This extension therefore keeps a static table for models with known prices so pi can display estimated request costs. DeepSeek V4 uses time-dependent rates; pi displays the documented off-peak rate, which applies for 17 hours per day.
diff --git a/src/core.ts b/src/core.ts
index cc6fe04..51e2d5b 100644
--- a/src/core.ts
+++ b/src/core.ts
@@ -540,7 +540,7 @@ export function createStreamCommandCode(deps: CoreDependencies) {
         const reasoningEffort = mappedReasoningEffort(model, options)
         const timeoutMs = options?.timeoutMs
 
-        const allowImages = modelSupportsImageInput(model.id)
+        const allowImages = modelSupportsImageInput(model.id, model.input)
         if (!allowImages) assertTextOnlyMessages(context.messages)
 
         let body: unknown = {
diff --git a/src/models.ts b/src/models.ts
index 0d8ffe9..df3dd71 100644
--- a/src/models.ts
+++ b/src/models.ts
@@ -31,12 +31,29 @@ export type CommandCodeApi = "openai-completions" | "anthropic-messages"
 
 const TEXT_INPUT_ONLY = ["text"] as const
 
-export function inputModalitiesForModel(modelId: string): readonly CommandCodeInputType[] {
+/**
+ * Input modalities for a model.
+ *
+ * The generated catalog is a snapshot of one Command Code CLI release, so a
+ * model published afterwards is absent and silently degrades to text-only.
+ * The host's resolved `model.input` is authoritative when present: it already
+ * carries `models.yml`/`models.json` overrides and is what decides whether the
+ * user can attach an image at all.
+ */
+export function inputModalitiesForModel(
+  modelId: string,
+  hostInput?: readonly string[],
+): readonly CommandCodeInputType[] {
+  if (hostInput && hostInput.length > 0) {
+    return hostInput.filter(
+      (input): input is CommandCodeInputType => input === "text" || input === "image",
+    )
+  }
   return MODEL_INPUT_MODALITIES[modelId] ?? TEXT_INPUT_ONLY
 }
 
-export function modelSupportsImageInput(modelId: string): boolean {
-  return inputModalitiesForModel(modelId).includes("image")
+export function modelSupportsImageInput(modelId: string, hostInput?: readonly string[]): boolean {
+  return inputModalitiesForModel(modelId, hostInput).includes("image")
 }
 
 export type PiThinkingLevel = "off" | "minimal" | "low" | "medium" | "high" | "xhigh" | "max"
diff --git a/src/types.ts b/src/types.ts
index d10f823..351f857 100644
--- a/src/types.ts
+++ b/src/types.ts
@@ -72,6 +72,8 @@ export interface ModelLike {
   provider: string
   maxTokens: number
   cost: ModelCost
+  /** Input modalities the host advertises, including `models.yml`/`models.json` overrides. */
+  input?: readonly string[]
   reasoning?: boolean
   thinkingLevelMap?: Partial<Record<string, string | null>>
   thinking?: {
diff --git a/tests/test-models.ts b/tests/test-models.ts
index b221aa0..6dc1f80 100644
--- a/tests/test-models.ts
+++ b/tests/test-models.ts
@@ -126,6 +126,27 @@ describe("commandCodeModelsFromApiResponse()", () => {
     assert.equal(modelSupportsImageInput("unknown-new-model"), false)
   })
 
+  it("prefers host-resolved input modalities over the catalog snapshot", () => {
+    // A model published upstream after the pinned CLI release is absent from the
+    // generated catalog, so the host's resolved modalities must win.
+    assert.deepEqual(inputModalitiesForModel("unknown-new-model"), ["text"])
+    assert.deepEqual(inputModalitiesForModel("unknown-new-model", ["text", "image"]), [
+      "text",
+      "image",
+    ])
+    assert.equal(modelSupportsImageInput("unknown-new-model", ["text", "image"]), true)
+
+    const catalogVision = Object.keys(MODEL_INPUT_MODALITIES)[0]
+    // A host that narrows a catalogued vision model back to text stays authoritative.
+    assert.deepEqual(inputModalitiesForModel(catalogVision, ["text"]), ["text"])
+    assert.equal(modelSupportsImageInput(catalogVision, ["text"]), false)
+    assert.deepEqual(inputModalitiesForModel(catalogVision, ["text", "audio"]), ["text"])
+    assert.deepEqual(inputModalitiesForModel(catalogVision, ["audio"]), [])
+    assert.equal(modelSupportsImageInput(catalogVision, ["audio"]), false)
+    // An absent host list falls back to the catalog.
+    assert.deepEqual(inputModalitiesForModel(catalogVision, []), ["text", "image"])
+  })
+
   it("tracks reasoning independently from selectable effort levels", () => {
     const reasoningModels = Object.keys(MODEL_REASONING)
     const effortModels = Object.keys(MODEL_EFFORTS)
diff --git a/tests/test-stream.ts b/tests/test-stream.ts
index 61f4b13..9a8a3a6 100644
--- a/tests/test-stream.ts
+++ b/tests/test-stream.ts
@@ -206,6 +206,61 @@ describe("streamCommandCode — successful streams", () => {
     )
   })
 
+  it("forwards images on the generate transport for models the host advertises as vision-capable", async () => {
+    server.mockResponse({
+      type: "success",
+      events: [JSON.stringify({ type: "finish", finishReason: "stop" })],
+    })
+    const { streamCommandCode } = createTestDeps({ apiBase: server.baseUrl() })
+
+    // `unknown-new-model` is absent from the pinned capability catalog, so only
+    // the host's resolved `input` can unlock image content here.
+    await collectEvents(
+      streamCommandCode(
+        makeModel({ id: "unknown-new-model", input: ["text", "image"] }),
+        makeContext({
+          messages: [
+            {
+              role: "user",
+              content: [
+                { type: "text", text: "inspect" },
+                { type: "image", data: "aGVsbG8=", mimeType: "image/png" },
+              ],
+            },
+          ],
+        }),
+        { apiKey: "mock-key" },
+      ),
+    )
+
+    assert.equal(
+      objectAt(server.lastRequestBody(), ["params", "messages", "0", "content", "1", "image"]),
+      "data:image/png;base64,aGVsbG8=",
+    )
+  })
+
+  it("rejects images when the host narrows a catalogued vision model to text", async () => {
+    const { streamCommandCode } = createTestDeps({ apiBase: server.baseUrl() })
+
+    const events = await collectEvents(
+      streamCommandCode(
+        makeModel({ id: "gpt-5.6-luna", input: ["text"] }),
+        makeContext({
+          messages: [
+            {
+              role: "user",
+              content: [{ type: "image", data: "aGVsbG8=", mimeType: "image/png" }],
+            },
+          ],
+        }),
+        { apiKey: "mock-key" },
+      ),
+    )
+
+    assert.equal(events.at(-1)?.type, "error")
+    assert.equal(server.requestCount(), 0)
+  })
+
   it("forwards a tool-result image as a following user image for vision-capable models", async () => {
     server.mockResponse({
       type: "success",