diff --git a/cmd/launch/codex_app.go b/cmd/launch/codex_app.go
index f57e6b4f..6c3c5093 100644
--- a/cmd/launch/codex_app.go
+++ b/cmd/launch/codex_app.go
@@ -106,7 +106,10 @@ func (c *CodexApp) CurrentModel() string {
 		if parsed.RootString(codexRootModelProviderKey) == profileName {
 			baseURL := parsed.ProviderString(profileName, "base_url")
 			if codexNormalizeURL(baseURL) == codexNormalizeURL(codexBaseURL()) && codexAppCatalogHealthy(parsed, profileName) {
-				return strings.TrimSpace(parsed.RootString(codexRootModelKey))
+				model := strings.TrimSpace(parsed.RootString(codexRootModelKey))
+				if codexAppCatalogContainsModel(model) {
+					return model
+				}
 			}
 		}
 	}
@@ -125,7 +128,11 @@ func (c *CodexApp) CurrentModel() string {
 	if !codexAppCatalogHealthy(parsed, profileName) {
 		return ""
 	}
-	return strings.TrimSpace(parsed.ProfileString(profileName, codexRootModelKey))
+	model := strings.TrimSpace(parsed.ProfileString(profileName, codexRootModelKey))
+	if !codexAppCatalogContainsModel(model) {
+		return ""
+	}
+	return model
 }
 
 func codexAppManagedProfileNames() []string {
@@ -169,6 +176,40 @@ func codexAppCatalogHealthy(config codexParsedConfig, profileName string) bool {
 	return len(catalog.Models) > 0
 }
 
+// codexAppCatalogContainsModel reports whether model appears as a slug in the
+// Ollama-managed model catalog. When the configured model is not in the catalog
+// the user has drifted away from the launch-managed model (e.g. by selecting a
+// built-in OpenAI model in the Codex App UI), and the launch config should be
+// treated as inactive.
+func codexAppCatalogContainsModel(model string) bool {
+	if strings.TrimSpace(model) == "" {
+		return false
+	}
+	catalogPath, err := codexAppModelCatalogPath()
+	if err != nil {
+		return false
+	}
+	data, err := os.ReadFile(catalogPath)
+	if err != nil {
+		return false
+	}
+	var catalog struct {
+		Models []struct {
+			Slug string `json:"slug"`
+		} `json:"models"`
+	}
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(data, &catalog); err != nil {
+		return false
+	}
+	target := codexAppCatalogModelKey(model)
+	for _, m := range catalog.Models {
+		if codexAppCatalogModelKey(m.Slug) == target {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+	return false
+}
+
 func writeCodexAppConfig(configPath, model, modelCatalogPath string) error {
 	baseURL := codexBaseURL()
 
diff --git a/cmd/launch/codex_app_test.go b/cmd/launch/codex_app_test.go
index 83b8472f..4693e176 100644
--- a/cmd/launch/codex_app_test.go
+++ b/cmd/launch/codex_app_test.go
@@ -626,6 +626,60 @@ func TestCodexAppCurrentModelRequiresHealthyCatalog(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestCodexAppCurrentModelDetectsDriftedModel(t *testing.T) {
+	tmpDir := t.TempDir()
+	setTestHome(t, tmpDir)
+	t.Setenv("OLLAMA_HOST", "http://127.0.0.1:11434")
+
+	catalogPath := mustWriteCodexAppTestCatalog(t, "llama3.2")
+	configPath := filepath.Join(tmpDir, ".codex", "config.toml")
+	if err := os.MkdirAll(filepath.Dir(configPath), 0o755); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	content := "" +
+		`model = "gpt-5.5"` + "\n" +
+		fmt.Sprintf(`model_provider = %q`, codexAppProfileName) + "\n\n" +
+		fmt.Sprintf(`model_catalog_json = %q`, catalogPath) + "\n\n" +
+		codexProviderHeaderFor(codexAppProfileName) + "\n" +
+		`name = "Ollama"` + "\n" +
+		`base_url = "http://127.0.0.1:11434/v1/"` + "\n" +
+		`wire_api = "responses"` + "\n"
+	if err := os.WriteFile(configPath, []byte(content), 0o644); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	if got := (&CodexApp{}).CurrentModel(); got != "" {
+		t.Fatalf("CurrentModel = %q, want empty when model has drifted from the Ollama catalog", got)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestCodexAppCurrentModelAcceptsLatestSuffixDrift(t *testing.T) {
+	tmpDir := t.TempDir()
+	setTestHome(t, tmpDir)
+	t.Setenv("OLLAMA_HOST", "http://127.0.0.1:11434")
+
+	catalogPath := mustWriteCodexAppTestCatalog(t, "llama3.2")
+	configPath := filepath.Join(tmpDir, ".codex", "config.toml")
+	if err := os.MkdirAll(filepath.Dir(configPath), 0o755); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	content := "" +
+		`model = "llama3.2:latest"` + "\n" +
+		fmt.Sprintf(`model_provider = %q`, codexAppProfileName) + "\n\n" +
+		fmt.Sprintf(`model_catalog_json = %q`, catalogPath) + "\n\n" +
+		codexProviderHeaderFor(codexAppProfileName) + "\n" +
+		`name = "Ollama"` + "\n" +
+		`base_url = "http://127.0.0.1:11434/v1/"` + "\n" +
+		`wire_api = "responses"` + "\n"
+	if err := os.WriteFile(configPath, []byte(content), 0o644); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	if got := (&CodexApp{}).CurrentModel(); got != "llama3.2:latest" {
+		t.Fatalf("CurrentModel = %q, want llama3.2:latest (:latest suffix should not be treated as drift)", got)
+	}
+}
+
 func TestCodexAppConfigurePopulatesCatalogFromEnrichedModels(t *testing.T) {
 	tmpDir := t.TempDir()
 	setTestHome(t, tmpDir)