diff --git a/tests/test_tui_gateway_server.py b/tests/test_tui_gateway_server.py
index 4b4e837c5e..1daf77bd2f 100644
--- a/tests/test_tui_gateway_server.py
+++ b/tests/test_tui_gateway_server.py
@@ -98,6 +98,14 @@ def test_startup_runtime_uses_tui_provider_env(monkeypatch):
     assert server._resolve_startup_runtime() == ("nous/hermes-test", "nous")
 
 
+def test_startup_runtime_does_not_treat_inference_provider_as_explicit(monkeypatch):
+    monkeypatch.setenv("HERMES_MODEL", "nous/hermes-test")
+    monkeypatch.delenv("HERMES_TUI_PROVIDER", raising=False)
+    monkeypatch.setenv("HERMES_INFERENCE_PROVIDER", "nous")
+
+    assert server._resolve_startup_runtime() == ("nous/hermes-test", None)
+
+
 def test_startup_runtime_detects_provider_for_model_env(monkeypatch):
     monkeypatch.setenv("HERMES_MODEL", "sonnet")
     monkeypatch.delenv("HERMES_TUI_PROVIDER", raising=False)
diff --git a/tui_gateway/server.py b/tui_gateway/server.py
index f7a0dd08ee..fa01a68fb4 100644
--- a/tui_gateway/server.py
+++ b/tui_gateway/server.py
@@ -573,10 +573,7 @@ def _resolve_model() -> str:
 
 def _resolve_startup_runtime() -> tuple[str, str | None]:
     model = _resolve_model()
-    explicit_provider = (
-        os.environ.get("HERMES_TUI_PROVIDER", "")
-        or os.environ.get("HERMES_INFERENCE_PROVIDER", "")
-    ).strip()
+    explicit_provider = os.environ.get("HERMES_TUI_PROVIDER", "").strip()
     if explicit_provider:
         return model, explicit_provider
 
@@ -595,7 +592,7 @@ def _resolve_startup_runtime() -> tuple[str, str | None]:
             str(cfg.get("provider") or "").strip().lower()
             if isinstance(cfg, dict)
             else ""
-        ) or "auto"
+        ) or os.environ.get("HERMES_INFERENCE_PROVIDER", "").strip().lower() or "auto"
         detected = detect_provider_for_model(explicit_model, current_provider)
         if detected:
             provider, detected_model = detected