diff --git a/lang/el-compiler/runtime/el_runtime.c b/lang/el-compiler/runtime/el_runtime.c
index f544846..7d47e17 100644
--- a/lang/el-compiler/runtime/el_runtime.c
+++ b/lang/el-compiler/runtime/el_runtime.c
@@ -8473,7 +8473,7 @@ static el_val_t llm_provider_request(const char* url, const char* key,
     }
 }
 
-static el_val_t llm_chain_call(const char* system_str, const char* user_str) {
+static el_val_t llm_chain_call(const char* model_pref, const char* system_str, const char* user_str) {
     char url_key[64], key_key[64], fmt_key[64], model_key[64];
     for (int i = 0; i < LLM_MAX_PROVIDERS; i++) {
         snprintf(url_key,   sizeof(url_key),   "NEURON_LLM_%d_URL",    i);
@@ -8486,6 +8486,7 @@ static el_val_t llm_chain_call(const char* system_str, const char* user_str) {
         const char* fmt_s = getenv(fmt_key);
         int fmt = (fmt_s && strcmp(fmt_s, "anthropic") == 0) ? 1 : 0;
         const char* model = getenv(model_key);
+        if (!model || !*model) model = model_pref; /* fall back to the caller-requested model */
         fprintf(stderr, "[llm] trying provider %d (%s)\n", i, url);
         el_val_t result = llm_provider_request(url, key, fmt, model, system_str, user_str);
         const char* t = EL_CSTR(result);
@@ -8496,7 +8497,7 @@ static el_val_t llm_chain_call(const char* system_str, const char* user_str) {
     const char* api_key = getenv("ANTHROPIC_API_KEY");
     if (!api_key || !*api_key) return http_error_json("no LLM providers configured");
     fprintf(stderr, "[llm] using legacy ANTHROPIC_API_KEY fallback\n");
-    return llm_provider_request(LLM_API_URL, api_key, 1, NULL, system_str, user_str);
+    return llm_provider_request(LLM_API_URL, api_key, 1, model_pref, system_str, user_str);
 }
 
 /* Legacy llm_request — kept for backward compat with agentic loop internals */
@@ -8560,14 +8561,16 @@ static el_val_t llm_extract_text(el_val_t resp_val) {
 }
 
 el_val_t llm_call(el_val_t model, el_val_t prompt) {
+    const char* m = EL_CSTR(model);
     const char* u = EL_CSTR(prompt); if (!u) u = "";
-    return llm_chain_call(NULL, u);
+    return llm_chain_call(m, NULL, u);
 }
 
 el_val_t llm_call_system(el_val_t model, el_val_t system_prompt, el_val_t user_prompt) {
+    const char* m = EL_CSTR(model);
     const char* s = EL_CSTR(system_prompt); if (!s) s = "";
     const char* u = EL_CSTR(user_prompt);   if (!u) u = "";
-    return llm_chain_call(s, u);
+    return llm_chain_call(m, s, u);
 }
 
 /* ── Tool registry for llm_call_agentic ─────────────────────────────────── */