fix(models): frontier model check matches the model name only, never the provider route (#1280)

Co-authored-by: Ahmed Allam <ahmed39652003@gmail.com>

strix/config/models.py

@@ -593,17 +593,27 @@ RECOMMENDED_MODEL_NAMES = (
 
 _RECOMMENDED_MODEL_NAME_SET = frozenset(name.lower() for name in RECOMMENDED_MODEL_NAMES)
 
-FRONTIER_MODEL_FAMILIES = (
-    (("azure", "azure_ai", "bedrock_mantle", "chatgpt", "openai"), ("gpt-5",)),
-    (
-        ("anthropic", "azure_ai", "bedrock", "claude", "databricks", "snowflake", "vertex_ai"),
-        ("claude-fable-5", "claude-opus-5", "claude-opus-4", "claude-sonnet-5", "claude-sonnet-4"),
-    ),
-    (("google", "gemini", "vertex_ai"), ("gemini-3",)),
-    (("deepseek",), ("deepseek-v4", "deepseek-r1", "deepseek-reasoner")),
-    (("alibaba", "dashscope", "qwen"), ("qwen3.8", "qwen3.7", "qwen3-max")),
-    (("moonshot", "moonshotai", "kimi"), ("kimi-k3", "kimi-k2.7", "kimi-k2.6")),
-    (("zai", "z-ai", "zai-org", "zhipuai"), ("glm-5.3", "glm-5.2")),
+# Matched against the bare model name only: the route (``openai/``, ``openrouter/``,
+# a local gateway, ...) says nothing about the model's quality.
+FRONTIER_MODEL_PREFIXES = (
+    "gpt-5",
+    "claude-fable-5",
+    "claude-opus-5",
+    "claude-opus-4",
+    "claude-sonnet-5",
+    "claude-sonnet-4",
+    "gemini-3",
+    "deepseek-v4",
+    "deepseek-r1",
+    "deepseek-reasoner",
+    "qwen3.8",
+    "qwen3.7",
+    "qwen3-max",
+    "kimi-k3",
+    "kimi-k2.7",
+    "kimi-k2.6",
+    "glm-5.3",
+    "glm-5.2",
 )
 
 
@@ -837,11 +847,8 @@ def is_recommended_or_frontier_model(model_name: str) -> bool:
         return False
     if name in _RECOMMENDED_MODEL_NAME_SET:
         return True
-    provider_name, bare_model_name = _split_model_provider(name)
-    return any(
-        _matches_frontier_family(provider_name, bare_model_name, provider_markers, prefixes)
-        for provider_markers, prefixes in FRONTIER_MODEL_FAMILIES
-    )
+    bare_model_name = name.rsplit("/", 1)[-1]
+    return _matches_model_prefix(bare_model_name, FRONTIER_MODEL_PREFIXES)
 
 
 def _normalized_model_name(model_name: str) -> str:
@@ -853,28 +860,6 @@ def _normalized_model_name(model_name: str) -> str:
     return name
 
 
-def _split_model_provider(model_name: str) -> tuple[str | None, str]:
-    if "/" not in model_name:
-        return None, model_name
-    provider_name, bare_model_name = model_name.rsplit("/", 1)
-    return provider_name, bare_model_name
-
-
-def _matches_frontier_family(
-    provider_name: str | None,
-    model_name: str,
-    provider_markers: tuple[str, ...],
-    model_prefixes: tuple[str, ...],
-) -> bool:
-    if not _matches_model_prefix(model_name, model_prefixes):
-        return False
-    if provider_name is None:
-        return True
-    return _contains_provider_marker(
-        provider_name, provider_markers, split_compound_names=True
-    ) or _contains_provider_marker(model_name, provider_markers)
-
-
 def _matches_model_prefix(model_name: str, model_prefixes: tuple[str, ...]) -> bool:
     return any(
         candidate.startswith(prefix)
@@ -892,16 +877,6 @@ def _model_name_candidates(model_name: str) -> tuple[str, ...]:
     return (model_name, *suffixes)
 
 
-def _contains_provider_marker(
-    value: str, provider_markers: tuple[str, ...], *, split_compound_names: bool = False
-) -> bool:
-    parts = set(value.replace(".", "/").split("/"))
-    if split_compound_names:
-        for separator in ("_", "-"):
-            parts.update(piece for part in tuple(parts) for piece in part.split(separator))
-    return any(marker in parts for marker in provider_markers)
-
-
 def is_known_openai_bare_model(model_name: str) -> bool:
     import litellm
 

strix/interface/tui/backend/controller.py

@@ -192,7 +192,7 @@ class TuiController:
         model_warning = ""
         if model and not is_recommended_or_frontier_model(model):
             model_warning = (
-                f"{model} is not a recommended frontier model; pentest quality could be degraded"
+                f"{model} is not a recommended frontier model. Pentest quality could be degraded."
             )
         state = {
             "setup_mode": self.setup_mode,

strix/interface/tui/internal/app/model_test.go

@@ -370,6 +370,17 @@ func TestStartedSnapshotTransitionsToLiveView(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestSplashModelWarningRendersTheBackendSentenceOnce(t *testing.T) {
+	warning := "openai/glm-5.3 is not a recommended frontier model. Pentest quality could be degraded."
+	got := ansi.Strip(splashModelWarning("openai/glm-5.3", warning))
+	if got != "⚠ "+warning {
+		t.Fatalf("splash warning = %q, want %q", got, "⚠ "+warning)
+	}
+	if got := ansi.Strip(splashModelWarning("other/model", warning)); got != "⚠ "+warning {
+		t.Fatalf("splash warning with unrelated model = %q", got)
+	}
+}
+
 func TestSetupStartScreenFitsNarrowTerminal(t *testing.T) {
 	model := New(nil)
 	model.width, model.height = 40, 18

strix/interface/tui/internal/app/view.go

@@ -411,7 +411,7 @@ func (m Model) splashView() string {
 		welcome + "\n" + version + "\n" + tagline + "\n\n" +
 		start.String() + "\n\n" + url
 	if warn := m.snapshot.ModelWarning; warn != "" {
-		content += "\n\n" + splashModelWarning(warn)
+		content += "\n\n" + splashModelWarning(m.snapshot.Model, warn)
 	}
 	panel := lipgloss.NewStyle().Border(lipgloss.RoundedBorder()).BorderForeground(green).Padding(1, 6).Align(lipgloss.Center).Render(content)
 	// #splash_screen background is solid black.
@@ -419,12 +419,16 @@ func (m Model) splashView() string {
 		lipgloss.WithWhitespaceBackground(black))
 }
 
-// splashModelWarning ports SplashScreen._build_model_warning_text.
-func splashModelWarning(model string) string {
+// splashModelWarning renders the backend's full warning sentence, with the
+// model name highlighted when the sentence leads with it.
+func splashModelWarning(model, warning string) string {
 	yellow := lipgloss.Color("#eab308")
-	return lipgloss.NewStyle().Bold(true).Foreground(yellow).Render("⚠ ") +
-		lipgloss.NewStyle().Bold(true).Foreground(render.Cyan).Render(model) +
-		lipgloss.NewStyle().Foreground(yellow).Render(" is not a recommended frontier model - pentest quality could be degraded")
+	out := lipgloss.NewStyle().Bold(true).Foreground(yellow).Render("⚠ ")
+	if model != "" && strings.HasPrefix(warning, model) {
+		out += lipgloss.NewStyle().Bold(true).Foreground(render.Cyan).Render(model)
+		warning = strings.TrimPrefix(warning, model)
+	}
+	return out + lipgloss.NewStyle().Foreground(yellow).Render(warning)
 }
 
 // chatPaneKey identifies everything the bordered trace depends on.

tests/test_models.py

@@ -79,6 +79,14 @@ def test_recommended_models_are_matched_case_insensitively() -> None:
         "zai/glm-5.3-flash",
         "openrouter/z-ai/glm-5.3",
         "novita/zai-org/glm-5.2",
+        "openai/glm-5.3",
+        "openai/zai-org/glm-5.3",
+        "hosted_vllm/glm-5.3",
+        "openai/claude-opus-4-8",
+        "openai/deepseek-v4-pro",
+        "custom-ollama/gpt-5-mini-local",
+        "custom-provider/claude-opus-4-local",
+        "custom-provider/glm-5.3-local",
     ],
 )
 def test_frontier_model_families_are_accepted(model_name: str) -> None:
@@ -93,15 +101,13 @@ def test_frontier_model_families_are_accepted(model_name: str) -> None:
         "anthropic/claude-3-5-sonnet-latest",
         "ollama/llama3.1",
         "deepseek/deepseek-chat",
-        "custom-ollama/gpt-5-mini-local",
-        "custom-provider/claude-opus-4-local",
         "xai/grok-4.5",
         "openrouter/x-ai/grok-4",
         "mistral/mistral-medium-3-5",
         "mistral/magistral-medium-latest",
         "zai/glm-4.7",
+        "openai/glm-4.7",
         "openrouter/z-ai/glm-5",
-        "custom-provider/glm-5.3-local",
     ],
 )
 def test_non_frontier_models_are_rejected(model_name: str) -> None: