diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 1bc6dfd1d..c05633f51 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 
 ### Fixes
 
+- Providers/OpenRouter: preserve the required `openrouter/` prefix for OpenRouter-native model IDs during model-ref normalization. (#12942) Thanks @omair445.
 - Telegram/Webhook: keep webhook monitors alive until gateway abort signals fire, preventing false channel exits and immediate webhook auto-restart loops.
 - Telegram/Polling: retry recoverable setup-time network failures in monitor startup and await runner teardown before retry to avoid overlapping polling sessions.
 - Telegram/Polling: clear Telegram webhooks (`deleteWebhook`) before starting long-poll `getUpdates`, including retry handling for transient cleanup failures.
diff --git a/src/agents/model-selection.test.ts b/src/agents/model-selection.test.ts
index 20947a8a1..b903189b2 100644
--- a/src/agents/model-selection.test.ts
+++ b/src/agents/model-selection.test.ts
@@ -83,6 +83,20 @@ describe("model-selection", () => {
       expect(parseModelRef("  ", "anthropic")).toBeNull();
     });
 
+    it("should preserve openrouter/ prefix for native models", () => {
+      expect(parseModelRef("openrouter/aurora-alpha", "openai")).toEqual({
+        provider: "openrouter",
+        model: "openrouter/aurora-alpha",
+      });
+    });
+
+    it("should pass through openrouter external provider models as-is", () => {
+      expect(parseModelRef("openrouter/anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5", "openai")).toEqual({
+        provider: "openrouter",
+        model: "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5",
+      });
+    });
+
     it("should handle invalid slash usage", () => {
       expect(parseModelRef("/", "anthropic")).toBeNull();
       expect(parseModelRef("anthropic/", "anthropic")).toBeNull();
diff --git a/src/agents/model-selection.ts b/src/agents/model-selection.ts
index d7e3a6bf0..2df5acb14 100644
--- a/src/agents/model-selection.ts
+++ b/src/agents/model-selection.ts
@@ -111,6 +111,13 @@ function normalizeProviderModelId(provider: string, model: string): string {
   if (provider === "google") {
     return normalizeGoogleModelId(model);
   }
+  // OpenRouter-native models (e.g. "openrouter/aurora-alpha") need the full
+  // "openrouter/<name>" as the model ID sent to the API. Models from external
+  // providers already contain a slash (e.g. "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5") and
+  // are passed through as-is (#12924).
+  if (provider === "openrouter" && !model.includes("/")) {
+    return `openrouter/${model}`;
+  }
   return model;
 }