diff --git a/src/config/config.plugin-validation.test.ts b/src/config/config.plugin-validation.test.ts
index c7389a59f..b9fb08e4d 100644
--- a/src/config/config.plugin-validation.test.ts
+++ b/src/config/config.plugin-validation.test.ts
@@ -147,6 +147,21 @@ describe("config plugin validation", () => {
     expect(res.ok).toBe(true);
   });
 
+  it("accepts channels.modelByChannel", async () => {
+    const home = await createCaseHome();
+    const res = validateInHome(home, {
+      agents: { list: [{ id: "pi" }] },
+      channels: {
+        modelByChannel: {
+          openai: {
+            whatsapp: "openai/gpt-5.2",
+          },
+        },
+      },
+    });
+    expect(res.ok).toBe(true);
+  });
+
   it("accepts plugin heartbeat targets", async () => {
     const home = await createCaseHome();
     const pluginDir = path.join(home, "bluebubbles-plugin");
diff --git a/src/config/plugin-auto-enable.test.ts b/src/config/plugin-auto-enable.test.ts
index 92227d142..f8312901f 100644
--- a/src/config/plugin-auto-enable.test.ts
+++ b/src/config/plugin-auto-enable.test.ts
@@ -16,6 +16,25 @@ describe("applyPluginAutoEnable", () => {
     expect(result.changes.join("\n")).toContain("Slack configured, enabled automatically.");
   });
 
+  it("ignores channels.modelByChannel for plugin auto-enable", () => {
+    const result = applyPluginAutoEnable({
+      config: {
+        channels: {
+          modelByChannel: {
+            openai: {
+              whatsapp: "openai/gpt-5.2",
+            },
+          },
+        },
+      },
+      env: {},
+    });
+
+    expect(result.config.plugins?.entries?.modelByChannel).toBeUndefined();
+    expect(result.config.plugins?.allow).toBeUndefined();
+    expect(result.changes).toEqual([]);
+  });
+
   it("respects explicit disable", () => {
     const result = applyPluginAutoEnable({
       config: {