diff --git a/pkg/providers/error_classifier.go b/pkg/providers/error_classifier.go
index a0f003006..96fa8675b 100644
--- a/pkg/providers/error_classifier.go
+++ b/pkg/providers/error_classifier.go
@@ -78,6 +78,17 @@ var (
 		substr("invalid request format"),
 	}
 
+	invalidModelPatterns = []errorPattern{
+		rxp(`not a valid model`),
+		rxp(`invalid model`),
+		rxp(`model .+ is not available`),
+		rxp(`model .+ does not exist`),
+		rxp(`unknown model`),
+		rxp(`model_not_found`),
+		substr("model not found"),
+		rxp(`model not supported`),
+	}
+
 	imageDimensionPatterns = []errorPattern{
 		rxp(`image dimensions exceed max`),
 	}
@@ -128,7 +139,20 @@ func ClassifyError(err error, provider, model string) *FailoverError {
 		}
 	}
 
-	// Try HTTP status code extraction first.
+	// Message pattern matching FIRST (priority over status codes).
+	// This allows 400 errors with specific messages to be classified correctly.
+	// For example, 400 + "not a valid model ID" should be FailoverModel (retriable)
+	// not FailoverFormat (non-retriable).
+	if reason := classifyByMessage(msg); reason != "" {
+		return &FailoverError{
+			Reason:   reason,
+			Provider: provider,
+			Model:    model,
+			Wrapped:  err,
+		}
+	}
+
+	// Then try HTTP status code extraction (only if message didn't match).
 	if status := extractHTTPStatus(msg); status > 0 {
 		if reason := classifyByStatus(status); reason != "" {
 			return &FailoverError{
@@ -141,16 +165,6 @@ func ClassifyError(err error, provider, model string) *FailoverError {
 		}
 	}
 
-	// Message pattern matching (priority order from OpenClaw).
-	if reason := classifyByMessage(msg); reason != "" {
-		return &FailoverError{
-			Reason:   reason,
-			Provider: provider,
-			Model:    model,
-			Wrapped:  err,
-		}
-	}
-
 	return nil
 }
 
@@ -191,6 +205,9 @@ func classifyByMessage(msg string) FailoverReason {
 	if matchesAny(msg, authPatterns) {
 		return FailoverAuth
 	}
+	if matchesAny(msg, invalidModelPatterns) {
+		return FailoverModel
+	}
 	if matchesAny(msg, formatPatterns) {
 		return FailoverFormat
 	}
diff --git a/pkg/providers/error_classifier_test.go b/pkg/providers/error_classifier_test.go
index 865aea57a..ebf574b90 100644
--- a/pkg/providers/error_classifier_test.go
+++ b/pkg/providers/error_classifier_test.go
@@ -335,3 +335,53 @@ func TestIsImageSizeError(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Error("should not match normal error")
 	}
 }
+
+func TestClassifyError_InvalidModelErrors(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []struct {
+		name     string
+		msg      string
+		reason   FailoverReason
+		retriable bool
+	}{
+		{
+			name:     "antigravity invalid model 400",
+			msg:      "API request failed: Status: 400 Body: {\"error\":{\"message\":\"gemini-3-flash is not a valid model ID\",\"code\":400}}",
+			reason:   FailoverModel,
+			retriable: true,
+		},
+		{
+			name:     "openrouter invalid model",
+			msg:      "invalid model: gpt-5 does not exist",
+			reason:   FailoverModel,
+			retriable: true,
+		},
+		{
+			name:     "model not available",
+			msg:      "model claude-opus is not available",
+			reason:   FailoverModel,
+			retriable: true,
+		},
+		{
+			name:     "model not found",
+			msg:      "model not found: unknown-model-x",
+			reason:   FailoverModel,
+			retriable: true,
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			err := errors.New(tt.msg)
+			result := ClassifyError(err, "test-provider", "test-model")
+			if result == nil {
+				t.Fatalf("expected non-nil error, got nil")
+			}
+			if result.Reason != tt.reason {
+				t.Errorf("reason = %q, want %q", result.Reason, tt.reason)
+			}
+			if result.IsRetriable() != tt.retriable {
+				t.Errorf("IsRetriable() = %v, want %v", result.IsRetriable(), tt.retriable)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
diff --git a/pkg/providers/types.go b/pkg/providers/types.go
index f0c168bc6..ef9ded481 100644
--- a/pkg/providers/types.go
+++ b/pkg/providers/types.go
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ const (
 	FailoverTimeout    FailoverReason = "timeout"
 	FailoverFormat     FailoverReason = "format"
 	FailoverOverloaded FailoverReason = "overloaded"
+	FailoverModel      FailoverReason = "model"
 	FailoverUnknown    FailoverReason = "unknown"
 )
 
@@ -70,6 +71,7 @@ func (e *FailoverError) Unwrap() error {
 
 // IsRetriable returns true if this error should trigger fallback to next candidate.
 // Non-retriable: Format errors (bad request structure, image dimension/size).
+// Retriable: Auth, rate_limit, billing, timeout, model, overloaded.
 func (e *FailoverError) IsRetriable() bool {
 	return e.Reason != FailoverFormat
 }