diff --git a/codex-cli/src/cli.tsx b/codex-cli/src/cli.tsx
index b14487be6725..4bec68ad5832 100644
--- a/codex-cli/src/cli.tsx
+++ b/codex-cli/src/cli.tsx
@@ -222,7 +222,7 @@ const imagePaths = cli.flags.image as Array<string> | undefined;
 
 config = {
   ...config,
-  model: model ?? config.model,
+  model: model ?? process.env.CODEX_MODEL ?? config.model,
   provider: provider ?? config.provider,
 };