diff --git a/internal/util/provider.go b/internal/util/provider.go
index ae25a63148a..dc5d6f46b31 100644
--- a/internal/util/provider.go
+++ b/internal/util/provider.go
@@ -26,6 +26,31 @@ func OpenAICompatibleProviderKey(name string) string {
 	return openAICompatibleProviderPrefix + name
 }
 
+// IsOpenAICompatibleProvider reports whether the given provider key identifies an
+// OpenAI-compatibility provider (the generic "openai-compatibility" key or a named
+// "openai-compatible-<name>" key). Such providers always use static credentials
+// (an API key and/or custom headers) and are therefore treated as API-key auths.
+func IsOpenAICompatibleProvider(provider string) bool {
+	provider = strings.ToLower(strings.TrimSpace(provider))
+	if provider == "" {
+		return false
+	}
+	if provider == "openai-compatibility" {
+		return true
+	}
+	return strings.HasPrefix(provider, openAICompatibleProviderPrefix)
+}
+
+// OpenAICompatibleProviderName returns the config name encoded by a named
+// OpenAI-compatible provider key such as "openai-compatible-vast".
+func OpenAICompatibleProviderName(provider string) string {
+	provider = strings.ToLower(strings.TrimSpace(provider))
+	if !strings.HasPrefix(provider, openAICompatibleProviderPrefix) {
+		return ""
+	}
+	return strings.TrimPrefix(provider, openAICompatibleProviderPrefix)
+}
+
 // GetProviderName determines all AI service providers capable of serving a registered model.
 // It first queries the global model registry to retrieve the providers backing the supplied model name.
 // When the model has not been registered yet, it falls back to legacy string heuristics to infer
diff --git a/sdk/cliproxy/auth/classification.go b/sdk/cliproxy/auth/classification.go
index b8c7171844c..b3e60241728 100644
--- a/sdk/cliproxy/auth/classification.go
+++ b/sdk/cliproxy/auth/classification.go
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 package auth
 
-import "strings"
+import (
+	"strings"
+
+	"github.com/router-for-me/CLIProxyAPI/v7/internal/util"
+)
 
 const (
 	AuthKindAPIKey = "apikey"
@@ -39,9 +43,32 @@ func (a *Auth) AuthKind() string {
 	if authHasOAuthMetadata(a) {
 		return AuthKindOAuth
 	}
+	// OpenAI-compatibility providers always use static credentials: either an API
+	// key or custom headers (e.g. cookie/device headers) when no api-key is set.
+	// Treat them as API-key auths so model-alias resolution and per-auth model
+	// pools apply even for header-authenticated entries.
+	if isOpenAICompatibilityAuth(a) {
+		return AuthKindAPIKey
+	}
 	return ""
 }
 
+// isOpenAICompatibilityAuth reports whether the auth belongs to an
+// OpenAI-compatibility provider. Such auths carry the provider key produced by
+// util.OpenAICompatibleProviderKey and/or a "compat_name" attribute.
+func isOpenAICompatibilityAuth(a *Auth) bool {
+	if a == nil {
+		return false
+	}
+	if util.IsOpenAICompatibleProvider(a.Provider) {
+		return true
+	}
+	if authAttribute(a, "compat_name") != "" {
+		return true
+	}
+	return false
+}
+
 // AuthSourceKind returns where the Auth entry came from at runtime.
 func (a *Auth) AuthSourceKind() string {
 	if a == nil {
diff --git a/sdk/cliproxy/auth/conductor.go b/sdk/cliproxy/auth/conductor.go
index 1597efff02c..bda40d8bf2c 100644
--- a/sdk/cliproxy/auth/conductor.go
+++ b/sdk/cliproxy/auth/conductor.go
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ func providerCoolingDisabledForAuth(auth *Auth, cfg *internalconfig.Config) bool
 		providerKey = strings.TrimSpace(auth.Attributes["provider_key"])
 		compatName = strings.TrimSpace(auth.Attributes["compat_name"])
 	}
-	if providerKey == "" && compatName == "" && provider != "openai-compatibility" {
+	if providerKey == "" && compatName == "" && !util.IsOpenAICompatibleProvider(provider) {
 		return false
 	}
 	if providerKey == "" {
@@ -1011,13 +1011,13 @@ func isOpenAICompatAPIKeyAuth(auth *Auth) bool {
 	if !isAPIKeyAuth(auth) {
 		return false
 	}
-	if strings.EqualFold(strings.TrimSpace(auth.Provider), "openai-compatibility") {
+	if util.IsOpenAICompatibleProvider(auth.Provider) {
 		return true
 	}
 	if auth.Attributes == nil {
 		return false
 	}
-	return strings.TrimSpace(auth.Attributes["compat_name"]) != ""
+	return authAttribute(auth, "compat_name") != ""
 }
 
 func openAICompatProviderKey(auth *Auth) string {
@@ -1300,7 +1300,7 @@ func (m *Manager) resolveAPIKeyModelAliasWithResult(auth *Auth, requestedModel s
 			providerKey = strings.TrimSpace(auth.Attributes["provider_key"])
 			compatName = strings.TrimSpace(auth.Attributes["compat_name"])
 		}
-		if compatName != "" || strings.EqualFold(strings.TrimSpace(auth.Provider), "openai-compatibility") {
+		if compatName != "" || util.IsOpenAICompatibleProvider(auth.Provider) {
 			if entry := resolveOpenAICompatConfig(cfg, providerKey, compatName, auth.Provider); entry != nil {
 				models = asModelAliasEntries(entry.Models)
 			}
@@ -1979,7 +1979,7 @@ func (m *Manager) rebuildAPIKeyModelAliasLocked(cfg *internalconfig.Config) {
 				providerKey = strings.TrimSpace(auth.Attributes["provider_key"])
 				compatName = strings.TrimSpace(auth.Attributes["compat_name"])
 			}
-			if compatName != "" || strings.EqualFold(strings.TrimSpace(auth.Provider), "openai-compatibility") {
+			if compatName != "" || util.IsOpenAICompatibleProvider(auth.Provider) {
 				if entry := resolveOpenAICompatConfig(cfg, providerKey, compatName, auth.Provider); entry != nil {
 					compileAPIKeyModelAliasForModels(byAlias, entry.Models)
 				}
@@ -3201,7 +3201,7 @@ func resolveUpstreamModelForOpenAICompatAPIKey(cfg *internalconfig.Config, auth
 		providerKey = strings.TrimSpace(auth.Attributes["provider_key"])
 		compatName = strings.TrimSpace(auth.Attributes["compat_name"])
 	}
-	if compatName == "" && !strings.EqualFold(strings.TrimSpace(auth.Provider), "openai-compatibility") {
+	if compatName == "" && !util.IsOpenAICompatibleProvider(auth.Provider) {
 		return ""
 	}
 	entry := resolveOpenAICompatConfig(cfg, providerKey, compatName, auth.Provider)
@@ -3217,15 +3217,23 @@ func resolveOpenAICompatConfig(cfg *internalconfig.Config, providerKey, compatNa
 	if cfg == nil {
 		return nil
 	}
-	candidates := make([]string, 0, 3)
-	if v := strings.TrimSpace(compatName); v != "" {
-		candidates = append(candidates, v)
-	}
-	if v := strings.TrimSpace(providerKey); v != "" {
-		candidates = append(candidates, v)
+	candidates := make([]string, 0, 6)
+	seen := make(map[string]struct{}, 6)
+	addCandidate := func(value string) {
+		value = strings.TrimSpace(value)
+		if value == "" {
+			return
+		}
+		key := strings.ToLower(value)
+		if _, ok := seen[key]; ok {
+			return
+		}
+		seen[key] = struct{}{}
+		candidates = append(candidates, value)
 	}
-	if v := strings.TrimSpace(authProvider); v != "" {
-		candidates = append(candidates, v)
+	for _, value := range []string{compatName, providerKey, authProvider} {
+		addCandidate(value)
+		addCandidate(util.OpenAICompatibleProviderName(value))
 	}
 	for i := range cfg.OpenAICompatibility {
 		compat := &cfg.OpenAICompatibility[i]