diff --git a/packages/cli/src/validateNonInterActiveAuth.ts b/packages/cli/src/validateNonInterActiveAuth.ts
index c8a4f810b..f5d71b08d 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/validateNonInterActiveAuth.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/validateNonInterActiveAuth.ts
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ export async function validateNonInteractiveAuth(
     const authType = nonInteractiveConfig.modelsConfig.getCurrentAuthType();
     if (!authType) {
       throw new Error(
-        'No auth type is selected. Please configure an auth type (e.g. via settings) before running in non-interactive mode.',
+        'No auth type is selected. Please configure an auth type (e.g. via settings or `--auth-type`) before running in non-interactive mode.',
       );
     }
     const resolvedAuthType: NonNullable<typeof authType> = authType;
diff --git a/packages/core/src/models/modelConfigResolver.ts b/packages/core/src/models/modelConfigResolver.ts
index 9f4b43b6a..a6c734f72 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/models/modelConfigResolver.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/models/modelConfigResolver.ts
@@ -128,10 +128,11 @@ export function resolveModelConfig(
     return resolveQwenOAuthConfig(input, warnings);
   }
 
-  // Get auth-specific env var mappings
+  // Get auth-specific env var mappings.
+  // If authType is not provided, do not read any auth env vars.
   const envMapping = authType
     ? AUTH_ENV_MAPPINGS[authType]
-    : AUTH_ENV_MAPPINGS[AuthType.USE_OPENAI];
+    : { model: [], apiKey: [], baseUrl: [] };
 
   // Build layers for each field in priority order
   // Priority: modelProvider > cli > env > settings > default