diff --git a/src/daemon/clientFactory.test.ts b/src/daemon/clientFactory.test.ts
index 428ab38..d80f57c 100644
--- a/src/daemon/clientFactory.test.ts
+++ b/src/daemon/clientFactory.test.ts
@@ -1,11 +1,12 @@
 import { describe, it, expect } from 'vitest';
-import { createClientFromConfig } from './index.js';
+import { createClientFromConfig, anthropicToGitHubModel, createAutoFallbackClient } from './index.js';
 import { AnthropicClient } from '../models/anthropic.js';
 import { OpenAIClient } from '../models/openai.js';
 import { OllamaClient } from '../models/local/ollama.js';
 import { LlamaCppClient } from '../models/local/llamacpp.js';
 import { GeminiClient } from '../models/gemini.js';
 import { BedrockClient } from '../models/bedrock.js';
+import { GitHubModelsClient } from '../models/github.js';
 
 describe('createClientFromConfig', () => {
   it('creates AnthropicClient for anthropic provider', () => {
@@ -94,3 +95,45 @@ describe('createClientFromConfig', () => {
     expect(client).toBeInstanceOf(BedrockClient);
   });
 });
+
+describe('anthropicToGitHubModel', () => {
+  it('maps claude-sonnet-4-20250514 to claude-sonnet-4', () => {
+    expect(anthropicToGitHubModel('claude-sonnet-4-20250514')).toBe('claude-sonnet-4');
+  });
+
+  it('maps claude-opus-4-20250514 to claude-opus-4', () => {
+    expect(anthropicToGitHubModel('claude-opus-4-20250514')).toBe('claude-opus-4');
+  });
+
+  it('maps claude-3-5-haiku-20241022 to claude-haiku-4', () => {
+    expect(anthropicToGitHubModel('claude-3-5-haiku-20241022')).toBe('claude-haiku-4');
+  });
+
+  it('strips date suffix for unknown versioned models', () => {
+    expect(anthropicToGitHubModel('claude-sonnet-5-20260101')).toBe('claude-sonnet-5');
+  });
+
+  it('returns undefined for models without date suffix', () => {
+    expect(anthropicToGitHubModel('llama3.2:1b')).toBeUndefined();
+  });
+});
+
+describe('createAutoFallbackClient', () => {
+  it('creates a GitHubModelsClient for anthropic provider', () => {
+    const client = createAutoFallbackClient({
+      provider: 'anthropic',
+      model: 'claude-sonnet-4-20250514',
+    });
+    expect(client).toBeInstanceOf(GitHubModelsClient);
+  });
+
+  it('returns undefined for non-anthropic providers', () => {
+    expect(createAutoFallbackClient({ provider: 'openai', model: 'gpt-4o' })).toBeUndefined();
+    expect(createAutoFallbackClient({ provider: 'ollama', model: 'llama3.2:1b' })).toBeUndefined();
+    expect(createAutoFallbackClient({ provider: 'gemini', model: 'gemini-2.5-pro' })).toBeUndefined();
+  });
+
+  it('returns undefined for unmappable anthropic models', () => {
+    expect(createAutoFallbackClient({ provider: 'anthropic', model: 'custom-model' })).toBeUndefined();
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/daemon/index.ts b/src/daemon/index.ts
index 8ef79f7..6fed3a1 100644
--- a/src/daemon/index.ts
+++ b/src/daemon/index.ts
@@ -131,6 +131,50 @@ export function createClientFromConfig(cfg: ModelConfig): ModelClient {
   }
 }
 
+/**
+ * Map an Anthropic model identifier to its GitHub Models equivalent.
+ * Returns undefined if no mapping is known.
+ */
+export function anthropicToGitHubModel(anthropicModel: string): string | undefined {
+  // Mapping from Anthropic versioned names → GitHub Copilot short names
+  const MAPPINGS: Record<string, string> = {
+    'claude-sonnet-4-20250514': 'claude-sonnet-4',
+    'claude-opus-4-20250514': 'claude-opus-4',
+    'claude-3-5-haiku-20241022': 'claude-haiku-4',
+  };
+
+  if (MAPPINGS[anthropicModel]) return MAPPINGS[anthropicModel];
+
+  // Try stripping date suffix (e.g. "claude-sonnet-4-20260101" → "claude-sonnet-4")
+  const dateMatch = anthropicModel.match(/^(.+)-\d{8}$/);
+  if (dateMatch) return dateMatch[1];
+
+  return undefined;
+}
+
+/**
+ * For a given tier config using the Anthropic provider, create a GitHub Models
+ * client with the equivalent model as an automatic same-model fallback.
+ * Returns undefined if no mapping exists or the tier isn't Anthropic.
+ */
+export function createAutoFallbackClient(tierConfig: { provider: string; model: string }): ModelClient | undefined {
+  if (tierConfig.provider !== 'anthropic') return undefined;
+
+  const githubModel = anthropicToGitHubModel(tierConfig.model);
+  if (!githubModel) return undefined;
+
+  return new GitHubModelsClient({
+    model: githubModel,
+    onLoginRequired: async () => {
+      const { loginGitHub } = await import('../auth/index.js');
+      return loginGitHub((userCode, verificationUri) => {
+        console.log(`GitHub login required. Visit: ${verificationUri}`);
+        console.log(`Enter code: ${userCode}`);
+      });
+    },
+  });
+}
+
 function createModelRouter(config: Config): ModelRouter {
   const models = config.models;
 
@@ -160,25 +204,52 @@ function createModelRouter(config: Config): ModelRouter {
     }
   }
 
-  // Build per-tier fallbacks from inline fallback config
+  // Build per-tier fallbacks from inline fallback config + auto same-model fallbacks.
+  // Auto-fallback: when a tier uses Anthropic, automatically insert a GitHub Models
+  // client for the same model *before* any user-configured inline fallbacks.
+  // This ensures the same model is tried via an alternative provider before
+  // degrading to the global fallback chain (which may be a much weaker local model).
   const tierFallbacks = new Map<ModelTier, ModelClient[]>();
-  if (models.default.fallback) {
-    tierFallbacks.set('default', [createClientFromConfig(models.default.fallback)]);
-  }
-  if (models.fast?.fallback) {
-    tierFallbacks.set('fast', [createClientFromConfig(models.fast.fallback)]);
-  }
-  if (models.complex?.fallback) {
-    tierFallbacks.set('complex', [createClientFromConfig(models.complex.fallback)]);
-  }
-  if (models.local?.fallback) {
-    tierFallbacks.set('local', [createClientFromConfig(models.local.fallback)]);
+
+  const tierConfigs: { tier: ModelTier; cfg: typeof models.default | undefined }[] = [
+    { tier: 'default', cfg: models.default },
+    { tier: 'fast', cfg: models.fast },
+    { tier: 'complex', cfg: models.complex },
+    { tier: 'local', cfg: models.local },
+  ];
+
+  const autoFallbackTiers: string[] = [];
+  for (const { tier, cfg } of tierConfigs) {
+    if (!cfg) continue;
+
+    const fallbackList: ModelClient[] = [];
+
+    // Auto same-model fallback (only when user hasn't configured an inline fallback)
+    if (!cfg.fallback) {
+      const autoClient = createAutoFallbackClient(cfg);
+      if (autoClient) {
+        fallbackList.push(autoClient);
+        autoFallbackTiers.push(tier);
+      }
+    }
+
+    // User-configured inline fallback
+    if (cfg.fallback) {
+      fallbackList.push(createClientFromConfig(cfg.fallback));
+    }
+
+    if (fallbackList.length > 0) {
+      tierFallbacks.set(tier, fallbackList);
+    }
   }
 
   if (tierFallbacks.size > 0) {
     const tierNames = Array.from(tierFallbacks.keys()).join(', ');
     console.log(`Per-tier fallbacks configured for: ${tierNames}`);
   }
+  if (autoFallbackTiers.length > 0) {
+    console.log(`Auto same-model fallback (via GitHub Models) for: ${autoFallbackTiers.join(', ')}`);
+  }
 
   console.log(`Model router: default=${models.default.provider}/${models.default.model}, ` +
     `fallback=[${models.fallback_chain.join(', ')}]`);