diff --git a/actions/setup/js/codex_harness.cjs b/actions/setup/js/codex_harness.cjs
index 9187a81a6f1..bfe086c9450 100644
--- a/actions/setup/js/codex_harness.cjs
+++ b/actions/setup/js/codex_harness.cjs
@@ -39,7 +39,6 @@ const { runProcess, formatDuration, sleep, MIN_POST_RESULT_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT_MS,
 const {
   AWF_API_PROXY_REFLECT_URL,
   AWF_REFLECT_OUTPUT_PATH,
-  AWF_REFLECT_TIMEOUT_MS,
   AWF_MODELS_URL_TIMEOUT_MS,
   GEMINI_MODEL_NAME_PREFIX,
   enrichReflectModels,
@@ -536,7 +535,10 @@ async function main() {
 
   // Fetch AWF API proxy reflection data before running the agent to capture initial proxy state.
   // This is best-effort: failures are logged but do not affect the agent run.
-  await fetchAWFReflect({ logger: log });
+  // Skip when AWF_REFLECT_ENABLED is not "1" (e.g. no api-proxy running in sandbox or test mode).
+  if (process.env.AWF_REFLECT_ENABLED === "1") {
+    await fetchAWFReflect({ logger: log });
+  }
   const codexHome = process.env.CODEX_HOME || "";
   let codexEnv = codexChildEnv;
   const providerConfig = configureCodexProviderFromReflect({
@@ -752,7 +754,10 @@ async function main() {
   }
 
   // Fetch AWF API proxy reflection data and persist to disk for post-run step summary.
-  await fetchAWFReflect({ logger: log });
+  // Skip when AWF_REFLECT_ENABLED is not "1" (e.g. no api-proxy running in sandbox or test mode).
+  if (process.env.AWF_REFLECT_ENABLED === "1") {
+    await fetchAWFReflect({ logger: log });
+  }
 
   log(`done: exitCode=${lastExitCode} totalDuration=${formatDuration(Date.now() - driverStartTime)}`);
   process.exit(lastExitCode);
diff --git a/actions/setup/js/copilot_harness.cjs b/actions/setup/js/copilot_harness.cjs
index 4b08b41ff2c..688471f14de 100644
--- a/actions/setup/js/copilot_harness.cjs
+++ b/actions/setup/js/copilot_harness.cjs
@@ -1272,7 +1272,8 @@ async function main() {
         // only armed after hasTerminalSafeOutput is true, so watchdogFired on a no-stdio-output
         // run means the agent completed its task (wrote safe-output) but produced no console
         // output before the watchdog terminated the idle process.
-        if ((failureClass === "partial_execution" || failureClass === "long_run_exit" || (failureClass === "no_output" && result.watchdogFired)) && safeOutputsPath && hasTerminalSafeOutput(safeOutputsPath)) {
+        const isExpectedLateExit = failureClass === "partial_execution" || failureClass === "long_run_exit" || (failureClass === "no_output" && result.watchdogFired) || (failureClass === "authentication_failed" && result.watchdogFired);
+        if (isExpectedLateExit && safeOutputsPath && hasTerminalSafeOutput(safeOutputsPath)) {
           const reason = result.watchdogFired ? "post-result watchdog fired after terminal safe-output was emitted" : "partial execution after terminal safe-output was already produced";
           log(`attempt ${attempt + 1}: ${reason} — treating as success (late-activity exit suppressed)`);
           lastExitCode = 0;
diff --git a/actions/setup/js/copilot_harness.test.cjs b/actions/setup/js/copilot_harness.test.cjs
index fbe387f4b7b..5a26d10478f 100644
--- a/actions/setup/js/copilot_harness.test.cjs
+++ b/actions/setup/js/copilot_harness.test.cjs
@@ -2620,6 +2620,83 @@ setInterval(() => {}, 1000);`,
       expect(result.stderr).toContain("post-result watchdog fired after terminal safe-output was emitted");
       expect(result.stderr).toContain("late-activity exit suppressed");
     });
+
+    it('exits 0 without retrying when watchdog fires after terminal safe-output was produced and output contains benign "not logged in" tool text', () => {
+      const tempDir = makeHarnessTempDir("copilot-watchdog-authentication-failed-suppression-");
+      const safeOutputsPath = path.join(tempDir, "safe-outputs.jsonl");
+      const stubPath = path.join(tempDir, "stub.cjs");
+      const promptPath = path.join(tempDir, "prompt.txt");
+      const callsPath = path.join(tempDir, "calls.jsonl");
+      fs.writeFileSync(
+        stubPath,
+        `const fs = require("fs");
+const callsPath = process.env.COPILOT_HARNESS_STUB_CALLS;
+const safeOutputsPath = process.env.GH_AW_SAFE_OUTPUTS;
+fs.appendFileSync(callsPath, JSON.stringify({args: process.argv.slice(2)}) + "\\n");
+fs.appendFileSync(safeOutputsPath, JSON.stringify({type:"add_comment",body:"Daily report posted"}) + "\\n");
+process.stdout.write(JSON.stringify({
+  type: "tool.execution_complete",
+  tool: "bash",
+  output: "You are not logged into any GitHub hosts. To log in, run: gh auth login"
+}) + "\\n");
+process.on("SIGTERM", () => process.exit(1));
+setInterval(() => {}, 1000);`,
+        "utf8"
+      );
+      fs.writeFileSync(promptPath, "generate the report", "utf8");
+
+      const result = spawnSync(process.execPath, ["copilot_harness.cjs", process.execPath, stubPath, "--prompt-file", promptPath], {
+        cwd: path.dirname(require.resolve("./copilot_harness.cjs")),
+        env: {
+          ...process.env,
+          COPILOT_HARNESS_STUB_CALLS: callsPath,
+          GH_AW_SAFE_OUTPUTS: safeOutputsPath,
+          GH_AW_HARNESS_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT_MS: "100",
+        },
+        encoding: "utf8",
+        timeout: 15000,
+      });
+      const callCount = fs.readFileSync(callsPath, "utf8").trim().split("\n").filter(Boolean).length;
+      expect(callCount).toBe(1);
+      expect(result.status).toBe(0);
+      expect(result.stderr).toContain("post-result watchdog fired after terminal safe-output was emitted");
+      expect(result.stderr).toContain("late-activity exit suppressed");
+    });
+
+    it("does not rescue authentication_failed when no terminal safe-output was produced before the watchdog fires", () => {
+      const tempDir = makeHarnessTempDir("copilot-watchdog-auth-failed-no-output-");
+      const safeOutputsPath = path.join(tempDir, "safe-outputs.jsonl");
+      const stubPath = path.join(tempDir, "stub.cjs");
+      const promptPath = path.join(tempDir, "prompt.txt");
+      const callsPath = path.join(tempDir, "calls.jsonl");
+      // Stub emits auth-failure-looking text but does NOT write any safe-output entry.
+      // Without terminal safe-output the watchdog never arms, so authentication_failed
+      // falls through to the normal non-retryable failure path and exits non-zero.
+      fs.writeFileSync(
+        stubPath,
+        `const fs = require("fs");
+const callsPath = process.env.COPILOT_HARNESS_STUB_CALLS;
+fs.appendFileSync(callsPath, JSON.stringify({args: process.argv.slice(2)}) + "\\n");
+process.stdout.write("Error: No authentication information found.\\n");
+process.exit(1);`,
+        "utf8"
+      );
+      fs.writeFileSync(promptPath, "generate the report", "utf8");
+
+      const result = spawnSync(process.execPath, ["copilot_harness.cjs", process.execPath, stubPath, "--prompt-file", promptPath], {
+        cwd: path.dirname(require.resolve("./copilot_harness.cjs")),
+        env: {
+          ...process.env,
+          COPILOT_HARNESS_STUB_CALLS: callsPath,
+          GH_AW_SAFE_OUTPUTS: safeOutputsPath,
+        },
+        encoding: "utf8",
+        timeout: 15000,
+      });
+      // Harness exits non-zero: genuine auth failure with no terminal safe-output is not rescued
+      expect(result.status).not.toBe(0);
+      expect(result.stderr).not.toContain("late-activity exit suppressed");
+    });
   });
 
   describe("AI credits budget enforcement exits 0", () => {
diff --git a/pkg/cli/pr_code_quality_reviewer_workflow_contract_test.go b/pkg/cli/pr_code_quality_reviewer_workflow_contract_test.go
index fbad02eb033..62f26649166 100644
--- a/pkg/cli/pr_code_quality_reviewer_workflow_contract_test.go
+++ b/pkg/cli/pr_code_quality_reviewer_workflow_contract_test.go
@@ -24,6 +24,6 @@ func TestPRCodeQualityReviewerWorkflowSubAgentModelContract(t *testing.T) {
 
 	text := string(content)
 	assert.Contains(t, text, "## agent: `grumpy-coder`", "Workflow should define the grumpy-coder sub-agent")
-	assert.Contains(t, text, "model: claude-haiku-4.5", "Sub-agent should pin a supported Haiku model")
+	assert.Contains(t, text, "model: small", "Sub-agent should use the portable small alias")
 	assert.NotContains(t, text, "model: inherited", "Sub-agent should not inherit an unsupported tier-specific model")
 }