diff --git a/src/utils/hooks/image-analysis-runtime-status.ts b/src/utils/hooks/image-analysis-runtime-status.ts
index c68e429a..b875559e 100644
--- a/src/utils/hooks/image-analysis-runtime-status.ts
+++ b/src/utils/hooks/image-analysis-runtime-status.ts
@@ -16,10 +16,8 @@ import { getProxyTarget, type ProxyTarget } from '../../cliproxy/proxy/proxy-tar
 import { getProviderDisplayName, isCLIProxyProvider } from '../../cliproxy/provider-capabilities';
 import { isCliproxyRunning } from '../../cliproxy/services/stats-fetcher';
 import type { CLIProxyProvider } from '../../cliproxy/types';
-import {
-  DEFAULT_IMAGE_ANALYSIS_CONFIG,
-  type ImageAnalysisConfig,
-} from '../../config/unified-config-types';
+import { getImageAnalysisConfig } from '../../config/config-loader-facade';
+import { type ImageAnalysisConfig } from '../../config/unified-config-types';
 import {
   resolveImageAnalysisStatus,
   type ImageAnalysisResolutionContext,
@@ -191,9 +189,14 @@ export async function hydrateImageAnalysisRuntimeStatus(
 
 export async function resolveImageAnalysisRuntimeStatus(
   context: ImageAnalysisResolutionContext,
-  config: ImageAnalysisConfig = DEFAULT_IMAGE_ANALYSIS_CONFIG,
+  config?: ImageAnalysisConfig,
   deps: Partial<ImageAnalysisRuntimeStatusDeps> = {}
 ): Promise<ImageAnalysisStatus> {
-  const baseStatus = resolveImageAnalysisStatus(context, config);
+  // Fall back to the user's saved image_analysis config, not the built-in
+  // constant. Launch paths call this without an explicit config, and the
+  // constant carries empty profile_backends plus a gemini fallback_backend,
+  // so user mappings were dropped and every profile resolved to gemini.
+  const resolvedConfig = config ?? getImageAnalysisConfig();
+  const baseStatus = resolveImageAnalysisStatus(context, resolvedConfig);
   return hydrateImageAnalysisRuntimeStatus(baseStatus, deps);
 }
diff --git a/tests/unit/utils/hooks/image-analysis-runtime-status-circular-dependency.test.ts b/tests/unit/utils/hooks/image-analysis-runtime-status-circular-dependency.test.ts
index d6060612..e4fb1a75 100644
--- a/tests/unit/utils/hooks/image-analysis-runtime-status-circular-dependency.test.ts
+++ b/tests/unit/utils/hooks/image-analysis-runtime-status-circular-dependency.test.ts
@@ -89,8 +89,15 @@ describe('image-analysis-runtime-status circular dependency regression', () => {
       '../../cliproxy/services/stats-fetcher': {
         isCliproxyRunning: async () => true,
       },
-      '../../config/unified-config-types': {
-        DEFAULT_IMAGE_ANALYSIS_CONFIG: {},
+      '../../config/unified-config-types': {},
+      '../../config/config-loader-facade': {
+        getImageAnalysisConfig: () => ({
+          enabled: true,
+          timeout: 60,
+          provider_models: { ghcp: 'claude-haiku-4.5' },
+          fallback_backend: 'ghcp',
+          profile_backends: {},
+        }),
       },
       './image-analysis-backend-resolver': {
         resolveImageAnalysisStatus: () => createStatus(),
diff --git a/tests/unit/utils/hooks/image-analysis-runtime-status-config-default.test.ts b/tests/unit/utils/hooks/image-analysis-runtime-status-config-default.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3f859652
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/utils/hooks/image-analysis-runtime-status-config-default.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,112 @@
+import { mkdtempSync, mkdirSync, rmSync, writeFileSync } from 'fs';
+import { tmpdir } from 'os';
+import { join } from 'path';
+import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, it } from 'bun:test';
+
+/**
+ * Regression: resolveImageAnalysisRuntimeStatus used to default to the built-in
+ * DEFAULT_IMAGE_ANALYSIS_CONFIG constant, which carries empty profile_backends
+ * and a gemini fallback_backend. Launch paths call it without an explicit
+ * config, so user-configured profile_backends were dropped and every settings
+ * profile resolved to gemini, then bailed to native Read on missing Gemini auth.
+ */
+describe('resolveImageAnalysisRuntimeStatus config default', () => {
+  let tmpHome = '';
+  let previousCcsHome: string | undefined;
+
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    tmpHome = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), 'ccs-image-analysis-config-default-'));
+    const ccsDir = join(tmpHome, '.ccs');
+    mkdirSync(ccsDir, { recursive: true });
+
+    const settingsPath = join(ccsDir, 'deepseek.settings.json');
+    writeFileSync(
+      settingsPath,
+      JSON.stringify(
+        {
+          env: {
+            ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL: 'https://api.deepseek.com/anthropic',
+            ANTHROPIC_MODEL: 'deepseek-v4-pro',
+          },
+        },
+        null,
+        2
+      ) + '\n'
+    );
+
+    writeFileSync(
+      join(ccsDir, 'config.yaml'),
+      [
+        'version: 14',
+        'profiles:',
+        '  deepseek:',
+        '    type: api',
+        `    settings: ${settingsPath}`,
+        'image_analysis:',
+        '  enabled: true',
+        '  timeout: 60',
+        '  provider_models:',
+        '    claude: claude-haiku-4-5-20251001',
+        '  fallback_backend: claude',
+        '  profile_backends:',
+        '    deepseek: claude',
+        '',
+      ].join('\n')
+    );
+
+    previousCcsHome = process.env.CCS_HOME;
+    process.env.CCS_HOME = tmpHome;
+  });
+
+  afterEach(() => {
+    if (previousCcsHome === undefined) {
+      delete process.env.CCS_HOME;
+    } else {
+      process.env.CCS_HOME = previousCcsHome;
+    }
+
+    if (tmpHome) {
+      rmSync(tmpHome, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    }
+  });
+
+  it('honors user profile_backends when no explicit config is passed', async () => {
+    const { resolveImageAnalysisRuntimeStatus } = await import(
+      '../../../../src/utils/hooks/image-analysis-runtime-status'
+    );
+
+    const status = await resolveImageAnalysisRuntimeStatus(
+      {
+        profileName: 'deepseek',
+        profileType: 'settings',
+      },
+      undefined,
+      {
+        checkRemoteProxy: async () => ({ reachable: true }),
+        fetchRemoteAuthStatus: async () => [{ provider: 'claude', authenticated: true }],
+        getProxyTarget: () => ({
+          host: '100.64.0.1',
+          port: 8317,
+          protocol: 'http',
+          isRemote: true,
+        }),
+        initializeAccounts: () => {},
+        getAuthStatus: () => ({
+          provider: 'claude',
+          authenticated: true,
+          tokenDir: join(tmpHome, 'auth'),
+          tokenFiles: [],
+          accounts: [],
+          defaultAccount: undefined,
+        }),
+        isCliproxyRunning: async () => true,
+      }
+    );
+
+    expect(status.backendId).toBe('claude');
+    expect(status.resolutionSource).toBe('profile-backend');
+    expect(status.model).toBe('claude-haiku-4-5-20251001');
+    expect(status.runtimePath).toBe('/api/provider/claude');
+    expect(status.effectiveRuntimeMode).toBe('cliproxy-image-analysis');
+  });
+});