diff --git a/hermes_cli/status.py b/hermes_cli/status.py
index 27ecf654d..becc94034 100644
--- a/hermes_cli/status.py
+++ b/hermes_cli/status.py
@@ -80,8 +80,21 @@ def _effective_provider_label() -> str:
     except AuthError:
         effective = requested or "auto"
 
-    if effective == "openrouter" and get_env_value("OPENAI_BASE_URL"):
-        effective = "custom"
+    if effective == "openrouter":
+        # A custom endpoint may be configured either in config.yaml
+        # (model.base_url — the canonical location; the runtime treats
+        # config.yaml as the single source of truth) or via the legacy
+        # OPENAI_BASE_URL env var. Either way, labeling it "OpenRouter"
+        # is misleading (#3296).
+        config_base_url = ""
+        try:
+            model_cfg = load_config().get("model")
+            if isinstance(model_cfg, dict):
+                config_base_url = (model_cfg.get("base_url") or "").strip()
+        except Exception:
+            pass
+        if config_base_url or get_env_value("OPENAI_BASE_URL"):
+            effective = "custom"
 
     return provider_label(effective)
 
diff --git a/scripts/release.py b/scripts/release.py
index 51285e38f..ea838693a 100755
--- a/scripts/release.py
+++ b/scripts/release.py
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ ACP_REGISTRY_MANIFEST = REPO_ROOT / "acp_registry" / "agent.json"
 AUTHOR_MAP = {
     "ai-lab@foxmail.com": "CrazyBoyM",  # PR #55828 salvage (image_gen openai-codex: wire image-to-image / reference-image editing via Codex Responses input_image parts; magic-byte + read-guard + 25MB-cap + clamp-to-16 hardening)
     "r0gersm1th@users.noreply.github.com": "r0gersm1th",  # PR #3219 salvage (whatsapp bridge: resolve LID sender IDs to phone numbers in the message payload so phone-based allowlists match; commit authored by collaborator r0gersm1th, PR by @ajmeese7)
+    "louis@letsfive.io": "Mibayy",  # PR #3296 salvage (status: provider label honors config.yaml model.base_url, not just OPENAI_BASE_URL env)
     "tarunravi@gmail.com": "tarunravi",  # PR #2696 salvage (api-server: inline MEDIA:<path> image tags as base64 data URLs in final responses so remote OpenAI-compatible frontends can render server-local screenshots; the PR's tool-progress-streaming and SSE-sentinel pieces were independently superseded on main)
     "aqdrgg19@gmail.com": "VolodymyrBg",  # PR #2861 salvage (webhook: drop the unused full request payload from retained _delivery_info entries — up to ~1MB dead weight per delivery for the 1h idempotency TTL)
     "ohyes9711@gmail.com": "CharmingGroot",  # PR #2794 salvage (email: guard msg_data[0][1] against malformed IMAP fetch structures so one bad response can't abort the batch and permanently lose seen-marked messages; Message-ID domain falls back to localhost when EMAIL_ADDRESS lacks '@')
diff --git a/tests/hermes_cli/test_status_provider_label.py b/tests/hermes_cli/test_status_provider_label.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..32dba4376
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/hermes_cli/test_status_provider_label.py
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+"""`hermes status` provider label honors config.yaml model.base_url (#3296)."""
+
+from unittest.mock import patch
+
+from hermes_cli.status import _effective_provider_label
+
+
+def _label_with(config, env_base_url=""):
+    with patch("hermes_cli.status.resolve_requested_provider", return_value="auto"), \
+         patch("hermes_cli.status.resolve_provider", return_value="openrouter"), \
+         patch("hermes_cli.status.load_config", return_value=config), \
+         patch("hermes_cli.status.get_env_value",
+               side_effect=lambda k: env_base_url if k == "OPENAI_BASE_URL" else ""):
+        return _effective_provider_label()
+
+
+def test_config_base_url_labels_custom():
+    label = _label_with({"model": {"base_url": "http://localhost:8080/v1"}})
+    assert "OpenRouter" not in label
+
+
+def test_env_base_url_labels_custom():
+    label = _label_with({"model": {}}, env_base_url="http://localhost:1234/v1")
+    assert "OpenRouter" not in label
+
+
+def test_no_base_url_stays_openrouter():
+    label = _label_with({"model": {}})
+    assert "OpenRouter" in label
+
+
+def test_blank_base_url_stays_openrouter():
+    label = _label_with({"model": {"base_url": "   "}})
+    assert "OpenRouter" in label
+
+
+def test_non_openrouter_provider_untouched():
+    with patch("hermes_cli.status.resolve_requested_provider", return_value="anthropic"), \
+         patch("hermes_cli.status.resolve_provider", return_value="anthropic"):
+        label = _effective_provider_label()
+    assert "OpenRouter" not in label