diff --git a/tests/tools/test_delegate.py b/tests/tools/test_delegate.py
index 5eef8f3bb..6231e0303 100644
--- a/tests/tools/test_delegate.py
+++ b/tests/tools/test_delegate.py
@@ -517,6 +517,91 @@ class TestToolNamePreservation(unittest.TestCase):
                     f"_saved_tool_names leaked back into wrong scope: {exc}"
                 )
 
+    def test_build_child_agent_ignores_acp_command_when_binary_missing(self):
+        """Regression: _build_child_agent must not force provider='copilot-acp'
+        when the override_acp_command binary is not on PATH.
+
+        Without this guard, a model that hallucinates
+        ``delegate_task(acp_command="copilot")`` on a host without the Copilot
+        CLI installed (Railway / headless containers / fresh VPS) would route
+        the subagent through CopilotACPClient, which spawns the binary via
+        subprocess and raises RuntimeError. After 3 retries the asyncio loop
+        teardown can take the entire gateway down.
+        """
+        parent = _make_mock_parent(depth=0)
+        # The crash scenario is a TG/cron agent on a host with no ACP CLI —
+        # parent itself has no acp_command, so clearing the override must NOT
+        # fall through to a stray parent value.
+        parent.acp_command = None
+        parent.acp_args = []
+        captured = {}
+
+        with patch("run_agent.AIAgent") as MockAgent, \
+             patch("shutil.which", return_value=None) as mock_which:
+            mock_child = MagicMock()
+            MockAgent.return_value = mock_child
+
+            _build_child_agent(
+                task_index=0,
+                goal="search X for crypto twitter",
+                context=None,
+                toolsets=None,
+                model=None,
+                max_iterations=10,
+                parent_agent=parent,
+                task_count=1,
+                override_acp_command="copilot",
+                override_acp_args=["--foo"],
+            )
+
+            _, kwargs = MockAgent.call_args
+            captured["provider"] = kwargs.get("provider")
+            captured["acp_command"] = kwargs.get("acp_command")
+            captured["acp_args"] = kwargs.get("acp_args")
+
+        mock_which.assert_called_with("copilot")
+        self.assertNotEqual(
+            captured["provider"],
+            "copilot-acp",
+            "missing acp_command binary must NOT force copilot-acp provider",
+        )
+        self.assertIsNone(captured["acp_command"])
+        self.assertEqual(captured["acp_args"], [])
+
+    def test_build_child_agent_honors_acp_command_when_binary_present(self):
+        """When the acp_command binary exists on PATH, behavior is unchanged:
+        provider is forced to copilot-acp and command/args propagate to the
+        child agent. Guards against the missing-binary check accidentally
+        breaking working ACP delegation setups.
+        """
+        parent = _make_mock_parent(depth=0)
+        captured = {}
+
+        with patch("run_agent.AIAgent") as MockAgent, \
+             patch("shutil.which", return_value="/usr/local/bin/copilot"):
+            mock_child = MagicMock()
+            MockAgent.return_value = mock_child
+
+            _build_child_agent(
+                task_index=0,
+                goal="copilot path",
+                context=None,
+                toolsets=None,
+                model=None,
+                max_iterations=10,
+                parent_agent=parent,
+                task_count=1,
+                override_acp_command="copilot",
+                override_acp_args=["--foo"],
+            )
+
+            _, kwargs = MockAgent.call_args
+            captured["provider"] = kwargs.get("provider")
+            captured["acp_command"] = kwargs.get("acp_command")
+
+        self.assertEqual(captured["provider"], "copilot-acp")
+        self.assertEqual(captured["acp_command"], "copilot")
+
     def test_saved_tool_names_set_on_child_before_run(self):
         """_run_single_child must set _delegate_saved_tool_names on the child
         from model_tools._last_resolved_tool_names before run_conversation."""
diff --git a/tools/delegate_tool.py b/tools/delegate_tool.py
index 7bd510d7f..72559b1a5 100644
--- a/tools/delegate_tool.py
+++ b/tools/delegate_tool.py
@@ -1229,6 +1229,22 @@ def _build_child_agent(
         effective_api_mode = None  # force re-derivation from provider's defaults
     else:
         effective_api_mode = getattr(parent_agent, "api_mode", None)
+    # Defensive: validate override_acp_command exists on PATH before honoring
+    # it. Models occasionally pass acp_command="copilot" / "claude" / etc. in
+    # delegate_task tool calls despite the schema saying not to, which forces
+    # the subagent onto the copilot-acp transport below and crashes the
+    # gateway when the binary is missing (e.g. headless container deploys).
+    if override_acp_command:
+        import shutil as _shutil
+
+        if not _shutil.which(override_acp_command):
+            logger.warning(
+                "Ignoring acp_command=%r: binary not found on PATH; "
+                "falling back to default transport.",
+                override_acp_command,
+            )
+            override_acp_command = None
+            override_acp_args = None
     effective_acp_command = override_acp_command or getattr(
         parent_agent, "acp_command", None
     )