diff --git a/crates/goose-server/src/routes/config_management.rs b/crates/goose-server/src/routes/config_management.rs
index 0f65ef7aa873..828caea0ffd7 100644
--- a/crates/goose-server/src/routes/config_management.rs
+++ b/crates/goose-server/src/routes/config_management.rs
@@ -501,10 +501,16 @@ pub async fn resolve_provider_model_info(
         )));
     }
 
-    let model_config = goose::model_config::model_config_from_user_config(name, model)?;
+    let entry = goose::providers::get_from_registry(name).await?;
+    let model_config = entry.normalize_model_config(ModelConfig::new(model))?;
     let provider = goose::providers::create(name, Vec::new()).await?;
     match provider.fetch_model_info(model).await {
-        Ok(info) => Ok(info),
+        Ok(mut info) => {
+            if let Some(limit) = model_config.context_limit {
+                info.context_limit = limit;
+            }
+            Ok(info)
+        }
         Err(error) => {
             let mut info = ModelInfo::new(model, model_config.context_limit());
             info.reasoning = model_config.is_reasoning_model();
diff --git a/crates/goose/src/providers/init.rs b/crates/goose/src/providers/init.rs
index 41079ba8360f..19cd1f1f09b8 100644
--- a/crates/goose/src/providers/init.rs
+++ b/crates/goose/src/providers/init.rs
@@ -269,6 +269,7 @@ pub async fn create_with_named_model(
 mod tests {
     use super::*;
     use crate::config::paths::Paths;
+    use goose_providers::model::ModelConfig;
     use std::fs;
 
     #[tokio::test]
@@ -407,4 +408,60 @@ mod tests {
 
         std::env::remove_var("GOOSE_PATH_ROOT");
     }
+
+    #[tokio::test]
+    async fn test_goose_context_limit_overrides_known_models_and_defaults() {
+        let _guard = env_lock::lock_env([
+            ("GOOSE_PATH_ROOT", None::<&str>),
+            ("GOOSE_CONTEXT_LIMIT", Some("1000000")),
+            ("GOOSE_MAX_TOKENS", None::<&str>),
+            ("GOOSE_TEMPERATURE", None::<&str>),
+            ("GOOSE_TOOLSHIM", None::<&str>),
+            ("GOOSE_TOOLSHIM_OLLAMA_MODEL", None::<&str>),
+            ("GOOSE_THINKING_EFFORT", None::<&str>),
+        ]);
+
+        let openai = get_from_registry("openai")
+            .await
+            .expect("openai provider should be registered");
+        let unknown = openai
+            .normalize_model_config(ModelConfig::new("totally-unknown-model"))
+            .expect("unknown model config should normalize");
+        assert_eq!(unknown.context_limit(), 1_000_000);
+
+        let temp_dir = tempfile::tempdir().expect("tempdir should be created");
+        std::env::set_var("GOOSE_PATH_ROOT", temp_dir.path());
+
+        let custom_dir = Paths::config_dir().join("custom_providers");
+        fs::create_dir_all(&custom_dir).expect("custom providers dir should be created");
+
+        let custom_inf = r#"{
+  "name": "custom_inf",
+  "engine": "openai",
+  "display_name": "Custom Inf",
+  "description": "test provider",
+  "api_key_env": "",
+  "base_url": "https://example.invalid/v1/chat/completions",
+  "models": [
+    {"name": "kimi-k2.5", "context_limit": 256000}
+  ],
+  "requires_auth": false
+}"#;
+        fs::write(custom_dir.join("custom_inf.json"), custom_inf)
+            .expect("custom_inf.json should be written");
+
+        refresh_custom_providers()
+            .await
+            .expect("custom providers should refresh");
+
+        let inf_entry = get_from_registry("custom_inf")
+            .await
+            .expect("custom_inf entry should exist");
+        let inf_config = inf_entry
+            .normalize_model_config(ModelConfig::new("kimi-k2.5"))
+            .expect("custom_inf model config should normalize");
+        assert_eq!(inf_config.context_limit(), 1_000_000);
+
+        std::env::remove_var("GOOSE_PATH_ROOT");
+    }
 }