diff --git a/pnpm-workspace.yaml b/pnpm-workspace.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d508289
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pnpm-workspace.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+allowBuilds:
+  esbuild: set this to true or false
+onlyBuiltDependencies:
+  - esbuild
diff --git a/src/config/options.ts b/src/config/options.ts
index a5beb5d..a29e394 100644
--- a/src/config/options.ts
+++ b/src/config/options.ts
@@ -181,6 +181,19 @@ export async function buildModes(
   };
 }
 
+/**
+ * Canonical display order for thought-level tokens across models
+ * (GLM-5.3: low/high/max; GLM-5-Turbo: enabled/off; others may differ).
+ * Unknown tokens keep their config order after the known ones.
+ */
+const THOUGHT_ORDER = ["low", "medium", "high", "xhigh", "max", "ultra", "enabled", "disabled", "off"];
+
+export function orderThoughtVariants(variants: string[]): Array<{ value: string; name: string }> {
+  const known = THOUGHT_ORDER.filter((t) => variants.includes(t));
+  const extra = variants.filter((t) => !THOUGHT_ORDER.includes(t));
+  return [...known, ...extra].map((t) => ({ value: t, name: t }));
+}
+
 /** Build the ACP configOptions array (3 items: model/mode/thought).
  *  zcodeSid null = pending session — skip the backend read and use defaults;
  *  mode defaults to "yolo" (the mode session/create hardcodes) so the dropdown
@@ -194,6 +207,43 @@ export async function buildConfigOptions(
   let currentMode = zcodeSid === null ? "yolo" : "build";
   let currentThought = "high";
   let thoughtOptions: Array<{ value: string; name: string }> | null = null;
+  if (zcodeSid === null) {
+    // Pending session — no backend to read yet, but the thought vocabulary
+    // is per model and the runtime's own source of truth is the enabled
+    // provider's models[].reasoning.variants in the local config. Advertise
+    // THAT for the default model instead of a hardcoded list: a client that
+    // relays the options into a picker (Multica's effort selector) would
+    // otherwise offer tokens the runtime rejects ("nothink" was fiction,
+    // "low" was missing).
+    const cur = loadAllModels()[0];
+    if (cur) {
+      // The advertised current model follows the dropdown's leading entry
+      // (the enabled provider's first model — what the runtime actually
+      // starts sessions with) rather than the legacy hardcoded "GLM-5.2".
+      // ACP clients skip a requested model switch when it equals the
+      // advertised current value, so a stale fiction silently pinned the
+      // wrong model whenever the requested id happened to match it.
+      currentProviderId = cur.providerId;
+      currentModelId = cur.modelId;
+      try {
+        const cfg = readConfig() as ConfigShape;
+        const m = (cfg.provider?.[cur.providerId]?.models as
+          | Record<
+              string,
+              { reasoning?: { enabled?: boolean; variants?: string[]; defaultVariant?: string } }
+            >
+          | undefined)?.[cur.modelId];
+        const reasoning = m?.reasoning;
+        const variants = reasoning?.variants;
+        if (reasoning?.enabled !== false && variants && variants.length > 0) {
+          thoughtOptions = orderThoughtVariants(variants);
+          currentThought = reasoning.defaultVariant ?? variants[0];
+        }
+      } catch {
+        // unreadable config — the static fallback below applies
+      }
+    }
+  }
 
   if (zcodeSid !== null) {
     try {
@@ -261,7 +311,12 @@ export async function buildConfigOptions(
     {
       id: "thought",
       name: CONFIG_META.thought.name,
-      category: "thought" as acp.SessionConfigOptionCategory,
+      // Category thought_level (not "thought") so ACP clients recognise the
+      // option as the reasoning-effort selector: the shared matchers in
+      // editors and orchestrators (e.g. Multica's acpEffortOptionIDs) key on
+      // id/category "effort"/"thought_level". The id stays "thought" — it is
+      // what session/set_config_option addresses.
+      category: "thought_level" as acp.SessionConfigOptionCategory,
       type: "select",
       currentValue: currentThought,
       options: thoughtOptions,
diff --git a/src/utils.ts b/src/utils.ts
index c44017b..5c0813e 100644
--- a/src/utils.ts
+++ b/src/utils.ts
@@ -93,10 +93,14 @@ export const CONFIG_META = {
   thought: {
     name: "Thought Level",
     category: "thought_level",
+    // Fallback only — the real vocabulary is per model (read from the
+    // enabled provider's models[].reasoning.variants). These values match
+    // the default coding-plan model (GLM-5.3): low/high/max, verified
+    // against the runtime's own session/read.
     options: [
-      { value: "max", name: "max" },
+      { value: "low", name: "low" },
       { value: "high", name: "high" },
-      { value: "nothink", name: "nothink" },
+      { value: "max", name: "max" },
     ],
   },
 } as const;
diff --git a/tests/bugfixes.test.ts b/tests/bugfixes.test.ts
index 3a9d25f..721442d 100644
--- a/tests/bugfixes.test.ts
+++ b/tests/bugfixes.test.ts
@@ -14,7 +14,14 @@ import { EventStreamListener } from "../src/backend/listener.js";
 import { ZcodeBackend } from "../src/backend/client.js";
 import { ProjectionDiffer } from "../src/translators/projection-differ.js";
 import { flattenTodos } from "../src/handlers/session.js";
+import {
+  buildConfigOptions,
+  formatModelValue,
+  loadAllModels,
+  orderThoughtVariants,
+} from "../src/config/options.js";
 import { CONFIG_META } from "../src/utils.js";
+import { ZcodeAcpServer } from "../src/server.js";
 import type { ZcodeEvent, ZcodeResponse } from "../src/backend/types.js";
 
 /** Build a listener over a fake backend (no subprocess; we drive handleEvent). */
@@ -236,8 +243,11 @@ describe("Bug 3: thought configOption metadata matches Python", () => {
   it("uses thought_level category, Thought Level name, lowercase option names", () => {
     expect(CONFIG_META.thought.category).toBe("thought_level");
     expect(CONFIG_META.thought.name).toBe("Thought Level");
+    // The static fallback matches the default coding-plan model's real
+    // vocabulary (runtime-verified); the live per-model list comes from the
+    // enabled provider's reasoning.variants instead of this constant.
     const names = CONFIG_META.thought.options.map((o) => o.name);
-    expect(names).toEqual(["max", "high", "nothink"]);
+    expect(names).toEqual(["low", "high", "max"]);
   });
 
   it("uses lowercase mode option names", () => {
@@ -246,6 +256,50 @@ describe("Bug 3: thought configOption metadata matches Python", () => {
   });
 });
 
+describe("Bug 6: thought option is discoverable and honest", () => {
+  it("advertises the spec category thought_level on the pending session", async () => {
+    // Regression: the category was a bare "thought", which is not one of the
+    // ACP spec's reserved SessionConfigOptionCategory names (mode/model/
+    // model_config/thought_level) — clients keying on the standard tokens
+    // (effort pickers in editors and orchestrators) could not find the
+    // reasoning selector at all.
+    const server = new ZcodeAcpServer();
+    const options = await buildConfigOptions(server, null);
+    const thought = options.find((o) => o.id === "thought");
+    expect(thought?.category).toBe("thought_level");
+    expect(thought?.options.length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+  });
+
+  it("orders thought variants canonically and keeps unknown tokens last", () => {
+    expect(orderThoughtVariants(["high", "nothink", "low", "max"])).toEqual([
+      { value: "low", name: "low" },
+      { value: "high", name: "high" },
+      { value: "max", name: "max" },
+      { value: "nothink", name: "nothink" },
+    ]);
+    expect(orderThoughtVariants(["turbo", "low"])).toEqual([
+      { value: "low", name: "low" },
+      { value: "turbo", name: "turbo" },
+    ]);
+  });
+
+  it("advertises the enabled provider's leading model as the pending current value", async () => {
+    // Regression: the pending session hardcoded currentValue "GLM-5.2",
+    // which can disagree with the model the runtime actually starts with
+    // (the enabled provider's leading model). ACP clients skip a requested
+    // switch when it matches the advertised current value, so the stale
+    // fiction silently pinned the wrong model whenever the requested id
+    // happened to equal it (observed with Paseo's --model GLM-5.2).
+    const server = new ZcodeAcpServer();
+    const options = await buildConfigOptions(server, null);
+    const model = options.find((o) => o.id === "model");
+    const leading = loadAllModels()[0];
+    expect(model?.currentValue).toBe(formatModelValue(leading.providerId, leading.modelId));
+    // The advertised current value must also be selectable in the dropdown.
+    expect(model?.options.map((o) => o.value)).toContain(model?.currentValue);
+  });
+});
+
 describe("Bug 5: usage fallback treats contextUsed=0 as falsy", () => {
   it("ProjectionDiffer falls back to totalTokenCount when contextUsed is 0", () => {
     const d = new ProjectionDiffer();
diff --git a/tests/dispatch.test.ts b/tests/dispatch.test.ts
index b6c398a..1a113cc 100644
--- a/tests/dispatch.test.ts
+++ b/tests/dispatch.test.ts
@@ -306,7 +306,10 @@ describe("dispatchEvent", () => {
       configOptions: [
         { id: "model", currentValue: "anthropic\\GLM-5.2" },
         { id: "mode", currentValue: "plan" },
-        { id: "thought", currentValue: "high" },
+        // The default thought value is config-derived (per-model
+        // reasoning.variants of the enabled provider), so it legitimately
+        // varies with the machine the test runs on.
+        { id: "thought", currentValue: expect.any(String) },
       ],
     });
     expect(sent[1]).toEqual({