diff --git a/src/grok/inject.ts b/src/grok/inject.ts
index 9304d923c..4659a58cd 100644
--- a/src/grok/inject.ts
+++ b/src/grok/inject.ts
@@ -395,7 +395,11 @@ export function injectGrokConfig(
     // Adopt our own pre-fence entries (#511) BEFORE reserving user aliases, so the stale
     // duplicate is replaced instead of routed around forever. Runs inside the normalized
     // window so the user's dominant EOL is still restored below.
-    const orphans = findOpencodexOrphans(originalContent, originalRegion);
+    const emittedModelIds = new Set(
+      models.filter(model => !opts.excluded?.has(model.id)).map(model => model.id),
+    );
+    const orphans = findOpencodexOrphans(originalContent, originalRegion)
+      .filter(orphan => orphan.modelId !== undefined && emittedModelIds.has(orphan.modelId));
     const content = removeOrphanTables(originalContent, orphans);
     // Removing bytes above the fence MOVES it: recompute rather than adjust arithmetic,
     // so the splice below cannot cut the file in the wrong place.
diff --git a/tests/grok-orphan-adoption.test.ts b/tests/grok-orphan-adoption.test.ts
index 252090408..981cb976d 100644
--- a/tests/grok-orphan-adoption.test.ts
+++ b/tests/grok-orphan-adoption.test.ts
@@ -160,6 +160,21 @@ describe("Grok orphan adoption (#511)", () => {
     injectGrokConfig(10100, MODELS, { grokHome });
     const content = readFileSync(configPath, "utf8");
     expect(content).toContain('default = "ocx-retired"');
+    expect(content).toContain("[model.ocx-retired]");
+    expect(content).toContain('model = "retired/model"');
+  });
+
+  test("keeps an orphan whose catalog model is excluded", () => {
+    writeOrphanedConfig();
+
+    injectGrokConfig(10100, MODELS, {
+      grokHome,
+      excluded: new Set(["gpt-5.6-sol"]),
+    });
+    const content = readFileSync(configPath, "utf8");
+    expect(content).toContain('default = "ocx-gpt-5-6-sol"');
+    expect(content).toContain("[model.ocx-gpt-5-6-sol]");
+    expect(content).not.toContain("[model.ocx-gpt-5-6-sol-2]");
   });
 
   // F7: the sweep must converge, or `changed` is meaningless to callers.