diff --git a/packages/adapters/pi-local/src/server/models.ts b/packages/adapters/pi-local/src/server/models.ts
index 3212312a..a6081cad 100644
--- a/packages/adapters/pi-local/src/server/models.ts
+++ b/packages/adapters/pi-local/src/server/models.ts
@@ -131,7 +131,9 @@ export async function discoverPiModels(input: {
     throw new Error(detail ? `\`pi --list-models\` failed: ${detail}` : "`pi --list-models` failed.");
   }
 
-  return sortModels(dedupeModels(parseModelsOutput(result.stdout)));
+  // Pi outputs model list to stderr, but fall back to stdout for older versions
+  const output = result.stderr || result.stdout;
+  return sortModels(dedupeModels(parseModelsOutput(output)));
 }
 
 function normalizeEnv(input: unknown): Record<string, string> {