diff --git a/packages/cli/src/whisper/manager-resolution.test.ts b/packages/cli/src/whisper/manager-resolution.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..345ac35e0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/cli/src/whisper/manager-resolution.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+import { describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
+
+vi.mock("node:child_process", async (importOriginal) => {
+  const actual = await importOriginal<typeof import("node:child_process")>();
+  return {
+    ...actual,
+    execFileSync: vi.fn((_command: string, args: string[]) => {
+      if (args[0] === "whisper") return "/fake/python-whisper\n";
+      throw new Error(`${args[0]} not found`);
+    }),
+  };
+});
+
+vi.mock("node:fs", async (importOriginal) => {
+  const actual = await importOriginal<typeof import("node:fs")>();
+  return { ...actual, existsSync: vi.fn(() => false) };
+});
+
+describe("findWhisper", () => {
+  it("does not treat the OpenAI Python whisper command as whisper.cpp", async () => {
+    const { findWhisper } = await import("./manager.js");
+
+    expect(findWhisper()).toBeUndefined();
+  });
+});
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/whisper/manager.ts b/packages/cli/src/whisper/manager.ts
index 798528338..55d4e3b0d 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/whisper/manager.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/whisper/manager.ts
@@ -67,10 +67,9 @@ function findFromEnv(): WhisperResult | undefined {
 }
 
 function findFromSystem(): WhisperResult | undefined {
-  for (const name of ["whisper-cli", "whisper"]) {
-    const path = whichBinary(name);
-    if (path) return { executablePath: path, source: "system" };
-  }
+  // `whisper` is the OpenAI Python CLI; only whisper.cpp's binary accepts our flags.
+  const path = whichBinary("whisper-cli");
+  if (path) return { executablePath: path, source: "system" };
 
   // Check brew paths directly on macOS
   if (platform() === "darwin") {