diff --git a/companion/routes.py b/companion/routes.py
index 9c8464f0f..0191640ef 100644
--- a/companion/routes.py
+++ b/companion/routes.py
@@ -5,8 +5,9 @@ offers and pair to it, without duplicating any LLM logic.
 
 Auth is enforced globally by AuthMiddleware (app.py), so reaching a handler here
 means the caller is authenticated by either a cookie session or a Bearer `ody_`
-API token. The read endpoints (ping/info/models) accept either; the pairing
-endpoints are admin-cookie only.
+API token. Ping/info accept either credential type, models requires a chat-
+scoped API token for bearer callers, and the pairing endpoints are admin-cookie
+only.
 
 Pairing CSRF posture: minting happens ONLY on POST. The session cookie is
 SameSite=Lax (routes/auth_routes.py), which a browser does not send on a
@@ -18,7 +19,7 @@ on a GET would be unsafe (Lax cookies ride top-level GET navigations), so GET
 
 import html
 
-from fastapi import APIRouter, Request
+from fastapi import APIRouter, HTTPException, Request
 from fastapi.responses import HTMLResponse
 
 from core.middleware import require_admin
@@ -52,6 +53,18 @@ def owner_can_see(row_owner, owner) -> bool:
     return row_owner is None or row_owner == owner
 
 
+def require_models_scope(request: Request) -> None:
+    """Require the companion chat scope for bearer-token model inventory."""
+    if not getattr(request.state, "api_token", False):
+        return
+    scopes = getattr(request.state, "api_token_scopes", None) or []
+    if isinstance(scopes, str):
+        scopes = [scope.strip() for scope in scopes.split(",")]
+    scope_set = {str(scope).strip() for scope in scopes if str(scope).strip()}
+    if _pairing.COMPANION_SCOPE not in scope_set:
+        raise HTTPException(403, "API token requires chat scope")
+
+
 def mint_pairing_token(owner: str, invalidate=None) -> tuple[str, str]:
     """Mint a pairing token AND invalidate the auth middleware's in-memory token
     cache, so the new token is accepted on the very next request without a server
@@ -103,6 +116,7 @@ def setup_companion_routes() -> APIRouter:
         rows -- the same rule as owner_filter. Read-only; never returns api_key
         material.
         """
+        require_models_scope(request)
         import json as _json
 
         from core.database import SessionLocal, ModelEndpoint
diff --git a/tests/test_companion_readonly.py b/tests/test_companion_readonly.py
index 3dd7e68b5..589621b66 100644
--- a/tests/test_companion_readonly.py
+++ b/tests/test_companion_readonly.py
@@ -13,6 +13,9 @@ import json
 from types import SimpleNamespace
 from unittest.mock import MagicMock
 
+import pytest
+from fastapi import HTTPException
+
 sys.path.insert(0, os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))))
 
 # core.database instantiates SQLAlchemy declarative classes at import time, which
@@ -225,12 +228,34 @@ def test_models_route_scopes_api_token_to_token_owner(monkeypatch):
     endpoints = _call_models_route(
         monkeypatch,
         rows,
-        _request(api_token=True, api_token_owner="alice", current_user="api"),
+        _request(
+            api_token=True,
+            api_token_owner="alice",
+            api_token_scopes=["chat"],
+            current_user="api",
+        ),
     )
 
     assert _endpoint_names(endpoints) == ["alice-endpoint", "shared-endpoint"]
 
 
+def test_models_route_rejects_api_token_without_chat_scope(monkeypatch):
+    monkeypatch.setattr(companion_routes, "get_current_user", lambda request: "api")
+
+    with pytest.raises(HTTPException) as exc:
+        _models_route()(
+            _request(
+                api_token=True,
+                api_token_owner="alice",
+                api_token_scopes=["todos:read"],
+                current_user="api",
+            )
+        )
+
+    assert exc.value.status_code == 403
+    assert "chat scope" in exc.value.detail
+
+
 def test_models_route_unresolved_owner_returns_only_shared_rows(monkeypatch):
     rows = [
         _ep(1, "alice-endpoint", "alice"),
@@ -242,7 +267,12 @@ def test_models_route_unresolved_owner_returns_only_shared_rows(monkeypatch):
     endpoints = _call_models_route(
         monkeypatch,
         rows,
-        _request(api_token=True, api_token_owner=None, current_user="api"),
+        _request(
+            api_token=True,
+            api_token_owner=None,
+            api_token_scopes=["chat"],
+            current_user="api",
+        ),
     )
 
     assert _endpoint_names(endpoints) == ["shared-endpoint"]