diff --git a/sdk/cliproxy/auth/conductor.go b/sdk/cliproxy/auth/conductor.go
index 781778aefc..97da9f1f03 100644
--- a/sdk/cliproxy/auth/conductor.go
+++ b/sdk/cliproxy/auth/conductor.go
@@ -2319,11 +2319,16 @@ func (m *Manager) shouldRetryAfterError(err error, attempt int, providers []stri
 	if isRequestInvalidError(err) {
 		return 0, false
 	}
-	// Treat transient upstream stream interruptions (e.g. "unexpected EOF")
-	// like a normal retryable API error instead of surfacing them to the
-	// client. These carry no HTTP status, so they would otherwise fall through
-	// the 429-only retry path below and abort the request.
-	if isUnexpectedEOFError(err) {
+	// Treat transient, statusless upstream stream interruptions (e.g.
+	// "unexpected EOF") like a normal retryable API error instead of surfacing
+	// them to the client. These carry no HTTP status, so they would otherwise
+	// fall through the 429-only retry path below and abort the request. The
+	// status==0 guard is important: a status-bearing error (e.g. a 5xx whose
+	// body merely contains "unexpected EOF") has already had a cooldown applied
+	// by MarkResult, so it must fall through to the cooldown-aware path below
+	// rather than force an immediate retry that selection would reject with a
+	// model-cooldown error.
+	if status == 0 && isUnexpectedEOFError(err) {
 		if !m.retryAllowed(attempt, providers) {
 			return 0, false
 		}
diff --git a/sdk/cliproxy/auth/conductor_overrides_test.go b/sdk/cliproxy/auth/conductor_overrides_test.go
index 7115f35f3e..3bf9a6a529 100644
--- a/sdk/cliproxy/auth/conductor_overrides_test.go
+++ b/sdk/cliproxy/auth/conductor_overrides_test.go
@@ -144,6 +144,38 @@ func TestManager_ShouldRetryAfterError_RetriesUnexpectedEOF(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestManager_ShouldRetryAfterError_StatusBearingEOFUsesCooldownPath(t *testing.T) {
+	m := NewManager(nil, nil, nil)
+	m.SetRetryConfig(3, 30*time.Second, 0)
+
+	model := "test-model"
+	// MarkResult applies a one-minute cooldown for transient 5xx responses.
+	next := time.Now().Add(time.Minute)
+	auth := &Auth{
+		ID:       "auth-1",
+		Provider: "claude",
+		ModelStates: map[string]*ModelState{
+			model: {
+				Unavailable:    true,
+				Status:         StatusError,
+				NextRetryAfter: next,
+			},
+		},
+	}
+	if _, errRegister := m.Register(context.Background(), auth); errRegister != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("register auth: %v", errRegister)
+	}
+
+	_, _, maxWait := m.retrySettings()
+	// A 5xx whose body merely contains "unexpected EOF" must NOT take the
+	// immediate fast path; with a single cooled-down credential and a cooldown
+	// exceeding max-retry-interval, the cooldown-aware path declines the retry.
+	statusErr := &Error{HTTPStatus: 500, Message: "internal error: unexpected EOF"}
+	if wait, shouldRetry := m.shouldRetryAfterError(statusErr, 0, []string{"claude"}, model, maxWait); shouldRetry {
+		t.Fatalf("expected shouldRetry=false for status-bearing EOF beyond cooldown, got true (wait=%v)", wait)
+	}
+}
+
 func TestManager_ShouldRetryAfterError_UnexpectedEOFRespectsRetryDisabled(t *testing.T) {
 	m := NewManager(nil, nil, nil)
 	m.SetRetryConfig(0, 30*time.Second, 0)