diff --git a/src/vs/workbench/contrib/void/browser/react/src/void-settings-tsx/Settings.tsx b/src/vs/workbench/contrib/void/browser/react/src/void-settings-tsx/Settings.tsx
index da156173..093d3552 100644
--- a/src/vs/workbench/contrib/void/browser/react/src/void-settings-tsx/Settings.tsx
+++ b/src/vs/workbench/contrib/void/browser/react/src/void-settings-tsx/Settings.tsx
@@ -227,9 +227,17 @@ const SimpleModelSettingsDialog = ({
 	const currentOverrides = settingsState.overridesOfModel?.[providerName]?.[modelName] ?? undefined;
 	const { recognizedModelName, isUnrecognizedModel } = defaultModelCapabilities
 
-	// Create the placeholder with the default values for allowed keys
+	// Create the placeholder with the default values for allowed keys.
+	// `specialToolFormat` is intentionally excluded: it's now auto-applied per
+	// provider (see `defaultSpecialToolFormat` in modelCapabilities.ts), the
+	// status line above already tells the user which format will be used, and
+	// the preset buttons below offer one-click switching. Including it here
+	// would just suggest the user has to type it themselves.
 	const partialDefaults: Partial<ModelOverrides> = {};
-	for (const k of modelOverrideKeys) { if (defaultModelCapabilities[k]) partialDefaults[k] = defaultModelCapabilities[k] as any; }
+	for (const k of modelOverrideKeys) {
+		if (k === 'specialToolFormat') continue;
+		if (defaultModelCapabilities[k]) partialDefaults[k] = defaultModelCapabilities[k] as any;
+	}
 	const placeholder = JSON.stringify(partialDefaults, null, 2);
 
 	const [overrideEnabled, setOverrideEnabled] = useState<boolean>(() => !!currentOverrides);
@@ -319,11 +327,23 @@ const SimpleModelSettingsDialog = ({
 					</button>
 				</div>
 
-				{/* Display model recognition status */}
+				{/* Display model recognition status. For unrecognized models we surface the
+					tool-calling format Void auto-picked based on the provider's wire protocol,
+					so the user knows what to expect (and what to override if their model needs
+					a different format). */}
 				<div className="text-sm text-void-fg-3 mb-4">
-					{type === 'default' ? `${modelName} comes packaged with Void, so you shouldn't need to change these settings.`
+					{type === 'default'
+						? `${modelName} comes packaged with Void, so you shouldn't need to change these settings.`
 						: isUnrecognizedModel
-							? `Model not recognized by Void.`
+							? (() => {
+								const fmt = defaultModelCapabilities.specialToolFormat
+								const fmtLabel = fmt === 'openai-style' ? 'OpenAI-style'
+									: fmt === 'anthropic-style' ? 'Anthropic-style'
+										: fmt === 'gemini-style' ? 'Gemini-style'
+											: 'XML-in-prompt (fallback)'
+								const providerLabel = displayInfoOfProviderName(providerName).title
+								return `Model not recognized by Void. Defaulting to ${fmtLabel} tool calling based on the ${providerLabel} provider — override below if your model needs a different format.`
+							})()
 							: `Void recognizes ${modelName} ("${recognizedModelName}").`}
 				</div>
 
@@ -334,10 +354,13 @@ const SimpleModelSettingsDialog = ({
 					<span className="text-void-fg-3 text-sm">Override model defaults</span>
 				</div>
 
-				{/* Informational link */}
-				{overrideEnabled && <div className="text-sm text-void-fg-3 mb-4">
-					<ChatMarkdownRender string={`See the [sourcecode](${sourcecodeOverridesLink}) for a reference on how to set this JSON (advanced).`} chatMessageLocation={undefined} />
-				</div>}
+				{/* Informational link. Shown unconditionally so users can discover the
+					full set of overridable fields (contextWindow, reasoningCapabilities,
+					supportsSystemMessage, etc.) before deciding whether to enable
+					overrides. */}
+				<div className="text-sm text-void-fg-3 mb-4">
+					<ChatMarkdownRender string={`Advanced — see the [sourcecode](${sourcecodeOverridesLink}) for the full list of fields you can override (e.g. \`contextWindow\`, \`reasoningCapabilities\`, \`supportsSystemMessage\`).`} chatMessageLocation={undefined} />
+				</div>
 
 				<textarea
 					key={overrideEnabled + ''}
diff --git a/src/vs/workbench/contrib/void/common/modelCapabilities.ts b/src/vs/workbench/contrib/void/common/modelCapabilities.ts
index 76f552ee..e0d6eb9f 100644
--- a/src/vs/workbench/contrib/void/common/modelCapabilities.ts
+++ b/src/vs/workbench/contrib/void/common/modelCapabilities.ts
@@ -237,6 +237,11 @@ type VoidStaticProviderInfo = { // doesn't change (not stateful)
 	providerReasoningIOSettings?: ProviderReasoningIOSettings; // input/output settings around thinking (allowed to be empty) - only applied if the model supports reasoning output
 	modelOptions: { [key: string]: VoidStaticModelInfo };
 	modelOptionsFallback: (modelName: string, fallbackKnownValues?: Partial<VoidStaticModelInfo>) => (VoidStaticModelInfo & { modelName: string, recognizedModelName: string }) | null;
+	// Tool format used when neither the per-model entry nor the fallback specifies one.
+	// If unset, `getModelCapabilities` defaults to 'openai-style' since the vast majority
+	// of provider endpoints speak the OpenAI tools API. Only providers whose endpoint
+	// uses a different native format (e.g. anthropic, gemini) need to override this.
+	defaultSpecialToolFormat?: VoidStaticModelInfo['specialToolFormat'];
 }
 
 
@@ -570,6 +575,7 @@ const anthropicModelOptions = {
 } as const satisfies { [s: string]: VoidStaticModelInfo }
 
 const anthropicSettings: VoidStaticProviderInfo = {
+	defaultSpecialToolFormat: 'anthropic-style',
 	providerReasoningIOSettings: {
 		input: {
 			includeInPayload: (reasoningInfo) => {
@@ -918,6 +924,7 @@ const geminiModelOptions = { // https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/pricing
 } as const satisfies { [s: string]: VoidStaticModelInfo }
 
 const geminiSettings: VoidStaticProviderInfo = {
+	defaultSpecialToolFormat: 'gemini-style',
 	modelOptions: geminiModelOptions,
 	modelOptionsFallback: (modelName) => { return null },
 }
@@ -1491,25 +1498,36 @@ export const getModelCapabilities = (
 
 	const lowercaseModelName = modelName.toLowerCase()
 
-	const { modelOptions, modelOptionsFallback } = modelSettingsOfProvider[providerName]
+	const { modelOptions, modelOptionsFallback, defaultSpecialToolFormat } = modelSettingsOfProvider[providerName]
 
 	// Get any override settings for this model
 	const overrides = overridesOfModel?.[providerName]?.[modelName];
 
+	// Fill in `specialToolFormat` when neither the per-model entry, the fallback, nor
+	// the user override specified one. Most provider endpoints speak the OpenAI tools
+	// API, so 'openai-style' is the global default; providers like anthropic/gemini
+	// opt out via `defaultSpecialToolFormat` on their settings. Without this, an
+	// unrecognized model would silently fall back to brittle XML-in-prompt tools.
+	const providerToolFormatDefault = defaultSpecialToolFormat ?? 'openai-style'
+	const applyProviderToolFormatDefault = <T extends { specialToolFormat?: VoidStaticModelInfo['specialToolFormat'] }>(obj: T): T => {
+		if (!obj.specialToolFormat) obj.specialToolFormat = providerToolFormatDefault
+		return obj
+	}
+
 	// search model options object directly first
 	for (const modelName_ in modelOptions) {
 		const lowercaseModelName_ = modelName_.toLowerCase()
 		if (lowercaseModelName === lowercaseModelName_) {
-			return { ...modelOptions[modelName], ...overrides, modelName, recognizedModelName: modelName, isUnrecognizedModel: false };
+			return applyProviderToolFormatDefault({ ...modelOptions[modelName], ...overrides, modelName, recognizedModelName: modelName, isUnrecognizedModel: false });
 		}
 	}
 
 	const result = modelOptionsFallback(modelName)
 	if (result) {
-		return { ...result, ...overrides, modelName: result.modelName, isUnrecognizedModel: false };
+		return applyProviderToolFormatDefault({ ...result, ...overrides, modelName: result.modelName, isUnrecognizedModel: false });
 	}
 
-	return { modelName, ...defaultModelOptions, ...overrides, isUnrecognizedModel: true };
+	return applyProviderToolFormatDefault({ modelName, ...defaultModelOptions, ...overrides, isUnrecognizedModel: true });
 }
 
 // non-model settings