diff --git a/pkg/mcp/revision.go b/pkg/mcp/revision.go
index 2f2e7e58f9..22dc9aebe6 100644
--- a/pkg/mcp/revision.go
+++ b/pkg/mcp/revision.go
@@ -116,11 +116,16 @@ var passthroughMetaKeys = map[string]struct{}{
 }
 
 // modernSignalMetaKeys is the INGRESS/detection set consumed by hasModernSignal:
-// the reserved keys a Legacy client never sets, whose presence — independent of
-// whether the value is well-formed — is itself a claim of the Modern revision
-// and must not be silently downgraded to Legacy. Only a malformed/absent
-// protocolVersion alongside one of them turns into a rejection, never a
-// downgrade.
+// the reserved keys whose presence — independent of whether the value is
+// well-formed — is a claim of the Modern revision when nothing else contradicts
+// it, and must not then be silently downgraded to Legacy.
+//
+// "Nothing else contradicts it" is load-bearing. Real Legacy clients DO set
+// these keys (the ChatGPT connector sets them while negotiating 2025-11-25),
+// so an explicit non-Modern MCP-Protocol-Version header outranks them — see
+// ClassifyRevision. The claim stands where the key is the only signal present,
+// and there a malformed/absent protocolVersion alongside one of them turns into
+// a rejection, never a downgrade.
 //
 // It is deliberately narrower than what StripReservedMeta removes: logLevel is
 // excluded so a request carrying only logLevel — which go-sdk's
@@ -444,6 +449,25 @@ func ClassifyRevision(method string, meta map[string]any, protoHeader string) (R
 
 	bodyVersion, hasBodyVersion := stringMetaValue(meta, metaKeyProtocolVersion)
 	if !hasBodyVersion {
+		if protoHeader != "" && protoHeader != MCPVersionModern {
+			// An explicit non-Modern header is the client's negotiated
+			// declaration and outranks a stray reserved _meta key that carries
+			// no version of its own. Without this, merely including e.g.
+			// clientInfo flipped an otherwise-fine Legacy request from accepted
+			// to -32020 -- the same request with no reserved key at all is
+			// classified Legacy by hasModernSignal above, so rejecting this one
+			// was incoherent rather than strict. It broke every tools/call from
+			// the ChatGPT connector, which negotiates 2025-11-25 and sets
+			// reserved keys without a _meta protocolVersion (#6188).
+			//
+			// Modern enforcement is untouched: a Modern header with no _meta
+			// version still falls through to the mismatch below, and a reserved
+			// key with no header at all still yields MissingModernMetadata --
+			// which is where "a reserved key is a claim of Modern that must not
+			// be silently downgraded" (see modernSignalMetaKeys) actually
+			// applies, because there the key is the only signal present.
+			return RevisionLegacy, nil
+		}
 		if protoHeader != "" {
 			return RevisionModern, &HeaderMismatchError{Header: protoHeader, Body: ""}
 		}
diff --git a/pkg/mcp/revision_test.go b/pkg/mcp/revision_test.go
index a70c50839b..8d4b793f14 100644
--- a/pkg/mcp/revision_test.go
+++ b/pkg/mcp/revision_test.go
@@ -290,12 +290,34 @@ func TestClassifyRevision(t *testing.T) {
 			},
 		},
 		{
-			name:   "modern signal via reserved key with non-modern header is a header mismatch",
+			// #6188: the ChatGPT connector negotiates 2025-11-25 and sets
+			// reserved keys without a _meta protocolVersion. The explicit
+			// non-Modern header is its negotiated declaration and outranks the
+			// stray key; rejecting this broke every tools/call it sent. Note
+			// the same request WITHOUT the reserved key is classified Legacy by
+			// hasModernSignal, so rejecting it was incoherent, not strict.
+			name:   "legacy: reserved key with an explicit non-modern header",
 			method: "tools/call",
 			meta: map[string]any{
 				metaKeyClientCapabilities: map[string]any{},
 			},
 			protoHeader: "2025-11-25",
+			expectedRev: RevisionLegacy,
+			checkErr: func(t *testing.T, err error) {
+				t.Helper()
+				require.NoError(t, err)
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			// Modern enforcement is untouched: a Modern header with no _meta
+			// protocolVersion is still the malformed shape go-sdk sends for a
+			// removed RPC, and still -32020.
+			name:   "modern header with reserved key but no body version is still a mismatch",
+			method: "tools/call",
+			meta: map[string]any{
+				metaKeyClientCapabilities: map[string]any{},
+			},
+			protoHeader: MCPVersionModern,
 			expectedRev: RevisionModern,
 			checkErr: func(t *testing.T, err error) {
 				t.Helper()
@@ -303,10 +325,26 @@ func TestClassifyRevision(t *testing.T) {
 				var mismatchErr *HeaderMismatchError
 				require.ErrorAs(t, err, &mismatchErr)
 				assert.Equal(t, CodeHeaderMismatch, mismatchErr.Code())
-				assert.Equal(t, "2025-11-25", mismatchErr.Header)
+				assert.Equal(t, MCPVersionModern, mismatchErr.Header)
 				assert.Empty(t, mismatchErr.Body)
 			},
 		},
+		{
+			// An unrecognised header is still non-Modern, so it is classified
+			// Legacy for the same reason. Version validity is the transport's
+			// job (isSupportedMCPVersion), not the classifier's.
+			name:   "legacy: reserved key with an unrecognised header",
+			method: "tools/call",
+			meta: map[string]any{
+				metaKeyClientInfo: map[string]any{"name": "openai-mcp"},
+			},
+			protoHeader: "1999-01-01",
+			expectedRev: RevisionLegacy,
+			checkErr: func(t *testing.T, err error) {
+				t.Helper()
+				require.NoError(t, err)
+			},
+		},
 		{
 			name:        "legacy: initialize with nil meta",
 			method:      "initialize",