diff --git a/hermes_cli/setup.py b/hermes_cli/setup.py
index 9031524a4f..6fe25a3fdb 100644
--- a/hermes_cli/setup.py
+++ b/hermes_cli/setup.py
@@ -395,6 +395,25 @@ def _prompt_api_key(var: dict):
 
 def _print_setup_summary(config: dict, hermes_home):
     """Print the setup completion summary."""
+    # Provider readiness — the one thing setup absolutely must produce.
+    # Previously a user could cancel the API-key prompt mid-wizard (Enter →
+    # "Cancelled."), watch the wizard continue through Terminal/Gateway/Tools,
+    # and exit "successfully" with NO working model — believing they were set
+    # up. Say so loudly instead (consumer-onboarding audit finding #7).
+    try:
+        from hermes_cli.auth import resolve_provider
+
+        resolve_provider()
+        _provider_ready = True
+    except Exception:
+        _provider_ready = False
+    if not _provider_ready:
+        print()
+        print_warning("No inference provider is configured — Hermes cannot chat yet.")
+        print_info("  Finish this one step with either of:")
+        print_info("    hermes model            (pick any provider/model)")
+        print_info("    hermes setup --portal   (Nous Portal OAuth, no API key)")
+
     # Tool availability summary
     print()
     print_header("Tool Availability Summary")
diff --git a/tests/hermes_cli/test_setup_summary_provider_warning.py b/tests/hermes_cli/test_setup_summary_provider_warning.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4d8cfb2ad9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/hermes_cli/test_setup_summary_provider_warning.py
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+"""Setup summary must warn loudly when no provider got configured.
+
+Regression test for the "wizard silently succeeds with no model" dead end:
+cancelling the API-key prompt mid-wizard printed "Cancelled." but the wizard
+continued through the remaining sections and finished "successfully" with no
+working model configured (consumer-onboarding audit finding #7, Aug 2026).
+"""
+
+from unittest.mock import patch
+
+from hermes_cli.auth import AuthError
+
+
+def _summary_output(capsys, provider_ready: bool):
+    from hermes_cli import setup as setup_mod
+
+    if provider_ready:
+        resolver = lambda *a, **k: "openrouter"  # noqa: E731
+    else:
+        def resolver(*a, **k):
+            raise AuthError(
+                "No inference provider configured.",
+                code="no_provider_configured",
+            )
+
+    # Keep the summary fast/hermetic: stub the heavier feature probes.
+    with patch("hermes_cli.auth.resolve_provider", resolver), \
+         patch.object(setup_mod, "get_nous_subscription_features") as feats:
+        feats.side_effect = Exception("stubbed")
+        try:
+            setup_mod._print_setup_summary({}, "/tmp/nowhere")
+        except Exception:
+            # Downstream summary sections may fail from the stubbed
+            # features — the provider warning prints first and is what
+            # this test asserts on.
+            pass
+    return capsys.readouterr().out
+
+
+def test_summary_warns_when_no_provider(capsys):
+    out = _summary_output(capsys, provider_ready=False)
+    assert "No inference provider is configured" in out
+    assert "hermes model" in out
+    assert "hermes setup --portal" in out
+
+
+def test_summary_quiet_when_provider_ready(capsys):
+    out = _summary_output(capsys, provider_ready=True)
+    assert "No inference provider is configured" not in out