diff --git a/lib/runtime/app-bind.ts b/lib/runtime/app-bind.ts
index 31ef17141..d8d2c58da 100644
--- a/lib/runtime/app-bind.ts
+++ b/lib/runtime/app-bind.ts
@@ -9,7 +9,9 @@ import { fileURLToPath } from "node:url";
 import { withFileOperationRetry } from "../fs-retry.js";
 import { getCodexMultiAuthDir } from "../runtime-paths.js";
 import {
+	configHasRuntimeRotationProvider,
 	restoreConfigTomlFromRuntimeRotationProvider,
+	restoreConfigTomlFromRuntimeRotationProviderWithoutBackup,
 	rewriteConfigTomlForRuntimeRotationProvider,
 } from "./config-toml.js";
 
@@ -81,6 +83,13 @@ export interface AppBindRouterStatus {
 export interface AppBindStatus {
 	bound: boolean;
 	running: boolean;
+	/**
+	 * True when config.toml is bound to the runtime proxy but the app-bind state
+	 * file is gone (orphaned bind, #614). In this case `bound` is also true and
+	 * `state` is null — the config needs `unbind-app` to recover even though the
+	 * normal state-file tracking is missing.
+	 */
+	unmanagedBind: boolean;
 	state: AppBindState | null;
 	router: AppBindRouterStatus | null;
 	paths: AppBindPaths;
@@ -612,9 +621,19 @@ export async function getAppBindStatus(options: AppBindOptions = {}): Promise<Ap
 	const paths = resolveAppBindPaths(options);
 	const state = await readAppBindState(paths.statePath);
 	const router = await readRouterStatus(paths.statusPath);
+	// When no state file is present, the bind may still be live in config.toml
+	// (orphaned bind, #614). Detect that from the config directly so status and
+	// downstream callers don't report a bound config as "not configured".
+	let unmanagedBind = false;
+	if (state === null) {
+		const current = await readConfigIfExists(paths.configPath);
+		unmanagedBind =
+			current.existed && configHasRuntimeRotationProvider(current.content);
+	}
 	return {
-		bound: state !== null,
+		bound: state !== null || unmanagedBind,
 		running: router !== null && router.state === "running" && isProcessAlive(router.pid),
+		unmanagedBind,
 		state,
 		router,
 		paths,
@@ -765,6 +784,7 @@ async function unbindCodexAppRuntimeRotationLocked(
 	}
 
 	const backup = await readAppBindBackup(paths.backupPath);
+	let selfHealed = false;
 	if (backup) {
 		const current = await readConfigIfExists(backup.configPath);
 		if (state && current.existed && sha256(current.content) !== state.boundConfigHash) {
@@ -786,6 +806,22 @@ async function unbindCodexAppRuntimeRotationLocked(
 				restoreConfigTomlFromAppBind(current.content, ""),
 			);
 		}
+	} else {
+		// Orphaned-bind recovery (#614): no backup and no state file, but the
+		// config may still be bound to the runtime proxy (e.g. the state/backup
+		// were lost while config.toml stayed rewritten). The state-file checks
+		// above can't see this, so consult the config directly and self-heal it
+		// back to a working provider when it is bound.
+		const current = await readConfigIfExists(paths.configPath);
+		if (current.existed && configHasRuntimeRotationProvider(current.content)) {
+			await atomicWriteFile(
+				paths.configPath,
+				restoreConfigTomlFromRuntimeRotationProviderWithoutBackup(
+					current.content,
+				),
+			);
+			selfHealed = true;
+		}
 	}
 
 	for (const candidate of [
@@ -801,15 +837,31 @@ async function unbindCodexAppRuntimeRotationLocked(
 	}
 
 	const status = await getAppBindStatus(options);
+	let message: string;
+	if (backup) {
+		message = `Unbound Codex app config ${backup.configPath}`;
+	} else if (selfHealed) {
+		message = `Restored Codex app config ${paths.configPath} from an orphaned runtime-proxy bind (no backup was present)`;
+	} else {
+		message = "Codex app bind was not configured";
+	}
 	return {
 		status,
-		message: backup
-			? `Unbound Codex app config ${backup.configPath}`
-			: "Codex app bind was not configured",
+		message,
 	};
 }
 
 export function formatAppBindStatus(status: AppBindStatus): string {
+	if (status.unmanagedBind && !status.state) {
+		return [
+			`Codex app bind: bound but unmanaged (config=${status.paths.configPath} points at the runtime proxy, but no app-bind state/backup is present)`,
+			[
+				"Run `codex-multi-auth rotation unbind-app` to restore the original",
+				"Codex provider/config. This recovers the orphaned bind even though no",
+				"backup was saved (#614).",
+			].join(" "),
+		].join("\n");
+	}
 	if (!status.bound || !status.state) return "Codex app bind: not configured";
 	const parts = [
 		status.running ? "running" : "configured but router not running",
diff --git a/lib/runtime/config-toml.ts b/lib/runtime/config-toml.ts
index 5e88652bc..c26730aa0 100644
--- a/lib/runtime/config-toml.ts
+++ b/lib/runtime/config-toml.ts
@@ -136,15 +136,31 @@ export function restoreTopLevelModelProvider(
 	}
 
 	if (!handled && originalLine) {
-		// Splice the restored line into the root table — appending at tail
-		// would land it inside whatever section appears last in `output`.
-		const firstSectionIdx = output.findIndex(
-			(line) => readTomlTableName(line) !== null,
-		);
-		if (firstSectionIdx === -1) {
-			output.push(originalLine);
-		} else {
-			output.splice(firstSectionIdx, 0, originalLine);
+		// Only splice the original line back when the current config has no
+		// top-level model_provider at all (bind stripped it). If a non-proxy
+		// top-level model_provider already exists — e.g. a half-orphaned config
+		// where the proxy block is present but the provider line already points
+		// elsewhere — inserting another line would create a duplicate top-level
+		// key and produce invalid TOML. In that case the existing line is
+		// already correct, so leave it untouched.
+		const hasTopLevelModelProvider = (() => {
+			for (const line of output) {
+				if (readTomlTableName(line) !== null) return false;
+				if (/^\s*model_provider\s*=/.test(line)) return true;
+			}
+			return false;
+		})();
+		if (!hasTopLevelModelProvider) {
+			// Splice the restored line into the root table — appending at tail
+			// would land it inside whatever section appears last in `output`.
+			const firstSectionIdx = output.findIndex(
+				(line) => readTomlTableName(line) !== null,
+			);
+			if (firstSectionIdx === -1) {
+				output.push(originalLine);
+			} else {
+				output.splice(firstSectionIdx, 0, originalLine);
+			}
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -271,3 +287,65 @@ export function restoreConfigTomlFromRuntimeRotationProvider(
 		),
 	);
 }
+
+/**
+ * Detects whether a config.toml is currently bound to the runtime rotation
+ * proxy — either the top-level `model_provider` points at the proxy id, or the
+ * proxy `[model_providers.<id>]` block is present. Used to recover an orphaned
+ * bind whose app-bind state/backup files were lost: in that situation the
+ * state-file-based status check reports "not configured" even though the config
+ * is still bound, so unbind/status must consult the config itself.
+ */
+export function configHasRuntimeRotationProvider(rawConfig: string): boolean {
+	if (rawConfig.length === 0) return false;
+	const providerTable = `model_providers.${RUNTIME_ROTATION_PROXY_PROVIDER_ID}`;
+	let inTopLevel = true;
+	for (const line of rawConfig.split(/\r?\n/)) {
+		const tableName = readTomlTableName(line);
+		if (tableName !== null) {
+			if (tableName === providerTable) return true;
+			inTopLevel = false;
+			continue;
+		}
+		if (
+			inTopLevel &&
+			/^\s*model_provider\s*=/.test(line) &&
+			line.includes(RUNTIME_ROTATION_PROXY_PROVIDER_ID)
+		) {
+			return true;
+		}
+	}
+	return false;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Restores a bound config when no backup of the user's original config exists
+ * (the orphaned-bind recovery path). Strips the proxy provider block and any
+ * bind-written top-level lines, and — because there is no original
+ * `model_provider` line to bring back — falls back to `defaultProvider`
+ * (Codex's native `"openai"`) so the config is left on a working provider
+ * rather than the dangling proxy id.
+ */
+export function restoreConfigTomlFromRuntimeRotationProviderWithoutBackup(
+	currentConfig: string,
+	defaultProvider = "openai",
+): string {
+	const lineEnding = currentConfig.includes("\r\n") ? "\r\n" : "\n";
+	// Synthesize a minimal "original" config carrying only the default
+	// top-level model_provider, so the shared restore path rewrites the proxy
+	// line back to a usable provider instead of leaving it dangling.
+	const syntheticOriginal = `model_provider = ${tomlStringLiteral(defaultProvider)}${lineEnding}`;
+	const restored = restoreConfigTomlFromRuntimeRotationProvider(
+		currentConfig,
+		syntheticOriginal,
+	);
+	// Normalize line endings to match the input config. The shared restore path
+	// derives its EOL from intermediate state, which can collapse to "\n" when
+	// the bound config was almost entirely proxy content; pin it back to the
+	// original style so a CRLF (Windows-authored) config stays CRLF.
+	if (lineEnding === "\r\n") {
+		return restored.replace(/\r?\n/g, "\r\n");
+	}
+	return restored.replace(/\r\n/g, "\n");
+}
+
diff --git a/test/app-bind.test.ts b/test/app-bind.test.ts
index e0b8b6a8a..04312b283 100644
--- a/test/app-bind.test.ts
+++ b/test/app-bind.test.ts
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import { afterEach, describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
 import {
 	bindCodexAppRuntimeRotation,
 	formatAppBindStatus,
+	getAppBindStatus,
 	resolveAppBindPaths,
 	restoreConfigTomlFromAppBind,
 	rewriteConfigTomlForAppBind,
@@ -813,3 +814,135 @@ describe("Codex app runtime rotation bind", () => {
 		expect(await readFile(logPath, "utf8")).toContain("log truncated");
 	});
 });
+
+describe("orphaned app-bind recovery (#614)", () => {
+	const boundConfig = [
+		'model_provider = "codex-multi-auth-runtime-proxy"',
+		"disable_response_storage = false",
+		"[profiles.default]",
+		'model = "gpt-5"',
+		"",
+		"[model_providers.codex-multi-auth-runtime-proxy]",
+		'name = "codex-multi-auth"',
+		'base_url = "http://127.0.0.1:51758"',
+		"requires_openai_auth = false",
+		'wire_api = "responses"',
+		"",
+	].join("\n");
+
+	async function seedOrphanedBind(): Promise<{
+		root: string;
+		codexHome: string;
+		env: NodeJS.ProcessEnv;
+	}> {
+		const root = await createTempRoot("codex-app-bind-orphan-");
+		const codexHome = join(root, "codex-home");
+		const env = {
+			CODEX_MULTI_AUTH_DIR: join(root, "multi-auth"),
+			CODEX_MULTI_AUTH_APP_BIND_CODEX_HOME: codexHome,
+		};
+		await mkdir(codexHome, { recursive: true });
+		// Bound config on disk, but NO state file and NO backup (the orphan case).
+		await writeFile(join(codexHome, "config.toml"), boundConfig, "utf8");
+		return { root, codexHome, env };
+	}
+
+	it("reports unmanagedBind when config is bound but no state file exists", async () => {
+		const { root, env } = await seedOrphanedBind();
+		const status = await getAppBindStatus({ platform: "linux", home: root, env });
+		expect(status.bound).toBe(true);
+		expect(status.unmanagedBind).toBe(true);
+		expect(status.state).toBeNull();
+		expect(formatAppBindStatus(status)).toContain("bound but unmanaged");
+	});
+
+	it("self-heals a bound config with no backup/state on unbind", async () => {
+		const { root, codexHome, env } = await seedOrphanedBind();
+
+		const unbound = await unbindCodexAppRuntimeRotation({
+			platform: "linux",
+			home: root,
+			env,
+			spawnDetached: false,
+		});
+
+		const restored = await readFile(join(codexHome, "config.toml"), "utf8");
+		expect(restored).toContain('model_provider = "openai"');
+		expect(restored).not.toContain("codex-multi-auth-runtime-proxy");
+		expect(restored).not.toContain("disable_response_storage");
+		expect(restored).toContain("[profiles.default]");
+		expect(unbound.message).toContain("orphaned runtime-proxy bind");
+		expect(unbound.status.bound).toBe(false);
+		expect(unbound.status.unmanagedBind).toBe(false);
+	});
+
+	it("self-heals a half-orphan (proxy block present, model_provider already native) without duplicating keys", async () => {
+		const root = await createTempRoot("codex-app-bind-half-orphan-");
+		const codexHome = join(root, "codex-home");
+		const env = {
+			CODEX_MULTI_AUTH_DIR: join(root, "multi-auth"),
+			CODEX_MULTI_AUTH_APP_BIND_CODEX_HOME: codexHome,
+		};
+		await mkdir(codexHome, { recursive: true });
+		// Top-level provider is already native, but the proxy block lingers — the
+		// partial-orphan case that previously produced a duplicate model_provider.
+		await writeFile(
+			join(codexHome, "config.toml"),
+			[
+				'model_provider = "openai"',
+				"[profiles.default]",
+				'model = "gpt-5"',
+				"",
+				"[model_providers.codex-multi-auth-runtime-proxy]",
+				'name = "codex-multi-auth"',
+				'wire_api = "responses"',
+				"",
+			].join("\n"),
+			"utf8",
+		);
+
+		const unbound = await unbindCodexAppRuntimeRotation({
+			platform: "linux",
+			home: root,
+			env,
+			spawnDetached: false,
+		});
+
+		const restored = await readFile(join(codexHome, "config.toml"), "utf8");
+		const providerLines = (
+			restored.match(/^\s*model_provider\s*=/gm) ?? []
+		).length;
+		expect(providerLines).toBe(1);
+		expect(restored).toContain('model_provider = "openai"');
+		expect(restored).not.toContain("codex-multi-auth-runtime-proxy");
+		expect(restored).toContain("[profiles.default]");
+		expect(unbound.status.bound).toBe(false);
+	});
+
+	it("is a no-op for an already-clean config", async () => {
+		const root = await createTempRoot("codex-app-bind-clean-");
+		const codexHome = join(root, "codex-home");
+		const env = {
+			CODEX_MULTI_AUTH_DIR: join(root, "multi-auth"),
+			CODEX_MULTI_AUTH_APP_BIND_CODEX_HOME: codexHome,
+		};
+		await mkdir(codexHome, { recursive: true });
+		await writeFile(
+			join(codexHome, "config.toml"),
+			'model_provider = "openai"\n',
+			"utf8",
+		);
+
+		const unbound = await unbindCodexAppRuntimeRotation({
+			platform: "linux",
+			home: root,
+			env,
+			spawnDetached: false,
+		});
+
+		expect(unbound.message).toBe("Codex app bind was not configured");
+		expect(await readFile(join(codexHome, "config.toml"), "utf8")).toBe(
+			'model_provider = "openai"\n',
+		);
+	});
+});
diff --git a/test/config-toml-restore.test.ts b/test/config-toml-restore.test.ts
index 738f267e2..aee3075f1 100644
--- a/test/config-toml-restore.test.ts
+++ b/test/config-toml-restore.test.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
 import {
+	configHasRuntimeRotationProvider,
+	restoreConfigTomlFromRuntimeRotationProviderWithoutBackup,
 	restoreTopLevelModelProvider,
 	restoreTopLevelResponseStorage,
 } from "../lib/runtime/config-toml.js";
@@ -113,3 +115,129 @@ describe("restoreTopLevelResponseStorage", () => {
 		expect(restored).toContain("disable_response_storage = false");
 	});
 });
+
+describe("configHasRuntimeRotationProvider", () => {
+	it("detects a top-level model_provider bound to the proxy", () => {
+		const config =
+			'model_provider = "codex-multi-auth-runtime-proxy"\n[profiles.default]\nmodel = "gpt-5"\n';
+		expect(configHasRuntimeRotationProvider(config)).toBe(true);
+	});
+
+	it("detects the proxy provider block even when model_provider is native", () => {
+		const config =
+			'model_provider = "openai"\n[model_providers.codex-multi-auth-runtime-proxy]\nname = "codex-multi-auth"\n';
+		expect(configHasRuntimeRotationProvider(config)).toBe(true);
+	});
+
+	it("returns false for an unbound config", () => {
+		const config = 'model_provider = "openai"\n[profiles.default]\nmodel = "gpt-5"\n';
+		expect(configHasRuntimeRotationProvider(config)).toBe(false);
+	});
+
+	it("returns false for empty config", () => {
+		expect(configHasRuntimeRotationProvider("")).toBe(false);
+	});
+
+	it("does not match a proxy id that only appears inside a non-provider section", () => {
+		// A stray mention in some other section's value must not be treated as a
+		// top-level bind (the top-level scan stops at the first table header).
+		const config =
+			'[profiles.default]\nnote = "codex-multi-auth-runtime-proxy"\n';
+		expect(configHasRuntimeRotationProvider(config)).toBe(false);
+	});
+});
+
+describe("restoreConfigTomlFromRuntimeRotationProviderWithoutBackup", () => {
+	it("rewrites a bound model_provider to the default and strips the proxy block", () => {
+		const bound = [
+			'model_provider = "codex-multi-auth-runtime-proxy"',
+			"[profiles.default]",
+			'model = "gpt-5"',
+			"",
+			"[model_providers.codex-multi-auth-runtime-proxy]",
+			'name = "codex-multi-auth"',
+			'base_url = "http://127.0.0.1:51758"',
+			"requires_openai_auth = false",
+			'wire_api = "responses"',
+			"",
+		].join("\n");
+
+		const restored =
+			restoreConfigTomlFromRuntimeRotationProviderWithoutBackup(bound);
+
+		expect(restored).toContain('model_provider = "openai"');
+		expect(restored).not.toContain("codex-multi-auth-runtime-proxy");
+		expect(restored).toContain("[profiles.default]");
+		expect(configHasRuntimeRotationProvider(restored)).toBe(false);
+	});
+
+	it("honors a custom default provider", () => {
+		const bound = 'model_provider = "codex-multi-auth-runtime-proxy"\n';
+		const restored = restoreConfigTomlFromRuntimeRotationProviderWithoutBackup(
+			bound,
+			"my-provider",
+		);
+		expect(restored).toContain('model_provider = "my-provider"');
+	});
+
+	it("preserves CRLF endings when recovering", () => {
+		const bound =
+			'model_provider = "codex-multi-auth-runtime-proxy"\r\n[model_providers.codex-multi-auth-runtime-proxy]\r\nname = "codex-multi-auth"\r\n';
+		const restored =
+			restoreConfigTomlFromRuntimeRotationProviderWithoutBackup(bound);
+		expect(restored).toContain('model_provider = "openai"');
+		expect(restored).not.toContain("codex-multi-auth-runtime-proxy");
+		expect(restored.replace(/\r\n/g, "")).not.toContain("\n");
+	});
+
+	it("does not duplicate model_provider when the top-level line is already non-proxy (half-orphan)", () => {
+		// The proxy *block* is present but the top-level model_provider already
+		// points at a real provider. Recovery must strip the block and leave the
+		// single existing line — inserting a second one is invalid TOML.
+		const halfOrphan = [
+			'model_provider = "openai"',
+			"[profiles.default]",
+			'model = "gpt-5"',
+			"",
+			"[model_providers.codex-multi-auth-runtime-proxy]",
+			'name = "codex-multi-auth"',
+			'base_url = "http://127.0.0.1:51758"',
+			'wire_api = "responses"',
+			"",
+		].join("\n");
+
+		const restored =
+			restoreConfigTomlFromRuntimeRotationProviderWithoutBackup(halfOrphan);
+
+		const providerLines = (
+			restored.match(/^\s*model_provider\s*=/gm) ?? []
+		).length;
+		expect(providerLines).toBe(1);
+		expect(restored).toContain('model_provider = "openai"');
+		expect(restored).not.toContain("codex-multi-auth-runtime-proxy");
+		expect(restored).toContain("[profiles.default]");
+	});
+
+	it("drops bind-injected disable_response_storage during no-backup recovery", () => {
+		// A full bind injects `disable_response_storage = false` at top level;
+		// recovery with no backup must remove that residue.
+		const bound = [
+			'model_provider = "codex-multi-auth-runtime-proxy"',
+			"disable_response_storage = false",
+			"[profiles.default]",
+			'model = "gpt-5"',
+			"",
+			"[model_providers.codex-multi-auth-runtime-proxy]",
+			'name = "codex-multi-auth"',
+			'wire_api = "responses"',
+			"",
+		].join("\n");
+
+		const restored =
+			restoreConfigTomlFromRuntimeRotationProviderWithoutBackup(bound);
+
+		expect(restored).toContain('model_provider = "openai"');
+		expect(restored).not.toContain("disable_response_storage");
+		expect(restored).not.toContain("codex-multi-auth-runtime-proxy");
+	});
+});