diff --git a/src/extension-host/runtime-backend-arbitration.ts b/src/extension-host/runtime-backend-arbitration.ts
index 41f64905be3..e65ad902de2 100644
--- a/src/extension-host/runtime-backend-arbitration.ts
+++ b/src/extension-host/runtime-backend-arbitration.ts
@@ -43,3 +43,22 @@ export function resolveExtensionHostRuntimeBackendOrderByArbitration(params: {
     ...ordered.filter((backendId) => backendId !== params.preferredBackendId),
   ];
 }
+
+export function resolveExtensionHostRuntimeBackendFallbackChainByArbitration(params: {
+  entries: readonly ExtensionHostRuntimeBackendCatalogEntry[];
+  subsystemId: ExtensionHostRuntimeBackendSubsystemId;
+  preferredBackendId: string;
+  include?: ExtensionHostRuntimeBackendArbitrationPredicate;
+}): readonly string[] {
+  return resolveExtensionHostRuntimeBackendOrderByArbitration(params);
+}
+
+export function resolveExtensionHostDefaultRuntimeBackendIdByArbitration(params: {
+  entries: readonly ExtensionHostRuntimeBackendCatalogEntry[];
+  subsystemId: ExtensionHostRuntimeBackendSubsystemId;
+  include?: ExtensionHostRuntimeBackendArbitrationPredicate;
+  fallbackBackendId?: string;
+}): string | undefined {
+  const ordered = listExtensionHostRuntimeBackendIdsByArbitration(params);
+  return ordered[0] ?? params.fallbackBackendId;
+}
diff --git a/src/extension-host/tts-runtime-policy.test.ts b/src/extension-host/tts-runtime-policy.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..cab948fecf3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/extension-host/tts-runtime-policy.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+import { describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
+import {
+  resolveExtensionHostDefaultTtsProvider,
+  resolveExtensionHostTtsFallbackProviders,
+} from "./tts-runtime-policy.js";
+
+vi.mock("./runtime-backend-catalog.js", () => ({
+  listExtensionHostTtsRuntimeBackendCatalogEntries: vi.fn(() => [
+    {
+      id: "capability.runtime-backend:tts:openai",
+      family: "capability.runtime-backend",
+      subsystemId: "tts",
+      backendId: "openai",
+      source: "builtin",
+      defaultRank: 0,
+      selectorKeys: ["openai"],
+      capabilities: ["tts.synthesis", "tts.telephony"],
+    },
+    {
+      id: "capability.runtime-backend:tts:elevenlabs",
+      family: "capability.runtime-backend",
+      subsystemId: "tts",
+      backendId: "elevenlabs",
+      source: "builtin",
+      defaultRank: 1,
+      selectorKeys: ["elevenlabs"],
+      capabilities: ["tts.synthesis", "tts.telephony"],
+    },
+    {
+      id: "capability.runtime-backend:tts:edge",
+      family: "capability.runtime-backend",
+      subsystemId: "tts",
+      backendId: "edge",
+      source: "builtin",
+      defaultRank: 2,
+      selectorKeys: ["edge"],
+      capabilities: ["tts.synthesis"],
+    },
+  ]),
+}));
+
+vi.mock("./tts-runtime-registry.js", () => ({
+  isExtensionHostTtsProviderConfigured: vi.fn(
+    (
+      config: {
+        configured?: string[];
+      },
+      provider: string,
+    ) => config.configured?.includes(provider) ?? false,
+  ),
+}));
+
+describe("tts-runtime-policy", () => {
+  it("selects the highest-ranked configured provider by default", () => {
+    expect(
+      resolveExtensionHostDefaultTtsProvider({
+        configured: ["elevenlabs", "edge"],
+      } as never),
+    ).toBe("elevenlabs");
+  });
+
+  it("falls back to edge when no configured provider is available", () => {
+    expect(resolveExtensionHostDefaultTtsProvider({ configured: [] } as never)).toBe("edge");
+  });
+
+  it("keeps the preferred provider first while filtering fallback providers by configuration", () => {
+    expect(
+      resolveExtensionHostTtsFallbackProviders({
+        config: { configured: ["openai", "edge"] } as never,
+        preferredProvider: "elevenlabs",
+      }),
+    ).toEqual(["elevenlabs", "openai", "edge"]);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/extension-host/tts-runtime-policy.ts b/src/extension-host/tts-runtime-policy.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..3a27c395be0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/extension-host/tts-runtime-policy.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+import type { TtsProvider } from "../config/types.tts.js";
+import {
+  resolveExtensionHostDefaultRuntimeBackendIdByArbitration,
+  resolveExtensionHostRuntimeBackendFallbackChainByArbitration,
+} from "./runtime-backend-arbitration.js";
+import {
+  listExtensionHostTtsRuntimeBackendCatalogEntries,
+  type ExtensionHostRuntimeBackendCatalogEntry,
+} from "./runtime-backend-catalog.js";
+import type { ResolvedTtsConfig } from "./tts-config.js";
+import { isExtensionHostTtsProviderConfigured } from "./tts-runtime-registry.js";
+
+function isConfiguredTtsRuntimeBackend(
+  config: ResolvedTtsConfig,
+  entry: ExtensionHostRuntimeBackendCatalogEntry,
+): boolean {
+  return isExtensionHostTtsProviderConfigured(config, entry.backendId as TtsProvider);
+}
+
+export function resolveExtensionHostDefaultTtsProvider(config: ResolvedTtsConfig): TtsProvider {
+  return (resolveExtensionHostDefaultRuntimeBackendIdByArbitration({
+    entries: listExtensionHostTtsRuntimeBackendCatalogEntries(),
+    subsystemId: "tts",
+    include: (entry) => isConfiguredTtsRuntimeBackend(config, entry),
+    fallbackBackendId: "edge",
+  }) ?? "edge") as TtsProvider;
+}
+
+export function resolveExtensionHostTtsFallbackProviders(params: {
+  config: ResolvedTtsConfig;
+  preferredProvider: TtsProvider;
+}): readonly TtsProvider[] {
+  return resolveExtensionHostRuntimeBackendFallbackChainByArbitration({
+    entries: listExtensionHostTtsRuntimeBackendCatalogEntries(),
+    subsystemId: "tts",
+    preferredBackendId: params.preferredProvider,
+    include: (entry) => isConfiguredTtsRuntimeBackend(params.config, entry),
+  }).map((backendId) => backendId as TtsProvider);
+}
diff --git a/src/extension-host/tts-runtime-setup.test.ts b/src/extension-host/tts-runtime-setup.test.ts
index a96eb8fcc75..23a2d4863ee 100644
--- a/src/extension-host/tts-runtime-setup.test.ts
+++ b/src/extension-host/tts-runtime-setup.test.ts
@@ -15,6 +15,38 @@ vi.mock("./runtime-backend-catalog.js", () => ({
       (candidate, index, items) => items.indexOf(candidate) === index,
     ),
   ),
+  listExtensionHostTtsRuntimeBackendCatalogEntries: vi.fn(() => [
+    {
+      id: "capability.runtime-backend:tts:openai",
+      family: "capability.runtime-backend",
+      subsystemId: "tts",
+      backendId: "openai",
+      source: "builtin",
+      defaultRank: 0,
+      selectorKeys: ["openai"],
+      capabilities: ["tts.synthesis", "tts.telephony"],
+    },
+    {
+      id: "capability.runtime-backend:tts:elevenlabs",
+      family: "capability.runtime-backend",
+      subsystemId: "tts",
+      backendId: "elevenlabs",
+      source: "builtin",
+      defaultRank: 1,
+      selectorKeys: ["elevenlabs"],
+      capabilities: ["tts.synthesis", "tts.telephony"],
+    },
+    {
+      id: "capability.runtime-backend:tts:edge",
+      family: "capability.runtime-backend",
+      subsystemId: "tts",
+      backendId: "edge",
+      source: "builtin",
+      defaultRank: 2,
+      selectorKeys: ["edge"],
+      capabilities: ["tts.synthesis"],
+    },
+  ]),
 }));
 
 const tempDirs: string[] = [];
@@ -114,7 +146,7 @@ describe("tts-runtime-setup", () => {
     });
   });
 
-  it("uses the override provider to build the host-owned fallback order", () => {
+  it("uses the override provider to build the host-owned configured fallback order", () => {
     const config = createResolvedConfig({
       provider: "edge",
       providerSource: "config",
@@ -130,7 +162,7 @@ describe("tts-runtime-setup", () => {
       }),
     ).toEqual({
       config,
-      providers: ["elevenlabs", "openai", "edge"],
+      providers: ["elevenlabs", "edge"],
     });
   });
 });
diff --git a/src/extension-host/tts-runtime-setup.ts b/src/extension-host/tts-runtime-setup.ts
index 7886011f631..21ba32761b9 100644
--- a/src/extension-host/tts-runtime-setup.ts
+++ b/src/extension-host/tts-runtime-setup.ts
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
 import { existsSync, readFileSync } from "node:fs";
 import type { TtsProvider } from "../config/types.tts.js";
-import { resolveExtensionHostTtsRuntimeBackendOrder } from "./runtime-backend-catalog.js";
 import type { ResolvedTtsConfig } from "./tts-config.js";
-import { resolveExtensionHostTtsApiKey } from "./tts-runtime-registry.js";
+import {
+  resolveExtensionHostDefaultTtsProvider,
+  resolveExtensionHostTtsFallbackProviders,
+} from "./tts-runtime-policy.js";
 
 type TtsUserPrefs = {
   tts?: {
@@ -35,13 +37,7 @@ export function resolveExtensionHostTtsProvider(
     return config.provider;
   }
 
-  if (resolveExtensionHostTtsApiKey(config, "openai")) {
-    return "openai";
-  }
-  if (resolveExtensionHostTtsApiKey(config, "elevenlabs")) {
-    return "elevenlabs";
-  }
-  return "edge";
+  return resolveExtensionHostDefaultTtsProvider(config);
 }
 
 export function resolveExtensionHostTtsRequestSetup(params: {
@@ -67,6 +63,11 @@ export function resolveExtensionHostTtsRequestSetup(params: {
     params.providerOverride ?? resolveExtensionHostTtsProvider(params.config, params.prefsPath);
   return {
     config: params.config,
-    providers: [...resolveExtensionHostTtsRuntimeBackendOrder(provider)],
+    providers: [
+      ...resolveExtensionHostTtsFallbackProviders({
+        config: params.config,
+        preferredProvider: provider,
+      }),
+    ],
   };
 }
diff --git a/src/extension-host/tts-status.ts b/src/extension-host/tts-status.ts
index f86a8ea2c02..abb7fdc08a2 100644
--- a/src/extension-host/tts-status.ts
+++ b/src/extension-host/tts-status.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 import type { TtsProvider } from "../config/types.tts.js";
-import { resolveExtensionHostTtsRuntimeBackendOrder } from "./runtime-backend-catalog.js";
 import type { ResolvedTtsConfig } from "./tts-config.js";
 import {
   getExtensionHostTtsMaxLength,
@@ -7,6 +6,7 @@ import {
   isExtensionHostTtsSummarizationEnabled,
   resolveExtensionHostTtsAutoMode,
 } from "./tts-preferences.js";
+import { resolveExtensionHostTtsFallbackProviders } from "./tts-runtime-policy.js";
 import {
   isExtensionHostTtsProviderConfigured,
   resolveExtensionHostTtsApiKey,
@@ -57,9 +57,10 @@ export function resolveExtensionHostTtsStatusSnapshot(params: {
 }): ExtensionHostTtsStatusSnapshot {
   const { config, prefsPath } = params;
   const provider = resolveExtensionHostTtsProvider(config, prefsPath);
-  const fallbackProviders = resolveExtensionHostTtsRuntimeBackendOrder(provider)
-    .slice(1)
-    .filter((candidate) => isExtensionHostTtsProviderConfigured(config, candidate));
+  const fallbackProviders = resolveExtensionHostTtsFallbackProviders({
+    config,
+    preferredProvider: provider,
+  }).slice(1);
   return {
     enabled: isExtensionHostTtsEnabled(config, prefsPath),
     auto: resolveExtensionHostTtsAutoMode({ config, prefsPath }),