diff --git a/c/family_registry.py b/c/family_registry.py
index e00d72897..9093f44bf 100644
--- a/c/family_registry.py
+++ b/c/family_registry.py
@@ -1562,7 +1562,7 @@ def _qwen38_resident_inventory(name, size, _config, dtype=None):
         limits=FamilyLimits(8192, 1048576, 1024, 16384, 1, 16, "CTX"),
         # tools (the XML call form, parse_mimo_tool_calls), thinking (on by default,
         # as the template has it); no grammars, no audio in or out
-        capabilities=FamilyCapabilities(True, False, False, True),
+        capabilities=FamilyCapabilities(True, False, False, True, image=True),
         has_gateway_adapter=True,
         # the engine is driven through the gateway (SERVE); coli run has no mimo
         # branch and would fall through to GLM's binary, as for deepseek_v41
diff --git a/c/mimo.c b/c/mimo.c
index 10d569e8b..cd6e6ba7c 100644
--- a/c/mimo.c
+++ b/c/mimo.c
@@ -1144,7 +1144,8 @@ static void serve_loop(Model *m, Tok *tokenizer, const char *dir) {
     coli_serve_stdio_init();
     int eos[8];
     int n_eos = coli_load_stop_ids(dir, eos, 8, NULL);
-    coli_serve_write_ready(stdout, rss_gb());
+    /* CAPS: the gateway offers pictures only when the tower actually loaded */
+    coli_serve_write_ready_caps(stdout, rss_gb(), g_vision ? "vision=1" : "vision=0");
     serve_emap(m);
     float *logits = xmalloc((size_t)c->vocab * sizeof(float), "logits");
     int *ids = xmalloc(((size_t)m->ctx + 1) * sizeof(int), "prompt ids");
diff --git a/c/tests/test_family_registry.py b/c/tests/test_family_registry.py
index 23b114748..49b7a5def 100644
--- a/c/tests/test_family_registry.py
+++ b/c/tests/test_family_registry.py
@@ -128,7 +128,7 @@ def test_capabilities_carry_the_image_bit_for_families_with_an_image_path(self):
         # vision_config and no model.visual.* tensors.
         by_id, _ = _build_registry(FAMILIES)
         for family_id, expected in (("glm53", True), ("qwen38", True), ("qwen36", True),
-                                    ("deepseek_v41", True), ("glm", False), ("kimi", False),
+                                    ("deepseek_v41", True), ("mimo", True), ("glm", False), ("kimi", False),
                                     ("inkling", False), ("olmoe", False),
                                     ("deepseek_v4", False), ("qwen_image", False)):
             with self.subTest(family=family_id):