diff --git a/tools/cli/cli.cpp b/tools/cli/cli.cpp
index 0926e552e9..02ccb72598 100644
--- a/tools/cli/cli.cpp
+++ b/tools/cli/cli.cpp
@@ -84,6 +84,9 @@ struct cli_context {
             // chat template settings
             task.params.chat_parser_params = common_chat_parser_params(chat_params);
             task.params.chat_parser_params.reasoning_format = COMMON_REASONING_FORMAT_DEEPSEEK;
+            if (!chat_params.parser.empty()) {
+                task.params.chat_parser_params.parser.load(chat_params.parser);
+            }
 
             rd.post_task({std::move(task)});
         }