diff --git a/internal/httpapi/phase3.go b/internal/httpapi/phase3.go
index b64f69b..1e64b65 100644
--- a/internal/httpapi/phase3.go
+++ b/internal/httpapi/phase3.go
@@ -163,7 +163,12 @@ func resolveRunTarget(ctx context.Context, pool *db.Pool, targetSlug string) (ho
 	}
 	if strings.HasPrefix(targetSlug, "lxc:") {
 		var pveID, hostAttr string
-		if qerr := pool.QueryRow(ctx, "SELECT attributes->>'pve_id', attributes->>'host' FROM entities WHERE slug = $1", targetSlug).Scan(&pveID, &hostAttr); qerr != nil || pveID == "" {
+		// COALESCE the host column: many older LXC entities (seeded from
+		// inventory, not provisioned by pct_create) have pve_id but no host
+		// attribute at all. Scanning a SQL NULL into a plain string errors
+		// the whole row, wrongly reporting "missing pve_id" even when it was
+		// present — COALESCE avoids the NULL, "" is handled below.
+		if qerr := pool.QueryRow(ctx, "SELECT attributes->>'pve_id', COALESCE(attributes->>'host', '') FROM entities WHERE slug = $1", targetSlug).Scan(&pveID, &hostAttr); qerr != nil || pveID == "" {
 			return "", "", nil, fmt.Errorf("LXC not found or missing pve_id: %s", targetSlug)
 		}
 		hostSlug := hostAttr
diff --git a/internal/mcp/server.go b/internal/mcp/server.go
index 56163e4..bc95888 100644
--- a/internal/mcp/server.go
+++ b/internal/mcp/server.go
@@ -1196,7 +1196,12 @@ func resolveExecTarget(ctx context.Context, pool *db.Pool, targetSlug string) (h
 	}
 	if strings.HasPrefix(targetSlug, "lxc:") {
 		var pveID, hostAttr string
-		if qerr := pool.QueryRow(ctx, "SELECT attributes->>'pve_id', attributes->>'host' FROM entities WHERE slug = $1", targetSlug).Scan(&pveID, &hostAttr); qerr != nil || pveID == "" {
+		// COALESCE the host column: many older LXC entities (seeded from
+		// inventory, not provisioned by pct_create) have pve_id but no host
+		// attribute at all. Scanning a SQL NULL into a plain string errors
+		// the whole row, wrongly reporting "missing pve_id" even when it was
+		// present — COALESCE avoids the NULL, "" is handled below.
+		if qerr := pool.QueryRow(ctx, "SELECT attributes->>'pve_id', COALESCE(attributes->>'host', '') FROM entities WHERE slug = $1", targetSlug).Scan(&pveID, &hostAttr); qerr != nil || pveID == "" {
 			return "", "", nil, fmt.Errorf("LXC not found or missing pve_id: %s", targetSlug)
 		}
 		hostSlug := hostAttr