diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/components/editor/AiAssistant.vue b/apps/desktop/src/components/editor/AiAssistant.vue
index be6ae1ff1..9a3297bda 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/components/editor/AiAssistant.vue
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/components/editor/AiAssistant.vue
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@ import { useToast } from "@/composables/useToast";
 import { useNavigationTargets } from "@/composables/useNavigationTargets";
 import { buildAiContext, resolveAiDatabaseTarget, resolveAiNamespaceSelection, resolveDefaultAiSchema, runAgentStream, isVectorDbType, isValidActionForMode, defaultActionForMode, type AiAction, type AiAssistantMode, type AiSqlFileContext, type CustomPromptContext } from "@/lib/ai/ai";
 import { isAiConfigModelCandidate } from "@/lib/ai/aiConfigCandidates";
+import { addConfiguredAiModel, aiModelOptions } from "@/lib/ai/aiConfigList";
 import { orderAiConfigsForDisplay } from "@/lib/ai/aiConfigOrdering";
 import { effortSelectionEquals, runtimeEffortFromPreference } from "@/lib/ai/aiEffortPreference";
 import { useAiModelCatalog } from "@/composables/useAiModelCatalog";
@@ -345,7 +346,9 @@ const activeFullConfig = computed(() => {
 });
 
 function getModelsForConfig(configId: string) {
-  return modelCatalogs.get(configId)?.models ?? [];
+  const config = settings.aiConfigs.find((item) => item.id === configId);
+  if (!config) return [];
+  return aiModelOptions(config, modelCatalogs.get(configId)?.models ?? []);
 }
 
 function configMatchesModelQuery(config: AiConfigItem, query: string): boolean {
@@ -420,12 +423,21 @@ function startManualModel(configId: string) {
   nextTick(() => document.querySelector<HTMLInputElement>("[data-manual-model-input]")?.focus());
 }
 
-function applyManualModel(configId: string) {
+async function applyManualModel(configId: string) {
   const modelId = manualModelId.value.trim();
   if (!modelId) return;
-  handleModelSelect(configId, modelId);
-  manualModelConfigId.value = "";
-  manualModelId.value = "";
+  const config = settings.aiConfigs.find((item) => item.id === configId);
+  if (!config) return;
+  try {
+    if (config.model.trim() !== modelId) {
+      await settings.updateAiConfigItem(configId, { models: addConfiguredAiModel(config.models, modelId) });
+    }
+    handleModelSelect(configId, modelId);
+    manualModelConfigId.value = "";
+    manualModelId.value = "";
+  } catch (error) {
+    toast(translateBackendError(t, error));
+  }
 }
 
 const activeEffortEntry = computed(() => {
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/lib/ai/__tests__/aiConfigList.spec.ts b/apps/desktop/src/lib/ai/__tests__/aiConfigList.spec.ts
index 569564245..eb3bbd14c 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/lib/ai/__tests__/aiConfigList.spec.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/lib/ai/__tests__/aiConfigList.spec.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { afterEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
-import { generateId } from "@/lib/ai/aiConfigList";
+import { addConfiguredAiModel, aiModelOptions, generateId } from "@/lib/ai/aiConfigList";
 
 describe("generateId", () => {
   afterEach(() => {
@@ -22,3 +22,43 @@ describe("generateId", () => {
     expect(generateId()).toBe("00000000-0000-4000-8000-000000000000");
   });
 });
+
+describe("AI model options", () => {
+  it("keeps saved models selectable when provider model discovery fails", () => {
+    const options = aiModelOptions(
+      {
+        model: "ark-code-latest",
+        models: [{ name: "doubao-seed-2.0-code", label: "Doubao Code" }],
+      },
+      [],
+    );
+
+    expect(options).toEqual([
+      { id: "ark-code-latest", displayName: undefined, supportedEffortLevels: undefined, effortCapability: undefined },
+      { id: "doubao-seed-2.0-code", displayName: "Doubao Code", supportedEffortLevels: undefined, effortCapability: undefined },
+    ]);
+  });
+
+  it("persists a manual model only once", () => {
+    expect(addConfiguredAiModel([{ name: "ark-code-latest" }], "  doubao-seed-2.0-code  ")).toEqual([{ name: "ark-code-latest" }, { name: "doubao-seed-2.0-code" }]);
+    expect(addConfiguredAiModel([{ name: "ark-code-latest" }], "ark-code-latest")).toEqual([{ name: "ark-code-latest" }]);
+  });
+
+  it("merges saved metadata with discovered capabilities", () => {
+    const options = aiModelOptions(
+      {
+        model: "",
+        models: [{ name: "gpt-4o", label: "GPT-4o", supportedEffortLevels: ["high"] }],
+      },
+      [{ id: "gpt-4o", displayName: "Discovered GPT-4o", effortCapability: { kind: "unsupported" } }],
+    );
+
+    expect(options).toEqual([{ id: "gpt-4o", displayName: "GPT-4o", supportedEffortLevels: ["high"], effortCapability: { kind: "unsupported" } }]);
+  });
+
+  it("handles an empty configured model and blank manual ids", () => {
+    expect(aiModelOptions({ model: "", models: [{ name: "a-model" }] }, [])).toEqual([{ id: "a-model", displayName: undefined, supportedEffortLevels: undefined, effortCapability: undefined }]);
+    expect(addConfiguredAiModel(undefined, "new-model")).toEqual([{ name: "new-model" }]);
+    expect(addConfiguredAiModel([{ name: "existing" }], "   ")).toEqual([{ name: "existing" }]);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/lib/ai/aiConfigList.ts b/apps/desktop/src/lib/ai/aiConfigList.ts
index c026284de..144c62465 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/lib/ai/aiConfigList.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/lib/ai/aiConfigList.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
-import type { AiConfig, AiConfigItem } from "@/types/ai";
+import type { AiConfig, AiConfigItem, AiConfiguredModel } from "@/types/ai";
+import type { AiModelInfo } from "@/lib/backend/tauri";
 import { uuid } from "@/lib/common/utils";
 
 export type { AiConfigItem };
@@ -20,6 +21,46 @@ export function aiConfigToItem(config: AiConfig, id: string, name: string): AiCo
   };
 }
 
+/**
+ * Combines models saved by the user with models returned by a provider's
+ * discovery endpoint. Some OpenAI-compatible providers intentionally do not
+ * expose `/models`, so their saved models must remain selectable on their own.
+ */
+export function aiModelOptions(config: Pick<AiConfig, "model" | "models">, discovered: AiModelInfo[]): AiModelInfo[] {
+  const saved: AiModelInfo[] = [
+    config.model.trim() ? { id: config.model.trim() } : null,
+    ...(config.models ?? []).map((model) => ({
+      id: model.name.trim(),
+      displayName: model.label?.trim() || undefined,
+      supportedEffortLevels: model.supportedEffortLevels,
+    })),
+  ].filter((model): model is AiModelInfo => Boolean(model?.id));
+
+  const options = new Map<string, AiModelInfo>();
+  for (const model of [...saved, ...discovered]) {
+    const id = model.id.trim();
+    if (!id) continue;
+    const existing = options.get(id);
+    options.set(id, {
+      ...model,
+      id,
+      displayName: existing?.displayName ?? model.displayName,
+      supportedEffortLevels: existing?.supportedEffortLevels ?? model.supportedEffortLevels,
+      effortCapability: model.effortCapability ?? existing?.effortCapability,
+    });
+  }
+  return [...options.values()];
+}
+
+/** Add a manually entered model once while retaining its optional display metadata. */
+export function addConfiguredAiModel(models: AiConfiguredModel[] | undefined, modelId: string): AiConfiguredModel[] {
+  const id = modelId.trim();
+  if (!id) return models ?? [];
+  const existing = models ?? [];
+  if (existing.some((model) => model.name.trim() === id)) return existing;
+  return [...existing, { name: id }];
+}
+
 export type ConfigNameValidationResult = "empty" | "duplicate" | "valid";
 
 export function validateConfigName(name: string, configs: AiConfigItem[], excludeId?: string): ConfigNameValidationResult {