diff --git a/src/servers/api/chat/websocket.ts b/src/servers/api/chat/websocket.ts
index 48e5ef20..3310591c 100644
--- a/src/servers/api/chat/websocket.ts
+++ b/src/servers/api/chat/websocket.ts
@@ -362,6 +362,22 @@ function createMessageHandler(sessionId: string, model: string, resumeSessionId?
    */
   const record = (): void => {
     if (!transcriptId) return;
+    /*
+      Only ever record a model that NAMES A TIER.
+
+      `DEFAULT_MODEL` is the bare harness, `claude-code`, used when the client sends no model and the user has
+      no default. It routes correctly — `isClaudeModel` is a prefix test, and `split('/')[1]` yields undefined
+      so the CLI picks its own model — but it is not an id the catalogue offers, so storing it puts a value in
+      the picker that matches no option and renders as BLANK.
+
+      That failure feeds itself: a blank picker sends no model, so the next turn falls back to the bare
+      harness again and overwrites whatever real value was there. It destroyed a correctly backfilled
+      `claude-code/opus` within one turn.
+
+      A bare harness means "no explicit choice", and the honest response to that is to leave the previous
+      answer alone rather than to overwrite it with a non-answer.
+    */
+    if (!effective.includes('/')) return;
     void setChatSessionModel(transcriptId, effective).catch((err: unknown) => {
       logger.warn('Could not record the session model', {
         sessionId,
diff --git a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/Chat/components/ModelSelector.test.tsx b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/Chat/components/ModelSelector.test.tsx
index 05e30a44..c84c2081 100644
--- a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/Chat/components/ModelSelector.test.tsx
+++ b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/Chat/components/ModelSelector.test.tsx
@@ -98,3 +98,22 @@ describe('ModelSelector default selection', () => {
     expect(picked).toEqual([]);
   });
 });
+
+describe('ModelSelector display of an unknown model', () => {
+  test('a value naming no catalogue entry still shows its name', () => {
+    /*
+      The blank-trigger bug. The server stored `claude-code` — the bare harness fallback used when a turn
+      carries no model — which routes correctly but names no catalogue entry, so `SelectValue` rendered
+      nothing and the trigger went empty. Self-reinforcing, too: a blank picker sends no model, so the next
+      turn fell back to the bare harness again and overwrote the real value.
+    */
+    mount({ selectedModel: 'claude-code', hasStarted: true });
+    expect(screen.getByTitle('claude-code').textContent).toBe('claude-code');
+  });
+
+  test('a known model still renders through the Select', () => {
+    mount({ selectedModel: 'claude-code/opus', hasStarted: true });
+    // No raw-string fallback for a value the catalogue knows — that path is only for unmatchable ones.
+    expect(screen.queryByTitle('claude-code/opus')).toBeNull();
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/Chat/components/ModelSelector.tsx b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/Chat/components/ModelSelector.tsx
index d7fa2fa4..36eeeae1 100644
--- a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/Chat/components/ModelSelector.tsx
+++ b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/Chat/components/ModelSelector.tsx
@@ -212,7 +212,21 @@ export function ModelSelector({
               disabled={isBusy}
             >
               <SelectTrigger className="h-auto cursor-pointer gap-1 border-0 bg-transparent p-0 text-xs text-muted-foreground shadow-none focus:ring-0">
-                <SelectValue />
+                {/*
+                  `SelectValue` renders the matching ITEM's text, so a value naming no item renders NOTHING —
+                  the trigger goes blank and the only way to find out what is selected is to open the dropdown.
+
+                  That is reachable whenever the two id spaces disagree: a stored `claude-code` (the bare
+                  harness fallback, which routes fine but is not a catalogue entry), a model retired from the
+                  list, or an OpenCode model that has since disappeared from its provider. The value is still
+                  meaningful to the server in every one of those cases, so the honest display is the raw
+                  string rather than an empty control.
+                */}
+                {displayModel && !availableModels.some((m) => m.id === displayModel) ? (
+                  <span title={displayModel}>{displayModel.split('/').pop()}</span>
+                ) : (
+                  <SelectValue />
+                )}
               </SelectTrigger>
               <SelectContent className="z-[800]" side="top">
                 {providerModels.map((m) => (