diff --git a/ui/desktop/src/components/ModelAndProviderContext.tsx b/ui/desktop/src/components/ModelAndProviderContext.tsx
index 27d3164b4793..a8aadbb2caa2 100644
--- a/ui/desktop/src/components/ModelAndProviderContext.tsx
+++ b/ui/desktop/src/components/ModelAndProviderContext.tsx
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import {
   getModelDisplayName,
   getProviderDisplayName,
 } from './settings/models/predefinedModelsUtils';
+import { ensureClientInitialized } from '../utils';
 
 // titles
 export const UNKNOWN_PROVIDER_TITLE = 'Provider name lookup';
@@ -170,6 +171,7 @@ export const ModelAndProviderProvider: React.FC<ModelAndProviderProviderProps> =
 
   const refreshCurrentModelAndProvider = useCallback(async () => {
     try {
+      await ensureClientInitialized();
       const { model, provider } = await getCurrentModelAndProvider();
       setCurrentModel(model);
       setCurrentProvider(provider);
diff --git a/ui/desktop/src/components/settings/models/ModelsSection.tsx b/ui/desktop/src/components/settings/models/ModelsSection.tsx
index 9d87472004c5..0ee9defa76e5 100644
--- a/ui/desktop/src/components/settings/models/ModelsSection.tsx
+++ b/ui/desktop/src/components/settings/models/ModelsSection.tsx
@@ -2,10 +2,13 @@ import { useEffect, useState, useCallback, useRef } from 'react';
 import type { View } from '../../../App';
 import ModelSettingsButtons from './subcomponents/ModelSettingsButtons';
 import { useConfig } from '../../ConfigContext';
-import { useModelAndProvider } from '../../ModelAndProviderContext';
+import {
+  UNKNOWN_PROVIDER_MSG,
+  UNKNOWN_PROVIDER_TITLE,
+  useModelAndProvider,
+} from '../../ModelAndProviderContext';
 import { toastError } from '../../../toasts';
 
-import { UNKNOWN_PROVIDER_MSG, UNKNOWN_PROVIDER_TITLE } from './index';
 import { Card, CardContent, CardDescription, CardHeader, CardTitle } from '../../ui/card';
 import ResetProviderSection from '../reset_provider/ResetProviderSection';
 
diff --git a/ui/desktop/src/components/settings/models/index.ts b/ui/desktop/src/components/settings/models/index.ts
deleted file mode 100644
index cb1a665bbf88..000000000000
--- a/ui/desktop/src/components/settings/models/index.ts
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,135 +0,0 @@
-import { initializeAgent } from '../../../agent';
-import { toastError, toastSuccess } from '../../../toasts';
-import { ProviderDetails } from '../../../api';
-import Model, { getProviderMetadata } from './modelInterface';
-import { ProviderMetadata } from '../../../api';
-
-// titles
-export const UNKNOWN_PROVIDER_TITLE = 'Provider name lookup';
-
-// errors
-const CHANGE_MODEL_ERROR_TITLE = 'Change failed';
-const SWITCH_MODEL_AGENT_ERROR_MSG =
-  'Failed to start agent with selected model -- please try again';
-const CONFIG_UPDATE_ERROR_MSG = 'Failed to update configuration settings -- please try again';
-export const UNKNOWN_PROVIDER_MSG = 'Unknown provider in config -- please inspect your config.yaml';
-
-// success
-const CHANGE_MODEL_TOAST_TITLE = 'Model changed';
-const SWITCH_MODEL_SUCCESS_MSG = 'Successfully switched models';
-
-interface changeModelProps {
-  model: Model;
-  writeToConfig: (key: string, value: unknown, is_secret: boolean) => Promise<void>;
-}
-
-// TODO: error handling
-export async function changeModel({ model, writeToConfig }: changeModelProps) {
-  const modelName = model.name;
-  const providerName = model.provider;
-  try {
-    await initializeAgent({
-      model: model.name,
-      provider: model.provider,
-    });
-  } catch (error) {
-    console.error(`Failed to change model at agent step -- ${modelName} ${providerName}`);
-    toastError({
-      title: CHANGE_MODEL_ERROR_TITLE,
-      msg: SWITCH_MODEL_AGENT_ERROR_MSG,
-      traceback: error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error),
-    });
-    // don't write to config
-    return;
-  }
-
-  try {
-    await writeToConfig('GOOSE_PROVIDER', providerName, false);
-    await writeToConfig('GOOSE_MODEL', modelName, false);
-  } catch (error) {
-    console.error(`Failed to change model at config step -- ${modelName} ${providerName}}`);
-    toastError({
-      title: CHANGE_MODEL_ERROR_TITLE,
-      msg: CONFIG_UPDATE_ERROR_MSG,
-      traceback: error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error),
-    });
-    // agent and config will be out of sync at this point
-    // TODO: reset agent to use current config settings
-  } finally {
-    // show toast
-    toastSuccess({
-      title: CHANGE_MODEL_TOAST_TITLE,
-      msg: `${SWITCH_MODEL_SUCCESS_MSG} -- using ${model.alias ?? modelName} from ${model.subtext ?? providerName}`,
-    });
-  }
-}
-
-interface getCurrentModelAndProviderProps {
-  readFromConfig: (key: string, is_secret: boolean) => Promise<unknown>;
-  writeToConfig?: (key: string, value: unknown, is_secret: boolean) => Promise<void>;
-}
-
-export async function getCurrentModelAndProvider({
-  readFromConfig,
-  writeToConfig,
-}: getCurrentModelAndProviderProps) {
-  let model: string;
-  let provider: string;
-
-  // read from config
-  try {
-    model = (await readFromConfig('GOOSE_MODEL', false)) as string;
-    provider = (await readFromConfig('GOOSE_PROVIDER', false)) as string;
-  } catch (error) {
-    console.error(`Failed to read GOOSE_MODEL or GOOSE_PROVIDER from config`);
-    throw error;
-  }
-  if (!model || !provider) {
-    console.log('[getCurrentModelAndProvider] Checking app environment as fallback');
-    return getFallbackModelAndProvider(writeToConfig);
-  }
-  return { model: model, provider: provider };
-}
-
-export async function getFallbackModelAndProvider(
-  writeToConfig?: (key: string, value: unknown, is_secret: boolean) => Promise<void>
-) {
-  const provider = window.appConfig.get('GOOSE_DEFAULT_PROVIDER');
-  const model = window.appConfig.get('GOOSE_DEFAULT_MODEL');
-  if (provider && model && writeToConfig) {
-    try {
-      await writeToConfig('GOOSE_MODEL', model, false);
-      await writeToConfig('GOOSE_PROVIDER', provider, false);
-    } catch (error) {
-      console.error('[getFallbackModelAndProvider] Failed to write to config', error);
-    }
-  }
-  return { model: model, provider: provider };
-}
-
-interface getCurrentModelAndProviderForDisplayProps {
-  readFromConfig: (key: string, is_secret: boolean) => Promise<unknown>;
-  getProviders: (b: boolean) => Promise<ProviderDetails[]>;
-}
-
-// returns display name of the provider
-export async function getCurrentModelAndProviderForDisplay({
-  readFromConfig,
-  getProviders,
-}: getCurrentModelAndProviderForDisplayProps) {
-  const modelProvider = await getCurrentModelAndProvider({ readFromConfig: readFromConfig });
-  const gooseModel = modelProvider.model;
-  const gooseProvider = modelProvider.provider;
-
-  // lookup display name
-  let metadata: ProviderMetadata;
-
-  try {
-    metadata = await getProviderMetadata(String(gooseProvider), getProviders);
-  } catch (error) {
-    return { model: gooseModel, provider: gooseProvider };
-  }
-  const providerDisplayName = metadata.display_name;
-
-  return { model: gooseModel, provider: providerDisplayName };
-}