diff --git a/frontend/src/hooks/useModelSelection.ts b/frontend/src/hooks/useModelSelection.ts
index d5cd57f7..e1fd8329 100644
--- a/frontend/src/hooks/useModelSelection.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/hooks/useModelSelection.ts
@@ -14,13 +14,11 @@ export function useModelSelection(
   directory?: string
 ): UseModelSelectionResult {
   const { data: config } = useConfig(opcodeUrl, directory)
-  const { model, recentModels, setModel, initializeFromConfig, getModelString } = useModelStore()
+  const { model, recentModels, setModel, syncFromConfig, getModelString } = useModelStore()
 
   useEffect(() => {
-    if (config?.model) {
-      initializeFromConfig(config.model)
-    }
-  }, [config?.model, initializeFromConfig])
+    syncFromConfig(config?.model)
+  }, [config?.model, syncFromConfig])
 
   return {
     model,
diff --git a/frontend/src/stores/modelStore.ts b/frontend/src/stores/modelStore.ts
index 437cd456..02796fc6 100644
--- a/frontend/src/stores/modelStore.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/stores/modelStore.ts
@@ -10,10 +10,10 @@ interface ModelStore {
   model: ModelSelection | null
   recentModels: ModelSelection[]
   variants: Record<string, string | undefined>
-  isInitialized: boolean
+  lastConfigModel: string | undefined
 
   setModel: (model: ModelSelection) => void
-  initializeFromConfig: (configModel: string | undefined) => void
+  syncFromConfig: (configModel: string | undefined) => void
   getModelString: () => string | null
   setVariant: (model: ModelSelection, variant: string | undefined) => void
   getVariant: (model: ModelSelection) => string | undefined
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ export const useModelStore = create<ModelStore>()(
       model: null,
       recentModels: [],
       variants: {},
-      isInitialized: false,
+      lastConfigModel: undefined,
 
       setModel: (model: ModelSelection) => {
         set((state) => {
@@ -53,18 +53,25 @@ export const useModelStore = create<ModelStore>()(
         })
       },
 
-      initializeFromConfig: (configModel: string | undefined) => {
+      syncFromConfig: (configModel: string | undefined) => {
         const state = get()
-        if (state.isInitialized) return
+        if (state.lastConfigModel === configModel) return
         
-        if (!state.model && configModel) {
+        if (configModel) {
           const parsed = parseModelString(configModel)
           if (parsed) {
-            set({ model: parsed, isInitialized: true })
+            const newRecent = [
+              parsed,
+              ...state.recentModels.filter(
+                (m) => !(m.providerID === parsed.providerID && m.modelID === parsed.modelID)
+              ),
+            ].slice(0, MAX_RECENT_MODELS)
+            
+            set({ model: parsed, lastConfigModel: configModel, recentModels: newRecent })
             return
           }
         }
-        set({ isInitialized: true })
+        set({ lastConfigModel: configModel })
       },
 
       getModelString: () => {