diff --git a/static/onboarding.js b/static/onboarding.js
index f1da2852..cc395066 100644
--- a/static/onboarding.js
+++ b/static/onboarding.js
@@ -370,8 +370,6 @@ function _renderOnboardingBody(){
         onModelChange:(value)=>{ ONBOARDING.form.model=(value||'').trim(); },
       });
     }
-    const modelSel=$('onboardingModelSelect');
-    if(modelSel && ONBOARDING.form.model) modelSel.value=ONBOARDING.form.model;
     return;
   }
 
diff --git a/static/ui.js b/static/ui.js
index 1ead7f22..8daea7ac 100644
--- a/static/ui.js
+++ b/static/ui.js
@@ -2538,8 +2538,10 @@ function _mountSearchableModelSelect(opts={}){
     customInput.value='';
     if(lastListedValue){
       selectEl.value=lastListedValue;
+      onModelChange(lastListedValue);
+      return;
     }
-    applyCustomSelection();
+    onModelChange('');
   });
   customInput.addEventListener('keydown', (event)=>{
     if(event.key!=='Enter') return;
diff --git a/tests/test_issue1362_codex_oauth_onboarding.py b/tests/test_issue1362_codex_oauth_onboarding.py
index 087e388d..ef0a7c71 100644
--- a/tests/test_issue1362_codex_oauth_onboarding.py
+++ b/tests/test_issue1362_codex_oauth_onboarding.py
@@ -888,9 +888,14 @@ const submitValue = (($('onboardingModelInput') || {}).value || ($('onboardingMo
 
 customInput.value = '   ';
 customInput.dispatch('input');
+const afterWhitespaceClear = {
+  model: ONBOARDING.form.model,
+  selectedIndex: selectEl.selectedIndex,
+  selectValue: selectEl.value,
+};
 const whitespaceSubmitValue = (($('onboardingModelInput') || {}).value || ($('onboardingModelSelect') || {}).value || ONBOARDING.form.model || '').trim();
 
-console.log(JSON.stringify({ initial, hiddenStates, afterCustom, afterSelect, submitValue, whitespaceSubmitValue, whitespaceCustomValue: customInput.value }));
+console.log(JSON.stringify({ initial, hiddenStates, afterCustom, afterSelect, submitValue, afterWhitespaceClear, whitespaceSubmitValue, whitespaceCustomValue: customInput.value }));
 """
 
     with tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile("w", suffix=".cjs", encoding="utf-8", dir=REPO, delete=False) as handle:
@@ -933,5 +938,10 @@ console.log(JSON.stringify({ initial, hiddenStates, afterCustom, afterSelect, su
         "selectValue": "openrouter/beta",
     }
     assert out["submitValue"] == "vendor/final-model"
+    assert out["afterWhitespaceClear"] == {
+        "model": "openrouter/beta",
+        "selectedIndex": 2,
+        "selectValue": "openrouter/beta",
+    }
     assert out["whitespaceSubmitValue"] == "openrouter/beta"
     assert out["whitespaceCustomValue"] == ""