From feaf9a423e88828a8a85f86538b517b301da6d4e Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Rod Boev <rod.boev@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 1 Jul 2026 16:30:34 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] fix(#4737): retry even when the synth fallback is empty

---
 static/ui.js                                  | 10 ++++-
 ...st_4737_first_tab_model_catalog_refresh.py | 38 +++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 46 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/static/ui.js b/static/ui.js
index 087604a5..7345f48b 100644
--- a/static/ui.js
+++ b/static/ui.js
@@ -2477,8 +2477,15 @@ async function populateModelDropdown(opts={}){
     const groups=usedConfiguredFallback
       ? _synthGroupsFromConfigured()
       : data.groups;
+    const willRetry=usedConfiguredFallback && requestedFreshness!=='session_visit' && !_modelCatalogFallbackRetried;
 
-    if(!groups.length) return; // no server groups and no configured fallback
+    if(!groups.length){
+      if(willRetry){
+        _modelCatalogFallbackRetried=true;
+        populateModelDropdown({...opts,freshness:'session_visit'}).catch(()=>{});
+      }
+      return; // no server groups and no configured fallback
+    }
     const previousSelection=_captureModelDropdownSelection(sel);
     // Clear existing options
     sel.innerHTML='';
@@ -2520,7 +2527,6 @@ async function populateModelDropdown(opts={}){
       renderModelDropdown();
       _positionModelDropdown();
     }
-    const willRetry=usedConfiguredFallback && requestedFreshness!=='session_visit' && !_modelCatalogFallbackRetried;
     // Kick off a background live-model fetch for the active provider.
     // This runs after the static list is already shown (no blocking flicker).
     if(data.active_provider && !willRetry) _fetchLiveModels(data.active_provider, sel, requestSeq);
diff --git a/tests/test_4737_first_tab_model_catalog_refresh.py b/tests/test_4737_first_tab_model_catalog_refresh.py
index 8f69a148..91aeb017 100644
--- a/tests/test_4737_first_tab_model_catalog_refresh.py
+++ b/tests/test_4737_first_tab_model_catalog_refresh.py
@@ -366,6 +366,44 @@ def test_populate_model_dropdown_retries_at_most_once_even_if_refetch_is_still_e
     assert payload["optionValues"] == ["claude-sonnet-4"]
 
 
+def test_populate_model_dropdown_retries_when_synth_fallback_is_empty(driver_path):
+    payload = _run(
+        driver_path,
+        {
+            "fetchResponses": [
+                {
+                    "active_provider": "anthropic",
+                    "default_model": "claude-sonnet-4",
+                    "configured_model_badges": {
+                        "@anthropic:claude-sonnet-4": {"provider": "anthropic"},
+                    },
+                    "groups": [],
+                },
+                {
+                    "active_provider": "anthropic",
+                    "default_model": "claude-sonnet-4",
+                    "configured_model_badges": {
+                        "claude-sonnet-4": {"provider": "anthropic"},
+                    },
+                    "groups": [
+                        {
+                            "provider": "Anthropic",
+                            "provider_id": "anthropic",
+                            "models": [
+                                {"id": "claude-sonnet-4", "label": "Claude Sonnet 4"},
+                            ],
+                        }
+                    ],
+                },
+            ],
+        },
+    )
+
+    assert len(payload["fetchCalls"]) == 2
+    assert payload["fetchCalls"][1].endswith("freshness=session_visit")
+    assert payload["optionValues"] == ["claude-sonnet-4"]
+
+
 def test_populate_model_dropdown_retry_preserves_custom_redirect_handler(driver_path):
     payload = _run(
         driver_path,