diff --git a/cmd/picoclaw/cmd_onboard.go b/cmd/picoclaw/cmd_onboard.go
index 1a9ebad61..6fe7ef8ff 100644
--- a/cmd/picoclaw/cmd_onboard.go
+++ b/cmd/picoclaw/cmd_onboard.go
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ func onboard() {
 	}
 
 	cfg := config.DefaultConfig()
+	cfg.ModelList = config.DefaultModelList() // Populate default model list
 	if err := config.SaveConfig(configPath, cfg); err != nil {
 		fmt.Printf("Error saving config: %v\n", err)
 		os.Exit(1)
diff --git a/pkg/config/config.go b/pkg/config/config.go
index 2595398c7..98e784a73 100644
--- a/pkg/config/config.go
+++ b/pkg/config/config.go
@@ -503,6 +503,19 @@ func LoadConfig(path string) (*Config, error) {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
+	var raw map[string]json.RawMessage
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(data, &raw); err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	if _, hasModelList := raw["model_list"]; !hasModelList {
+		// only set the default model list if the config file doesn't have the old providers config either
+		if _, hasProviders := raw["providers"]; !hasProviders {
+			cfg.ModelList = DefaultModelList()
+		}
+		// otherwise, ConvertProvidersToModelList(cfg) will handle the default model list based on the providers config
+	}
+
 	if err := env.Parse(cfg); err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
diff --git a/pkg/config/config_test.go b/pkg/config/config_test.go
index f88c0269c..60b432de9 100644
--- a/pkg/config/config_test.go
+++ b/pkg/config/config_test.go
@@ -364,7 +364,11 @@ func TestDefaultConfig_OpenAIWebSearchEnabled(t *testing.T) {
 func TestLoadConfig_OpenAIWebSearchDefaultsTrueWhenUnset(t *testing.T) {
 	dir := t.TempDir()
 	configPath := filepath.Join(dir, "config.json")
-	if err := os.WriteFile(configPath, []byte(`{"providers":{"openai":{"api_base":""}}}`), 0o600); err != nil {
+	if err := os.WriteFile(
+		configPath,
+		[]byte(`{"providers":{"openai":{"api_base":""}},"model_list":[{"model_name":"gpt-5","model":"openai/gpt-5"}]}`),
+		0o600,
+	); err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("WriteFile() error: %v", err)
 	}
 
@@ -380,7 +384,13 @@ func TestLoadConfig_OpenAIWebSearchDefaultsTrueWhenUnset(t *testing.T) {
 func TestLoadConfig_OpenAIWebSearchCanBeDisabled(t *testing.T) {
 	dir := t.TempDir()
 	configPath := filepath.Join(dir, "config.json")
-	if err := os.WriteFile(configPath, []byte(`{"providers":{"openai":{"web_search":false}}}`), 0o600); err != nil {
+	if err := os.WriteFile(
+		configPath,
+		[]byte(
+			`{"providers":{"openai":{"web_search":false}},"model_list":[{"model_name":"gpt-5","model":"openai/gpt-5"}]}`,
+		),
+		0o600,
+	); err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("WriteFile() error: %v", err)
 	}
 
@@ -392,3 +402,56 @@ func TestLoadConfig_OpenAIWebSearchCanBeDisabled(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatal("OpenAI codex web search should be false when disabled in config file")
 	}
 }
+
+func TestLoadConfig_NoErrorsWhenModelListMissing(t *testing.T) {
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	configPath := filepath.Join(dir, "config.json")
+
+	data := `{
+		"providers": {
+			"zhipu": {
+				"api_key": "abc"
+			}
+		}
+	}`
+
+	if err := os.WriteFile(configPath, []byte(data), 0o600); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("WriteFile() error: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	_, err := LoadConfig(configPath)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("expected LoadConfig to pass even when model_list is missing, got: %v", err)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestLoadConfig_AllowsModelListWithoutAPIBaseField(t *testing.T) {
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	configPath := filepath.Join(dir, "config.json")
+
+	data := `{
+		"model_list": [
+			{
+				"model_name": "gpt-5.3-codex",
+				"model": "openai/gpt-5.3-codex",
+				"api_key": ""
+			}
+		]
+	}`
+
+	if err := os.WriteFile(configPath, []byte(data), 0o600); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("WriteFile() error: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	cfg, err := LoadConfig(configPath)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("LoadConfig() should allow model_list entries without explicit api_base field, got error: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	if len(cfg.ModelList) != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected one model_list entry, got %d", len(cfg.ModelList))
+	}
+	if cfg.ModelList[0].APIBase != "" {
+		t.Fatalf("expected api_base to remain empty when omitted, got %q", cfg.ModelList[0].APIBase)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/pkg/config/defaults.go b/pkg/config/defaults.go
index b96ee4d89..ae3db7d2d 100644
--- a/pkg/config/defaults.go
+++ b/pkg/config/defaults.go
@@ -5,6 +5,159 @@
 
 package config
 
+func DefaultModelList() []ModelConfig {
+	return []ModelConfig{
+		// OpenAI - https://platform.openai.com/api-keys
+		{
+			ModelName: "gpt-5.2",
+			Model:     "openai/gpt-5.2",
+			APIBase:   "https://api.openai.com/v1",
+			APIKey:    "",
+		},
+
+		// Zhipu AI (智谱) - https://open.bigmodel.cn/usercenter/apikeys
+		{
+			ModelName: "glm-4.7",
+			Model:     "zhipu/glm-4.7",
+			APIBase:   "https://open.bigmodel.cn/api/paas/v4",
+			APIKey:    "",
+		},
+
+		// Anthropic Claude - https://console.anthropic.com/settings/keys
+		{
+			ModelName: "claude-sonnet-4.6",
+			Model:     "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.6",
+			APIBase:   "https://api.anthropic.com/v1",
+			APIKey:    "",
+		},
+
+		// DeepSeek - https://platform.deepseek.com/
+		{
+			ModelName: "deepseek-chat",
+			Model:     "deepseek/deepseek-chat",
+			APIBase:   "https://api.deepseek.com/v1",
+			APIKey:    "",
+		},
+
+		// Google Gemini - https://ai.google.dev/
+		{
+			ModelName: "gemini-2.0-flash",
+			Model:     "gemini/gemini-2.0-flash-exp",
+			APIBase:   "https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta",
+			APIKey:    "",
+		},
+
+		// Qwen (通义千问) - https://dashscope.console.aliyun.com/apiKey
+		{
+			ModelName: "qwen-plus",
+			Model:     "qwen/qwen-plus",
+			APIBase:   "https://dashscope.aliyuncs.com/compatible-mode/v1",
+			APIKey:    "",
+		},
+
+		// Moonshot (月之暗面) - https://platform.moonshot.cn/console/api-keys
+		{
+			ModelName: "moonshot-v1-8k",
+			Model:     "moonshot/moonshot-v1-8k",
+			APIBase:   "https://api.moonshot.cn/v1",
+			APIKey:    "",
+		},
+
+		// Groq - https://console.groq.com/keys
+		{
+			ModelName: "llama-3.3-70b",
+			Model:     "groq/llama-3.3-70b-versatile",
+			APIBase:   "https://api.groq.com/openai/v1",
+			APIKey:    "",
+		},
+
+		// OpenRouter (100+ models) - https://openrouter.ai/keys
+		{
+			ModelName: "openrouter-auto",
+			Model:     "openrouter/auto",
+			APIBase:   "https://openrouter.ai/api/v1",
+			APIKey:    "",
+		},
+		{
+			ModelName: "openrouter-gpt-5.2",
+			Model:     "openrouter/openai/gpt-5.2",
+			APIBase:   "https://openrouter.ai/api/v1",
+			APIKey:    "",
+		},
+
+		// NVIDIA - https://build.nvidia.com/
+		{
+			ModelName: "nemotron-4-340b",
+			Model:     "nvidia/nemotron-4-340b-instruct",
+			APIBase:   "https://integrate.api.nvidia.com/v1",
+			APIKey:    "",
+		},
+
+		// Cerebras - https://inference.cerebras.ai/
+		{
+			ModelName: "cerebras-llama-3.3-70b",
+			Model:     "cerebras/llama-3.3-70b",
+			APIBase:   "https://api.cerebras.ai/v1",
+			APIKey:    "",
+		},
+
+		// Volcengine (火山引擎) - https://console.volcengine.com/ark
+		{
+			ModelName: "doubao-pro",
+			Model:     "volcengine/doubao-pro-32k",
+			APIBase:   "https://ark.cn-beijing.volces.com/api/v3",
+			APIKey:    "",
+		},
+
+		// ShengsuanYun (神算云)
+		{
+			ModelName: "deepseek-v3",
+			Model:     "shengsuanyun/deepseek-v3",
+			APIBase:   "https://api.shengsuanyun.com/v1",
+			APIKey:    "",
+		},
+
+		// Antigravity (Google Cloud Code Assist) - OAuth only
+		{
+			ModelName:  "gemini-flash",
+			Model:      "antigravity/gemini-3-flash",
+			AuthMethod: "oauth",
+		},
+
+		// GitHub Copilot - https://github.com/settings/tokens
+		{
+			ModelName:  "copilot-gpt-5.2",
+			Model:      "github-copilot/gpt-5.2",
+			APIBase:    "http://localhost:4321",
+			AuthMethod: "oauth",
+		},
+
+		// Ollama (local) - https://ollama.com
+		{
+			ModelName: "llama3",
+			Model:     "ollama/llama3",
+			APIBase:   "http://localhost:11434/v1",
+			APIKey:    "ollama",
+		},
+
+		// Mistral AI - https://console.mistral.ai/api-keys
+		{
+			ModelName: "mistral-small",
+			Model:     "mistral/mistral-small-latest",
+			APIBase:   "https://api.mistral.ai/v1",
+			APIKey:    "",
+		},
+
+		// VLLM (local) - http://localhost:8000
+		{
+			ModelName: "local-model",
+			Model:     "vllm/custom-model",
+			APIBase:   "http://localhost:8000/v1",
+			APIKey:    "",
+		},
+	}
+}
+
 // DefaultConfig returns the default configuration for PicoClaw.
 func DefaultConfig() *Config {
 	return &Config{
@@ -117,160 +270,7 @@ func DefaultConfig() *Config {
 		Providers: ProvidersConfig{
 			OpenAI: OpenAIProviderConfig{WebSearch: true},
 		},
-		ModelList: []ModelConfig{
-			// ============================================
-			// Add your API key to the model you want to use
-			// ============================================
-
-			// Zhipu AI (智谱) - https://open.bigmodel.cn/usercenter/apikeys
-			{
-				ModelName: "glm-4.7",
-				Model:     "zhipu/glm-4.7",
-				APIBase:   "https://open.bigmodel.cn/api/paas/v4",
-				APIKey:    "",
-			},
-
-			// OpenAI - https://platform.openai.com/api-keys
-			{
-				ModelName: "gpt-5.2",
-				Model:     "openai/gpt-5.2",
-				APIBase:   "https://api.openai.com/v1",
-				APIKey:    "",
-			},
-
-			// Anthropic Claude - https://console.anthropic.com/settings/keys
-			{
-				ModelName: "claude-sonnet-4.6",
-				Model:     "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.6",
-				APIBase:   "https://api.anthropic.com/v1",
-				APIKey:    "",
-			},
-
-			// DeepSeek - https://platform.deepseek.com/
-			{
-				ModelName: "deepseek-chat",
-				Model:     "deepseek/deepseek-chat",
-				APIBase:   "https://api.deepseek.com/v1",
-				APIKey:    "",
-			},
-
-			// Google Gemini - https://ai.google.dev/
-			{
-				ModelName: "gemini-2.0-flash",
-				Model:     "gemini/gemini-2.0-flash-exp",
-				APIBase:   "https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta",
-				APIKey:    "",
-			},
-
-			// Qwen (通义千问) - https://dashscope.console.aliyun.com/apiKey
-			{
-				ModelName: "qwen-plus",
-				Model:     "qwen/qwen-plus",
-				APIBase:   "https://dashscope.aliyuncs.com/compatible-mode/v1",
-				APIKey:    "",
-			},
-
-			// Moonshot (月之暗面) - https://platform.moonshot.cn/console/api-keys
-			{
-				ModelName: "moonshot-v1-8k",
-				Model:     "moonshot/moonshot-v1-8k",
-				APIBase:   "https://api.moonshot.cn/v1",
-				APIKey:    "",
-			},
-
-			// Groq - https://console.groq.com/keys
-			{
-				ModelName: "llama-3.3-70b",
-				Model:     "groq/llama-3.3-70b-versatile",
-				APIBase:   "https://api.groq.com/openai/v1",
-				APIKey:    "",
-			},
-
-			// OpenRouter (100+ models) - https://openrouter.ai/keys
-			{
-				ModelName: "openrouter-auto",
-				Model:     "openrouter/auto",
-				APIBase:   "https://openrouter.ai/api/v1",
-				APIKey:    "",
-			},
-			{
-				ModelName: "openrouter-gpt-5.2",
-				Model:     "openrouter/openai/gpt-5.2",
-				APIBase:   "https://openrouter.ai/api/v1",
-				APIKey:    "",
-			},
-
-			// NVIDIA - https://build.nvidia.com/
-			{
-				ModelName: "nemotron-4-340b",
-				Model:     "nvidia/nemotron-4-340b-instruct",
-				APIBase:   "https://integrate.api.nvidia.com/v1",
-				APIKey:    "",
-			},
-
-			// Cerebras - https://inference.cerebras.ai/
-			{
-				ModelName: "cerebras-llama-3.3-70b",
-				Model:     "cerebras/llama-3.3-70b",
-				APIBase:   "https://api.cerebras.ai/v1",
-				APIKey:    "",
-			},
-
-			// Volcengine (火山引擎) - https://console.volcengine.com/ark
-			{
-				ModelName: "doubao-pro",
-				Model:     "volcengine/doubao-pro-32k",
-				APIBase:   "https://ark.cn-beijing.volces.com/api/v3",
-				APIKey:    "",
-			},
-
-			// ShengsuanYun (神算云)
-			{
-				ModelName: "deepseek-v3",
-				Model:     "shengsuanyun/deepseek-v3",
-				APIBase:   "https://api.shengsuanyun.com/v1",
-				APIKey:    "",
-			},
-
-			// Antigravity (Google Cloud Code Assist) - OAuth only
-			{
-				ModelName:  "gemini-flash",
-				Model:      "antigravity/gemini-3-flash",
-				AuthMethod: "oauth",
-			},
-
-			// GitHub Copilot - https://github.com/settings/tokens
-			{
-				ModelName:  "copilot-gpt-5.2",
-				Model:      "github-copilot/gpt-5.2",
-				APIBase:    "http://localhost:4321",
-				AuthMethod: "oauth",
-			},
-
-			// Ollama (local) - https://ollama.com
-			{
-				ModelName: "llama3",
-				Model:     "ollama/llama3",
-				APIBase:   "http://localhost:11434/v1",
-				APIKey:    "ollama",
-			},
-
-			// Mistral AI - https://console.mistral.ai/api-keys
-			{
-				ModelName: "mistral-small",
-				Model:     "mistral/mistral-small-latest",
-				APIBase:   "https://api.mistral.ai/v1",
-				APIKey:    "",
-			},
-
-			// VLLM (local) - http://localhost:8000
-			{
-				ModelName: "local-model",
-				Model:     "vllm/custom-model",
-				APIBase:   "http://localhost:8000/v1",
-				APIKey:    "",
-			},
-		},
+		ModelList: []ModelConfig{},
 		Gateway: GatewayConfig{
 			Host: "127.0.0.1",
 			Port: 18790,