diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 3e51f69928..450eecab88 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -7,6 +7,17 @@ file is the human-readable summary of what changed and why.
 
 ## Unreleased
 
+### TUI
+
+- **The model you pick stays picked** — setup no longer pins its "Choose default
+  model" answer as a top-level `model` in the global config. That pin outranked
+  everything else on startup (config `model` beats the saved recent models), so
+  every `/models` switch silently reverted on the next launch and the only fix
+  was hand-editing `codev.jsonc`. The chosen model is now seeded as the most
+  recent selection instead, so it still starts as the default and a later switch
+  simply replaces it. Existing configs keep their pin — delete the `"model"`
+  line from `~/.config/codev/codev.jsonc` to pick up the new behavior.
+
 ## 1.18.4-3
 
 ### TUI
diff --git a/packages/codev-gateway/src/config-block.ts b/packages/codev-gateway/src/config-block.ts
index a744696cc2..c1df582484 100644
--- a/packages/codev-gateway/src/config-block.ts
+++ b/packages/codev-gateway/src/config-block.ts
@@ -27,10 +27,18 @@ const MODEL_MODALITIES: { attachment: boolean; modalities: { input: Modality[];
 // mandatory: without it opencode sizes the context window to 0 and disables
 // auto-compaction; the modality block is mandatory for the same reason (hub PR
 // #219) — see MODEL_MODALITIES.
+//
+// Deliberately no top-level `model`, and the hub fragment dropped it in the
+// same round (hub PR #221): a pinned default outranks the TUI's persisted
+// model selection every startup (Provider defaultModel checks config first,
+// then the state dir's model.json recents), so the wizard's one-time choice
+// would silently undo every later /models switch. The configure flow seeds
+// that choice into the recents instead, which the next switch displaces; the
+// hub leads its models map with the chosen id for the same effect. A config
+// written by an older hub still carries a pin — nothing here removes one.
 export function buildGatewayConfig(input: { apiKey: string; baseUrl: string; model: string; models?: string[] }) {
   const ids = [...new Set([input.model, ...(input.models ?? [])])]
   return {
-    model: `${GATEWAY_PROVIDER.id}/${input.model}`,
     compaction: {
       auto: true,
       reserved: GATEWAY_COMPACT_RESERVED,
diff --git a/packages/codev-gateway/test/config-block.test.ts b/packages/codev-gateway/test/config-block.test.ts
index ee4447bd0a..7335e78f11 100644
--- a/packages/codev-gateway/test/config-block.test.ts
+++ b/packages/codev-gateway/test/config-block.test.ts
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@ describe("buildGatewayConfig", () => {
       models: ["MiniMax/MiniMax-M2.7", "other/model"],
     })
     expect(config).toEqual({
-      model: "netgate/MiniMax/MiniMax-M2.7",
       compaction: { auto: true, reserved: 29491 },
       provider: {
         netgate: {
@@ -65,6 +64,13 @@ describe("buildGatewayConfig", () => {
     const withDupe = buildGatewayConfig({ apiKey: "k", baseUrl: "https://gw.test", model: "m", models: ["m", "n"] })
     expect(Object.keys(withDupe.provider.netgate.models)).toEqual(["m", "n"])
   })
+
+  // A pinned default outranks the TUI's persisted selection on every startup,
+  // so the chosen model is seeded into the recents by the configure flow
+  // instead of written here.
+  test("pins no top-level default model", () => {
+    expect(buildGatewayConfig({ apiKey: "k", baseUrl: "https://gw.test", model: "m" })).not.toHaveProperty("model")
+  })
 })
 
 describe("buildCustomProviderConfig", () => {
diff --git a/packages/tui/src/component/dialog-configure.tsx b/packages/tui/src/component/dialog-configure.tsx
index d18ef544b0..feb1837fd2 100644
--- a/packages/tui/src/component/dialog-configure.tsx
+++ b/packages/tui/src/component/dialog-configure.tsx
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import {
   fetchApiKey,
   fetchCodevConfig,
   fetchModels,
+  GATEWAY_PROVIDER,
   login,
   saveApiKey,
   saveCodevConfig,
@@ -13,6 +14,7 @@ import open from "open"
 import { createSignal, onMount, Show, type Accessor } from "solid-js"
 import { useClipboard } from "../context/clipboard"
 import { useEpilogue } from "../context/epilogue"
+import { useLocal } from "../context/local"
 import { runCustomProviderFlow, RETRIES, StatusBox, withRetries } from "./dialog-custom-provider"
 import { DialogProvider } from "./dialog-provider"
 import { useExit } from "../context/exit"
@@ -46,6 +48,7 @@ interface FlowContext {
   toast: ReturnType<typeof useToast>
   exit: ReturnType<typeof useExit>
   epilogue: ReturnType<typeof useEpilogue>
+  local: ReturnType<typeof useLocal>
 }
 
 export function DialogConfigure() {
@@ -56,6 +59,7 @@ export function DialogConfigure() {
     toast: useToast(),
     exit: useExit(),
     epilogue: useEpilogue(),
+    local: useLocal(),
   }
 
   // The entry chooser is a non-dismissable setup gate: no escape, no
@@ -321,7 +325,17 @@ async function runModelFlow(ctx: FlowContext, creds: GatewayCreds) {
       })
       if (result.error) throw new Error(JSON.stringify(result.error))
     })
+    // The config block deliberately pins no top-level `model` (it would outrank
+    // every later /models switch on restart), so persist the choice as the most
+    // recent selection instead — the highest-priority source a switch can still
+    // replace. Dispose first like the custom-provider flow does: config.update
+    // only forks the instance reload, so a bootstrap can otherwise race it and
+    // come back without the new provider. Skip the seed rather than let
+    // model.set warn about an unknown provider mid-onboarding if it does.
+    await ctx.sdk.client.instance.dispose()
     await ctx.sync.bootstrap()
+    if (ctx.sync.data.provider.some((item) => item.id === GATEWAY_PROVIDER.id && !!item.models[model]))
+      ctx.local.model.set({ providerID: GATEWAY_PROVIDER.id, modelID: model }, { recent: true })
     ctx.toast.show({ variant: "info", message: `CoDev Code configured — using ${model}` })
     ctx.dialog.clear()
   } catch (err) {