diff --git a/ui/desktop/src/App.test.tsx b/ui/desktop/src/App.test.tsx
index a4a9049f4ad5..2459ea715efd 100644
--- a/ui/desktop/src/App.test.tsx
+++ b/ui/desktop/src/App.test.tsx
@@ -37,12 +37,33 @@ vi.mock('./utils/costDatabase', () => ({
   initializeCostDatabase: vi.fn().mockResolvedValue(undefined),
 }));
 
-vi.mock('./api/sdk.gen', () => ({
-  initConfig: vi.fn().mockResolvedValue(undefined),
-  readAllConfig: vi.fn().mockResolvedValue(undefined),
-  backupConfig: vi.fn().mockResolvedValue(undefined),
-  recoverConfig: vi.fn().mockResolvedValue(undefined),
-  validateConfig: vi.fn().mockResolvedValue(undefined),
+vi.mock('./api/sdk.gen', () => {
+  const test_chat = {
+    data: {
+      session_id: 'test',
+      messages: [],
+      metadata: {
+        description: '',
+      },
+    },
+  };
+
+  return {
+    initConfig: vi.fn().mockResolvedValue(undefined),
+    readAllConfig: vi.fn().mockResolvedValue(undefined),
+    backupConfig: vi.fn().mockResolvedValue(undefined),
+    recoverConfig: vi.fn().mockResolvedValue(undefined),
+    validateConfig: vi.fn().mockResolvedValue(undefined),
+    startAgent: vi.fn().mockResolvedValue(test_chat),
+    resumeAgent: vi.fn().mockResolvedValue(test_chat),
+  };
+});
+
+vi.mock('./sessions', () => ({
+  fetchSessionDetails: vi
+    .fn()
+    .mockResolvedValue({ sessionId: 'test', messages: [], metadata: { description: '' } }),
+  generateSessionId: vi.fn(),
 }));
 
 vi.mock('./utils/openRouterSetup', () => ({
diff --git a/ui/desktop/src/App.tsx b/ui/desktop/src/App.tsx
index 20ebe9eebe99..b73fe725e298 100644
--- a/ui/desktop/src/App.tsx
+++ b/ui/desktop/src/App.tsx
@@ -33,7 +33,12 @@ import { Recipe } from './recipe';
 import RecipesView from './components/RecipesView';
 import RecipeEditor from './components/RecipeEditor';
 import { createNavigationHandler, View, ViewOptions } from './utils/navigationUtils';
-import { AgentState, InitializationContext, useAgent } from './hooks/useAgent';
+import {
+  AgentState,
+  InitializationContext,
+  NoProviderOrModelError,
+  useAgent,
+} from './hooks/useAgent';
 
 // Route Components
 const HubRouteWrapper = ({
@@ -373,7 +378,15 @@ export default function App() {
       recipeConfig: recipeConfig,
     };
     (async () => {
-      await loadCurrentChat({ setAgentWaitingMessage, ...stateData });
+      try {
+        await loadCurrentChat({ setAgentWaitingMessage, ...stateData });
+      } catch (e) {
+        if (e instanceof NoProviderOrModelError) {
+          // the onboarding flow will trigger
+        } else {
+          throw e;
+        }
+      }
     })();
 
     if (resumeSessionId || (recipeConfig && typeof recipeConfig === 'object')) {
diff --git a/ui/desktop/src/components/OllamaSetup.test.tsx b/ui/desktop/src/components/OllamaSetup.test.tsx
index 945a8beb0831..5c4674a748ce 100644
--- a/ui/desktop/src/components/OllamaSetup.test.tsx
+++ b/ui/desktop/src/components/OllamaSetup.test.tsx
@@ -143,7 +143,8 @@ describe('OllamaSetup', () => {
     });
   });
 
-  describe('when Ollama and model are both available', () => {
+  // TODO: re-enable when we have ollama back in the onboarding
+  describe.skip('when Ollama and model are both available', () => {
     beforeEach(() => {
       vi.mocked(ollamaDetection.checkOllamaStatus).mockResolvedValue({
         isRunning: true,
diff --git a/ui/desktop/src/hooks/useAgent.ts b/ui/desktop/src/hooks/useAgent.ts
index f0db5f198c55..0b43a36ba802 100644
--- a/ui/desktop/src/hooks/useAgent.ts
+++ b/ui/desktop/src/hooks/useAgent.ts
@@ -38,6 +38,13 @@ interface UseAgentReturn {
   loadCurrentChat: (context: InitializationContext) => Promise<ChatType>;
 }
 
+export class NoProviderOrModelError extends Error {
+  constructor() {
+    super('No provider or model configured');
+    this.name = this.constructor.name;
+  }
+}
+
 export function useAgent(): UseAgentReturn {
   const [agentState, setAgentState] = useState<AgentState>(AgentState.UNINITIALIZED);
   const [sessionId, setSessionId] = useState<string | null>(null);
@@ -88,7 +95,7 @@ export function useAgent(): UseAgentReturn {
 
           if (!provider || !model) {
             setAgentState(AgentState.NO_PROVIDER);
-            throw new Error('No provider or model configured');
+            throw new NoProviderOrModelError();
           }
 
           const agentResponse = initContext.resumeSessionId