diff --git a/libs/code/deepagents_code/model_config.py b/libs/code/deepagents_code/model_config.py
index 23c80b45bde..c529328a225 100644
--- a/libs/code/deepagents_code/model_config.py
+++ b/libs/code/deepagents_code/model_config.py
@@ -1435,6 +1435,63 @@ def _get_ollama_installed_models(endpoint: str | None) -> list[str]:
     return list(models)
 
 
+def _ollama_host_reachable(
+    base: str, *, timeout: float = OLLAMA_DISCOVERY_TIMEOUT_SECONDS
+) -> bool:
+    """Return whether a TCP listener appears to accept connections at `base`.
+
+    A lightweight presence preflight so Ollama discovery can skip the HTTP
+    probe entirely when no daemon is running (e.g. Ollama is not installed).
+    The check opens and immediately closes a TCP connection to the endpoint's
+    host and port. Any failure -- connection refused, DNS error, timeout, or
+    sockets blocked under `pytest-socket` -- is treated as "not reachable" so
+    discovery falls back gracefully; an unexpected (non-`OSError`) failure is
+    additionally logged at warning so a real bug isn't misreported as absence.
+
+    Args:
+        base: Base URL of the Ollama daemon, e.g. `http://localhost:11434`.
+        timeout: Socket connection timeout in seconds.
+
+    Returns:
+        `True` when a connection is established (a daemon appears present) or
+            when the target cannot be determined (deferring to the HTTP probe);
+            `False` when the connection cannot be made.
+    """
+    import socket
+
+    parsed = urlparse(base)
+    host = parsed.hostname
+    if not host:
+        # Can't determine a target host; let the HTTP probe make the decision.
+        return True
+    try:
+        port = parsed.port
+    except ValueError:
+        # Malformed port (out of range / non-numeric); defer to the HTTP probe.
+        return True
+    if port is None:
+        port = 443 if parsed.scheme == "https" else 80
+    # Mirror the discovery probe below: expected transport failures (refused,
+    # DNS, timeout) just mean the daemon is absent and stay silent; anything
+    # else is surfaced at warning so a real bug isn't misreported as "not
+    # detected". `pytest-socket`'s `SocketBlockedError` inherits from
+    # `Exception` (not `OSError`), so the broad branch catches it. The socket
+    # is its own context manager, so `with` closes the probe connection.
+    try:
+        with socket.create_connection((host, port), timeout=timeout):
+            return True
+    except OSError:
+        return False
+    except Exception as exc:  # noqa: BLE001  # see comment above
+        logger.warning(
+            "Ollama presence preflight raised unexpected %s for %s: %s",
+            type(exc).__name__,
+            base,
+            exc,
+        )
+        return False
+
+
 def _fetch_ollama_installed_models(
     endpoint: str | None,
     *,
@@ -1472,6 +1529,17 @@ def _fetch_ollama_installed_models(
             base,
         )
         return []
+
+    # Presence preflight (local endpoints only -- remote hosts may be reachable
+    # only through a proxy that the HTTP probe honors but a raw socket does
+    # not). A dead/absent daemon (the common case when Ollama is not installed)
+    # refuses the connection; detecting that here lets us skip the HTTP probe
+    # and log a quiet "not detected" line instead of a misleading
+    # "discovery failed ... Connection refused" debug line.
+    if _is_local_endpoint(base) and not _ollama_host_reachable(base, timeout=timeout):
+        logger.debug("Ollama daemon not detected at %s; skipping discovery", base)
+        return []
+
     url = f"{base}/api/tags"
 
     headers = _ollama_discovery_headers(base, content_type=False)
diff --git a/libs/code/tests/unit_tests/test_model_config.py b/libs/code/tests/unit_tests/test_model_config.py
index c0f7b1b8318..367794e733b 100644
--- a/libs/code/tests/unit_tests/test_model_config.py
+++ b/libs/code/tests/unit_tests/test_model_config.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 from contextlib import AbstractContextManager
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Any, ClassVar, cast
-from unittest.mock import patch
+from unittest.mock import MagicMock, patch
 
 import pytest
 
@@ -2764,6 +2764,82 @@ def __exit__(self, *_exc: object) -> None:
 class TestFetchOllamaInstalledModels:
     """Tests for the `_fetch_ollama_installed_models` HTTP probe."""
 
+    @pytest.fixture(autouse=True)
+    def _assume_host_reachable(self, monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch) -> None:
+        """Bypass the TCP presence preflight so HTTP parsing paths are exercised."""
+        monkeypatch.setattr(
+            "deepagents_code.model_config._ollama_host_reachable",
+            lambda *_args, **_kwargs: True,
+        )
+
+    def test_skips_http_probe_when_host_unreachable(
+        self, monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch
+    ) -> None:
+        """An unreachable daemon short-circuits before any HTTP request."""
+        monkeypatch.setattr(
+            "deepagents_code.model_config._ollama_host_reachable",
+            lambda *_args, **_kwargs: False,
+        )
+
+        with patch("urllib.request.urlopen") as fake:
+            assert (
+                model_config._fetch_ollama_installed_models("http://localhost:11434")
+                == []
+            )
+
+        fake.assert_not_called()
+
+    def test_hosted_endpoint_skips_tcp_preflight(
+        self, monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch
+    ) -> None:
+        """Hosted endpoints proceed through the proxy-aware HTTP probe."""
+        import json
+
+        reachable = MagicMock(return_value=False)
+        monkeypatch.setattr(
+            "deepagents_code.model_config._ollama_host_reachable", reachable
+        )
+
+        with patch(
+            "urllib.request.urlopen",
+            return_value=_BytesContext(json.dumps({"models": []}).encode("utf-8")),
+        ) as urlopen:
+            assert (
+                model_config._fetch_ollama_installed_models(
+                    "https://ollama.example.com"
+                )
+                == []
+            )
+
+        reachable.assert_not_called()
+        urlopen.assert_called_once()
+
+    def test_forwards_normalized_base_and_timeout_to_preflight(
+        self, monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch
+    ) -> None:
+        """The rstrip'd base and the caller's timeout reach the preflight."""
+        import json
+
+        reachable = MagicMock(return_value=True)
+        monkeypatch.setattr(
+            "deepagents_code.model_config._ollama_host_reachable", reachable
+        )
+        monkeypatch.delenv("OLLAMA_API_KEY", raising=False)
+        monkeypatch.delenv("DEEPAGENTS_CODE_OLLAMA_API_KEY", raising=False)
+
+        with patch(
+            "urllib.request.urlopen",
+            return_value=_BytesContext(json.dumps({"models": []}).encode("utf-8")),
+        ):
+            assert (
+                model_config._fetch_ollama_installed_models(
+                    "http://localhost:11434/", timeout=0.5
+                )
+                == []
+            )
+
+        reachable.assert_called_once_with("http://localhost:11434", timeout=0.5)
+
     def test_returns_sorted_names_from_payload(
         self, monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch
     ) -> None:
@@ -2936,6 +3012,146 @@ def test_rejects_unsupported_scheme(self) -> None:
         fake.assert_not_called()
 
 
+class TestOllamaHostReachable:
+    """Tests for the `_ollama_host_reachable` TCP presence preflight."""
+
+    def test_true_when_connection_succeeds(self) -> None:
+        """A successful TCP connection reports the daemon as present.
+
+        Also pins that the default timeout reaches `socket.create_connection`:
+        the preflight exists to fail *fast*, so a dropped timeout would let an
+        absent host stall on the OS connect timeout -- the hang this removes.
+        """
+        captured: list[tuple[tuple[str, int], float]] = []
+
+        def fake_create_connection(
+            address: tuple[str, int], *, timeout: float
+        ) -> MagicMock:
+            captured.append((address, timeout))
+            return MagicMock()
+
+        with patch("socket.create_connection", side_effect=fake_create_connection):
+            assert model_config._ollama_host_reachable("http://localhost:11434") is True
+
+        assert captured == [
+            (("localhost", 11434), model_config.OLLAMA_DISCOVERY_TIMEOUT_SECONDS)
+        ]
+
+    def test_forwards_explicit_timeout(self) -> None:
+        """A caller-supplied timeout is forwarded to the socket connect."""
+        captured: list[float] = []
+
+        def fake_create_connection(
+            address: tuple[str, int],  # noqa: ARG001
+            *,
+            timeout: float,
+        ) -> MagicMock:
+            captured.append(timeout)
+            return MagicMock()
+
+        with patch("socket.create_connection", side_effect=fake_create_connection):
+            assert (
+                model_config._ollama_host_reachable(
+                    "http://localhost:11434", timeout=0.25
+                )
+                is True
+            )
+
+        assert captured == [0.25]
+
+    def test_false_and_silent_when_connection_refused(
+        self, caplog: pytest.LogCaptureFixture
+    ) -> None:
+        """Connection refused (an `OSError`) reports absent without warning."""
+        refused = ConnectionRefusedError(61, "Connection refused")
+
+        def boom(*_args: object, **_kwargs: object) -> None:
+            raise refused
+
+        with (
+            caplog.at_level(logging.WARNING, logger="deepagents_code.model_config"),
+            patch("socket.create_connection", side_effect=boom),
+        ):
+            assert (
+                model_config._ollama_host_reachable("http://localhost:11434") is False
+            )
+
+        assert caplog.records == []
+
+    def test_false_and_warns_when_error_unexpected(
+        self, caplog: pytest.LogCaptureFixture
+    ) -> None:
+        """A non-`OSError` failure reports absent and surfaces a warning.
+
+        Covers `pytest-socket`'s `SocketBlockedError`, which inherits from
+        `Exception` (not `OSError`); an unexpected error here is a possible
+        real bug, so it is logged rather than silently swallowed.
+        """
+        blocked = RuntimeError("sockets disabled")
+
+        def boom(*_args: object, **_kwargs: object) -> None:
+            raise blocked
+
+        with (
+            caplog.at_level(logging.WARNING, logger="deepagents_code.model_config"),
+            patch("socket.create_connection", side_effect=boom),
+        ):
+            assert (
+                model_config._ollama_host_reachable("http://localhost:11434") is False
+            )
+
+        assert any("unexpected RuntimeError" in r.getMessage() for r in caplog.records)
+
+    def test_defers_to_probe_when_host_unparseable(self) -> None:
+        """A URL without a host defers to the HTTP probe instead of blocking it."""
+        with patch("socket.create_connection") as fake:
+            assert model_config._ollama_host_reachable("http://") is True
+
+        fake.assert_not_called()
+
+    @pytest.mark.parametrize(
+        "endpoint",
+        ["http://localhost:notaport", "http://localhost:99999"],
+    )
+    def test_defers_to_probe_when_port_invalid(self, endpoint: str) -> None:
+        """An invalid port defers to the best-effort HTTP probe."""
+        with patch("socket.create_connection") as fake:
+            assert model_config._ollama_host_reachable(endpoint) is True
+
+        fake.assert_not_called()
+
+    @pytest.mark.parametrize(
+        ("endpoint", "expected"),
+        [
+            ("https://ollama.example.com", ("ollama.example.com", 443)),
+            ("http://ollama.internal", ("ollama.internal", 80)),
+        ],
+    )
+    def test_defaults_scheme_port_when_absent(
+        self, endpoint: str, expected: tuple[str, int]
+    ) -> None:
+        """A schemed URL without an explicit port falls back to the scheme default.
+
+        The preflight and the HTTP probe must agree on the target, so a portless
+        `http` host resolves to 80 and `https` to 443 -- matching what urllib
+        would connect to.
+        """
+        captured: list[tuple[str, int]] = []
+
+        def fake_create_connection(
+            address: tuple[str, int],
+            *,
+            timeout: float,  # noqa: ARG001
+        ) -> MagicMock:
+            captured.append(address)
+            return MagicMock()
+
+        with patch("socket.create_connection", side_effect=fake_create_connection):
+            assert model_config._ollama_host_reachable(endpoint) is True
+
+        assert captured == [expected]
+
+
 class TestFetchOllamaInstalledModelProfiles:
     """Tests for Ollama `/api/show` profile discovery."""