diff --git a/server/pkg/agent/models.go b/server/pkg/agent/models.go
index faded3e5d..94f2aa788 100644
--- a/server/pkg/agent/models.go
+++ b/server/pkg/agent/models.go
@@ -182,6 +182,15 @@ func cachedDiscovery(key string, fn func() ([]Model, error)) ([]Model, error) {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
+	// Don't cache an empty result. Zero models is almost always a transient
+	// failure (discovery CLI timeout, not-logged-in, network blip) rather than
+	// a runtime that genuinely has no models; caching it would keep the picker
+	// blank for the full TTL even after the cause clears. Skipping the cache
+	// lets the next request retry immediately. See #3729.
+	if len(models) == 0 {
+		return models, nil
+	}
+
 	modelCacheMu.Lock()
 	modelCache[key] = modelCacheEntry{models: models, expiresAt: time.Now().Add(modelCacheTTL)}
 	modelCacheMu.Unlock()
@@ -563,7 +572,13 @@ func discoverPiModels(ctx context.Context, executablePath string) ([]Model, erro
 	if _, err := exec.LookPath(executablePath); err != nil {
 		return []Model{}, nil
 	}
-	runCtx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(ctx, 5*time.Second)
+	// Newer pi fetches its catalog from each configured provider over the
+	// network, so discovery time scales with provider count — a multi-provider
+	// setup measured ~4.6-4.8s, right at the old 5s cap. When jitter pushed it
+	// over, the daemon killed the command before it printed anything and the
+	// model picker came back empty while the runtime stayed online. 15s matches
+	// the opencode discovery cap (see #3729, same class as #3627).
+	runCtx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(ctx, 15*time.Second)
 	defer cancel()
 	cmd := exec.CommandContext(runCtx, executablePath, "--list-models")
 	hideAgentWindow(cmd)
@@ -979,7 +994,10 @@ func discoverCursorModels(ctx context.Context, executablePath string) ([]Model,
 	if _, err := exec.LookPath(executablePath); err != nil {
 		return cursorStaticModels(), nil
 	}
-	runCtx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(ctx, 5*time.Second)
+	// 15s to match the other network-backed discovery paths (pi/opencode/ACP);
+	// cursor-agent fetches its frequently-changing catalog, so a tight cap can
+	// time out and fall back to the minimal static list. See #3729.
+	runCtx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(ctx, 15*time.Second)
 	defer cancel()
 	cmd := exec.CommandContext(runCtx, executablePath, "--list-models")
 	hideAgentWindow(cmd)
diff --git a/server/pkg/agent/models_test.go b/server/pkg/agent/models_test.go
index 47c12dce1..a3fe4b99b 100644
--- a/server/pkg/agent/models_test.go
+++ b/server/pkg/agent/models_test.go
@@ -407,6 +407,57 @@ exit 1
 	}
 }
 
+// TestCachedDiscoveryDoesNotCacheEmpty verifies that an empty discovery result
+// is not cached, so a transient failure (e.g. a `pi --list-models` timeout)
+// doesn't keep the model picker blank for the full TTL. A non-empty result is
+// still cached. See #3729.
+func TestCachedDiscoveryDoesNotCacheEmpty(t *testing.T) {
+	const emptyKey, nonEmptyKey = "test-cache-empty", "test-cache-nonempty"
+	// modelCache is a package-level global; clear our keys up front and on
+	// cleanup so the test stays hermetic under `go test -count=N` (a leftover
+	// non-empty entry from a prior run would otherwise skip the callback).
+	resetCache := func() {
+		modelCacheMu.Lock()
+		delete(modelCache, emptyKey)
+		delete(modelCache, nonEmptyKey)
+		modelCacheMu.Unlock()
+	}
+	resetCache()
+	t.Cleanup(resetCache)
+
+	emptyCalls := 0
+	empty := func() ([]Model, error) {
+		emptyCalls++
+		return []Model{}, nil
+	}
+	for i := 0; i < 2; i++ {
+		got, err := cachedDiscovery(emptyKey, empty)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("cachedDiscovery: %v", err)
+		}
+		if len(got) != 0 {
+			t.Fatalf("expected empty result, got %+v", got)
+		}
+	}
+	if emptyCalls != 2 {
+		t.Fatalf("empty result must not be cached: expected fn called 2x, got %d", emptyCalls)
+	}
+
+	nonEmptyCalls := 0
+	nonEmpty := func() ([]Model, error) {
+		nonEmptyCalls++
+		return []Model{{ID: "provider/model"}}, nil
+	}
+	for i := 0; i < 2; i++ {
+		if _, err := cachedDiscovery(nonEmptyKey, nonEmpty); err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("cachedDiscovery: %v", err)
+		}
+	}
+	if nonEmptyCalls != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("non-empty result must be cached: expected fn called 1x, got %d", nonEmptyCalls)
+	}
+}
+
 func TestParsePiModels(t *testing.T) {
 	input := `openai:gpt-4o
 anthropic:claude-opus-4-7