diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 9d56bf8015f..e6776aa0b68 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 - Telegram: keep no-response DM turns quiet instead of rewriting them into visible silent-reply chatter. Fixes #78188. (#78228) Thanks @Beandon13.
 - Telegram: handle managed select button callbacks before the raw callback fallback while preserving delimiter-containing option values such as `env|prod`. (#79816) Thanks @moeedahmed.
 - OpenAI-compatible models: handle JSON chat-completion bodies returned to streaming requests, preserving reasoning fields and visible text instead of completing an empty agent turn. Fixes #77870.
+- Discord/models: defer model picker component interactions before loading route, model, and preference data, preventing "This interaction failed" timeouts under gateway load. Fixes #77283. Thanks @colin-chang.
 - xAI: expose `/think low|medium|high` for reasoning-capable Grok models and keep `reasoning.effort` on native Responses payloads while preserving off-only behavior for non-reasoning routes. Fixes #79210. Thanks @colinmcintosh.
 - CLI/media: let explicit image description model refs use bundled static provider catalogs and generic model-backed image hooks, so `openclaw infer image describe --model zai/glm-4.6v` works like direct model runs and Anthropic auth probes avoid stale Claude 3 Haiku catalog entries.
 - Models/Anthropic: add `anthropic/claude-haiku-4-5` to Anthropic API-key agent allowlist defaults when an Anthropic default model is configured, so cron model overrides can select the current Haiku alias. Fixes #78000.
diff --git a/extensions/discord/src/monitor/native-command-model-picker-interaction.ts b/extensions/discord/src/monitor/native-command-model-picker-interaction.ts
index 13a02f516ed..195dec6b833 100644
--- a/extensions/discord/src/monitor/native-command-model-picker-interaction.ts
+++ b/extensions/discord/src/monitor/native-command-model-picker-interaction.ts
@@ -147,6 +147,17 @@ export async function handleDiscordModelPickerInteraction(params: {
     return;
   }
 
+  let deferredUpdate = interaction.acknowledged;
+  if (!deferredUpdate) {
+    const deferred = await params.safeInteractionCall("model picker defer", () =>
+      interaction.acknowledge(),
+    );
+    if (deferred === null) {
+      return;
+    }
+    deferredUpdate = true;
+  }
+
   const route = await resolveDiscordModelPickerRoute({
     interaction,
     cfg: ctx.cfg,
@@ -175,7 +186,9 @@ export async function handleDiscordModelPickerInteraction(params: {
     limit: 5,
   });
   const updatePicker = async (payload: MessagePayload) =>
-    await params.safeInteractionCall("model picker update", () => interaction.update(payload));
+    await params.safeInteractionCall("model picker update", () =>
+      deferredUpdate ? interaction.editReply(payload) : interaction.update(payload),
+    );
   const showNotice = async (message: string) =>
     await updatePicker(buildDiscordModelPickerNoticePayload(message));
 
diff --git a/extensions/discord/src/monitor/native-command.model-picker.test.ts b/extensions/discord/src/monitor/native-command.model-picker.test.ts
index ff8afba37f2..951b8adccef 100644
--- a/extensions/discord/src/monitor/native-command.model-picker.test.ts
+++ b/extensions/discord/src/monitor/native-command.model-picker.test.ts
@@ -44,7 +44,9 @@ type MockInteraction = {
   reply: ReturnType<typeof vi.fn>;
   followUp: ReturnType<typeof vi.fn>;
   update: ReturnType<typeof vi.fn>;
+  editReply: ReturnType<typeof vi.fn>;
   acknowledge: ReturnType<typeof vi.fn>;
+  acknowledged: boolean;
   client: object;
 };
 
@@ -96,7 +98,7 @@ function createModelPickerContext(): ModelPickerContext {
 
 function createInteraction(params?: { userId?: string; values?: string[] }): MockInteraction {
   const userId = params?.userId ?? "owner";
-  return {
+  const interaction = {
     user: {
       id: userId,
       username: "tester",
@@ -115,9 +117,16 @@ function createInteraction(params?: { userId?: string; values?: string[] }): Moc
     reply: vi.fn().mockResolvedValue({ ok: true }),
     followUp: vi.fn().mockResolvedValue({ ok: true }),
     update: vi.fn().mockResolvedValue({ ok: true }),
-    acknowledge: vi.fn().mockResolvedValue({ ok: true }),
+    editReply: vi.fn().mockResolvedValue({ ok: true }),
+    acknowledge: vi.fn(),
+    acknowledged: false,
     client: {},
   };
+  interaction.acknowledge.mockImplementation(async () => {
+    interaction.acknowledged = true;
+    return { ok: true };
+  });
+  return interaction;
 }
 
 function createDefaultModelPickerData(): ModelsProviderData {
@@ -323,6 +332,28 @@ describe("Discord model picker interactions", () => {
     expect(loadSpy).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
   });
 
+  it("defers owner picker interactions before loading model data", async () => {
+    const context = createModelPickerContext();
+    const pickerData = createDefaultModelPickerData();
+    const loadSpy = vi
+      .spyOn(modelPickerModule, "loadDiscordModelPickerData")
+      .mockImplementation(async () => {
+        expect(interaction.acknowledge).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+        return pickerData;
+      });
+    const select = createModelPickerFallbackSelect(context);
+    const interaction = createInteraction({ userId: "owner", values: ["gpt-4o"] });
+
+    await select.run(
+      interaction as unknown as PickerSelectInteraction,
+      createModelsViewSelectData(),
+    );
+
+    expect(loadSpy).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    expect(interaction.editReply).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    expect(interaction.update).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
+
   it("requires submit click before routing selected model through /model pipeline", async () => {
     const context = createModelPickerContext();
     const pickerData = createDefaultModelPickerData();
@@ -338,7 +369,7 @@ describe("Discord model picker interactions", () => {
       dispatchCommandInteraction: dispatchSpy,
     });
 
-    expect(selectInteraction.update).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    expect(selectInteraction.editReply).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
     expect(dispatchSpy).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
 
     const submitInteraction = await runSubmitButton({
@@ -347,7 +378,7 @@ describe("Discord model picker interactions", () => {
       dispatchCommandInteraction: dispatchSpy,
     });
 
-    expect(submitInteraction.update).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    expect(submitInteraction.editReply).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
     expect(dispatchSpy).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
     expectDispatchedModelSelection({
       dispatchSpy,
@@ -547,8 +578,8 @@ describe("Discord model picker interactions", () => {
 
     await button.run(interaction as unknown as PickerButtonInteraction, data);
 
-    expect(interaction.update).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
-    const updatePayload = interaction.update.mock.calls[0]?.[0];
+    expect(interaction.editReply).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    const updatePayload = interaction.editReply.mock.calls[0]?.[0];
     if (!updatePayload) {
       throw new Error("recents button did not emit an update payload");
     }
@@ -585,7 +616,7 @@ describe("Discord model picker interactions", () => {
       dispatchCommandInteraction: dispatchSpy,
     });
 
-    expect(submitInteraction.update).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    expect(submitInteraction.editReply).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
     expect(dispatchSpy).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
     expectDispatchedModelSelection({ dispatchSpy, model: "openai/gpt-4o" });
   });