diff --git a/docs/plugins/manifest.md b/docs/plugins/manifest.md
index 6ee2b4ed055..d68da9c4767 100644
--- a/docs/plugins/manifest.md
+++ b/docs/plugins/manifest.md
@@ -781,9 +781,11 @@ Suppression fields:
 | `when.baseUrlHosts`        | `string[]` | Optional list of effective provider base URL hosts required before the suppression applies.               |
 | `when.providerConfigApiIn` | `string[]` | Optional list of exact provider-config `api` values required before the suppression applies.              |
 
-Do not put runtime-only data in `modelCatalog`. If a provider needs account
-state, an API request, or local process discovery to know the complete model
-set, declare that provider as `refreshable` or `runtime` in `discovery`.
+Do not put runtime-only data in `modelCatalog`. Use `static` only when manifest
+rows are complete enough for provider-filtered list and picker surfaces to skip
+registry/runtime discovery. Use `refreshable` when manifest rows are useful
+seeds or supplements but a registry/cache refresh may add more rows. Use
+`runtime` when OpenClaw must load provider runtime to know the list.
 
 ## modelIdNormalization reference
 
diff --git a/src/commands/models/list.manifest-catalog.test.ts b/src/commands/models/list.manifest-catalog.test.ts
index 36dce1d902a..c6158ae81a4 100644
--- a/src/commands/models/list.manifest-catalog.test.ts
+++ b/src/commands/models/list.manifest-catalog.test.ts
@@ -70,4 +70,20 @@ describe("loadStaticManifestCatalogRowsForList", () => {
       env: undefined,
     });
   });
+
+  it("can load refreshable manifest rows for broad registry-backed lists", async () => {
+    const { loadManifestCatalogRowsForList } = await import("./list.manifest-catalog.js");
+    mocks.loadPluginRegistrySnapshot.mockReturnValueOnce({ plugins: [], diagnostics: [] });
+    mocks.loadPluginManifestRegistryForInstalledIndex.mockReturnValueOnce({
+      plugins: [openrouterPlugin, moonshotPlugin],
+      diagnostics: [],
+    });
+
+    expect(
+      loadManifestCatalogRowsForList({
+        cfg: {},
+        staticOnly: false,
+      }).map((row) => row.ref),
+    ).toEqual(["moonshot/kimi-k2.6", "openrouter/auto"]);
+  });
 });
diff --git a/src/commands/models/list.manifest-catalog.ts b/src/commands/models/list.manifest-catalog.ts
index 65f82d30f52..cc5b13a7831 100644
--- a/src/commands/models/list.manifest-catalog.ts
+++ b/src/commands/models/list.manifest-catalog.ts
@@ -13,12 +13,13 @@ import {
   type PluginRegistrySnapshot,
 } from "../../plugins/plugin-registry.js";
 
-function loadStaticManifestCatalogRowsForPluginIds(params: {
+function loadManifestCatalogRowsForPluginIds(params: {
   cfg: OpenClawConfig;
   env?: NodeJS.ProcessEnv;
   index: PluginRegistrySnapshot;
   pluginIds?: readonly string[];
   providerFilter?: string;
+  staticOnly?: boolean;
 }): readonly NormalizedModelCatalogRow[] {
   if (params.pluginIds && params.pluginIds.length === 0) {
     return [];
@@ -33,6 +34,9 @@ function loadStaticManifestCatalogRowsForPluginIds(params: {
     registry,
     ...(params.providerFilter ? { providerFilter: params.providerFilter } : {}),
   });
+  if (params.staticOnly === false) {
+    return plan.rows;
+  }
   const staticProviders = new Set(
     plan.entries.filter((entry) => entry.discovery === "static").map((entry) => entry.provider),
   );
@@ -77,10 +81,11 @@ function resolveDeclaredModelCatalogPluginIds(params: {
   });
 }
 
-export function loadStaticManifestCatalogRowsForList(params: {
+export function loadManifestCatalogRowsForList(params: {
   cfg: OpenClawConfig;
   providerFilter?: string;
   env?: NodeJS.ProcessEnv;
+  staticOnly?: boolean;
 }): readonly NormalizedModelCatalogRow[] {
   const providerFilter = params.providerFilter
     ? normalizeModelCatalogProviderId(params.providerFilter)
@@ -90,13 +95,14 @@ export function loadStaticManifestCatalogRowsForList(params: {
     env: params.env,
   });
   if (!providerFilter) {
-    return loadStaticManifestCatalogRowsForPluginIds({
+    return loadManifestCatalogRowsForPluginIds({
       cfg: params.cfg,
       env: params.env,
       index,
+      staticOnly: params.staticOnly,
     });
   }
-  const conventionRows = loadStaticManifestCatalogRowsForPluginIds({
+  const conventionRows = loadManifestCatalogRowsForPluginIds({
     cfg: params.cfg,
     env: params.env,
     index,
@@ -106,11 +112,12 @@ export function loadStaticManifestCatalogRowsForList(params: {
       providerFilter,
     }),
     providerFilter,
+    staticOnly: params.staticOnly,
   });
   if (conventionRows.length > 0) {
     return conventionRows;
   }
-  return loadStaticManifestCatalogRowsForPluginIds({
+  return loadManifestCatalogRowsForPluginIds({
     cfg: params.cfg,
     env: params.env,
     index,
@@ -120,5 +127,17 @@ export function loadStaticManifestCatalogRowsForList(params: {
       providerFilter,
     }),
     providerFilter,
+    staticOnly: params.staticOnly,
+  });
+}
+
+export function loadStaticManifestCatalogRowsForList(params: {
+  cfg: OpenClawConfig;
+  providerFilter?: string;
+  env?: NodeJS.ProcessEnv;
+}): readonly NormalizedModelCatalogRow[] {
+  return loadManifestCatalogRowsForList({
+    ...params,
+    staticOnly: true,
   });
 }
diff --git a/src/commands/models/list.source-plan.test.ts b/src/commands/models/list.source-plan.test.ts
index b28d33532c0..00b88a08a1b 100644
--- a/src/commands/models/list.source-plan.test.ts
+++ b/src/commands/models/list.source-plan.test.ts
@@ -1,13 +1,13 @@
 import { beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
 
 const mocks = vi.hoisted(() => ({
-  loadStaticManifestCatalogRowsForList: vi.fn(),
+  loadManifestCatalogRowsForList: vi.fn(),
   loadProviderIndexCatalogRowsForList: vi.fn(),
   hasProviderStaticCatalogForFilter: vi.fn(),
 }));
 
 vi.mock("./list.manifest-catalog.js", () => ({
-  loadStaticManifestCatalogRowsForList: mocks.loadStaticManifestCatalogRowsForList,
+  loadManifestCatalogRowsForList: mocks.loadManifestCatalogRowsForList,
 }));
 
 vi.mock("./list.provider-index-catalog.js", () => ({
@@ -33,14 +33,14 @@ const catalogRow = {
 describe("planAllModelListSources", () => {
   beforeEach(() => {
     vi.clearAllMocks();
-    mocks.loadStaticManifestCatalogRowsForList.mockReturnValue([]);
+    mocks.loadManifestCatalogRowsForList.mockReturnValue([]);
     mocks.loadProviderIndexCatalogRowsForList.mockReturnValue([]);
     mocks.hasProviderStaticCatalogForFilter.mockResolvedValue(false);
   });
 
   it("uses installed manifest rows before provider index or runtime catalog sources", async () => {
     const { planAllModelListSources } = await import("./list.source-plan.js");
-    mocks.loadStaticManifestCatalogRowsForList.mockReturnValueOnce([catalogRow]);
+    mocks.loadManifestCatalogRowsForList.mockReturnValueOnce([catalogRow]);
 
     const plan = await planAllModelListSources({
       all: true,
@@ -54,6 +54,11 @@ describe("planAllModelListSources", () => {
       skipRuntimeModelSuppression: true,
     });
     expect(plan.manifestCatalogRows).toEqual([catalogRow]);
+    expect(mocks.loadManifestCatalogRowsForList).toHaveBeenCalledWith({
+      cfg: {},
+      providerFilter: "moonshot",
+      staticOnly: true,
+    });
     expect(mocks.loadProviderIndexCatalogRowsForList).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
     expect(mocks.hasProviderStaticCatalogForFilter).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
   });
@@ -78,6 +83,35 @@ describe("planAllModelListSources", () => {
     expect(mocks.hasProviderStaticCatalogForFilter).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
   });
 
+  it("uses the registry when provider-filtered manifest rows are refreshable", async () => {
+    const { planAllModelListSources } = await import("./list.source-plan.js");
+    mocks.loadManifestCatalogRowsForList.mockReturnValueOnce([]).mockReturnValueOnce([catalogRow]);
+
+    const plan = await planAllModelListSources({
+      all: true,
+      providerFilter: "openai",
+      cfg: {},
+    });
+
+    expect(plan).toMatchObject({
+      kind: "registry",
+      requiresInitialRegistry: true,
+      skipRuntimeModelSuppression: false,
+    });
+    expect(plan.manifestCatalogRows).toEqual([catalogRow]);
+    expect(mocks.loadManifestCatalogRowsForList).toHaveBeenNthCalledWith(1, {
+      cfg: {},
+      providerFilter: "openai",
+      staticOnly: true,
+    });
+    expect(mocks.loadManifestCatalogRowsForList).toHaveBeenNthCalledWith(2, {
+      cfg: {},
+      providerFilter: "openai",
+      staticOnly: false,
+    });
+    expect(mocks.loadProviderIndexCatalogRowsForList).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
+
   it("keeps scoped runtime catalog fallback separate from broad registry loading", async () => {
     const { planAllModelListSources } = await import("./list.source-plan.js");
 
@@ -98,7 +132,7 @@ describe("planAllModelListSources", () => {
   it("keeps broad all-model lists on the registry path with cheap catalog supplements", async () => {
     const { planAllModelListSources } = await import("./list.source-plan.js");
     const providerIndexRow = { ...catalogRow, source: "provider-index" };
-    mocks.loadStaticManifestCatalogRowsForList.mockReturnValueOnce([catalogRow]);
+    mocks.loadManifestCatalogRowsForList.mockReturnValueOnce([catalogRow]);
     mocks.loadProviderIndexCatalogRowsForList.mockReturnValueOnce([providerIndexRow]);
 
     const plan = await planAllModelListSources({
@@ -113,6 +147,10 @@ describe("planAllModelListSources", () => {
     });
     expect(plan.manifestCatalogRows).toEqual([catalogRow]);
     expect(plan.providerIndexCatalogRows).toEqual([providerIndexRow]);
+    expect(mocks.loadManifestCatalogRowsForList).toHaveBeenCalledWith({
+      cfg: {},
+      staticOnly: false,
+    });
     expect(mocks.hasProviderStaticCatalogForFilter).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
   });
 
diff --git a/src/commands/models/list.source-plan.ts b/src/commands/models/list.source-plan.ts
index f434fdc69a2..7eace278cfe 100644
--- a/src/commands/models/list.source-plan.ts
+++ b/src/commands/models/list.source-plan.ts
@@ -51,11 +51,20 @@ export async function planAllModelListSources(params: {
     return createRegistryModelListSourcePlan();
   }
 
-  const { loadStaticManifestCatalogRowsForList } = await import("./list.manifest-catalog.js");
-  const manifestCatalogRows = loadStaticManifestCatalogRowsForList({
+  const { loadManifestCatalogRowsForList } = await import("./list.manifest-catalog.js");
+  const staticManifestCatalogRows = loadManifestCatalogRowsForList({
     cfg: params.cfg,
     ...(params.providerFilter ? { providerFilter: params.providerFilter } : {}),
+    staticOnly: Boolean(params.providerFilter),
   });
+  const manifestCatalogRows =
+    params.providerFilter && staticManifestCatalogRows.length === 0
+      ? loadManifestCatalogRowsForList({
+          cfg: params.cfg,
+          providerFilter: params.providerFilter,
+          staticOnly: false,
+        })
+      : staticManifestCatalogRows;
   if (!params.providerFilter) {
     const { loadProviderIndexCatalogRowsForList } =
       await import("./list.provider-index-catalog.js");
@@ -70,6 +79,13 @@ export async function planAllModelListSources(params: {
   }
 
   if (manifestCatalogRows.length > 0) {
+    if (staticManifestCatalogRows.length === 0) {
+      return createSourcePlan({
+        kind: "registry",
+        manifestCatalogRows,
+        requiresInitialRegistry: true,
+      });
+    }
     return createSourcePlan({
       kind: "manifest",
       manifestCatalogRows,