diff --git a/src/gateway/session-utils.test.ts b/src/gateway/session-utils.test.ts
index 87372fbb4c9..182250d8b90 100644
--- a/src/gateway/session-utils.test.ts
+++ b/src/gateway/session-utils.test.ts
@@ -259,7 +259,7 @@ describe("gateway session utils", () => {
     expect(row.thinkingDefault).toBe("medium");
   });
 
-  test("session list memoizes repeated thinking enrichment per provider model", async () => {
+  test("async session list skips per-row thinking enrichment for lightweight rows", async () => {
     const resolveThinkingProfile = vi.fn(() => ({
       levels: [{ id: "off" as const }, { id: "medium" as const }],
       defaultLevel: "medium" as const,
@@ -298,7 +298,10 @@ describe("gateway session utils", () => {
     });
 
     expect(result.sessions).toHaveLength(5);
-    expect(resolveThinkingProfile).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(3);
+    expect(result.sessions.every((session) => session.thinkingLevels === undefined)).toBe(true);
+    expect(result.sessions.every((session) => session.thinkingOptions === undefined)).toBe(true);
+    expect(result.sessions.every((session) => session.thinkingDefault === undefined)).toBe(true);
+    expect(resolveThinkingProfile).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2);
   });
 
   test("session list thinking cache preserves case-distinct model catalog entries", async () => {
@@ -319,7 +322,7 @@ describe("gateway session utils", () => {
         compat: { supportedReasoningEfforts: ["low", "medium", "high"] },
       },
     ];
-    const result = await listSessionsFromStoreAsync({
+    const result = listSessionsFromStore({
       cfg,
       storePath: "",
       modelCatalog,
@@ -1289,7 +1292,10 @@ describe("listSessionsFromStore selected model display", () => {
         }),
       );
       expect(listed.sessions[0]?.agentRuntime).toEqual({ id: "pi", source: "implicit" });
-      expect(listed.sessions[0]?.thinkingOptions?.length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+      expect(listed.sessions[0]?.thinkingLevel).toBeUndefined();
+      expect(listed.sessions[0]?.thinkingLevels).toBeUndefined();
+      expect(listed.sessions[0]?.thinkingOptions).toBeUndefined();
+      expect(listed.sessions[0]?.thinkingDefault).toBeUndefined();
     } finally {
       fs.rmSync(tmpDir, { recursive: true, force: true });
     }
@@ -1478,6 +1484,58 @@ describe("listSessionsFromStore selected model display", () => {
       ["agent:review:review", "vercel-ai-gateway", "anthropic/claude-haiku-4-5"],
     ]);
   });
+
+  test("uses persisted runtime model metadata before selected defaults", () => {
+    const cfg = {
+      agents: {
+        defaults: { model: { primary: "openai/gpt-5.4" } },
+        list: [{ id: "main", model: { primary: "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6" } }],
+      },
+    } as OpenClawConfig;
+
+    const result = listSessionsFromStore({
+      cfg,
+      storePath: "/tmp/sessions.json",
+      store: {
+        "agent:main:main": {
+          sessionId: "sess-main",
+          updatedAt: Date.now(),
+          modelProvider: "openai-codex",
+          model: "gpt-5.5",
+        } as SessionEntry,
+      },
+      opts: {},
+    });
+
+    expect(result.sessions[0]?.modelProvider).toBe("openai-codex");
+    expect(result.sessions[0]?.model).toBe("gpt-5.5");
+  });
+
+  test("uses complete model overrides without default-model fallback", () => {
+    const cfg = {
+      agents: {
+        defaults: { model: { primary: "openai/gpt-5.4" } },
+        list: [{ id: "main", model: { primary: "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6" } }],
+      },
+    } as OpenClawConfig;
+
+    const result = listSessionsFromStore({
+      cfg,
+      storePath: "/tmp/sessions.json",
+      store: {
+        "agent:main:main": {
+          sessionId: "sess-main",
+          updatedAt: Date.now(),
+          providerOverride: "vercel-ai-gateway",
+          modelOverride: "anthropic/claude-haiku-4-5",
+        } as SessionEntry,
+      },
+      opts: {},
+    });
+
+    expect(result.sessions[0]?.modelProvider).toBe("vercel-ai-gateway");
+    expect(result.sessions[0]?.model).toBe("anthropic/claude-haiku-4-5");
+  });
 });
 
 describe("resolveSessionModelIdentityRef", () => {
diff --git a/src/gateway/session-utils.ts b/src/gateway/session-utils.ts
index 4a2b35b1b81..f18e5818677 100644
--- a/src/gateway/session-utils.ts
+++ b/src/gateway/session-utils.ts
@@ -578,6 +578,27 @@ function resolveSessionRowModelIdentityRef(params: {
       params.fallbackModelRef,
     );
   }
+  const runtimeModel = normalizeOptionalString(params.entry?.model);
+  const runtimeProvider = normalizeOptionalString(params.entry?.modelProvider);
+  const fallbackModelRef = normalizeOptionalString(params.fallbackModelRef);
+  if (runtimeModel && runtimeProvider && !fallbackModelRef) {
+    return { provider: runtimeProvider, model: runtimeModel };
+  }
+  const normalizedOverride = normalizeStoredOverrideModel({
+    providerOverride: params.entry?.providerOverride,
+    modelOverride: params.entry?.modelOverride,
+  });
+  if (
+    !runtimeModel &&
+    !fallbackModelRef &&
+    normalizedOverride.providerOverride &&
+    normalizedOverride.modelOverride
+  ) {
+    return {
+      provider: normalizedOverride.providerOverride,
+      model: normalizedOverride.modelOverride,
+    };
+  }
   const key = createSessionEntryModelCacheKey({
     cfg: params.cfg,
     agentId: params.agentId,
@@ -589,14 +610,12 @@ function resolveSessionRowModelIdentityRef(params: {
     return cached;
   }
 
-  const runtimeModel = normalizeOptionalString(params.entry?.model);
-  const runtimeProvider = normalizeOptionalString(params.entry?.modelProvider);
   if (
     !runtimeModel &&
     !runtimeProvider &&
-    !normalizeOptionalString(params.fallbackModelRef) &&
-    !normalizeOptionalString(params.entry?.providerOverride) &&
-    !normalizeOptionalString(params.entry?.modelOverride)
+    !fallbackModelRef &&
+    !normalizedOverride.providerOverride &&
+    !normalizedOverride.modelOverride
   ) {
     const resolved = resolveSessionDefaultModelRefForRow(params.cfg, params.agentId);
     params.rowContext.modelIdentityByEntryKey.set(key, resolved);
@@ -623,6 +642,12 @@ function resolveSessionSelectedModelRef(params: {
     providerOverride: params.entry?.providerOverride,
     modelOverride: params.entry?.modelOverride,
   });
+  if (override.providerOverride && override.modelOverride) {
+    return {
+      provider: override.providerOverride,
+      model: override.modelOverride,
+    };
+  }
   if (!override.modelOverride) {
     return null;
   }
@@ -1811,12 +1836,23 @@ export function buildGatewaySessionRow(params: {
 
   const thinkingProvider = rowModelProvider ?? DEFAULT_PROVIDER;
   const thinkingModel = rowModel ?? DEFAULT_MODEL;
-  const thinkingLevels = resolveSessionRowThinkingLevels({
-    provider: thinkingProvider,
-    model: thinkingModel,
-    modelCatalog: params.modelCatalog,
-    rowContext,
-  });
+  const thinkingLevels = lightweight
+    ? undefined
+    : resolveSessionRowThinkingLevels({
+        provider: thinkingProvider,
+        model: thinkingModel,
+        modelCatalog: params.modelCatalog,
+        rowContext,
+      });
+  const thinkingDefault = lightweight
+    ? undefined
+    : resolveGatewaySessionThinkingDefault({
+        cfg,
+        provider: thinkingProvider,
+        model: thinkingModel,
+        agentId: sessionAgentId,
+        modelCatalog: params.modelCatalog,
+      });
   const pluginExtensions =
     !lightweight && entry ? projectPluginSessionExtensionsSync({ sessionKey: key, entry }) : [];
 
@@ -1845,16 +1881,8 @@ export function buildGatewaySessionRow(params: {
     abortedLastRun: entry?.abortedLastRun,
     thinkingLevel: entry?.thinkingLevel,
     thinkingLevels,
-    thinkingOptions: thinkingLevels.map((level) => level.label),
-    thinkingDefault: lightweight
-      ? entry?.thinkingLevel
-      : resolveGatewaySessionThinkingDefault({
-          cfg,
-          provider: thinkingProvider,
-          model: thinkingModel,
-          agentId: sessionAgentId,
-          modelCatalog: params.modelCatalog,
-        }),
+    thinkingOptions: thinkingLevels?.map((level) => level.label),
+    thinkingDefault,
     fastMode: entry?.fastMode,
     verboseLevel: entry?.verboseLevel,
     traceLevel: entry?.traceLevel,