diff --git a/studio/frontend/src/components/assistant-ui/thread.tsx b/studio/frontend/src/components/assistant-ui/thread.tsx
index 85989b1a41..b87d5b05b0 100644
--- a/studio/frontend/src/components/assistant-ui/thread.tsx
+++ b/studio/frontend/src/components/assistant-ui/thread.tsx
@@ -1137,7 +1137,9 @@ const WebSearchToggle: FC = () => {
       ? externalProviders.find((p) => p.id === externalSelection.providerId)
       : undefined;
   const isKimiExternal = selectedExternalProvider?.providerType === "kimi";
-  const disabled = !modelLoaded || !(supportsTools || supportsBuiltinWebSearch);
+  // Disable only when a loaded model lacks the capability; with no model the
+  // tool can still be pre-selected and reflected, matching the + menu.
+  const disabled = modelLoaded && !(supportsTools || supportsBuiltinWebSearch);
 
   return (
     <button
@@ -1180,8 +1182,9 @@ const CodeToolsToggle: FC = () => {
   );
   const codeToolsEnabled = useChatRuntimeStore((s) => s.codeToolsEnabled);
   const setCodeToolsEnabled = useChatRuntimeStore((s) => s.setCodeToolsEnabled);
-  const disabled =
-    !modelLoaded || !(supportsTools || supportsBuiltinCodeExecution);
+  // Disable only when a loaded model lacks the capability; with no model the
+  // tool can still be pre-selected and reflected, matching the + menu.
+  const disabled = modelLoaded && !(supportsTools || supportsBuiltinCodeExecution);
 
   return (
     <button
diff --git a/studio/frontend/src/features/chat/shared-composer.tsx b/studio/frontend/src/features/chat/shared-composer.tsx
index 01a6a27b2d..08a993e039 100644
--- a/studio/frontend/src/features/chat/shared-composer.tsx
+++ b/studio/frontend/src/features/chat/shared-composer.tsx
@@ -513,16 +513,18 @@ export function SharedComposer({
   // and gate strictly on the provider builtin support.
   const isGeminiImageTier =
     isExternalGemini && supportsBuiltinImageGeneration;
+  // Disable only when a loaded model lacks the capability; with no model the
+  // tool can still be pre-selected and reflected, matching the + menu.
   const searchDisabled =
-    !modelLoaded ||
+    modelLoaded &&
     (isGeminiImageTier
       ? !supportsBuiltinWebSearch
       : !(supportsTools || supportsBuiltinWebSearch));
   const codeDisabled =
-    !modelLoaded ||
-    (isGeminiImageTier
-      ? true
-      : !(supportsTools || supportsBuiltinCodeExecution)) ||
+    (modelLoaded &&
+      (isGeminiImageTier
+        ? true
+        : !(supportsTools || supportsBuiltinCodeExecution))) ||
     imageModeDisablesCode;
   // Images pill is only ever lit on OpenAI cloud's Responses-API models
   // and Gemini Nano Banana family. No local tool runtime fallback.