diff --git a/desktop/src/features/agents/useGlobalAgentConfig.ts b/desktop/src/features/agents/useGlobalAgentConfig.ts
index 7b5e09191..b2d1f8383 100644
--- a/desktop/src/features/agents/useGlobalAgentConfig.ts
+++ b/desktop/src/features/agents/useGlobalAgentConfig.ts
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ export function useGlobalAgentConfig(): {
   globalConfig: GlobalAgentConfig;
   isLoading: boolean;
 } {
-  const { data, isPending } = useQuery({
+  const { data, isPending, isPlaceholderData } = useQuery({
     queryKey: globalAgentConfigQueryKey,
     queryFn: getGlobalAgentConfig,
     // Config is only mutated via setGlobalAgentConfig — treat as stable until
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ export function useGlobalAgentConfig(): {
 
   return {
     globalConfig: data ?? EMPTY_CONFIG,
-    isLoading: isPending,
+    isLoading: isPending || isPlaceholderData,
   };
 }
 
diff --git a/desktop/src/testing/e2eBridge.ts b/desktop/src/testing/e2eBridge.ts
index 7f1210066..87af0cd64 100644
--- a/desktop/src/testing/e2eBridge.ts
+++ b/desktop/src/testing/e2eBridge.ts
@@ -383,6 +383,8 @@ type E2eConfig = {
       model: string | null;
       preferred_runtime?: string | null;
     };
+    /** Delay (ms) applied to `get_global_agent_config`. */
+    globalAgentConfigDelayMs?: number;
     /** File-layer config returned by runtime id. */
     runtimeFileConfigs?: Record<string, RuntimeFileConfigSubset | null>;
     /** Baked build env returned by the display and key-name Tauri commands. */
@@ -10524,6 +10526,13 @@ export function maybeInstallE2eTauriMocks() {
         return config.mock?.runtimeFileConfigs?.[runtimeId] ?? null;
       }
       case "get_global_agent_config": {
+        const globalAgentConfigDelayMs =
+          config?.mock?.globalAgentConfigDelayMs ?? 0;
+        if (globalAgentConfigDelayMs > 0) {
+          await new Promise((resolve) =>
+            window.setTimeout(resolve, globalAgentConfigDelayMs),
+          );
+        }
         // Return the mutable persisted mock value, seeded from the test config.
         return (
           mockGlobalAgentConfig ?? {
diff --git a/desktop/tests/e2e/onboarding.spec.ts b/desktop/tests/e2e/onboarding.spec.ts
index 3a940160b..26e9faac9 100644
--- a/desktop/tests/e2e/onboarding.spec.ts
+++ b/desktop/tests/e2e/onboarding.spec.ts
@@ -2710,7 +2710,15 @@ test("first-run onboarding lands before Welcome team bootstrap completes", async
   await seedActiveIdentity(page, BLANK_TYLER_IDENTITY);
   await installMockBridge(
     page,
-    { createManagedAgentDelayMs: 1_000 },
+    {
+      createManagedAgentDelayMs: 1_000,
+      globalAgentConfigDelayMs: 250,
+      globalAgentConfig: {
+        env_vars: { OPENAI_COMPAT_API_KEY: "e2e-placeholder" },
+        provider: "openai",
+        model: "gpt-5.5",
+      },
+    },
     { skipOnboardingSeed: true },
   );
   await page.goto("/");