Avoid model endpoint probes on boot

routes/model_routes.py

@@ -1396,7 +1396,7 @@ def setup_model_routes(model_discovery):
         return {"hosts": [], "items": items}
 
     @router.get("/models")
-    def api_models(request: Request, refresh: bool = False):
+    def api_models(request: Request, refresh: bool = False, background: bool = True):
         """Get available models — per-user (caller sees only their endpoints +
         legacy/shared null-owner rows). Cached per-user for 30s."""
         # Require auth; "" is the unconfigured single-user mode, treated as
@@ -1438,7 +1438,10 @@ def setup_model_routes(model_discovery):
             return cache_entry["data"]
         result = _fetch_models(owner=owner, is_admin=_is_admin)
         _models_cache[_cache_key] = {"data": result, "time": now}
-        # Kick off background refresh to update caches from live endpoints
+        # Kick off background refresh to update caches from live endpoints.
+        # Page boot can opt out with background=false so opening Odysseus does
+        # not start endpoint probes against slow/offline model servers.
+        if background or refresh:
             _refresh_caches_bg(force=refresh)
         return result
 

static/app.js

@@ -3968,7 +3968,7 @@ function startOdysseusApp() {
   }
 
   // Non-critical: load in parallel, resolve silently
-  modelsModule.refreshModels(true).then(() => {
+  modelsModule.refreshModels(false).then(() => {
     const modelsBox = document.getElementById('models');
     const hasModels = modelsBox && modelsBox.querySelector('.models-row');
     if (!hasModels) {

static/js/models.js

@@ -184,7 +184,7 @@ export async function refreshModels(force = false) {
         // back — newly-served endpoints don't appear until the cache
         // ages out. (Bug repro: serve a model, picker is empty for ~30s
         // even though the endpoint is in the DB and online.)
-        const _url = `${API_BASE}/api/models` + (force ? '?refresh=true' : '');
+        const _url = `${API_BASE}/api/models` + (force ? '?refresh=true' : '?background=false');
         _fetchInflight = fetch(_url, { credentials: 'same-origin' })
           .then(async (res) => {
             if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`HTTP ${res.status}`);