diff --git a/libs/service/agent/sync.rs b/libs/service/agent/sync.rs
index ed29257..db92a58 100644
--- a/libs/service/agent/sync.rs
+++ b/libs/service/agent/sync.rs
@@ -726,15 +726,20 @@ impl AppService {
             available_ids.len()
         );
 
-        // Step 2: fetch OpenRouter metadata.
+        // Step 2: fetch OpenRouter metadata (optional — failure falls back to
+        // direct sync for all available models).
         let http_client = reqwest::Client::new();
-        let or_resp: OpenRouterResponse = fetch_openrouter_models(&http_client)
-            .await
-            .map_err(AppError::InternalServerError)?;
+        let or_models: Vec<OpenRouterModel> = match fetch_openrouter_models(&http_client).await {
+            Ok(resp) => resp.data,
+            Err(msg) => {
+                tracing::warn!(error = %msg, "sync_upstream_models: OpenRouter fetch failed, falling back to direct sync");
+                let direct_result = sync_models_direct(&self.db, &available_ids).await;
+                return Ok(direct_result);
+            }
+        };
 
         // Step 3: filter to only accessible models.
-        let filtered: Vec<&OpenRouterModel> = or_resp
-            .data
+        let filtered: Vec<&OpenRouterModel> = or_models
             .iter()
             .filter(|m| available_ids.contains(&m.id))
             .filter(|m| m.id != "openrouter/auto")
@@ -927,16 +932,16 @@ impl AppService {
         };
 
         let http_client = reqwest::Client::new();
-        let or_resp = match fetch_openrouter_models(&http_client).await {
-            Ok(r) => r,
+        let or_models: Vec<OpenRouterModel> = match fetch_openrouter_models(&http_client).await {
+            Ok(resp) => resp.data,
             Err(msg) => {
-                tracing::warn!(error = %msg, "OpenRouter model sync");
+                tracing::warn!(error = %msg, "OpenRouter model sync: fetch failed, falling back to direct sync");
+                sync_models_direct(db, &available_ids).await;
                 return;
             }
         };
 
-        let filtered: Vec<&OpenRouterModel> = or_resp
-            .data
+        let filtered: Vec<&OpenRouterModel> = or_models
             .iter()
             .filter(|m| available_ids.contains(&m.id))
             .filter(|m| m.id != "openrouter/auto")