diff --git a/frontend/src/routes/llm-settings.tsx b/frontend/src/routes/llm-settings.tsx
index 1392d53f87..b88fe701df 100644
--- a/frontend/src/routes/llm-settings.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/routes/llm-settings.tsx
@@ -28,10 +28,11 @@ import { LlmSettingsInputsSkeleton } from "#/components/features/settings/llm-se
 import { KeyStatusIcon } from "#/components/features/settings/key-status-icon";
 import { DEFAULT_SETTINGS } from "#/services/settings";
 import { getProviderId } from "#/utils/map-provider";
-import { DEFAULT_OPENHANDS_MODEL } from "#/utils/verified-models";
 import { useMe } from "#/hooks/query/use-me";
 import { usePermission } from "#/hooks/organizations/use-permissions";
 
+const DEFAULT_OPENHANDS_MODEL = "openhands/claude-opus-4-5-20251101";
+
 interface OpenHandsApiKeyHelpProps {
   testId: string;
 }
diff --git a/frontend/src/utils/verified-models.ts b/frontend/src/utils/verified-models.ts
deleted file mode 100644
index 1cb1f9e61f..0000000000
--- a/frontend/src/utils/verified-models.ts
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,10 +0,0 @@
-// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-// All verified-model and verified-provider lists are now served by the
-// backend via ``GET /api/options/models`` (see ``ModelsResponse``).
-//
-// This file only keeps the compile-time fallback default used when no API
-// response is available yet (e.g. the initial settings page render).
-// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-/** Fallback default model shown before the API responds. */
-export const DEFAULT_OPENHANDS_MODEL = "openhands/claude-opus-4-5-20251101";
diff --git a/openhands/utils/llm.py b/openhands/utils/llm.py
index 03d8245393..61e2928bd9 100644
--- a/openhands/utils/llm.py
+++ b/openhands/utils/llm.py
@@ -176,8 +176,8 @@ def _assign_provider(model: str) -> str:
     if '/' in model or '.' in model:
         return model
 
-    # Build the openhands bare-name set dynamically so it always matches
-    # whatever ``get_openhands_models`` returns at call time.
+    # Prefix well-known bare SDK model names with their canonical provider.
+    # The provider sets are loaded from the SDK once at import time.
     if model in _BARE_OPENAI_MODELS:
         return f'openai/{model}'
     if model in _BARE_ANTHROPIC_MODELS: