diff --git a/internal/web/uploads.go b/internal/web/uploads.go
index 24e84bd..28601fe 100644
--- a/internal/web/uploads.go
+++ b/internal/web/uploads.go
@@ -220,7 +220,8 @@ func (a *App) handleUploadChat(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 		http.Redirect(w, r, "/uploads/"+u.ID, http.StatusSeeOther)
 		return
 	}
-	a.render(w, r, UploadChatPage(*u, a.uploadChatView(*u, a.Chat.DefaultModel(a.UploadChatModel), nil, false, "")))
+	model, _ := a.resolveUploadModel("")
+	a.render(w, r, UploadChatPage(*u, a.uploadChatView(*u, model, nil, false, "")))
 }
 
 // handleUploadChatMessage answers one question against the owner's uploaded
@@ -240,7 +241,13 @@ func (a *App) handleUploadChatMessage(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 		http.Error(w, "bad form", http.StatusBadRequest)
 		return
 	}
-	model := a.resolveModel(r.FormValue("model"), a.UploadChatModel)
+	model, ok := a.resolveUploadModel(r.FormValue("model"))
+	if !ok {
+		a.logger().Error("upload chat: no local model is configured; nothing was sent", "upload", u.ID)
+		view := a.uploadChatView(*u, "", nil, false, "No local model is available for chat about a recording.")
+		a.render(w, r, UploadChatPage(*u, view))
+		return
+	}
 	history := parseHistory(r.Form["hq"], r.Form["ha"])
 	question := strings.TrimSpace(r.FormValue("question"))
 
@@ -273,7 +280,7 @@ func (a *App) uploadChatView(u domain.UploadedTranscript, model string, history
 		VideoID:   u.ID,
 		Title:     u.Title,
 		Available: true,
-		Models:    a.Chat.Models(),
+		Models:    a.UploadChatModels,
 		Selected:  model,
 		History:   history,
 		Truncated: truncated,
@@ -401,3 +408,27 @@ func minutesAgo(d time.Duration) string {
 	}
 	return "under a minute"
 }
+
+// resolveUploadModel picks the model for chat over an uploaded recording from the
+// offered LOCAL set only: the posted one when it is in the set, else the configured
+// default when it is, else the first. ok is false when no model is offered, in which
+// case nothing may be sent anywhere (the whole private transcript is the payload).
+func (a *App) resolveUploadModel(posted string) (model string, ok bool) {
+	offered := func(m string) bool {
+		for _, o := range a.UploadChatModels {
+			if o == m {
+				return true
+			}
+		}
+		return false
+	}
+	switch {
+	case posted != "" && offered(posted):
+		return posted, true
+	case a.UploadChatModel != "" && offered(a.UploadChatModel):
+		return a.UploadChatModel, true
+	case len(a.UploadChatModels) > 0:
+		return a.UploadChatModels[0], true
+	}
+	return "", false
+}