diff --git a/desktop/src/components/controls/ModelSelector.test.tsx b/desktop/src/components/controls/ModelSelector.test.tsx
index 6dc35d7d..73a16ca0 100644
--- a/desktop/src/components/controls/ModelSelector.test.tsx
+++ b/desktop/src/components/controls/ModelSelector.test.tsx
@@ -1069,6 +1069,7 @@ describe('ModelSelector', () => {
     })
     useSettingsStore.setState({
       locale: 'en',
+      effortLevel: 'max',
       availableModels: openAIModels,
       currentModel: openAIModels[0],
       activeProviderName: 'ChatGPT Official',
diff --git a/desktop/src/pages/EmptySession.test.tsx b/desktop/src/pages/EmptySession.test.tsx
index c76c0b07..f4ae7845 100644
--- a/desktop/src/pages/EmptySession.test.tsx
+++ b/desktop/src/pages/EmptySession.test.tsx
@@ -865,6 +865,30 @@ describe('EmptySession', () => {
     })
   })
 
+  it('carries the global effort into the first draft selection for ChatGPT Official', async () => {
+    useSettingsStore.setState({ effortLevel: 'low' })
+    useProviderStore.setState({
+      providers: [],
+      activeId: 'openai-official',
+      providerOrder: ['claude-official', 'openai-official', 'grok-official'],
+      hasLoadedProviders: true,
+    })
+
+    render(<EmptySession />)
+
+    setComposerText('draft question', 14)
+    fireEvent.click(screen.getByRole('button', { name: /Run/i }))
+
+    await waitFor(() => {
+      expect(mocks.createSession).toHaveBeenCalledWith({ permissionMode: 'default' })
+    })
+
+    expect(useSessionRuntimeStore.getState().selections['draft-session']).toMatchObject({
+      providerId: 'openai-official',
+      effortLevel: 'low',
+    })
+  })
+
   it.each([true, false])('materializes raw provider models with 1M=%s before the first draft message', async (enabled) => {
     useProviderStore.setState({
       providers: [{
@@ -902,7 +926,7 @@ describe('EmptySession', () => {
     expect(useSessionRuntimeStore.getState().selections['draft-session']).toEqual({
       providerId: 'provider-minimax',
       modelId: enabled ? 'MiniMax-M3[1m]' : 'MiniMax-M3',
-      effortLevel: 'max',
+      effortLevel: 'low',
     })
     expect(mocks.wsSend.mock.calls.slice(0, 3)).toEqual([
       [
@@ -911,7 +935,7 @@ describe('EmptySession', () => {
           type: 'set_runtime_config',
           providerId: 'provider-minimax',
           modelId: enabled ? 'MiniMax-M3[1m]' : 'MiniMax-M3',
-          effortLevel: 'max',
+          effortLevel: 'low',
         },
       ],
       ['draft-session', { type: 'prewarm_session' }],
diff --git a/desktop/src/pages/EmptySession.tsx b/desktop/src/pages/EmptySession.tsx
index 1e519e43..b0d96062 100644
--- a/desktop/src/pages/EmptySession.tsx
+++ b/desktop/src/pages/EmptySession.tsx
@@ -34,6 +34,8 @@ import {
   SlashCommandMenu,
 } from '../components/chat/SlashCommandMenu'
 import { useMobileViewport } from '../hooks/useMobileViewport'
+import { GROK_OFFICIAL_PROVIDER_ID } from '../constants/grokOfficialProvider'
+import { OPENAI_OFFICIAL_PROVIDER_ID } from '../constants/openaiOfficialProvider'
 import { isDesktopRuntime } from '../lib/desktopRuntime'
 import {
   normalizeRuntimeSelection,
@@ -400,7 +402,15 @@ export function EmptySession() {
           activeCustomProvider.apiFormat,
           getBundledPresetReasoningProviderKind(activeCustomProvider.presetId),
         )
-        : defaultActiveProviderSelection
+        : defaultActiveProviderSelection && (
+          defaultActiveProviderSelection.providerId === OPENAI_OFFICIAL_PROVIDER_ID ||
+          defaultActiveProviderSelection.providerId === GROK_OFFICIAL_PROVIDER_ID
+        )
+          // Built-in providers are not in the saved list. Without an explicit
+          // effort the server runs the model default while the selector shows
+          // the global value, so resolve it against the model's catalog here.
+          ? normalizeRuntimeSelection({ ...defaultActiveProviderSelection, effortLevel })
+          : defaultActiveProviderSelection
       const claudeOAuthRuntimeSelection = !explicitDraftSelection &&
         authStatus.source === 'claude-oauth' &&
         activeProviderId === null &&
diff --git a/desktop/src/stores/settingsStore.test.ts b/desktop/src/stores/settingsStore.test.ts
index 4ae3908a..2a8be34d 100644
--- a/desktop/src/stores/settingsStore.test.ts
+++ b/desktop/src/stores/settingsStore.test.ts
@@ -160,6 +160,15 @@ describe('settingsStore locale defaults', () => {
   })
 })
 
+describe('settingsStore effort default', () => {
+  it('starts at low before the server value loads', async () => {
+    vi.resetModules()
+    const { useSettingsStore } = await import('./settingsStore')
+
+    expect(useSettingsStore.getState().effortLevel).toBe('low')
+  })
+})
+
 describe('settingsStore UI zoom', () => {
   beforeEach(() => {
     vi.resetModules()
diff --git a/desktop/src/stores/settingsStore.ts b/desktop/src/stores/settingsStore.ts
index afad44cd..34f51ee3 100644
--- a/desktop/src/stores/settingsStore.ts
+++ b/desktop/src/stores/settingsStore.ts
@@ -204,7 +204,7 @@ let autoQuestionUpdateQueue: Promise<unknown> = Promise.resolve()
 export const useSettingsStore = create<SettingsStore>((set, get) => ({
   permissionMode: 'default',
   currentModel: null,
-  effortLevel: 'max',
+  effortLevel: 'low',
   thinkingEnabled: true,
   workflowKeywordTriggerEnabled: true,
   agentTeamsEnabled: true,
diff --git a/src/server/__tests__/e2e/business-flow.test.ts b/src/server/__tests__/e2e/business-flow.test.ts
index 58645edb..df713c06 100644
--- a/src/server/__tests__/e2e/business-flow.test.ts
+++ b/src/server/__tests__/e2e/business-flow.test.ts
@@ -457,9 +457,9 @@ describe('Business Flow: Models & Effort', () => {
     expect(status).toBe(400)
   })
 
-  it('should default effort to max', async () => {
+  it('should default effort to low', async () => {
     const { data } = await api('GET', '/api/effort')
-    expect(data.level).toBe('max')
+    expect(data.level).toBe('low')
     expect(data.available).toEqual(['low', 'medium', 'high', 'xhigh', 'max'])
   })
 
diff --git a/src/server/__tests__/settings.test.ts b/src/server/__tests__/settings.test.ts
index 518bc526..7bf13d01 100644
--- a/src/server/__tests__/settings.test.ts
+++ b/src/server/__tests__/settings.test.ts
@@ -1548,7 +1548,7 @@ describe('Models API', () => {
 
     expect(res.status).toBe(200)
     const body = await res.json()
-    expect(body.level).toBe('max')
+    expect(body.level).toBe('low')
     expect(body.available).toEqual(['low', 'medium', 'high', 'xhigh', 'max'])
   })
 
@@ -1561,7 +1561,7 @@ describe('Models API', () => {
 
     expect(res.status).toBe(200)
     const body = await res.json()
-    expect(body.level).toBe('max')
+    expect(body.level).toBe('low')
     expect(body.available).toEqual(['low', 'medium', 'high', 'xhigh', 'max'])
   })
 
diff --git a/src/server/api/models.ts b/src/server/api/models.ts
index b9af8ae5..7787eb4e 100644
--- a/src/server/api/models.ts
+++ b/src/server/api/models.ts
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ const EFFORT_LEVELS = MODEL_REASONING_EFFORTS
 // CLI's own default runs. Keep this in step with what the `opus` alias resolves to there
 // (getDefaultOpusModel) so the UI names the model that actually runs.
 const DEFAULT_MODEL = 'claude-opus-5-5'
-const DEFAULT_EFFORT = 'max'
+const DEFAULT_EFFORT = 'low'
 
 const settingsService = new SettingsService()
 const providerService = new ProviderService()