diff --git a/packages/app/src/context/global-sync/utils.test.ts b/packages/app/src/context/global-sync/utils.test.ts
index 5c62a8f6a07b..a0efceaf2328 100644
--- a/packages/app/src/context/global-sync/utils.test.ts
+++ b/packages/app/src/context/global-sync/utils.test.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { describe, expect, test } from "bun:test"
+import { describe, expect, test } from "bun:test"
 import type {
   AgentListOutput,
   ModelDefaultOutput,
@@ -118,6 +118,36 @@ describe("normalizeProviderList", () => {
   test("preserves an empty current default", () => {
     expect(normalizeProviderList([] as ProviderListOutput["data"], [], null).defaultModel).toBeNull()
   })
+
+  test("sets release_date to undefined when the server reports released=0", () => {
+    // Models with time.released === 0 have no known release date. The server
+    // uses 0 as a sentinel for "unreleased" or "config-only" models. Mapping 0
+    // to "1970-01-01" produces a valid DateTime in the visibility filter, which
+    // then hides the model because 1970-01-01 is outside the recent 6-month
+    // window. Setting release_date to undefined instead triggers the
+    // unknown-date escape hatch in models.tsx and keeps the model visible.
+    const result = normalizeProviderList(
+      [{ id: "custom", name: "Custom", package: "@custom/provider" }] as ProviderListOutput["data"],
+      [
+        {
+          id: "my-model",
+          modelID: "my-model",
+          providerID: "custom",
+          name: "My Model",
+          capabilities: { tools: true, input: ["text"], output: ["text"] },
+          variants: [],
+          time: { released: 0 },
+          cost: [],
+          status: "active",
+          enabled: true,
+          limit: { context: 32_000, output: 4_096 },
+        },
+      ] as ModelListOutput["data"],
+      undefined,
+    )
+
+    expect(result.all.get("custom")?.models["my-model"]?.release_date).toBeUndefined()
+  })
 })
 
 describe("directoryKey", () => {
@@ -135,4 +165,4 @@ describe("directoryKey", () => {
     expect(String(directoryKey("C:/"))).toBe("C:/")
     expect(String(directoryKey("/"))).toBe("/")
   })
-})
+})
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/packages/app/src/context/global-sync/utils.ts b/packages/app/src/context/global-sync/utils.ts
index 1b2c2f4d2da4..d37fdf93219b 100644
--- a/packages/app/src/context/global-sync/utils.ts
+++ b/packages/app/src/context/global-sync/utils.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import type {
+import type {
   AgentListOutput,
   ModelDefaultOutput,
   ModelListOutput,
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ export function normalizeProviderList(
       status: model.status,
       options: model.settings ?? {},
       headers: model.headers ?? {},
-      release_date: new Date(model.time.released).toISOString().slice(0, 10),
+      release_date: model.time.released === 0 ? undefined : new Date(model.time.released).toISOString().slice(0, 10),
       variants: Object.fromEntries(model.variants.map((variant) => [variant.id, variant.settings ?? {}])),
     }
   }
@@ -169,4 +169,4 @@ export function normalizeProjectInfo(project: Project | CurrentProject): Project
     ...project,
     vcs: project.vcs === "git" ? "git" : undefined,
   }
-}
+}
\ No newline at end of file