diff --git a/packages/opencode/src/cli/cmd/models.ts b/packages/opencode/src/cli/cmd/models.ts
index 1ae4ae12ca9..b817a670aa7 100644
--- a/packages/opencode/src/cli/cmd/models.ts
+++ b/packages/opencode/src/cli/cmd/models.ts
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ export const ModelsCommand = cmd({
   },
   handler: async (args) => {
     if (args.refresh) {
-      await ModelsDev.refresh()
+      await ModelsDev.refresh(true)
       UI.println(UI.Style.TEXT_SUCCESS_BOLD + "Models cache refreshed" + UI.Style.TEXT_NORMAL)
     }
 
diff --git a/packages/opencode/src/config/config.ts b/packages/opencode/src/config/config.ts
index a4961209055..5d1681ac126 100644
--- a/packages/opencode/src/config/config.ts
+++ b/packages/opencode/src/config/config.ts
@@ -667,6 +667,10 @@ export namespace Config {
           chatMaxRetries: z.number().optional().describe("Number of retries for chat completions on failure"),
           disable_paste_summary: z.boolean().optional(),
           batch_tool: z.boolean().optional().describe("Enable the batch tool"),
+          skip_models_fetch: z
+            .boolean()
+            .optional()
+            .describe("Skip automatic fetching of models from models.dev on startup"),
         })
         .optional(),
     })
diff --git a/packages/opencode/src/provider/models.ts b/packages/opencode/src/provider/models.ts
index 676837e1521..b08d5fde460 100644
--- a/packages/opencode/src/provider/models.ts
+++ b/packages/opencode/src/provider/models.ts
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import path from "path"
 import z from "zod"
 import { data } from "./models-macro" with { type: "macro" }
 import { Installation } from "../installation"
+import { Config } from "../config/config"
 
 export namespace ModelsDev {
   const log = Log.create({ service: "models.dev" })
@@ -69,7 +70,10 @@ export namespace ModelsDev {
   export type Provider = z.infer<typeof Provider>
 
   export async function get() {
-    refresh()
+    const config = await Config.get()
+    if (!config.experimental?.skip_models_fetch) {
+      refresh()
+    }
     const file = Bun.file(filepath)
     const result = await file.json().catch(() => {})
     if (result) return result as Record<string, Provider>
@@ -77,7 +81,13 @@ export namespace ModelsDev {
     return JSON.parse(json) as Record<string, Provider>
   }
 
-  export async function refresh() {
+  export async function refresh(force = false) {
+    const config = await Config.get()
+    if (!force && config.experimental?.skip_models_fetch) {
+      log.debug("skipping models.dev fetch due to skip_models_fetch config")
+      return
+    }
+
     const file = Bun.file(filepath)
     log.info("refreshing", {
       file,
@@ -96,4 +106,12 @@ export namespace ModelsDev {
   }
 }
 
-setInterval(() => ModelsDev.refresh(), 60 * 1000 * 60).unref()
+setInterval(
+  async () => {
+    const config = await Config.get()
+    if (!config.experimental?.skip_models_fetch) {
+      ModelsDev.refresh()
+    }
+  },
+  60 * 1000 * 60,
+).unref()
diff --git a/packages/sdk/js/src/gen/types.gen.ts b/packages/sdk/js/src/gen/types.gen.ts
index d81fda9f846..6f7cfb39a38 100644
--- a/packages/sdk/js/src/gen/types.gen.ts
+++ b/packages/sdk/js/src/gen/types.gen.ts
@@ -1245,6 +1245,10 @@ export type Config = {
      * Enable the batch tool
      */
     batch_tool?: boolean
+    /**
+     * Skip automatic fetching of models from models.dev on startup
+     */
+    skip_models_fetch?: boolean
   }
 }