diff --git a/packages/opencode/src/cli/cmd/tui/component/dialog-model.tsx b/packages/opencode/src/cli/cmd/tui/component/dialog-model.tsx
index 09c2d64b00dc..1d453c6ee869 100644
--- a/packages/opencode/src/cli/cmd/tui/component/dialog-model.tsx
+++ b/packages/opencode/src/cli/cmd/tui/component/dialog-model.tsx
@@ -9,6 +9,21 @@ import { DialogVariant } from "./dialog-variant"
 import * as fuzzysort from "fuzzysort"
 import { useConnected } from "./use-connected"
 
+type ModelSelection = { providerID: string; modelID: string }
+
+export function shouldOpenVariantDialog(
+  model: ModelSelection,
+  variant: {
+    list(model?: ModelSelection): string[]
+    selected(model?: ModelSelection): string | undefined
+  },
+) {
+  const list = variant.list(model)
+  const cur = variant.selected(model)
+  if (cur === "default" || (cur && list.includes(cur))) return false
+  return list.length > 0
+}
+
 export function DialogModel(props: { providerID?: string }) {
   const local = useLocal()
   const sync = useSync()
@@ -131,14 +146,9 @@ export function DialogModel(props: { providerID?: string }) {
   })
 
   function onSelect(providerID: string, modelID: string) {
-    local.model.set({ providerID, modelID }, { recent: true })
-    const list = local.model.variant.list()
-    const cur = local.model.variant.selected()
-    if (cur === "default" || (cur && list.includes(cur))) {
-      dialog.clear()
-      return
-    }
-    if (list.length > 0) {
+    const model = { providerID, modelID }
+    local.model.set(model, { recent: true })
+    if (shouldOpenVariantDialog(model, local.model.variant)) {
       dialog.replace(() => <DialogVariant />)
       return
     }
diff --git a/packages/opencode/src/cli/cmd/tui/context/local.tsx b/packages/opencode/src/cli/cmd/tui/context/local.tsx
index c4bab95842ec..86e6dbc590d8 100644
--- a/packages/opencode/src/cli/cmd/tui/context/local.tsx
+++ b/packages/opencode/src/cli/cmd/tui/context/local.tsx
@@ -23,6 +23,11 @@ export function parseModel(model: string) {
   }
 }
 
+type SelectedModel = {
+  providerID: string
+  modelID: string
+}
+
 export const { use: useLocal, provider: LocalProvider } = createSimpleContext({
   name: "Local",
   init: () => {
@@ -336,20 +341,20 @@ export const { use: useLocal, provider: LocalProvider } = createSimpleContext({
           })
         },
         variant: {
-          selected() {
-            const m = currentModel()
+          selected(model?: SelectedModel) {
+            const m = model ?? currentModel()
             if (!m) return undefined
             const key = `${m.providerID}/${m.modelID}`
             return modelStore.variant[key]
           },
-          current() {
-            const v = this.selected()
+          current(model?: SelectedModel) {
+            const v = this.selected(model)
             if (!v) return undefined
-            if (!this.list().includes(v)) return undefined
+            if (!this.list(model).includes(v)) return undefined
             return v
           },
-          list() {
-            const m = currentModel()
+          list(model?: SelectedModel) {
+            const m = model ?? currentModel()
             if (!m) return []
             const provider = sync.data.provider.find((x) => x.id === m.providerID)
             const info = provider?.models[m.modelID]
diff --git a/packages/opencode/test/cli/cmd/tui/dialog-model.test.ts b/packages/opencode/test/cli/cmd/tui/dialog-model.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..deb4d12f15cc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/opencode/test/cli/cmd/tui/dialog-model.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+import { describe, expect, test } from "bun:test"
+import { shouldOpenVariantDialog } from "../../../../src/cli/cmd/tui/component/dialog-model"
+
+describe("DialogModel variant routing", () => {
+  test("checks variants for the selected model instead of the previous current model", () => {
+    const calls: Array<{ providerID: string; modelID: string } | undefined> = []
+    const selected = { providerID: "openai", modelID: "gpt-5.4" }
+
+    const shouldOpen = shouldOpenVariantDialog(selected, {
+      list(model) {
+        calls.push(model)
+        return model?.modelID === selected.modelID ? ["low", "medium", "high"] : []
+      },
+      selected(model) {
+        calls.push(model)
+        return model?.modelID === selected.modelID ? undefined : "default"
+      },
+    })
+
+    expect(shouldOpen).toBe(true)
+    expect(calls).toEqual([selected, selected])
+  })
+
+  test("keeps the model dialog closed when a variant choice is already saved", () => {
+    const selected = { providerID: "openai", modelID: "gpt-5.4" }
+
+    expect(
+      shouldOpenVariantDialog(selected, {
+        list: () => ["low", "medium", "high"],
+        selected: () => "medium",
+      }),
+    ).toBe(false)
+
+    expect(
+      shouldOpenVariantDialog(selected, {
+        list: () => ["low", "medium", "high"],
+        selected: () => "default",
+      }),
+    ).toBe(false)
+  })
+})