diff --git a/workspace-server/internal/handlers/workspace_test.go b/workspace-server/internal/handlers/workspace_test.go
index a32c9f3e9..5b1479ffa 100644
--- a/workspace-server/internal/handlers/workspace_test.go
+++ b/workspace-server/internal/handlers/workspace_test.go
@@ -1031,6 +1031,54 @@ func TestWorkspaceUpdate_RuntimeField_DBErrorReturnsServerError(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestWorkspaceUpdate_RuntimeField_ModelUnresolved_SkipsCheckAndProceeds(t *testing.T) {
+	mock := setupTestDB(t)
+	setupTestRedis(t)
+	broadcaster := newTestBroadcaster()
+	handler := NewWorkspaceHandler(broadcaster, nil, "http://localhost:8080", t.TempDir())
+
+	mock.ExpectQuery("SELECT EXISTS.*workspaces WHERE id").
+		WithArgs("cccccccc-0006-0000-0000-000000000002").
+		WillReturnRows(sqlmock.NewRows([]string{"exists"}).AddRow(true))
+	// The JRS case: the model lives only in workspace_secrets (the
+	// workspaces.model column is empty). No MODEL secret row means the
+	// model is genuinely undeterminable at PATCH time; the strict
+	// (runtime, model) compat-check is skipped and the PATCH proceeds.
+	// A bad (runtime, model) pair fail-closes at boot, not here.
+	mock.ExpectQuery(`SELECT encrypted_value, encryption_version FROM workspace_secrets WHERE workspace_id = \$1 AND key = 'MODEL'`).
+		WithArgs("cccccccc-0006-0000-0000-000000000002").
+		WillReturnError(sql.ErrNoRows)
+	mock.ExpectExec("UPDATE workspaces SET runtime").
+		WithArgs("cccccccc-0006-0000-0000-000000000002", "claude-code").
+		WillReturnResult(sqlmock.NewResult(0, 1))
+
+	w := httptest.NewRecorder()
+	c, _ := gin.CreateTestContext(w)
+	c.Params = gin.Params{{Key: "id", Value: "cccccccc-0006-0000-0000-000000000002"}}
+
+	body := `{"runtime":"claude-code"}`
+	c.Request = httptest.NewRequest("PATCH", "/workspaces/ws-rt", bytes.NewBufferString(body))
+	c.Request.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
+
+	handler.Update(c)
+
+	if w.Code != http.StatusOK {
+		t.Errorf("expected status 200 (unresolved model → skip check, proceed), got %d: %s", w.Code, w.Body.String())
+	}
+
+	var resp map[string]interface{}
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(w.Body.Bytes(), &resp); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("failed to parse response: %v", err)
+	}
+	if resp["needs_restart"] != true {
+		t.Errorf("expected needs_restart=true, got %v", resp["needs_restart"])
+	}
+
+	if err := mock.ExpectationsWereMet(); err != nil {
+		t.Errorf("unmet sqlmock expectations: %v", err)
+	}
+}
+
 // ==================== DELETE /workspaces/:id ====================
 
 func TestWorkspaceDelete_ConfirmationRequired(t *testing.T) {