diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 0e30b6339..e19252223 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -103,6 +103,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 ### Fixes
 
 - FS tools/workspaceOnly: honor `tools.fs.workspaceOnly=false` for host write and edit operations so FS tools can access paths outside the workspace when sandbox is off. (#28822) thanks @lailoo. Fixes #28763. Thanks @cjscld for reporting.
+- Ollama/Model discovery: skip model discovery when explicit models are configured, preventing 5s timeout delays at startup for remote Ollama hosts. (#28762)
 - Telegram/DM allowlist runtime inheritance: enforce `dmPolicy: "allowlist"` `allowFrom` requirements using effective account-plus-parent config across account-capable channels (Telegram, Discord, Slack, Signal, iMessage, IRC, BlueBubbles, WhatsApp), and align `openclaw doctor` checks to the same inheritance logic so DM traffic is not silently dropped after upgrades. (#27936) Thanks @widingmarcus-cyber.
 - Delivery queue/recovery backoff: prevent retry starvation by persisting `lastAttemptAt` on failed sends and deferring recovery retries until each entry's `lastAttemptAt + backoff` window is eligible, while continuing to recover ready entries behind deferred ones. Landed from contributor PR #27710 by @Jimmy-xuzimo. Thanks @Jimmy-xuzimo.
 - Gemini OAuth/Auth flow: align OAuth project discovery metadata and endpoint fallback handling for Gemini CLI auth, including fallback coverage for environment-provided project IDs. (#16684) Thanks @vincentkoc.
diff --git a/src/agents/models-config.providers.ollama.test.ts b/src/agents/models-config.providers.ollama.test.ts
index d007e5f8d..042e4e323 100644
--- a/src/agents/models-config.providers.ollama.test.ts
+++ b/src/agents/models-config.providers.ollama.test.ts
@@ -194,4 +194,40 @@ describe("Ollama provider", () => {
     // Native Ollama provider does not need streaming: false workaround
     expect(mockOllamaModel).not.toHaveProperty("params");
   });
+
+  it("should skip discovery when explicit models are configured", async () => {
+    const agentDir = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), "openclaw-test-"));
+    process.env.OLLAMA_API_KEY = "test-key";
+
+    try {
+      const explicitModels = [
+        {
+          id: "gpt-oss:20b",
+          name: "GPT-OSS 20B",
+          reasoning: false,
+          input: ["text"] as const,
+          cost: { input: 0, output: 0, cacheRead: 0, cacheWrite: 0 },
+          contextWindow: 8192,
+          maxTokens: 81920,
+        },
+      ];
+
+      const providers = await resolveImplicitProviders({
+        agentDir,
+        explicitProviders: {
+          ollama: {
+            baseUrl: "http://remote-ollama:11434",
+            api: "ollama",
+            models: explicitModels,
+          },
+        },
+      });
+
+      // Should use explicit models, not run discovery
+      expect(providers?.ollama?.models).toEqual(explicitModels);
+      expect(providers?.ollama?.baseUrl).toBe("http://remote-ollama:11434");
+    } finally {
+      delete process.env.OLLAMA_API_KEY;
+    }
+  });
 });
diff --git a/src/agents/models-config.providers.ts b/src/agents/models-config.providers.ts
index 012052d3f..744e8bb4c 100644
--- a/src/agents/models-config.providers.ts
+++ b/src/agents/models-config.providers.ts
@@ -1021,21 +1021,33 @@ export async function resolveImplicitProviders(params: {
   // Ollama provider - auto-discover if running locally, or add if explicitly configured.
   // Use the user's configured baseUrl (from explicit providers) for model
   // discovery so that remote / non-default Ollama instances are reachable.
+  // Skip discovery when explicit models are already defined.
   const ollamaKey =
     resolveEnvApiKeyVarName("ollama") ??
     resolveApiKeyFromProfiles({ provider: "ollama", store: authStore });
-  const ollamaBaseUrl = params.explicitProviders?.ollama?.baseUrl;
-  const hasExplicitOllamaConfig = Boolean(params.explicitProviders?.ollama);
-  // Only suppress warnings for implicit local probing when user has not
-  // explicitly configured Ollama.
-  const ollamaProvider = await buildOllamaProvider(ollamaBaseUrl, {
-    quiet: !ollamaKey && !hasExplicitOllamaConfig,
-  });
-  if (ollamaProvider.models.length > 0 || ollamaKey) {
+  const explicitOllama = params.explicitProviders?.ollama;
+  const hasExplicitModels =
+    Array.isArray(explicitOllama?.models) && explicitOllama.models.length > 0;
+  if (hasExplicitModels) {
     providers.ollama = {
-      ...ollamaProvider,
+      ...explicitOllama,
+      api: explicitOllama.api ?? "ollama",
       apiKey: ollamaKey ?? "ollama-local",
     };
+  } else {
+    const ollamaBaseUrl = explicitOllama?.baseUrl;
+    const hasExplicitOllamaConfig = Boolean(explicitOllama);
+    // Only suppress warnings for implicit local probing when user has not
+    // explicitly configured Ollama.
+    const ollamaProvider = await buildOllamaProvider(ollamaBaseUrl, {
+      quiet: !ollamaKey && !hasExplicitOllamaConfig,
+    });
+    if (ollamaProvider.models.length > 0 || ollamaKey) {
+      providers.ollama = {
+        ...ollamaProvider,
+        apiKey: ollamaKey ?? "ollama-local",
+      };
+    }
   }
 
   // vLLM provider - OpenAI-compatible local server (opt-in via env/profile).