diff --git a/cmd/picoclaw/internal/model/add_test.go b/cmd/picoclaw/internal/model/add_test.go
index 5da4d5e7..51a61124 100644
--- a/cmd/picoclaw/internal/model/add_test.go
+++ b/cmd/picoclaw/internal/model/add_test.go
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import (
 	"bytes"
 	"net/http"
 	"net/http/httptest"
+	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
 
@@ -68,6 +69,21 @@ func TestFetchOpenAIModels_HTTPError(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.Contains(t, err.Error(), "HTTP 401")
 }
 
+func TestFetchOpenAIModels_HTTPErrorReadFailure(t *testing.T) {
+	srv := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, _ *http.Request) {
+		body := "short"
+		w.Header().Set("Content-Length", strconv.Itoa(len(body)+1))
+		w.WriteHeader(http.StatusUnauthorized)
+		_, _ = w.Write([]byte(body))
+	}))
+	defer srv.Close()
+
+	_, err := fetchOpenAIModels(srv.URL, "bad")
+	require.Error(t, err)
+	assert.Contains(t, err.Error(), "read error response")
+	assert.Contains(t, err.Error(), "unexpected EOF")
+}
+
 func TestFetchOpenAIModels_EmptyDataEnvelope(t *testing.T) {
 	srv := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, _ *http.Request) {
 		_, _ = w.Write([]byte(`{"data":[]}`))
diff --git a/cmd/picoclaw/internal/model/online.go b/cmd/picoclaw/internal/model/online.go
index 9b8f7811..1d1a7453 100644
--- a/cmd/picoclaw/internal/model/online.go
+++ b/cmd/picoclaw/internal/model/online.go
@@ -45,7 +45,10 @@ func fetchOpenAIModels(baseURL, apiKey string) ([]modelEntry, error) {
 	defer resp.Body.Close()
 
 	if resp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
-		body, _ := io.ReadAll(io.LimitReader(resp.Body, 512))
+		body, err := io.ReadAll(io.LimitReader(resp.Body, 512))
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("read error response: %w", err)
+		}
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("HTTP %d: %s", resp.StatusCode, strings.TrimSpace(string(body)))
 	}