diff --git a/frontend/src/app/chat/components/assistant-message.tsx b/frontend/src/app/chat/components/assistant-message.tsx
index 9b109813..0f24dd8c 100644
--- a/frontend/src/app/chat/components/assistant-message.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/app/chat/components/assistant-message.tsx
@@ -83,8 +83,10 @@ export function AssistantMessage({
             )}
             chatMessage={
               isStreaming
-                ? content +
-                  ' <span class="inline-block w-1 h-4 bg-primary ml-1 animate-pulse"></span>'
+                ? (content.trim()
+                    ? content +
+                      ' <span class="inline-block w-1 h-4 bg-primary ml-1 animate-pulse"></span>'
+                    : '<span class="text-muted-foreground italic">Thinking<span class="thinking-dots"></span></span>')
                 : content
             }
           />
diff --git a/frontend/src/app/globals.css b/frontend/src/app/globals.css
index 7ffab80e..4765ef8c 100644
--- a/frontend/src/app/globals.css
+++ b/frontend/src/app/globals.css
@@ -365,4 +365,22 @@
     width: 100%;
     height: 30px;
   }
+
+  .thinking-dots::after {
+    content: ".";
+    animation: thinking-dots 1.4s steps(3, end) infinite;
+  }
+
+  @keyframes thinking-dots {
+    0% {
+      content: ".";
+    }
+    33.33% {
+      content: "..";
+    }
+    66.66%,
+    100% {
+      content: "...";
+    }
+  }
 }
diff --git a/frontend/src/app/onboarding/components/ibm-onboarding.tsx b/frontend/src/app/onboarding/components/ibm-onboarding.tsx
index d3540977..3d480248 100644
--- a/frontend/src/app/onboarding/components/ibm-onboarding.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/app/onboarding/components/ibm-onboarding.tsx
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ export function IBMOnboarding({
   setIsLoadingModels?: (isLoading: boolean) => void;
   alreadyConfigured?: boolean;
 }) {
-  const [endpoint, setEndpoint] = useState("https://us-south.ml.cloud.ibm.com");
+  const [endpoint, setEndpoint] = useState(alreadyConfigured ? "" : "https://us-south.ml.cloud.ibm.com");
   const [apiKey, setApiKey] = useState("");
   const [projectId, setProjectId] = useState("");
 
diff --git a/frontend/src/app/onboarding/components/ollama-onboarding.tsx b/frontend/src/app/onboarding/components/ollama-onboarding.tsx
index e9d2fa1b..99c26d2a 100644
--- a/frontend/src/app/onboarding/components/ollama-onboarding.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/app/onboarding/components/ollama-onboarding.tsx
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ export function OllamaOnboarding({
   isEmbedding?: boolean;
   alreadyConfigured?: boolean;
 }) {
-  const [endpoint, setEndpoint] = useState(`http://localhost:11434`);
+  const [endpoint, setEndpoint] = useState(alreadyConfigured ? undefined : `http://localhost:11434`);
   const [showConnecting, setShowConnecting] = useState(false);
   const debouncedEndpoint = useDebouncedValue(endpoint, 500);