diff --git a/packages/chat-client/src/components/SettingsView.jsx b/packages/chat-client/src/components/SettingsView.jsx
index 20ecd29..1207223 100644
--- a/packages/chat-client/src/components/SettingsView.jsx
+++ b/packages/chat-client/src/components/SettingsView.jsx
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ function NumberSetting({ label, description, value, min, max, step = 1, onSave,
 function SettingsRow({ label, description, action }) {
   return (
     <div style={{
-      display: 'flex', alignItems: 'center', justifyContent: 'space-between',
+      display: 'flex', alignItems: 'flex-start', justifyContent: 'space-between',
       padding: '14px 16px',
       borderBottom: '1px solid var(--border)',
     }}
diff --git a/packages/orchestration-service/src/config/settings.js b/packages/orchestration-service/src/config/settings.js
index 2ed0d51..218418e 100644
--- a/packages/orchestration-service/src/config/settings.js
+++ b/packages/orchestration-service/src/config/settings.js
@@ -5,9 +5,10 @@ const { ORCHESTRATION } = require('@nexusai/shared');
 const SETTINGS_PATH = path.join(__dirname, '../../data/settings.json');
 
 const DEFAULTS = {
-  recentEpisodeLimit: ORCHESTRATION.RECENT_EPISODE_LIMIT,
-  semanticLimit:      ORCHESTRATION.SEMANTIC_LIMIT,
-  scoreThreshold:     ORCHESTRATION.SCORE_THRESHOLD,
+  recentEpisodeLimit:   ORCHESTRATION.RECENT_EPISODE_LIMIT,
+  semanticLimit:        ORCHESTRATION.SEMANTIC_LIMIT,
+  scoreThreshold:       ORCHESTRATION.SCORE_THRESHOLD,
+  modelsFolderPath:     getEnv('MODELS_MANIFEST_PATH', '/mnt/nexus-models')
 };
 
 function load() {
diff --git a/packages/orchestration-service/src/routes/models.js b/packages/orchestration-service/src/routes/models.js
index 84201d3..8c360c3 100644
--- a/packages/orchestration-service/src/routes/models.js
+++ b/packages/orchestration-service/src/routes/models.js
@@ -1,21 +1,52 @@
-// routes/models.js
 const express = require('express');
 const router = express.Router();
 const fs = require('fs');
 const path = require('path');
-const {getEnv} = require('@nexusai/shared');
-
-const MODELS_PATH = getEnv('MODELS_MANIFEST_PATH', path.join(__dirname, '../models.json'));
+const appSettings = require('../config/settings');
 
 router.get('/', (req, res) => {
+  const { modelsFolderPath } = appSettings.load();
+
   try {
-    const raw = fs.readFileSync(MODELS_PATH, 'utf8');
-    const models = JSON.parse(raw);
+    // Try scanning folder for .gguf files
+    const files = fs.readdirSync(modelsFolderPath)
+      .filter(f => f.endsWith('.gguf'));
+
+    // Try loading models.json for richer metadata (label, description)
+    let manifest = {};
+    try {
+      const manifestPath = path.join(modelsFolderPath, 'models.json');
+      const raw = fs.readFileSync(manifestPath, 'utf8');
+      // Index manifest by filename for quick lookup
+      const list = JSON.parse(raw);
+      for (const m of list) {
+        manifest[m.value] = m;
+      }
+    } catch {
+      // No manifest — scan only, that's fine
+    }
+
+    const models = files.map(filename => ({
+      value:       filename,
+      label:       manifest[filename]?.label ?? filename.replace('.gguf', ''),
+      description: manifest[filename]?.description ?? null,
+      size:        getFileSizeMB(path.join(modelsFolderPath, filename)),
+    }));
+
     res.json(models);
   } catch (err) {
-    console.error('[models] Failed to read manifest:', err.message);
-    res.status(500).json({ error: 'Could not load models manifest' });
+    console.error('[models] Failed to scan folder:', err.message);
+    res.status(500).json({ error: `Could not read models folder: ${modelsFolderPath}` });
   }
 });
 
+function getFileSizeMB(filepath) {
+  try {
+    const bytes = fs.statSync(filepath).size;
+    return (bytes / (1024 ** 3)).toFixed(1) + ' GB'; // models are big — show GB
+  } catch {
+    return null;
+  }
+}
+
 module.exports = router;
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/packages/orchestration-service/src/routes/settings.js b/packages/orchestration-service/src/routes/settings.js
index 8a7c977..4a5ba13 100644
--- a/packages/orchestration-service/src/routes/settings.js
+++ b/packages/orchestration-service/src/routes/settings.js
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 const { Router } = require('express');
 const settings = require('../config/settings');
+const fs = require('fs');
 
 const router = Router();
 
@@ -32,6 +33,18 @@ router.patch('/', (req, res) => {
     updates.scoreThreshold = val;
   }
 
+  if (req.body.modelsFolderPath !== undefined) {
+  const val = req.body.modelsFolderPath.trim();
+  if (!val) return res.status(400).json({ error: 'modelsFolderPath cannot be empty' });
+  // Verify the path exists and is readable
+  try {
+    fs.readdirSync(val);
+  } catch {
+    return res.status(400).json({ error: `Path not accessible: ${val}` });
+  }
+  updates.modelsFolderPath = val;
+}
+
   res.json(settings.save(updates));
 });