diff --git a/backend/open_webui/main.py b/backend/open_webui/main.py
index 2ef0cf5496..bf2016f6c8 100644
--- a/backend/open_webui/main.py
+++ b/backend/open_webui/main.py
@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@ from open_webui.models.chats import ChatForm, Chats
 from open_webui.models.config import Config
 from open_webui.models.functions import Functions
 from open_webui.models.messages import Messages
-from open_webui.models.models import Models
+from open_webui.models.models import Models, normalize_model_tags
 from open_webui.models.users import Users
 from open_webui.routers import (
     analytics,
@@ -890,19 +890,17 @@ async def get_models(request: Request, refresh: bool = False, user=Depends(get_v
     models = await get_filtered_models(models, user)
 
     for model in models:
+        info = model.get('info') if isinstance(model.get('info'), dict) else {}
+        meta = info.get('meta') if isinstance(info.get('meta'), dict) else {}
+
         # Remove profile image URL to reduce payload size
-        if model.get('info', {}).get('meta', {}).get('profile_image_url'):
-            model['info']['meta'].pop('profile_image_url', None)
+        meta.pop('profile_image_url', None)
 
-        try:
-            model_tags = [tag.get('name') for tag in model.get('info', {}).get('meta', {}).get('tags', [])]
-            tags = [tag.get('name') for tag in model.get('tags', [])]
+        if 'tags' in meta:
+            meta['tags'] = normalize_model_tags(meta['tags'])
 
-            tags = list(set(model_tags + tags))
-            model['tags'] = [{'name': tag} for tag in tags]
-        except Exception as e:
-            log.debug('Error processing model tags: %s', e)
-            model['tags'] = []
+        tags = normalize_model_tags(meta.get('tags')) + normalize_model_tags(model.get('tags'))
+        model['tags'] = list({tag['name']: tag for tag in tags}.values())
 
     model_order_list = await Config.get('ui.model_order_list')
     if model_order_list:
@@ -1857,6 +1855,7 @@ async def chat_completion(
 generate_chat_completions = chat_completion
 generate_chat_completion = chat_completion
 
+
 @app.post('/api/v1/chats/{id}/messages/{message_id}/resolve')
 async def resolve_chat_message_tool_call(
     request: Request,
diff --git a/backend/open_webui/models/models.py b/backend/open_webui/models/models.py
index 708eb2b7e5..0f3b731ea4 100755
--- a/backend/open_webui/models/models.py
+++ b/backend/open_webui/models/models.py
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ from __future__ import annotations
 import logging
 import time
 from copy import deepcopy
-from typing import Any, Optional
+from typing import Any
 
 from open_webui.internal.db import Base, JSONField, get_async_db_context
 from open_webui.models.access_grants import AccessGrantModel, AccessGrants
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@ from open_webui.utils.misc import json_text_variants
 from open_webui.utils.validate import validate_profile_image_url
 from pydantic import BaseModel, ConfigDict, Field, field_validator, model_validator
 from sqlalchemy import BigInteger, Boolean, Column, String, Text, cast, delete, func, or_, select, update
-from sqlalchemy.dialects.postgresql import JSONB
 from sqlalchemy.ext.asyncio import AsyncSession
 
 log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
@@ -23,6 +22,18 @@ log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 _warned_profile_urls: set[str] = set()
 
 
+def normalize_model_tags(tags: Any) -> list[dict[str, str]]:
+    if not isinstance(tags, list):
+        return []
+
+    normalized = []
+    for tag in tags:
+        name = tag.get('name') if isinstance(tag, dict) else tag
+        if isinstance(name, str) and name.strip():
+            normalized.append({'name': name.strip()})
+    return normalized
+
+
 def strip_extracted_content_from_model_knowledge(knowledge: Any) -> Any:
     """Drop duplicated extracted text from ModelMeta.knowledge."""
     if not isinstance(knowledge, list):
@@ -99,15 +110,7 @@ class ModelMeta(BaseModel):
     @classmethod
     def normalize_tags(cls, data):
         if isinstance(data, dict) and 'tags' in data:
-            raw_tags = data['tags']
-            if isinstance(raw_tags, list):
-                normalized = []
-                for tag in raw_tags:
-                    if isinstance(tag, str):
-                        normalized.append({'name': tag})
-                    elif isinstance(tag, dict) and 'name' in tag:
-                        normalized.append(tag)
-                data['tags'] = normalized
+            data['tags'] = normalize_model_tags(data['tags'])
         return data
 
 
diff --git a/src/lib/apis/index.ts b/src/lib/apis/index.ts
index 65046b4004..04d8323177 100644
--- a/src/lib/apis/index.ts
+++ b/src/lib/apis/index.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import { WEBUI_BASE_URL } from '$lib/constants';
 import { convertOpenApiToToolPayload } from '$lib/utils';
+import { normalizeTags } from '$lib/utils/tags';
 import { getOpenAIModelsDirect } from './openai';
 
 const TOOL_SERVER_FETCH_TIMEOUT = 10000;
@@ -141,8 +142,8 @@ export const getModels = async (
 					}
 				}
 
-				const tags = apiConfig.tags;
-				if (tags) {
+				const tags = normalizeTags(apiConfig.tags);
+				if (tags.length > 0) {
 					for (const model of models) {
 						model.tags = tags;
 					}
diff --git a/src/lib/components/AddConnectionModal.svelte b/src/lib/components/AddConnectionModal.svelte
index 2c7ed22a87..55cda09968 100644
--- a/src/lib/components/AddConnectionModal.svelte
+++ b/src/lib/components/AddConnectionModal.svelte
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 	import Spinner from '$lib/components/common/Spinner.svelte';
 	import XMark from '$lib/components/icons/XMark.svelte';
 	import Textarea from './common/Textarea.svelte';
+	import { normalizeTags } from '$lib/utils/tags';
 
 	export let onSubmit: Function = () => {};
 	export let onDelete: Function = () => {};
@@ -249,7 +250,7 @@
 				: '';
 
 			enable = connection.config?.enable ?? true;
-			tags = connection.config?.tags ?? [];
+			tags = normalizeTags(connection.config?.tags);
 			prefixId = connection.config?.prefix_id ?? '';
 			passthroughParams = Array.isArray(connection.config?.passthrough_params)
 				? connection.config.passthrough_params.join(', ')
diff --git a/src/lib/utils/tags.ts b/src/lib/utils/tags.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..12b626087e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lib/utils/tags.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+export type Tag = { name: string };
+
+const getTagName = (tag: unknown) => {
+	if (typeof tag === 'string') {
+		return tag;
+	}
+
+	if (typeof tag === 'object' && tag !== null && 'name' in tag) {
+		return (tag as { name?: unknown }).name;
+	}
+};
+
+export const normalizeTags = (tags: unknown): Tag[] =>
+	(Array.isArray(tags) ? tags : [])
+		.map(getTagName)
+		.filter((name): name is string => typeof name === 'string' && name.trim() !== '')
+		.map((name) => ({ name: name.trim() }));