diff --git a/lib/ai/__tests__/local-client.test.ts b/lib/ai/__tests__/local-client.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b1d631a7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/ai/__tests__/local-client.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+import { describe, it, expect, vi, afterEach } from 'vitest';
+import { chatPublic } from '../local-client';
+
+describe('chatPublic', () => {
+  afterEach(() => {
+    vi.unstubAllGlobals();
+  });
+
+  it('turns a network/CORS-level failure into an actionable message naming the Base URL', async () => {
+    vi.stubGlobal('fetch', vi.fn().mockRejectedValue(new TypeError('Failed to fetch')));
+
+    await expect(
+      chatPublic('https://platform.deepseek.com/', 'sk-test', 'deepseek-chat', [
+        { role: 'user', content: 'hi' },
+      ]),
+    ).rejects.toThrow(/Could not reach https:\/\/platform\.deepseek\.com\/chat\/completions/);
+  });
+
+  it('still reports the provider-returned status when the request completes', async () => {
+    vi.stubGlobal(
+      'fetch',
+      vi.fn().mockResolvedValue({ ok: false, status: 401, json: async () => ({}) }),
+    );
+
+    await expect(
+      chatPublic('https://api.deepseek.com', 'sk-bad', 'deepseek-chat', [
+        { role: 'user', content: 'hi' },
+      ]),
+    ).rejects.toThrow('Provider returned 401');
+  });
+
+  it('returns the message content on success', async () => {
+    vi.stubGlobal(
+      'fetch',
+      vi.fn().mockResolvedValue({
+        ok: true,
+        status: 200,
+        json: async () => ({ choices: [{ message: { content: 'hello there' } }] }),
+      }),
+    );
+
+    await expect(
+      chatPublic('https://api.deepseek.com', 'sk-good', 'deepseek-chat', [
+        { role: 'user', content: 'hi' },
+      ]),
+    ).resolves.toBe('hello there');
+  });
+});
diff --git a/lib/ai/local-client.ts b/lib/ai/local-client.ts
index 37420720..5dc41d25 100644
--- a/lib/ai/local-client.ts
+++ b/lib/ai/local-client.ts
@@ -135,14 +135,33 @@ export async function chatPublic(
   model: string,
   messages: ChatMessage[],
 ): Promise<string> {
-  const res = await fetch(`${baseUrl.replace(/\/+$/, '')}/chat/completions`, {
-    method: 'POST',
-    headers: {
-      'Content-Type': 'application/json',
-      Authorization: `Bearer ${apiKey}`,
-    },
-    body: JSON.stringify({ model, messages }),
-  });
+  const url = `${baseUrl.replace(/\/+$/, '')}/chat/completions`;
+  let res: Response;
+  try {
+    res = await fetch(url, {
+      method: 'POST',
+      headers: {
+        'Content-Type': 'application/json',
+        Authorization: `Bearer ${apiKey}`,
+      },
+      body: JSON.stringify({ model, messages }),
+    });
+  } catch {
+    // A request that never got a response (DNS failure, TLS failure, or -
+    // by far the most common cause in practice - a CORS preflight the
+    // target rejected) surfaces to fetch() as a bare, undifferentiated
+    // "TypeError: Failed to fetch" with no status code to inspect. Verified
+    // live: a Base URL pointing at a provider's website instead of its API
+    // (platform.deepseek.com vs api.deepseek.com) fails exactly this way,
+    // the preflight OPTIONS getting a 403 with no Access-Control-* headers
+    // at all. Naming the Base URL is the one actionable thing this error
+    // can tell the user, since the browser gives back nothing else.
+    throw new Error(
+      `Could not reach ${url} — check the Base URL is the provider's API endpoint, not its ` +
+        'website or console (e.g. api.deepseek.com, not platform.deepseek.com), and that it ' +
+        'allows being called directly from a browser.',
+    );
+  }
   if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`Provider returned ${res.status}`);
   const body = (await res.json()) as OpenAiChatResponse;
   const content = body.choices?.[0]?.message?.content;