diff --git a/admin/app/services/chat_service.ts b/admin/app/services/chat_service.ts
index 3bfb5d0..d395e53 100644
--- a/admin/app/services/chat_service.ts
+++ b/admin/app/services/chat_service.ts
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ export class ChatService {
   async getChatSuggestions() {
     try {
       const models = await this.ollamaService.getModels()
-      if (!models) {
+      if (!models || models.length === 0) {
         return [] // If no models are available, return empty suggestions
       }
 
diff --git a/admin/app/services/docker_service.ts b/admin/app/services/docker_service.ts
index 96a4ffb..7ba1e2e 100644
--- a/admin/app/services/docker_service.ts
+++ b/admin/app/services/docker_service.ts
@@ -545,8 +545,8 @@ export class DockerService {
 
       // If Ollama was just installed, trigger Nomad docs discovery and embedding
       if (service.service_name === SERVICE_NAMES.OLLAMA) {
-        logger.info('[DockerService] Ollama installation complete. Enabling chat suggestions by default.')
-        await KVStore.setValue('chat.suggestionsEnabled', "true")
+        logger.info('[DockerService] Ollama installation complete. Default behavior is to not enable chat suggestions.')
+        await KVStore.setValue('chat.suggestionsEnabled', "false")
 
         logger.info('[DockerService] Ollama installation complete. Triggering Nomad docs discovery...')
         
diff --git a/admin/inertia/components/chat/ChatInterface.tsx b/admin/inertia/components/chat/ChatInterface.tsx
index 60acf32..27d44c1 100644
--- a/admin/inertia/components/chat/ChatInterface.tsx
+++ b/admin/inertia/components/chat/ChatInterface.tsx
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ interface ChatInterfaceProps {
   onSendMessage: (message: string) => void
   isLoading?: boolean
   chatSuggestions?: string[]
+  chatSuggestionsEnabled?: boolean
   chatSuggestionsLoading?: boolean
 }
 
@@ -19,6 +20,7 @@ export default function ChatInterface({
   onSendMessage,
   isLoading = false,
   chatSuggestions = [],
+  chatSuggestionsEnabled = false,
   chatSuggestionsLoading = false,
 }: ChatInterfaceProps) {
   const [input, setInput] = useState('')
@@ -69,7 +71,7 @@ export default function ChatInterface({
               <p className="text-gray-500 text-sm">
                 Interact with your installed language models directly in the Command Center.
               </p>
-              {chatSuggestions && chatSuggestions.length > 0 && !chatSuggestionsLoading && (
+              {chatSuggestionsEnabled && chatSuggestions && chatSuggestions.length > 0 && !chatSuggestionsLoading && (
                 <div className="mt-8">
                   <h4 className="text-sm font-medium text-gray-600 mb-2">Suggestions:</h4>
                   <div className="flex flex-col gap-2">
@@ -92,7 +94,12 @@ export default function ChatInterface({
                 </div>
               )}
               {/* Display bouncing dots while loading suggestions */}
-              {chatSuggestionsLoading && <BouncingDots text="Thinking" containerClassName="mt-8" />}
+              {chatSuggestionsEnabled && chatSuggestionsLoading && <BouncingDots text="Thinking" containerClassName="mt-8" />}
+              {!chatSuggestionsEnabled && (
+                <div className="mt-8 text-sm text-gray-500">
+                  Need some inspiration? Enable chat suggestions in settings to get started with example prompts.
+                </div>
+              )}
             </div>
           </div>
         ) : (
diff --git a/admin/inertia/components/chat/index.tsx b/admin/inertia/components/chat/index.tsx
index 8359d2c..1d6cb5f 100644
--- a/admin/inertia/components/chat/index.tsx
+++ b/admin/inertia/components/chat/index.tsx
@@ -284,6 +284,7 @@ export default function Chat({
           onSendMessage={handleSendMessage}
           isLoading={chatMutation.isPending}
           chatSuggestions={chatSuggestions}
+          chatSuggestionsEnabled={suggestionsEnabled}
           chatSuggestionsLoading={chatSuggestionsLoading}
         />
       </div>