diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index f42e85486..ac1b34f96 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -6,6 +6,9 @@ Format based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.1.0/).
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+### Fixed
+- Onboarding wizard no longer repeats every launch for extension-based providers (e.g. pi-claude-cli) that may not require credentials in auth.json
+
 ## [2.19.0] - 2026-03-16
 
 ### Added
diff --git a/src/cli.ts b/src/cli.ts
index db17cc1d3..83f8b4de9 100644
--- a/src/cli.ts
+++ b/src/cli.ts
@@ -130,8 +130,11 @@ const authStorage = AuthStorage.create(authFilePath)
 loadStoredEnvKeys(authStorage)
 migratePiCredentials(authStorage)
 
+const modelRegistry = new ModelRegistry(authStorage)
+const settingsManager = SettingsManager.create(agentDir)
+
 // Run onboarding wizard on first launch (no LLM provider configured)
-if (!isPrintMode && shouldRunOnboarding(authStorage)) {
+if (!isPrintMode && shouldRunOnboarding(authStorage, settingsManager.getDefaultProvider())) {
   await runOnboarding(authStorage)
 
   // Clean up stdin state left by @clack/prompts.
@@ -156,9 +159,6 @@ if (!isPrintMode && process.stdout.columns && process.stdout.columns < 40) {
   )
 }
 
-const modelRegistry = new ModelRegistry(authStorage)
-const settingsManager = SettingsManager.create(agentDir)
-
 // --list-models: print available models and exit (no TTY needed)
 if (cliFlags.listModels !== undefined) {
   const models = modelRegistry.getAvailable()
diff --git a/src/onboarding.ts b/src/onboarding.ts
index de4267286..d3668326b 100644
--- a/src/onboarding.ts
+++ b/src/onboarding.ts
@@ -146,10 +146,13 @@ function isCancelError(p: ClackModule, err: unknown): boolean {
  *
  * Returns false (skip wizard) when:
  * - Any LLM provider is already available via auth.json, env vars, runtime overrides, or fallback auth
+ * - A default provider is already configured in settings (covers extension-based providers
+ *   that may not require credentials in auth.json)
  * - Not a TTY (piped input, subagent, CI)
  */
-export function shouldRunOnboarding(authStorage: AuthStorage): boolean {
+export function shouldRunOnboarding(authStorage: AuthStorage, settingsDefaultProvider?: string): boolean {
   if (!process.stdin.isTTY) return false
+  if (settingsDefaultProvider) return false
   // Check if any LLM provider has credentials
   const hasLlmAuth = LLM_PROVIDER_IDS.some(id => authStorage.hasAuth(id))
   return !hasLlmAuth