diff --git a/desktop/src/features/projects/hooks.ts b/desktop/src/features/projects/hooks.ts
index a51191d479..18b01a02e9 100644
--- a/desktop/src/features/projects/hooks.ts
+++ b/desktop/src/features/projects/hooks.ts
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import * as React from "react";
 import { relayClient } from "@/shared/api/relayClient";
 import { getRelaySelf } from "@/features/moderation/lib/relaySelf";
 import { getCachedRelayOrigin } from "@/shared/lib/mediaUrl";
-import { signRelayEvent } from "@/shared/api/tauri";
+import { getRelayHttpUrl, signRelayEvent } from "@/shared/api/tauri";
 import { getIdentity } from "@/shared/api/tauriIdentity";
 import {
   getProjectLocalRepoDiff,
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ import type {
 } from "@/shared/api/types";
 import { summarizeProjectActivityEvents } from "./projectActivity.mjs";
 import { resolveProjectDefaultBranch } from "./lib/projectBranches";
-import { effectiveCloneUrls } from "./lib/projectCloneUrl";
+import { effectiveCloneUrls, resolveRelayOrigin } from "./lib/projectCloneUrl";
 import type { ProjectIssue } from "./projectIssues.mjs";
 import { projectIssueEventsToIssues } from "./projectIssues.mjs";
 import type {
@@ -247,7 +247,7 @@ function dedup(events: RelayEvent[]): RelayEvent[] {
 }
 
 export async function fetchProjects(): Promise<Project[]> {
-  const [events, deletionEvents] = await Promise.all([
+  const [events, deletionEvents, relayOrigin] = await Promise.all([
     relayClient.fetchEvents({
       kinds: [KIND_REPO_ANNOUNCEMENT],
       limit: 200,
@@ -256,10 +256,11 @@ export async function fetchProjects(): Promise<Project[]> {
       kinds: [KIND_DELETION],
       limit: 500,
     }),
+    resolveRelayOrigin(getCachedRelayOrigin(), getRelayHttpUrl),
   ]);
 
   return dedup(events)
-    .map((event) => eventToProject(event, getCachedRelayOrigin()))
+    .map((event) => eventToProject(event, relayOrigin))
     .filter(
       (project) =>
         !isHiddenLocally(project) && !isDeletedByA(project, deletionEvents),
@@ -287,20 +288,21 @@ function parseProjectRouteId(projectId: string): {
 
 async function fetchProject(projectId: string): Promise<Project | null> {
   const { owner, dtag } = parseProjectRouteId(projectId);
-  const events = await relayClient.fetchEvents({
-    kinds: [KIND_REPO_ANNOUNCEMENT],
-    ...(owner ? { authors: [owner] } : {}),
-    "#d": [dtag],
-    limit: 10,
-  });
+  const [events, relayOrigin] = await Promise.all([
+    relayClient.fetchEvents({
+      kinds: [KIND_REPO_ANNOUNCEMENT],
+      ...(owner ? { authors: [owner] } : {}),
+      "#d": [dtag],
+      limit: 10,
+    }),
+    resolveRelayOrigin(getCachedRelayOrigin(), getRelayHttpUrl),
+  ]);
 
   const deduped = dedup(events).filter(
     (event) => !owner || event.pubkey.toLowerCase() === owner,
   );
   const project =
-    deduped.length > 0
-      ? eventToProject(deduped[0], getCachedRelayOrigin())
-      : null;
+    deduped.length > 0 ? eventToProject(deduped[0], relayOrigin) : null;
   if (!project) {
     return null;
   }
diff --git a/desktop/src/features/projects/lib/projectCloneUrl.test.mjs b/desktop/src/features/projects/lib/projectCloneUrl.test.mjs
index 6179c46a04..b4b0bd65f2 100644
--- a/desktop/src/features/projects/lib/projectCloneUrl.test.mjs
+++ b/desktop/src/features/projects/lib/projectCloneUrl.test.mjs
@@ -1,7 +1,11 @@
 import assert from "node:assert/strict";
 import { test } from "node:test";
 
-import { deriveRelayCloneUrl, effectiveCloneUrls } from "./projectCloneUrl.ts";
+import {
+  deriveRelayCloneUrl,
+  effectiveCloneUrls,
+  resolveRelayOrigin,
+} from "./projectCloneUrl.ts";
 
 const OWNER = "a".repeat(64);
 const ORIGIN = "https://relay.example";
@@ -60,3 +64,33 @@ test("effectiveCloneUrls derives a default when none is advertised", () => {
 test("effectiveCloneUrls returns empty when no default can be derived", () => {
   assert.deepEqual(effectiveCloneUrls([], null, OWNER, "repo"), []);
 });
+
+test("resolveRelayOrigin uses the populated cache without fetching", async () => {
+  let calls = 0;
+  const origin = await resolveRelayOrigin(ORIGIN, async () => {
+    calls += 1;
+    return "https://wrong.example";
+  });
+
+  assert.equal(origin, ORIGIN);
+  assert.equal(calls, 0);
+});
+
+test("resolveRelayOrigin fetches when startup cache is not ready", async () => {
+  let calls = 0;
+  const origin = await resolveRelayOrigin(null, async () => {
+    calls += 1;
+    return ORIGIN;
+  });
+
+  assert.equal(origin, ORIGIN);
+  assert.equal(calls, 1);
+});
+
+test("resolveRelayOrigin fails open for explicitly cloned projects", async () => {
+  const origin = await resolveRelayOrigin(null, async () => {
+    throw new Error("IPC unavailable");
+  });
+
+  assert.equal(origin, null);
+});
diff --git a/desktop/src/features/projects/lib/projectCloneUrl.ts b/desktop/src/features/projects/lib/projectCloneUrl.ts
index 78dfb83762..6e415ba451 100644
--- a/desktop/src/features/projects/lib/projectCloneUrl.ts
+++ b/desktop/src/features/projects/lib/projectCloneUrl.ts
@@ -50,3 +50,22 @@ export function effectiveCloneUrls(
   const derived = deriveRelayCloneUrl(relayOrigin, owner, dtag);
   return derived ? [derived] : [];
 }
+
+/**
+ * Resolve the relay origin used by the missing-clone fallback. The media cache
+ * is only a fast path: project queries can run before its asynchronous startup
+ * probe completes, so a cache miss must resolve the origin directly instead of
+ * permanently mapping the announcement with an empty clone URL list.
+ */
+export async function resolveRelayOrigin(
+  cachedOrigin: string | null,
+  fetchRelayOrigin: () => Promise<string>,
+): Promise<string | null> {
+  if (cachedOrigin) return cachedOrigin;
+  try {
+    return await fetchRelayOrigin();
+  } catch {
+    // Preserve project discovery when the best-effort fallback lookup fails.
+    return null;
+  }
+}