The shared ModelRuntime was constructed with network refreshes enabled, so
reloadConfig()/login()/logout() — called on the model picker, session model
changes, and auth dialogs — performed unbounded provider-catalog fetches.
A single stalled fetch blocked those requests for minutes and, through pi's
coalesced per-provider refresh, dragged session creation along with it.
Construct the runtime with PI_OFFLINE forced so every runtime-driven refresh
stays local, and add ModelCatalogRefresher as the single deliberate network
path: bounded by an abort timeout, serialized through one in-flight run,
scheduled in the background, and triggered after provider auth changes.