diff --git a/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/add_model/ComplexityRouterConfig.test.tsx b/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/add_model/ComplexityRouterConfig.test.tsx
index a433808085b..0613b0c02ae 100644
--- a/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/add_model/ComplexityRouterConfig.test.tsx
+++ b/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/add_model/ComplexityRouterConfig.test.tsx
@@ -4,9 +4,10 @@ import { vi } from "vitest";
 import ComplexityRouterConfig, { ComplexityRouterConfigValue } from "./ComplexityRouterConfig";
 
 const mockModelInfo = [
-  { model_group: "gpt-4" },
-  { model_group: "gpt-3.5-turbo" },
-  { model_group: "claude-3-opus" },
+  { model_group: "gpt-4", mode: "chat" },
+  { model_group: "gpt-3.5-turbo", mode: "chat" },
+  { model_group: "claude-3-opus", mode: "chat" },
+  { model_group: "text-embedding-3-small", mode: "embedding" },
 ] as any[];
 
 const defaultValue: ComplexityRouterConfigValue = {
@@ -207,4 +208,32 @@ describe("ComplexityRouterConfig", () => {
     await user.click(screen.getByRole("switch"));
     expect(onSemanticMatchingEnabledChange).toHaveBeenCalledWith(true, expect.anything());
   });
+
+  it("excludes embedding-mode models from the tier and classifier dropdowns", async () => {
+    const user = userEvent.setup();
+    renderWithProviders(<ComplexityRouterConfig {...baseProps} />);
+
+    const simpleTierSection = screen.getByText("Simple Tier").closest(".mb-4") as HTMLElement;
+    const combobox = within(simpleTierSection).getByRole("combobox");
+    await user.click(combobox);
+
+    expect((await screen.findAllByText("gpt-3.5-turbo")).length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+    expect(screen.queryAllByText("text-embedding-3-small")).toHaveLength(0);
+  });
+
+  it("does not show tier validation errors by default", () => {
+    renderWithProviders(<ComplexityRouterConfig {...baseProps} />);
+    expect(screen.queryByText("This tier is required")).not.toBeInTheDocument();
+  });
+
+  it("shows a validation error only under unfilled tiers when showValidationErrors is true", () => {
+    renderWithProviders(
+      <ComplexityRouterConfig
+        {...baseProps}
+        value={{ ...defaultValue, tiers: { ...defaultValue.tiers, REASONING: "" } }}
+        showValidationErrors={true}
+      />,
+    );
+    expect(screen.getAllByText("This tier is required")).toHaveLength(1);
+  });
 });
diff --git a/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/add_model/ComplexityRouterConfig.tsx b/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/add_model/ComplexityRouterConfig.tsx
index 555648db8ad..18c575c7c4c 100644
--- a/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/add_model/ComplexityRouterConfig.tsx
+++ b/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/add_model/ComplexityRouterConfig.tsx
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ interface ComplexityRouterConfigProps {
   onEmbeddingModelChange?: (model: string) => void;
   matchThreshold?: number;
   onMatchThresholdChange?: (threshold: number) => void;
+  showValidationErrors?: boolean;
 }
 
 const TIER_DESCRIPTIONS: Record<keyof ComplexityTiers, { label: string; description: string; examples: string }> = {
@@ -84,12 +85,15 @@ const ComplexityRouterConfig: React.FC<ComplexityRouterConfigProps> = ({
   onEmbeddingModelChange = () => {},
   matchThreshold = 0.5,
   onMatchThresholdChange = () => {},
+  showValidationErrors = false,
 }) => {
-  // Prepare model options for dropdowns
-  const modelOptions = modelInfo.map((model) => ({
-    value: model.model_group,
-    label: model.model_group,
-  }));
+  // Embedding models can't serve a chat-completion role, so they're excluded here.
+  const modelOptions = modelInfo
+    .filter((model) => model.mode !== "embedding")
+    .map((model) => ({
+      value: model.model_group,
+      label: model.model_group,
+    }));
 
   const handleTierChange = (tier: keyof ComplexityTiers, model: string) => {
     onChange({
@@ -148,6 +152,7 @@ const ComplexityRouterConfig: React.FC<ComplexityRouterConfigProps> = ({
       <Card>
         {(Object.keys(TIER_DESCRIPTIONS) as Array<keyof ComplexityTiers>).map((tier, index) => {
           const tierInfo = TIER_DESCRIPTIONS[tier];
+          const tierMissing = showValidationErrors && !value.tiers[tier];
           return (
             <div key={tier}>
               {index > 0 && <Divider style={{ margin: "16px 0" }} />}
@@ -170,7 +175,13 @@ const ComplexityRouterConfig: React.FC<ComplexityRouterConfigProps> = ({
                   showSearch
                   style={{ width: "100%" }}
                   options={modelOptions}
+                  status={tierMissing ? "error" : undefined}
                 />
+                {tierMissing && (
+                  <Text type="danger" style={{ fontSize: 12 }}>
+                    This tier is required
+                  </Text>
+                )}
               </div>
             </div>
           );
@@ -323,6 +334,7 @@ const ComplexityRouterConfig: React.FC<ComplexityRouterConfigProps> = ({
             matchThreshold={matchThreshold}
             onMatchThresholdChange={onMatchThresholdChange}
             modelInfo={modelInfo}
+            showValidationErrors={showValidationErrors}
           />
         </>
       )}
diff --git a/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/add_model/SemanticKeywordMatching.test.tsx b/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/add_model/SemanticKeywordMatching.test.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..2336e6faf43
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/add_model/SemanticKeywordMatching.test.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+import { renderWithProviders, screen } from "../../../tests/test-utils";
+import userEvent from "@testing-library/user-event";
+import { vi } from "vitest";
+import SemanticKeywordMatching from "./SemanticKeywordMatching";
+
+const mockModelInfo = [
+  { model_group: "gpt-4", mode: "chat" },
+  { model_group: "text-embedding-3-small", mode: "embedding" },
+  { model_group: "voyage-3-5", mode: "embedding" },
+  { model_group: "legacy-model" },
+] as any[];
+
+const baseProps = {
+  enabled: true,
+  onEnabledChange: vi.fn(),
+  embeddingModel: undefined,
+  onEmbeddingModelChange: vi.fn(),
+  matchThreshold: 0.5,
+  onMatchThresholdChange: vi.fn(),
+  modelInfo: mockModelInfo,
+};
+
+describe("SemanticKeywordMatching", () => {
+  it("only lists embedding-mode models in the embedding model dropdown", async () => {
+    const user = userEvent.setup();
+    renderWithProviders(<SemanticKeywordMatching {...baseProps} />);
+
+    const combobox = screen.getByRole("combobox");
+    await user.click(combobox);
+
+    expect((await screen.findAllByText("text-embedding-3-small")).length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+    expect(screen.getAllByText("voyage-3-5").length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+    expect(screen.queryAllByText("gpt-4")).toHaveLength(0);
+    expect(screen.queryAllByText("legacy-model")).toHaveLength(0);
+  });
+
+  it("does not show a validation error by default", () => {
+    renderWithProviders(<SemanticKeywordMatching {...baseProps} showValidationErrors={false} />);
+    expect(screen.queryByText("An embedding model is required")).not.toBeInTheDocument();
+  });
+
+  it("shows a validation error when showValidationErrors is true and no embedding model is set", () => {
+    renderWithProviders(<SemanticKeywordMatching {...baseProps} showValidationErrors={true} />);
+    expect(screen.getByText("An embedding model is required")).toBeInTheDocument();
+  });
+
+  it("hides the validation error once an embedding model is set", () => {
+    renderWithProviders(
+      <SemanticKeywordMatching {...baseProps} showValidationErrors={true} embeddingModel="voyage-3-5" />,
+    );
+    expect(screen.queryByText("An embedding model is required")).not.toBeInTheDocument();
+  });
+});
diff --git a/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/add_model/SemanticKeywordMatching.tsx b/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/add_model/SemanticKeywordMatching.tsx
index 0f9907ac6c9..c7583427af6 100644
--- a/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/add_model/SemanticKeywordMatching.tsx
+++ b/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/add_model/SemanticKeywordMatching.tsx
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ interface SemanticKeywordMatchingProps {
   matchThreshold: number;
   onMatchThresholdChange: (threshold: number) => void;
   modelInfo: ModelGroup[];
+  showValidationErrors?: boolean;
 }
 
 const SemanticKeywordMatching: React.FC<SemanticKeywordMatchingProps> = ({
@@ -25,11 +26,14 @@ const SemanticKeywordMatching: React.FC<SemanticKeywordMatchingProps> = ({
   matchThreshold,
   onMatchThresholdChange,
   modelInfo,
+  showValidationErrors = false,
 }) => {
-  const modelOptions = Array.from(new Set(modelInfo.map((model) => model.model_group))).map((model_group) => ({
+  const embeddingModels = modelInfo.filter((model) => model.mode === "embedding");
+  const modelOptions = Array.from(new Set(embeddingModels.map((model) => model.model_group))).map((model_group) => ({
     value: model_group,
     label: model_group,
   }));
+  const embeddingModelMissing = showValidationErrors && !embeddingModel;
 
   return (
     <Card className="mb-4">
@@ -60,7 +64,13 @@ const SemanticKeywordMatching: React.FC<SemanticKeywordMatchingProps> = ({
               showSearch
               style={{ width: "100%" }}
               options={modelOptions}
+              status={embeddingModelMissing ? "error" : undefined}
             />
+            {embeddingModelMissing && (
+              <Text type="danger" style={{ fontSize: 12 }}>
+                An embedding model is required
+              </Text>
+            )}
           </div>
           <div>
             <Text className="text-sm font-medium mb-1 block">Minimum match score</Text>
diff --git a/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/add_model/add_auto_router_tab.tsx b/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/add_model/add_auto_router_tab.tsx
index 55c62224a48..ce69f8f7ae3 100644
--- a/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/add_model/add_auto_router_tab.tsx
+++ b/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/add_model/add_auto_router_tab.tsx
@@ -11,7 +11,11 @@ import RouterConfigBuilder from "./RouterConfigBuilder";
 import ComplexityRouterConfig, { ComplexityRouterConfigValue } from "./ComplexityRouterConfig";
 import { KeywordTierRule } from "./KeywordTierRules";
 import { DEFAULT_MATCH_THRESHOLD } from "./SemanticKeywordMatching";
-import { buildComplexityRouterConfig, getSemanticConfigError } from "./build_complexity_router_config";
+import {
+  buildComplexityRouterConfig,
+  getMissingTiersError,
+  getSemanticConfigError,
+} from "./build_complexity_router_config";
 import { buildAutoRouterTestTargets, AutoRouterTestTarget } from "./build_auto_router_test_targets";
 import AutoRouterConnectionTest from "./auto_router_connection_test";
 import NotificationManager from "../molecules/notifications_manager";
@@ -43,6 +47,7 @@ const AddAutoRouterTab: React.FC<AddAutoRouterTabProps> = ({ form, handleOk, acc
   const [semanticMatchingEnabled, setSemanticMatchingEnabled] = useState<boolean>(false);
   const [embeddingModel, setEmbeddingModel] = useState<string | undefined>(undefined);
   const [matchThreshold, setMatchThreshold] = useState<number>(DEFAULT_MATCH_THRESHOLD);
+  const [showValidationErrors, setShowValidationErrors] = useState<boolean>(false);
 
   // Semantic router config (existing)
   const [routerConfig, setRouterConfig] = useState<any>(null);
@@ -86,19 +91,22 @@ const AddAutoRouterTab: React.FC<AddAutoRouterTabProps> = ({ form, handleOk, acc
       classifier_llm_config: classifierLlmConfig,
     } = complexityRouterConfig;
 
-    const filledTiers = Object.values(tiers).filter(Boolean);
-    if (filledTiers.length === 0) {
-      NotificationManager.fromBackend("Please select at least one model for a complexity tier");
+    const missingTiersError = getMissingTiersError(tiers);
+    if (missingTiersError) {
+      setShowValidationErrors(true);
+      NotificationManager.fromBackend(missingTiersError);
       return;
     }
 
     if (classifierType === "llm" && !classifierLlmConfig?.model) {
+      setShowValidationErrors(true);
       NotificationManager.fromBackend("Please select a classifier model, or switch back to Heuristic");
       return;
     }
 
     const semanticError = getSemanticConfigError({ semanticMatchingEnabled, embeddingModel, keywordTierRules });
     if (semanticError) {
+      setShowValidationErrors(true);
       NotificationManager.fromBackend(semanticError);
       return;
     }
@@ -296,6 +304,7 @@ const AddAutoRouterTab: React.FC<AddAutoRouterTabProps> = ({ form, handleOk, acc
                 onEmbeddingModelChange={setEmbeddingModel}
                 matchThreshold={matchThreshold}
                 onMatchThresholdChange={setMatchThreshold}
+                showValidationErrors={showValidationErrors}
               />
             </div>
           ) : (
diff --git a/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/add_model/build_complexity_router_config.test.ts b/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/add_model/build_complexity_router_config.test.ts
index 3c252646b57..e5b547d8240 100644
--- a/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/add_model/build_complexity_router_config.test.ts
+++ b/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/add_model/build_complexity_router_config.test.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import {
   buildComplexityRouterConfig,
+  getMissingTiersError,
   getSemanticConfigError,
   BuildComplexityRouterConfigParams,
 } from "./build_complexity_router_config";
@@ -124,6 +125,31 @@ describe("buildComplexityRouterConfig", () => {
   });
 });
 
+describe("getMissingTiersError", () => {
+  it("returns null when all four tiers have a model", () => {
+    expect(getMissingTiersError(tiers)).toBeNull();
+  });
+
+  it("names the specific missing tier when only one is blank", () => {
+    expect(getMissingTiersError({ ...tiers, REASONING: "" })).toBe(
+      "Select a model for the following tier(s): REASONING",
+    );
+  });
+
+  it("names multiple missing tiers in SIMPLE/MEDIUM/COMPLEX/REASONING order", () => {
+    expect(getMissingTiersError({ ...tiers, SIMPLE: "", REASONING: "" })).toBe(
+      "Select a model for the following tier(s): SIMPLE, REASONING",
+    );
+  });
+
+  it("names all four tiers when none are filled", () => {
+    const noTiers = { SIMPLE: "", MEDIUM: "", COMPLEX: "", REASONING: "" };
+    expect(getMissingTiersError(noTiers)).toBe(
+      "Select a model for the following tier(s): SIMPLE, MEDIUM, COMPLEX, REASONING",
+    );
+  });
+});
+
 describe("getSemanticConfigError", () => {
   const rule = { id: "r1", keywords: ["k8s"], tier: "REASONING" as const };
 
diff --git a/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/add_model/build_complexity_router_config.ts b/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/add_model/build_complexity_router_config.ts
index 82ea4f8c12f..3eddca8c35b 100644
--- a/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/add_model/build_complexity_router_config.ts
+++ b/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/add_model/build_complexity_router_config.ts
@@ -30,6 +30,14 @@ export interface ComplexityRouterConfigPayload {
   match_threshold?: number;
 }
 
+const TIER_KEYS: Array<keyof ComplexityTiers> = ["SIMPLE", "MEDIUM", "COMPLEX", "REASONING"];
+
+export const getMissingTiersError = (tiers: ComplexityTiers): string | null => {
+  const missing = TIER_KEYS.filter((tier) => !tiers[tier]);
+  if (missing.length === 0) return null;
+  return `Select a model for the following tier(s): ${missing.join(", ")}`;
+};
+
 export const getSemanticConfigError = ({
   semanticMatchingEnabled,
   embeddingModel,